FDD

Phares on the BBC

Walid Phares on the BBC Radio in London discussing the situation in Iran:

Listen to the BBC Interview.

The Syria Monitor

This week's Syria Monitor is now available. In it, Tony Badran, a Research Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, provides an update on the latest news affecting Syria's opposition and dissident movements.

This week's Syria Monitor includes reports on rallies being organized in Paris, London and Beirut to demand the release of Syrian prisoners of conscience; more information on next week's National Salvation Front Conference, which will take place in London; an update on the deteriorating health condition of Anwar al-Bunni, who has been on a hunger strike since being arrested two weeks ago; as well as news on the continuing harassment of signatories of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration.

You can sign up here to receive the Syria Monitor, which is sent out every Tuesday. You can track daily developments in Syria at the Syria Monitor blog. Previous Syria Monitors can be viewed here.

"A Modest Proposal for Darfur"

Academic Fellow J. Peter Pham's latest World Defense Review column is here.

Danger Zone is Available for Podcast

May 28th's episode of Danger Zone is now available for download.

Dispatches from the Danger Zone: Too much Excitement in the Saudi Kingdom?

King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to cut back on publishing pictures of women… They could get men excited and lead them astray.

The king wasn’t talking about naked pictures, or half naked pictures or even bathing suit pictures –he was talking about any pictures of women doing anything, even digging ditches or scrubbing floors. 

Anyway, the king's order about photos of women went to newspaper editors at a meeting with them.   

Until now King Abdullah, who took over the throne in August, has been described as a “mild” reformer. Mild sounds right.

Recently Saudi newspapers have run a few pictures of women but only those wearing traditional Muslim headscarves, no bikinis, no naval rings.

The king told editors this week that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was just wrong.

George Galloway's foot in mouth disease [AV]

British MP George Galloway, whom I've met more times than I care to and who is in person as unhinged as he is in the press, recently told GQ magazine that a suicide bombing attack that killed British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be "morally justified."

Fascinating as a deep exploration of the moral philosophy of George Galloway would be, I'll focus instead on the political ramifications of Galloway's pronouncement.

Currently, Galloway is trying to build up a genuinely anti-war political party, Respect, whose future success will depend on its ability to attract disaffected Labour Party supporters and perhaps a few Liberal Democrats.

Supporting the assassination of a sitting Prime Minister will not, shall we say, be likely to increase Respect's support beyond its current core of Trotskyist socialists and British Islamists. Politically, Galloway is his own worst enemy.

How not to deal with Iran [AV]

The otherwise sensible David Ignatius has a column in today's Washington Post urging the administration to engage Iran. Indeed, he supports more than the "direct negotiations" that Iran's leadership is calling for. Ignatius wants "more air travel to Iran, more scholarships for students, more exchanges, Iranian membership in the World Trade Organization." I can't think of a worse idea.

Iran's belligerency is today at the highest it has been since the Islamic Revolution, and it is now--now!--that Ignatius would have us reward the regime by engaging it, giving Iran the same perks of statehood as we might give to, say, Finland.

And what does the United States get in return? Will Iran verifiably end its uranium enrichment program? Will the rights of religious minorities--such as the oppressed Baha'i--be given more respect? Will Iran stop supporting jihadists in Iraq? No: Rewarding Ahmadi-Nejad's sabre-rattling with concessions will lead to more sabre-rattling, and will probably result in ever more concessions.

Direct talks, what's the point?

Yesterday's front page story in the Washington Post reporting that U.S. officials have been rejecting Iranian overtures for direct talks with the regime has been followed by reports today that IAEA head Muhammad el-Baradei also supports direct talks.

The United States response has been that direct talks can only happen when Iran has verifiably suspended its uranium enrichment activities. As long as Iran refuses to do this, direct talks with the regime will only give it more time to develop nuclear technology.

It was Rudyard Kipling in his poem Dane-Geld who offered what I believe is the best case against concessions of the sort Iran is asking,

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
  To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
  We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
  But we've  proved it again and  again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
  You never get rid of the Dane.

Dispatches from the Danger Zone: Where is "The Jackal"?

It has been about ten years since the terrorist named “Carlos the Jackal” was sentenced to life in prison in France for murder.  He was lucky to have missed the guillotine.  It was banned by France in 1981. 

