FDD

Benazir Bhutto (RWC)

In Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf apparently will quit his army post so he can remain as president of the country.

He is presently also the head of the army and he has been wearing his soldier’s uniform over the eight years since he seized power in a coup. He has been in the army all his adult life and the Pakistani army has incredible power and status in that country.

Musharraf is facing parliamentary elections and threats from his own Supreme Court that could force him from office.

Musharraf has been in lengthy  talks with Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister who heads the center-left Pakistan People’s Party. Bhutto is saying that Musharraf plans to quit the army in exchange for her support.

Like many politicians in Pakistan, the good looking, Harvard educated Mrs. Bhutto is a bit of a crook –more than a bit, actually. She and her husband were indefatigable in accumulating wealth through bribes and corrupt deals. She has allegedly sealed an agreement with Musharraf to drop all corruption charges against her so she can return from exile.

She would join forces with Musharraf so he could stay in office for another five years. 

Mrs. Bhutto has been in exile for years.  When I was in Pakistan right after 9/11, she was living in luxury in Dubai and the UK. She has many powerful friends in Washington among liberal policy makers.

Fighting Three Wars in Iraq (CM)

Christopher Hitchens writes:

When people say that they want to end the war in Iraq, I always want to ask them which war they mean. There are currently at least three wars, along with several subconflicts, being fought on Iraqi soil. The first, tragically, is the battle for mastery between Sunni and Shiite. The second is the campaign to isolate and defeat al-Qaida in Mesopotamia. The third is the struggle of Iraq's Kurdish minority to defend and consolidate its regional government in the north.

More here.

Lessons of Vietnam

Max Boot writes:

The only hope for long-term political progress is to limit the power of the militias --the real powers -- which must  start by curbing the violence which gives them much of their raison d'être. That is what the forces under Gen. David  Petraeus's command are now doing. We'll need considerably more progress on the security front before we can expect  any substantial political progress at the national level.

More here.

Material Support to Terrorism: U.S. to Fatah (AM)

From the New York Sun: 

American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the "success" of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun.

"I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings," a senior officer of President Abbas's Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said.

America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services.

This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory.

Meanwhile, those lovable moderates from Fatah (the ones whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel), while they collect hundreds of millions in U.S. funding and resources, are reportedly in secret negotiations for a rapprochement with Hamas.  They have even begun releasing Hamas detainees.  Maybe soon we'll be able to fund and train all of them together — y'know, as part of that "peace process."

Who Makes Policy? (CM)

Ever wonder why president’s policies don’t get implemented? Peter Baker in the Washington Post relates an exchange between a government official and a State Department bureaucrat over President Bush’s policy to promote democracy abroad:

The official recalled a conversation with a State Department bureaucrat over a democracy issue.

"It's our policy," the official said.

"What do you mean?" the bureaucrat asked.

"Read the president's speech," the official said.

"Policy is not what the president says in speeches," the bureaucrat replied. "Policy is what emerges from interagency meetings."

More here.

Al-Qaeda Worldwide (CM)

Sen. Joe Lieberman writes:

[D]efeating al Qaeda in Iraq requires not only that we continue pressing the offensive against its leadership and infrastructure inside the country. We must also aggressively target its links to "global" al Qaeda and close off the routes its foreign fighters are using to get into Iraq.

Recently declassified American intelligence reveals just how much al Qaeda in Iraq is dependent for its survival on the support it receives from the broader, global al Qaeda network, and how most of that support flows into Iraq through one country -- Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq is sustained by a transnational network of facilitators and human smugglers, who replenish its supply of suicide bombers -- approximately 60 to 80 Islamist extremists, recruited every month from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and sent to meet their al Qaeda handlers in Syria, from where they are taken to Iraq to blow themselves up to kill countless others.

Although small in number, these foreign fighters are a vital strategic asset to al Qaeda in Iraq, providing it with the essential human ammunition it needs to conduct high-visibility, mass-casualty suicide bombings, such as we saw last week in northern Iraq. In fact, the U.S. military estimates that between 80% and 90% of suicide attacks in Iraq are perpetrated by foreign fighters, making them the deadliest weapon in al Qaeda's war arsenal. Without them, al Qaeda in Iraq would be critically, perhaps even fatally, weakened.

