In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

'We Arabs are the Epitome of Racism'

In his column in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, 'Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar criticized the persecution of Christians in Arab countries, with a particular emphasis on the Christian population of the Palestinian Authority.

Following are excerpts from the article:

"In Iraq, a crime is currently being committed - another in a series of iniquities brought by the winds of change that came in the wake of the [U.S.] occupation, which sought to impregnate Iraq with the seed of democracy. [But] the [resulting] fetus emerged deformed and weird. The worst outcome of this situation is, possibly, the carnage against ethnic communities and minorities that has swept through Iraq. Neither Sunnis, nor Shi'ites, nor Christians, nor Kurds, nor Turkmen, nor [members of] other [groups] have managed to escape it.

"However, the string of murders and expulsions of Christians, which has been going on for several months, is by far the most grievous - [and] it [must be taken as] a warning that hostility and crimes against minorities may spread to the neighboring countries [as well].

"Christians are being persecuted not only in Iraq, but in most Arab countries, regardless of their numbers there. They are subjected to every possible kind of discrimination, as well as expulsion. The problem is that it is not only Arab officials who are remaining silent [in the face of these crimes] - [they do so] because their primitive mentality is centered on the cult of the ruler - but, alarmingly, so are Arab intellectuals, the elites, non-government organizations, and leaders of the private sector. All these groups look on at these unprecedented [acts of] folly without apprehending the danger with which these crimes are fraught.

"Statistics show that in 2005 the number of Christians in Iraq was as high as 800,000. By early 2008, it had dropped by half, [indicating] that 50 percent of Iraqi Christians had been expelled from their homes and lands.

"Today, this problem is also rampant in Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, and Palestine - and while the situation may be slightly different in Palestine, the trend is the same.

"Let us be honest with ourselves and courageously say out loud that Palestinian Christians are taking many severe blows, yet are suffering in silence so as not to attract attention. I do not refer here to the suffering caused by the occupation... but to actions of the past 20 years at least - that is, since the beginning of the occupation in 1967 - involving the confiscation of Christian property, especially in Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Al-Birah.

"What makes things worse is that those who are plundering [the Christians'] property are either powerful [in their own right] or are backed by various elements, among them high-ranking military officials or influential members of large clans.

"Attempts by the political leadership to partially rectify this situation have failed. Nor has the judiciary system been able to [resolve] many of the problems, which we still face today. Over the past few years, several of my Christian friends have told me of the harm they have suffered, including various threats, even death threats, for trying to gain access to their lands after they were taken over by influential Bethlehem residents.

"Furthermore, there has been an attempt to marginalize Christian culture in Palestine, even though it is rich and deeply rooted [there]. This began with [accusations] of unbelief [against Christians] - a move that ultimately harmed Palestinian society as a whole...

"Despite all the injustices [against the Christians], no one has seen or heard of any constructive action to curb it and to [defend] the Christians' rights - whether by the elites, by any of the three branches (executive, legislative, and judiciary), by non-government organizations, or even by the political factions themselves. [Such action should have been forthcoming] not out of kindness and compassion, but [due to] regarding Palestinian Christians as indigenous to this land, and [therefore] no different from us, with the same rights and obligations [as Muslims].

"But the most fundamental problem here may be related to culture. We continue to instill a horrific culture in our children, one that sees Christians as infidels... and as 'the other.' We need an injection of humanistic and national awakening; we must raise an outcry and stand up to restore the Christians' rights, of which they have been deprived - [and we must do this] in order to preserve the demographic balance, which will safeguard the unity of our homeland and the justness the Palestinian cause.

"[Let us] remember that the tribes of Arabia were Christian. The best writers and poets were Christian, as were [many] warriors and philosophers... It is they who bore the banner of pan-Arabism. The first Palestinian university was established by Christians.

"Enough [examples]! It is not words that we need, but progressive attitudes, and the truth, so that it can be presented to tyrannical rulers, and so that clerics and old men will not be the only Christians left in the Holy Land and in the city of [Jesus'] birth."

'We Arabs are the Epitome of Racism'

[Shammu]

PA Man Sentenced to Death for Fighting Terrorism
Cheshvan 16, 5769 / November 14, '08
by Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) A 24-year-old Palestinian Authority Arab man was sentenced to death on Wednesday for helping Israel fight terrorism, PA media outlets reported. The sentence will not be carried out until it is approved by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Prosecutors said the young man, whose name has been kept a secret, was recruited by Israeli agents while working at an Israeli gas station in 1999. He began watching local men who attacked Israeli vehicles with rocks in the Hevron region and turning their names over to Israeli intelligence agents.