“Carlos” is a Venezuelan Communist named Ilich Ramirez Sanchez. His father was a left-wing Venezuelan lawyer who named his three sons Vladimir, Ilich and Lenin all borrowed from his Russian hero.  He arranged for the boy to attend Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where Ilich made the KGO connections he would often use in his terrorist activities over the next twenty years.

Ilich, or Carlos as he likes to be called, is now pushing 60 years old.  He has a round flat face like a pizza pie and eyes like little olives pushed into the dough. 

So what’s happening to him these days?

Global Terrorism Monitor

The latest issue of the Global Terrorism Monitor is now available.  This week's stories include: Israel launching a series of actions against Palestinian terrorists, including the arrest of the head of the Hamas Military Wing in the West Bank and the targeted killing of Islamic Jihad's most senior militant in Gaza; Egypt claiming for the first time that Palestinians had aided in the recent Sinai Bombings; and Coalition forces killing hundreds of Taliban fighters following a new wave of deadly Taliban attacks against civilians and military targets in Afghanistan.  Read the whole thing.

More on Hezbollah Cells in the U.S.

FDD Senior Fellow Walid Phares is featured in this Sinclair Broadcast story on Hezbollah sleeper cells in the United States.  It highlights growing concerns that these cells are being activated in response to the U.S. opposition to Iran's nuclear program.

"If that pressure goes beyond what Iran would allow, it is more likely the Iranian regime will use the resources for Hezbollah inside the West, including inside the U.S., to perform acts of terrorism," Phares said.

Video and a transcript are here.

The Syria Monitor

This week's Syria Monitor is now available.  This week's stories include, amongst others: Syrian security arrested prominent human rights lawyer and activist Anwar al-Bunni, as part of a large wave of arrests of several activists, including prominent political activist Michel Kilo, who was detained three days ago; and, the Committee for Syrian National Democratic Action in Europe called for a gathering in front of the Institut du Monde Arabe to protest the Syrian regime's crackdown on freedom of expression and to pressure the regime to free all political prisoners, abolish emergency laws in effect since 1963, and respect international human rights treaties.

Sign up for the Syria Monitor here.  View past issues here.

BACKGROUNDER: Iran Freedom and Support Act 2005

FDD's latest backgrounder discusses the Iran Freedom and Support Act (IFSA), the comprehensive legislation being considered by the U.S. Congress to support a peaceful transition to democratic self-government in Iran.

Woolsey on the West Bank Withdrawal

Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, now co-Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger (and a senior advisor to FDD) writes in today's Wall Street Journal that the proposed Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would leave nothing but a failed terrorist state in its wake ... and the results will be dangerous not just for Israel:

The approach Israel is preparing to take in the West Bank was tried in Gaza and has failed utterly. The Israeli withdrawal of last year has produced the worst set of results imaginable: a heavy presence by al Qaeda, Hezbollah and even some Iranian Revolutionary Guard units; street-fighting between Hamas and Fatah and now Hamas assassination attempts against Fatah's intelligence chief and Jordan's ambassador; rocket and mortar attacks against nearby towns inside Israel; and a perceived vindication for Hamas, which took credit for the withdrawal. This latter almost certainly contributed substantially to Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections. ...

Israel is not the only pro-Western country that would be threatened. How does moderate Jordan, with its Palestinian majority, survive if bordered by a West Bank terrorist state? Israeli concessions will also make the U.S. look weak because it will be inferred that we have urged them, and will suggest that we are reverting to earlier behavior patterns -- fleeing Lebanon in 1983, acquiescing in Saddam's destruction of the Kurdish and Shiite rebels in 1991, fleeing Somalia in 1993, etc.

"Who's Really Afraid of Iran?"

The Weekly Standard has an interesting piece on Iran's threat -- not just to Israel and the West, but to its neighbors in the Gulf.  FDD's Tony Badran is quoted on how Syria fits into the equation:

Pressure on Syria would be a logical move to counter Iran. Damascus, says Tony Badran, research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, is not only "Iran's central client-proxy, but has also played the mediator between [Iran] and the Gulf states."

Tony has much more on this topic at his blog, Across the Bay.

Hezbollah Cells in NYC

The New York Post reports this morning that Hezbollah may be activating its sleeper cells in New York City in preparation for a future U.S. confrontation with Iran:

Law-enforcement and intelligence officials told The Post that about a dozen hard-core supporters of Hezbollah have been identified in recent weeks as operating in the New York area.