More here.

Al-Qaeda in Pakistan (RWC)

General Pervez Musharraf, the strongman of Pakistan, is complaining that US air strikes against al Qaeda, or more specifically publicity about those strikes, is hurting him politically in Pakistan.

He made that complaint to a visiting US senator, a generally annoying publicity hound so I’m not going to mention his name.  President Musharraf said all the talk is “unhelpful”.

A week ago Mr.  Musharraf was talking about imposing martial law, claiming comments, like those recently of Barrack Obama, were causing widespread public unrest.  But the Pakistani president's remarks about martial law upset his countrymen a whole lot more and he backed quickly away.

Staging posts for al Qaeda attacks were crushed recently by artillery fire and helicopter gun-ships.  Ten militants or more were killed.

Al-Qaeda in Pakistan (RWC)

General Pervez Musharraf, the strongman of Pakistan, is complaining that US air strikes against al Qaeda, or more specifically publicity about those strikes, is hurting him politically in Pakistan.

He made that complaint to a visiting US senator, a generally annoying publicity hound so I’m not going to mention his name.  President Musharraf said all the talk is “unhelpful”.

A week ago Mr.  Musharraf was talking about imposing martial law, claiming comments, like those recently of Barrack Obama, were causing widespread public unrest.  But the Pakistani president's remarks about martial law upset his countrymen a whole lot more and he backed quickly away.

Staging posts for al Qaeda attacks were crushed recently by artillery fire and helicopter gun-ships.  Ten militants or more were killed.

It’s A Start (CM)

Thee United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances

More here.

What’s In a Name? (CM)

Christopher Hitchens writes that al-Qaida in Mesopotamia is a branch of al-Qaida itself.

More here.

Al-Qaeda Attacks in Iraq Drop (CM)

Military officers say al-Qaeda networks in Iraq are being damaged. Iranian-backed Shia death squads are still a problem.

USA Today has more here.

Our Friends the Saudis: Keep Your Bibles, Crucifixes and Stars of David Home (AM)

From the Jerusalem Post:

Despite a series of initiatives aimed at generating foreign tourism, the Saudi Arabian government continues to bar Jews and Christians from bringing items such as Bibles, crucifixes and Stars of David into the country and is threatening to confiscate them on sight, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

"A number of items are not allowed to be brought into the kingdom due to religious reasons and local regulations," declares the Web site of Saudi Arabian Airlines, the country's national carrier.

After informing would-be visitors that items such as narcotics, firearms and pornography may not be transported into the country, the Web site adds: "Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others."

Contacted by the Post, an employee of Saudi Arabian Airlines in New York, who would only give her name as Gladys, confirmed this rule was in force. "Yes, sir," she said, "that is what we have heard, that it is a problem to bring these things into Saudi Arabia, so you cannot do it."

An official at the Saudi Consulate in New York, who declined to give her name, told the Post that anyone bringing a Bible into the country or wearing a crucifix or Star of David around their neck would run into trouble with Saudi authorities. "You are not allowed to bring that stuff into the kingdom," the consular official said. "If you do, they will take it away," she warned, adding, "If it is really important to you, then you can try to bring it and just see what happens, but I don't recommend that you do so."

Asked to explain the policy, the official said, "Every country has rules about what can or cannot enter."

Steve Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism, which pointed me to the JPost story, also notes that the pertinent Saudi Customs regulations can be found here.

Had They Been Two White Kids, No One Would Have Cared ... about, y'know, those Pipe Bombs (AM)

But, alas, they were Muslims so everybody cares. Or, better yet, CAIRs.

Yes, that execrable organization and it's official Sami al-Arian-pom-pom-wavin' spokesman, Ahmed Bedier, are at it again. 