Sources said the activities of these New York-based operatives are being monitored by FBI counterterrorism agents as part of a nationwide effort to prevent a possible terror strike if the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program spins out of control. ...

"Hezbollah is a group that the U.S. has to be concerned about in the current climate. Hezbollah is already coming under heavy pressure by the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, and Ahmadinejad is under pressure on the nuclear issue," said Walid Phares, an outside terror expert [and FDD Senior Fellow] who has briefed law-enforcement officials on Hezbollah in recent weeks.

"They are well funded, very well organized, and we assume that their penetration of the U.S. is deeper than al Qaeda's. It is only rational for the U.S. to think in pre-emptive ways. An attack here is clearly in the realm of the possible," Phares added.

The rest is here.

Last year, FDD Senior Fellow Barbara Newman revealed the presence of Hezbollah terror cells in NYC and more than a dozen other American cities in her book (co-authored with Tom Diaz) Lighting Out of Lebanon, Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil.

Repatriated Terrorists

That's what Europe faces, according to the Agence France Presse:

They are highly motivated, battle-hardened, mobile -- and therefore, dangerous. And the return of Europe's jihadists from Iraq is giving the Continent's intelligence services nightmares.

As far back as October, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr warned that intercepted correspondence between Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and other figures in the movement had revealed a decision to send large numbers of Islamist volunteers back to their countries of origin to wage holy war.

Mr. Jabr said several hundred militant fighters had left for home by last fall.

More here.

Egyptian Turning Point?

The Wall Street Journal editorial page weighs in on the growing unrest against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's "pharaonic" rule:

In the past two weeks, his government has cracked down with a heavy hand on street protestors and refused to free a leading democratic politician held in jail on dubious charges. But the Draconian measures are failing to quell one of the most serious public challenges yet to Mr. Mubarak's 25-year rule. Security forces beat and arrested hundreds of people in Cairo yesterday when they turned out to defend two judges who had criticized the conduct of recent elections.

The rest is here.

FDD's Khairi Abaza covered the struggle for reform in Egypt -- particularly judicial independence and freedom of the press -- last week in this NRO op-ed.

U.N. Peacekeepers in Africa

In his latest World Defense Review column, FDD Academic Fellow J. Peter Pham looks at what happened when the UN dispatched peacekeepers to Côte d'Ivoire.  It's here.

What Despots Hear (BM)

Mohamed Eljahmi, as our regular readers know, is the brother of Fathi Eljahmi, the Libyan democracy activist jailed by Gadhafi for advocating free speech, multiparty elections, the right to dissent -- all the things a dictator fears most. 

Moh is also the clearest and most persuasive voice exposing the Libyan regime's support for terrorism and its human rights abuses -- against its own people and others (e.g. former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, now on trial for crimes against humanity, was tutored by Gadhafi's regime).

He opposes (one of the seemingly few) the Bush administration's decision to renew diplomatic relations with Libya, and he explains why in this op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal.  His conclusion:

The State Department's decision undermines U.S. credibility. Realists say the administration is sending a positive message to the Arab world that it will reward good behavior in the war on terror. What despots hear, though, is that lip-service will obviate the need to reform or respect human rights. Re-establishing relations with Col. Gadhafi is not a victory and it may very well be a defeat unless Washington begins full-court pressure to force political change in Libya.

J. Peter Pham, an FDD Academic Fellow, has also been a harsh critic of Gadhafi.  For more on Gadhafi's close ties to Charles Taylor, read his op-ed in the Providence Journal (free sign up required).

FDD Media Roundup

Cliff discusses Brazil's home grown terrorism in this week's Scripps Howard column.

Andy McCarthy argues that data-mining is the President's duty in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Global Terrorism Monitor

The latest Global Terrorism Monitor is now available.  This week's stories include, amongst others: A U.S. military spokesman reporting that al-Qaeda in Iraq is increasingly targeting civilians, with attacks against Iraqis up more than 80 percent from six months ago; Two Hamas members captured by Jordanian authorities last month confessing on Jordanian television that they had received military training in Syria; and the bodies of 26 people, mostly children, being found in a cave in Algeria used by the al-Qaeda-linked Salafist Group for Call and Combat.  Read the full thing.

TUNE IN!

Andy McCarthy will appear on C-SPAN's Washington Journal tomorrow morning from 7:45-8:30am  to discuss the NSA's counter-terrorism activities. 

Democracy, Freedom and the Rule of Law

Cliff addressed the Atlas Economic Research Foundation's "International Seminar on Liberal Democracy: Democracy, Freedom and the Rule of Law," and discussed, "The Political Consequences of Liberalism: The Bill of Rights and the Due Process of Law."

Cliff remarks are available here. 

The Syria Monitor

Tony Badran, FDD's Research Fellow focusing on the Levant, has started a dedicated blog, the Syria Monitor to track news about the Syrian opposition, both inside and outside of Syria. In the last few weeks in particular, the Syrian regime has cracked down on opposition leaders, forbidding meetings of more than five people, arresting activists who traveled abroad,and charging them with crimes such as inciting foreign aggression against Syria which carry life sentences.

In the Syria Monitor, Tony Badran provides recent reports not only on the fate of Syria's political prisoners, but also on the opposition's activities, including alliances being formed, meetings and conferences, statements to the media, and advocacy efforts with government officials in the United States, Europe, Lebanon and Turkey. The Syria Monitor is updated 3 to 4 times a week.

In addition, subscribers can sign up to receive a weekly e-mail digest of the blog's post or read the digest on FDD's website.

Egyptian Emergency

Senior Fellow Khairi Abaza discusses how Egyptian President Mubarak responds to terror by going after the reformers:

The Mubarak regime needs to understand that it is the lack of political freedom, transparency, and accountability that has helped breed fanatics willing to perpetrate horrific attacks. Currently, Egyptian civil-society activists are engaged in heated battles for meaningful reforms that will help establish an independent judiciary and a free press—essential pillars of any democracy. If the regime continues to deny these changes, it can expect to face increasing radicalism.

Read the rest on NRO.

Danger Zone is Available for Podcast

May 14th's episode is available for download.

Has Qadhafi Really Changed? (BM)

Mohamed Eljahmi, brother of Libyan dissident Fathi Eljahmi imprisoned by Qadhafi for speaking out in favor of democratic reforms, expressed his disappointment -- and concern -- about the decision to normalize relations with Libya:

It is unfortunate that the restoration of full diplomatic relations occurred while my brother Fathi, who is the leading democratic reformer in Libya, remains in prison. Given Qadhafi’s history, the U.S. is making a mistake by taking him at face value.  In a recent New Yorker article, Qadhafi’s son did not renounce terrorism but rather said, 'We used terrorism as tactic for bargaining.' It has to be concluded that if he perceived Libya and America (or anyone else) to be in conflict, terrorism against civilians would be a legitimate tactic.

Mohamed is the author of several articles on Libya's human rights violations and the plight of his brother, and are worth reading today:

True To His Terrorist Ways, CBS News, April 13, 2006;
Bad Decision 101, National Review Online, March 20, 2006;
The People vs. Qadhafi, National Review Online, March 16, 2006;
Libya and the U.S.: Qadhafi Unrepentant, Middle East Forum, Winter 2006.

Highly Enriched Uranium Found at Iranian Military Site (BM)

According to AP, inspectors have found evidence linking the Iranian regime's nuclear program to military purposes:

U.N. inspectors have found traces of highly enriched uranium on equipment from an Iranian research center linked to the military, diplomats said Friday _ a revelation likely to strengthen U.S. arguments that Tehran wants to develop nuclear arms.

More here.

Danger Zone Available for Podcast

May 7th's episode of Danger Zone is available for download.

This week's Danger Zone lineup is available here.

FDD Media Roundup

Cliff May discusses the 7/7/05 attacks in London and rise of a 'fifth column' in Britain in his recent Scripps Howard column.

Academic Fellows J. Peter Pham and Michael Krauss discuss their colleagues reaction to the Sami Al-Arian trial in Tech Central Station.

Academic Fellow Gordon Bowen argues for the spread of democracy in the Middle East in The News Leader.

The Moose on the NSA Data-Mining Controversy (CM)

"As of yet, there is no evidence that the government was eavesdropping on private conversations of innocent citizens. What we know is that it is a collection of phone numbers that were put into super computers to detect patterns of suspect activity. The Bushies were not using information to destroy their political opponents. The NSA is legitimately obtaining data to thwart terrorists."