First, Bedier pronounced, before anything approaching an investigation could have been done, that the two Egyptian Muslims who were arrested over the weekend in South Carolina, were totally innocent: ust a couple of "really naive kids" (ages 21 and 26) who happened to have some "fireworks" in their car as they made their way on one of those crazy college kid field trips...one that just happened to take them by Goose Creek where the the U.S. Naval Weapons Station is located, many miles from Tampa, where they attend the University of South Florida's School of Engineering. 

And, here, well, let's just say we end up with one of those you-just-can't-make-it-up coincidences: That happens be the same USF School of Engineering that served as home base for former Professor Sami al-Arian while he was laboring for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.  And, whaddya know, Al-Arian's case was the last time we were hearing so regularly from Bedier. By the end, in spring 2006, he was boldly pronouncing that Sami would stick to his guns. He would not  under any circumstances plead guilty to any terrorism offenses because there was "no conspiracy to support terrorism." That turned out to be right before al-Arian pled guilty to conspiracy to provide services to a designated terrorist organization. He's since been deported.

Now Bedier is once again on the case for Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed and Yousef Samir Megahed, the really naive kids with the, er, fireworks. Of course, Bedier wants you to understand, he and CAIR are absolutely, positively, opposed to terrorism, without reservation. Why, he even made a point of saying, "If it's clearly a pipe bomb that's a different story. Then there is cause for concern." 

Well, guess what? Police say it was actually several pipe bombs and formally charged the men with possession of an explosive device (a felony under South Carolina law, punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment).

So, then, it's a "different story," right Mr. Bedier? 

It sure is. Now — make sure you're sitting down for this, you'll never, ever guess — the story is...Islamophobic profiling!

Here's Bedier today in a story posted on CAIR's website: "'Had they been two white kids nobody would be asking any questions,' Ahmed Bedier, Executive Director of the Counsel For Islamic American Relations (CAIR), said." (For regular readers, you'll find it in the always dynamic "CAIR in the News" section — thanks to Greg Pollowitz for the heads-up). 

But of course!  We all know that white kids — other than my son, apparently — never get stopped for speeding. And on those rare occasions when they do, the police always let white kids off with a warning: "Look here, son, stop driving so fast. Last thing you need is to make those those pipe bombs rattle around in the trunk." 

Oh, the injustice! I'm ashamed to live in this country. No Justice No Peace, Insha Allah!

South Carolina Bomb Scare Update: Two Defendants Charged with Felony Explosives Possession (AM)

Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been charged by authorities in South Carolina with possession of an incendiary advice, a felony punishable by at least two and up to fifteen years' imprisonment.  AP quotes the sheriff as saying:  "They admitted to having what they said were fireworks. Based on the officer's judgment at hand, based on what he had seen, we judged it to be other than fireworks."  Authorities remain tight-lipped about exactly what they found in the car.  Their bomb technicians did detonate something seized from the car at 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

The two are engineering students at the University of South Florida's campus at Tampa — the same school where Prof. Sami al-Arian, while a computer science professor USF's College of Engineering, was running an outpost of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.  Al-Arian pled guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to PIJ.  The FBI, it should be noted, has not altered its earlier statement that no terror ties have been established.

A Changing Battlefield (CM)

Bill Kristol, just back from Iraq, writes in TWS online about the dramatic changes taking place in Iraq — and in the American debate over Iraq. He says that July

began with Democratic unity in proclaiming the inevitability of American defeat. It ended with respected military analysts—Democrats, no less!—reporting that the situation on the ground had improved, and that the war might be winnable. It began with a plan for a series of votes in Congress that were supposed to stampede nervous Republicans against the continued prosecution of the war. It ended with the GOP spine stiffened, no antiwar legislation passed, and the Democratic Congress adjourning in disarray, with approval ratings lower than President Bush's. …

Americans' support for the initial invasion of Iraq has risen somewhat as the White House has continued to ask the public to reserve judgment about the war until at least the fall. …

In the real world, the public is skeptical of the administration's stance on Iraq—but not overwhelmingly or irretrievably so. … 51 percent are now at least open to giving the policy more time. That's up from 43 percent a month ago. …