"Has it been a mere coincidence that the American homeland has not been attacked since 9/11? It is likely that the hard and innovative work of dedicated patriots at the NSA and other national security agencies has kept our nation safe.

"Yes, the Bushies have been misleading and disingenuous when they stated that they were monitoring only overseas calls. That was technically correct, but left the wrong impression about other domestic activities - data mining. The President's widening credibility gap feeds paranoia even when the Administration might be doing the right thing. However, any President who is leading a covert war that must be fought in the shadows is forced to be somewhat deceptive, even with his own people. ...

"In times of war, there is always a delicate balance between security and liberty. And we must be vigilant that certain lines are not crossed. Keep in mind, however, that great Democratic Presidents such as FDR, Truman, JFK and LBJ approved and implemented far more intrusive intelligence programs in the interest of national security. And the Clinton Administration's Echelon program was similar to the NSA data mining effort."

More here.

Parts III and IV in Peter Pham's Africa Series (BM)

FDD 2005-06 Academic Fellow Peter Pham's third and fourth articles in the series he is writing on Africa and the War on Terror are now available on World Defense Review.

"Militant Islamism's Shadow Rises Over Sub-Saharan Africa," examining the "spread of that radical ideology on the continent," is here.

"Facing Reality in Somalia", looking at the danger of the failed state of Somalia and the hope for unheralded, democratic Somaliland encased within its boarders, is here.

Peter adds this postscript to the latter:  "I should note that since I wrote the article late last week, there have been reports from the BBC that the situation has actually worsened in the Somali 'capital' of Mogadishu with Islamists militants gaining ground against traditional clan leaders in fierce fighting that have left hundreds killed this week."

His previous articles are here and here.

Na na na na

James Lileks channels Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Jack Bauer will not be able to save you this time, my friend. If there is an attack on our country we will double our aid to the Iraqi patriots, double our funding to Hezbollah and its female auxiliary wing Sisboombah, and double again our attempts to secrete through your borders weapons both chemical and biological....

Seriously, when I came to the UN and you didn’t even send a fruit basket, it hurt. Did you not see how well I was received? Did you not see the light of God that surrounded me when I spoke, how no one blinked as I related our message, how doves came out of my mouth and the pants of all were filled with flowers. Did you not note how the exact number of letters I spoke divided by the sum (in Euros) we paid the Chinese engineers was the winning lottery number the following week? Including the Powerball? And you seek to confound my work to bring back the Messiah and bring the world once more into the arms of Islam? Including all penguins?

What are you, nuts?

Sincerely and Death to America,

Mahmoud, descendant of Xerxes, 34th degree Mason, personal valet of the hidden Imam, and not just a member of the Hair Club for Men – I’m also the President! Death to America.

You gotta read the rest.

For more notes & comments see this week's e-newsletter.

Hamas: Send Fighters, Guns, and Money (BM)

Anyone looking for evidence that Hamas will moderate will not want to read this Reuters report:

Palestinian militant group Hamas urged supporters around the world on Wednesday to send it arms, fighters and money to back its fight against arch-foe Israel.

"We ask all the people in surrounding Arab countries, the Muslim world and everyone who wants to support us to send weapons, money and men," Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said in a speech at a pro-Palestinian event in Qatar.

"You should not shy away from of this. This is resistance, not terrorism," said Meshaal whose group -- sworn to the destruction of Israel -- leads the Palestinian government.

The rest is here.

Word from Libyan Dissident Fathi Eljahmi (BM)

Mohamed Eljahmi writes with an update on his brother Fathi, the Libyan dissident imprisoned for speaking out in favor of democracy.  This is the first contact the family has had in some time:

Fathi was visited yesterday by his oldest son and three of his daughters. The visit was an hour long and restricted to personal topics. It has raised Fathi's morale, "Now that I saw you all, I feel at peace."

According to Fathi "They are saying that I am mentally sick and are exerting stress via isolation.  They want to pacify me but I am sticking to principles." He has not taken medications in over a week.  The excuse is the person who gives him medication is traveling and there is no medication available to dispense.

He is allowed access only to Libyan TV and news.  The Quran is the only book he is allowed to have.  He feels it is possible the Libyan regime would strip him off of his citizenship and kick him out of the country.

Global Terrorism Monitor

The latest Global Terrorism Monitor is now available.  This week's issue features stories including: Coalition forces releasing captured outtakes of a recent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi video showing his apparent inability to operate his machine gun; Egyptian police killing the leader of the Monotheism and Jihad terror group; and Fighting between an Islamic militia and "anti-terrorism" warlords in Somalia's capital killing at least 57 people.  Read the whole thing.

Sen. Biden: Free Fathi Eljahmi (BM)

Senator Biden issued the following statement on Libyan dissident Fathi Eljahmi:

It is absolutely despicable that Mr. Eljahmi languishes in isolation in a Libyan jail, cut off from his family and without access to proper medical treatment, for having the courage to speak truth to power. I call again upon the Libyan government to release Fathi Eljahmi immediately and unconditionally.

In accepting responsibility for the Pan Am 103 tragedy and renouncing their weapons of mass destruction programs, the Libyans have taken important steps to rejoin the international community. I think it is important to underscore to the Libyan government that this progress - including in Libya's relationship with the U.S. -- will not continue so long as Libya flagrantly flouts international human rights standards.

The press release is here.

A Policy for Promoting Liberal Democracy in Egypt (EG)

I am pleased to introduce the second in our White Papers series, "Voices from the Middle East on Democratization and Reform," by Dr. Hala Mustafa, Editor-in-Chief of a Cairo-based quarterly on democracy.  The series continues with an insider's perspective on the struggle to liberalize Egyptian politics.

Dr. Mustafa offers an insider's perspective on the struggle to liberalize Egyptian politics. In this paper, "A Policy for Promoting Liberal Democracy in Egypt," Dr. Mustafa argues that the choice between authoritarianism and Islamism in Egypt is a false one, and that American policy can help pave a third path if it focuses on strengthening liberal democratic ideas and figures in Egypt, and not just the democratic process.

"This is No Way to Fight a War" (BM)

Andy McCarthy questions why Moussaoui was tried in civilian courts in Saturday's Wall Street Journal:

It was a verdict in defiance of reason. Such a result is far from unknown in our judicial system; inevitably, courtroom justice and cosmic justice are sometime strangers. That's how we want it. The judicial process is intentionally skewed against the state. It wears proudly the credo: better for the guilty to go free than risk a single innocent's wrongful conviction. This philosophy, rightly, is cherished by freedom-loving people, but only in its place: the realm of domestic law enforcement. It has no place in warfare.

The rest of his op-ed is here.

Hamas Plot to Assasinate Abbas (BM)

This important story from The Times of London has received very little pick up:

A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.

Abbas, who became president of the Palestinian Authority last year after the death of Yasser Arafat, was formally warned of the danger by the Israelis and cancelled a planned visit to the territory.

The murder plan is the clearest sign yet of the tensions inside the Palestinian Authority between Hamas, which swept to power after elections in January, and Abbas’s Fatah movement

Lots of coverage, though, for the gun battle between Hamas and Fatah that left three dead in Gaza.

Which Way on Syria? (BM)

David Schenker of the Washington Institute argues in this op-ed that the U.S. ought to ratchet up the pressure on the Syrian regime by enlisting European help:

For Washington, now is the time for a full-court press. The pressure strategy is working but requires some additional international - particularly European - assistance. Only with a fully joint U.S.-European approach can a tough policy toward Syria have a chance of success. To get the Europeans on board, Washington will have to convince key European capitals that behavior change - and not regime change - is the true policy goal.

FDD Fellow Tony Badran, who covers Syria and Lebanon, has a slightly different take:

I ultimately feel that his conclusion, as realistic and pragmatic as it is, ultimately won't matter to Bashar.   He's playing a zero sum game. I.e., all he needs to do is survive.  He has shown clearly that he has no interest in giving concessions to the EU, not even at the threat of sanctions (he snubbed them by shutting down that HR center built by the EU).

It is clear to anyone watching Bashar that he has chosen the Iran client-proxy choice, and so thinking that he will somehow be brought back into the fold, one way or the other, is ultimately false, in my view. He simply doesn't feel he needs  to do it. He can just wait it out, and cause enough trouble to see cracks emerge in the consensus. They already have. It's a movie we've seen before. It's clear in his policy choices, his behavior, his rhetoric, everything.