[P]rogress on the ground in Iraq is likely to continue. It can't be taken for granted, given the nature of a war against a ruthless and adaptable enemy. Still, one British general—no cheerleader for our conduct of the war in the past—told me in Baghdad last week, "It's getting better—and I don't see why it shouldn't continue to do so." …

This denial will likely get more and more difficult. After all, civilian deaths in Baghdad are decreasing, and al Qaeda's networks and safe havens are being systematically disrupted. In Anbar, and now in Diyala, a bottom-up reconciliation is moving ahead as tribal sheikhs have turned against al Qaeda and are siding with American troops and Iraqi Security Forces. …

What's more, the public debate will move from a referendum on Bush's conduct of the war over the past four years to a discussion of the choices ahead, as Gen. Petraeus's testimony in September draws near. The public will finally have to consider seriously the implications of giving up on Iraq, as opposed to supporting the continued prosecution of a war we might well win. …

Bing West on Iraq (CM)

Military commentator and former assistant secretary of Defense Bing West told a House subcommittee

The President and the Congress agree about the desirability of a withdrawal of US forces; the issue is under what conditions. It makes a vast difference to our self-esteem as a nation, to our reputation around the world and to the morale of our enemies whether we say we are withdrawing because the Iraqi forces have improved or because we have given up. …

[I]f the rationale for withdrawal is because Iraq seems hopeless, then leaving behind a residual force is fraught with peril. You cannot quit, and expect to manage what happens after you quit. Iraq, if it perceives it is being abandoned, could fly apart quickly. …

[T]he rationale for withdrawal drives everything that comes thereafter. Why are we withdrawing? Is it because we as a nation have given up, concluding that full-scale civil war is inevitable; or has our military succeeded, allowing Iraqi forces to maintain stability?

I do not see a compromise "middle ground" between those two rationales.

More here.

CAIR’s Assault on Free Speech (CM)

Joel Mowbray writes:

For years, CAIR has attempted to stifle debate and prevent inquiry into the domestic spread of radical Islam. Conservative columnist Cal Thomas was the latest target, when CAIR attempted to drum him out of his role as an official commentator at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C. The group was almost certainly emboldened by its success in the same city two years earlier, when it got then-Disney-owned WMAL to can talk host Michael Graham. Similar such smear campaigns are legion.

If only CAIR could muster the same contempt—or any contempt, for that matter—for Islamic terrorists. …

Never has CAIR condemned by name Islamic terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. Given the opportunity to condemn Hamas by Newsweek last December, CAIR executive director and co-founder Nihad Awad refused, claiming that the question was “the game of the pro-Israel lobby.”

While CAIR incessantly hypes its 2005 fatwa against terrorism and extremism, the document intentionally avoided defining the two terms. Fundamentalist Muslims who wish harm upon the U.S. and Israel do not consider themselves “extreme.” Nor do Hezbollah and Hamas believe that they are terrorists.

This is CAIR's modus operandi: appearing to oppose terrorism, while simultaneously leading the charge against those who actually seek to thwart it.

More here.

No Confidence? (CM)

Tony Blankley writes:

On June 25 the following resolution was tabled in the House: "That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism  andendurance of the Armed Forces... in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central  direction of the war."

That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in  which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill.

More here.

Al-Qaeda in Pakistan (CM)

What should the U.S. do about it? David Ignatius writes:

Henry Crumpton, a former CIA officer who was one of the heroes of the agency's campaign to destroy al-Qaeda's haven in Afghanistan in late 2001...served as the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism. He...argues that the United States must take preventive action but that it should do so carefully, through proxies wherever possible. The right model for a Waziristan campaign is the CIA-led operation in Afghanistan, not the U.S. military invasion of Iraq. Teams of CIA officers and Special Forces soldiers are best suited to work with tribal leaders, providing them weapons and money to fight an al-Qaeda network that has implanted itself brutally in Waziristan through the assassination of more than 100 tribal leaders during the past six years. It would be better to conduct such operations jointly with Pakistan, but if the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf can't or won't cooperate, the United States should be prepared to go it alone, Crumpton argues.

"The United States has an obligation to defend itself and its citizens," says Crumpton. "We either do it now, or we do it after the next attack."

More here.