So ultimately, this will return us to the situation we had with the Syrians in the 90s, which is horrible. This is not what Schenker is advocating to be sure, but I just think that it will ultimately lead back there. In fact, Bashar is counting on precisely that, which is why he doesn't feel the need to offer any compromises, even as he stares sanctions in the face. In a zero sum game, anything short of regime change, is seen as an acceptable, temporary, sacrifice that will eventually be reversed, and people will "come crawling back" to cut a deal, as Khadddam has said after defecting (explaining Bashar's policy on Iraq and Lebanon).

Need to Know (CM)

Saddam Hussein trained thousands of terrorists from around the Arab world, right up through 2002. And he planned to deploy suicide bombers against the West.

Why don’t most people know that?

Joel Mowbray has much more here.

Facing the Death Penalty (BM)

Not Zacarias Moussaoui, but Libyan dissident Fathi Eljahmi, for his work in support of democracy and free speech -- and for "insulting" Col. Qaddafi:

Libya's most prominent political prisoner, Fathi al-Jahmi, faces a possible death sentence for slandering Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and talking with a foreign official, who may be a U.S. diplomat, Human Rights Watch said today. ...

Human Rights Watch visited al-Jahmi in May 2005 in a special detention facility in Tripoli. He said then that he faced charges on three counts under articles 166 and 167 of the penal code: trying to overthrow the government; insulting al-Qadhafi; and contacting foreign authorities. The third charge, he said, is due to conversations he had with a U.S. diplomat in Tripoli.

With all the fuss about Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House Correspondent's dinner, it's worth remembering that there those who truly have earned the right to have "brave" in front of their names.  Fathi is one of them.

The Human Rights Watch press release on Fathi's case is here.

Read Claudia Rosett's profiles of Fathi Eljahmi are here and here.

Dispatches from the Danger Zone: No More Funding Hezbollah (RWC)

The Bush Administration is trying harder to cut off funding for Hezbollah, which they believe will be Iran’s primary vehicle for terror attacks against the US and the West.

Hezbollah has the more structured military command and it has many decades of experience in killing westerners.

Other than Al Qaeda and the trade towers bombings, Hezbollah has been responsible for more deaths of American citizens than any other group.

According to Jay Solomon, writing in the Wall St. Journal, Washington’s focus on “Hezbollah” has never been higher and there are active investigations into cell activity in the US.

Clinton Iran Policy Debacle? (BM)

The Washington Times finds the Clinton administration's Iran policy overlooked, but part of a larger pattern of concern:

Advocates of solving the Iranian nuclear weapons crisis through negotiations between the United States and Iran (and depending on the particular advocate, the European Union and/or Russia, China and the United Nations) face a huge challenge explaining away the failure of virtually all such previous efforts. During the 27 years since the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the shah, an unfortunate pattern has developed when it comes to Western efforts to engage the mullahs: failure and embarrassment. In 1979, for example, the Carter administration's efforts were stopped by the seizure of the U.S. embassy by Iranian hooligans and the Reagan administration's efforts were dashed in 1986 by reports that Washington attempted to provide Iran with arms in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages.

A great deal less is known, however, about the Iran policy debacle presided over by the Clinton administration.

More here.

What is NATO for? (CM)

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." ...

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 aid 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.

More here.

Moussaoui: Wrong Court, Wrong Debate? (WP)

Should we be surprised by the watershed debate following Zacarias Moussaoui’s trial ending? Not really. The jury rendering of its recommendation is not unusual throughout the American legal war with Terrorism: For the five years court struggle to try al Qaida members and other terrorists in the US legal structure hasn’t been working. After the classroom, America’s court room is too alien to the conflict. In short Moussaoui’s case is not the only one to display a systemic crisis, all other cases did and will continue to do. My take on it, as an analyst of past and future terror wars, can be simplified: The terrorists are processed in the wrong courts and our debate on this legal process is the wrong debate.

Let me be clear from the beginning: The issue I am raising is not about the death sentence or life in prison sentencing. That part should have been the last stage in the debate: The one that seals the sentencing logic, not the discussion that makes the debate. The Moussaoui trial is not about the principle of common criminal sentencing per se; it is about criminalizing Terrorism and its root ideologies.

Global Terrorism Monitor

The latest Global Terrorism Monitor is now available, featuring many stories, including: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitting for the first time that his organization funds Palestinian terror groups; British intelligence sources telling a London newspaper that insurgents linked to Iran are using multi-charged roadside bombs, developed by Hezbollah in Lebanon, against coalition soldiers in Iraq; and Former professor Sami al-Arian being sentenced to the maximum 57 months in prison for his support of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.  Read the whole thing.

Are US Troops in Iran? (CM)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich thinks so.

Kucinich asked US Ambassador John Bolton about Sy Hersh’s “New Yorker” article making that claim. Bolton said he hadn’t read it.

Kucinich: If I gave you this article right now, walked it over, would you look at it?

Bolton: I don’t think so, honestly, Congressman, because I don’t have time to read much fiction.

More here.

Dispatches from the Danger Zone: You Think Gas Prices are Bad Now? (RWC)

Then imagine another terrorist attack, especially one on Saudi oil refineries.

Our friend former CIA Director Jim Woolsey had some interesting things to say about that possibility this week, according to a front page story in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

If terrorists took out the sulfur-cleaning towers in northeastern Saudi Arabia, crude oil prices could easily top $150 a barrel and stay there for more than a year, Woolsey said. 

Just such a scenario was mentioned in a recent book by former CIA officer Bob Baer.

A barrel of oil is now selling for around $73 with gas prices in the United States hovering around $3 a gallon.

Consider that Americans could be paying twice that amount.

Woolsey also made the point that Americans don't want to think about where some of the money goes when they buy gasoline and other oil products: to groups that threaten the U.S. or are hostile to the West in other ways.

He didn’t mean just terrorists. 

Saddam Wasn't A Feminist (CM)

A. Yasmine Rassam writes that those now making the revisionist case for Saddam Hussein are ignoring "the systematic rapes, torture, beheadings, honor killings, forced fertility programs, and declining literacy rates" that characterized his regime.

"One torture technique favored by Saddam's henchman and his sons involved raping a detainee's mother or sister in front of him until he talked. In Saddam's torture chambers women, when not tortured and raped, spent years in dark jails. If lucky, their suckling children were allowed to be with them. In most cases, however, these children were considered a nuisance to be disposed of; mass graves currently being uncovered contain many corpses of children buried alive with their mothers.

"During Saddam's war with Iran, nearly an entire generation of Iraqi men were killed, injured or captured, leaving a dearth of men of military age in Iraqi society. As a result, Saddam launched "fertility campaigns" that forcibly administered fertility drugs to school girls as young as 10 in an effort to drive up the population rate.

After the Gulf War--particularly after crushing the Shiite and Kurdish uprisings of 1991--Saddam reverted to tribal and "Islamic" traditions as a means to consolidate power. Iraqi women paid the heaviest price for his new-found piety. Many women were removed from government jobs and were not allowed to travel without the permission of a male relative. Men were exempted from punishment for "honor" killings--killings carried out on female relatives who had supposedly "shamed" their family. An estimated 4,000 women died from honor killings in the ensuing years. By 2000, Iraqi women, once considered the most highly educated in the Middle East, had literacy levels of only 23%.

"Under the pretext of fighting prostitution in 2000, Saddam's Fedayeen forces beheaded 200 women "dissidents" and dumped their head on their families doorsteps for public display. These women obviously lost whatever "rights" granted to them once they got in Saddam's way. ...

The revisionist history offered by those opposed to the Bush administration--whether it comes from bad judgment, a lack of information or a desire for political advantage--has grave consequences. A brutal dictator who tortures his own people cannot be a champion of women's rights. To pretend otherwise is to dishonor the memory of the thousands of innocent Iraqi women who died in a senseless brutal reign of terror. It also does a grave disservice to the men and women of this country who died or were injured to liberate Iraq."

More here.

For more notes & comments see this week's e-newsletter.

The Strategic Waves of Iraq's Liberation

Walid Phares discusses the impact of the war in Iraq on the greater Middle East in World Defense Review.

Oppression of the Press in the Muslim World

The newest FDD backgrounder, looking at the status of press freedom in the Muslim World, is now available. 

The recent "cartoon riots", often fanned by repressive governments and radical Islamist organizations, threw light into the deep chasm between Western concepts of freedom of the press and the strict control placed on media throughout much of the Muslim world. 

This backgrounder provides a useful reminder of where these riots came from, and what's at stake for western concepts of press freedom if we fail to defend our own values.