The man was then hired by the PA police and began working as a naval officer. He allegedly informed on two terrorists associated with Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades to Israeli forces. The two were assassinated by IDF soldiers in 2002.

PA police say the man confessed to the allegations. Many PA prisoners who have “confessed” have later reported that their confessions were given under duress, and several human rights groups have expressed concern over the frequent use of torture by PA officers to obtain confessions.

The man was sentenced to death under a 1979 law that makes cooperation with Israeli troops punishable by death. The law is still enforced despite the PA's commitment under multiple peace accords to fight terrorism, including that carried out by the Al-Aksa brigades.

PA Man Sentenced to Death for Fighting Terrorism

[Shammu]

Saudi 'Interfaith Dialogue' a Ploy for Criminalizing Islam Critique
Cheshvan 16, 5769 / November 14, '08
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) The widely publicized Saudi-backed interfaith meeting held at the United Nations this week was a front to promote a global law against blasphemy, two religious freedom leaders wrote in the Christian Science Monitor. The proposed law would "crush religious freedom," according to Donald Argue and Leonard Leo.

They reported that Saudi King Abdullah is pushing for a proposal sponsored by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that wants a law that ostensibly guarantees respect for religions, places of worship, and their symbols, "therefore preventing the derision of what people consider sacred."

"The lofty-sounding principle is, in fact, a cleverly coded way of granting religious leaders the right to criminalize speech and activities that they deem to insult religion," they wrote in the Monitor.

"Holding a session on advancing interfaith dialogue abroad is a pale substitute for hosting it in the kingdom, where the message of respect for freedom of religion and belief is most needed," Leo and Argue stated.

Saudi Arabia does not permit the public practice of any religion except for Islam. A government agency, called the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, patrols the country with whips to enforce the law.

In one recent case, King Abdullah intervened after publicity of a decision to sentence a woman to 200 lashes and six months in prison for traveling in a car with a man who was not her relative. The pardon came after she was gang-raped by seven men as punishment.

Former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe, speaking for the European Union, warned at the conference that dialogue cannot be carried out without free speech, referring to the 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.

In response, Muslim riots throughout the world resulted in several deaths.

Media covering the U.N. conference focused on King Abdullah's statements that religion should not be used as a front for terrorism. His country is infested with anti-Kingdom terrorists, many of them affiliated with Al Qaeda.

King Abdullah has been trying to improve Saudi Arabia's image since the September 11 terrorist attacks were carried out by 15 Saudi terrorists among the 19 who were on the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

President Shimon Peres also spoke at the conference, and media noted it was the first time that a Saudi Arabia official has not walked out when an Israeli spoke. 

Saudi 'Interfaith Dialogue' a Ploy for Criminalizing Islam Critique

[Shammu]

Another Islamic Charity Shut Down for Funding Terror...
November 12, 2008

    WASHINGTON – The Bush administration acted Wednesday against an Islamic charity suspected of helping to bankroll Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that the United States considers an international terrorist organization.

    The Treasury Department's action against the Union of Good means that any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to the charity found in the United States will be frozen. Americans also are barred from making donations to the group, which the U.S. government alleged was created by leaders of Hamas to transfer money to Hamas....

    The department alleged that the Union of Good "acts as a broker for Hamas" by facilitating money transfers among a web of charitable organizations — some of which the United States has already put on its blacklist of terrorist financiers — and Hamas-controlled organizations in the West Bank and Gaza.

    "Some of the funds transferred by the Union of Good have compensated Hamas terrorists by providing payments to the families of suicide bombers," Treasury alleged.

    The Union of Good facilitates "the transfer of tens of millions of dollars a year to Hamas-managed associations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," the department said.

[Shammu]

Global Relief Foundation, Holy Land Foundation, and so many others, and now yet another Islamic charity is shut down for funding jihad terrorism.

One would think that since this keeps happening, someone would get a clue. This charitable support comes from people who believe that by paying zakat to aid jihad, they are discharging their religious duty. But this aspect of the Islamic charity phenomenon never seems to come into consideration.

The Union of Good facilitates "the transfer of tens of millions of dollars a year to Hamas-managed associations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," the department said.

One of many funneling money from all over the world to a people who choose death over life. And yet they still depend on Israel for power, water, food.

[Shammu]

Umm Suqeim, Brother Stabs Sister, Lover for Honor...

By Zaher Bitar, Staff Reporter

Dubai Police arrested the son of a Gulf diplomat for allegedly killing an Emirati man in a suspected case of honour killing, police sources said.

The victim died after he was allegedly stabbed by the Gulf national inside the diplomat’s villa in Umm Suqeim at around 3am on Monday.

The sources said the slain Emirati, 36, had sneaked into the villa to meet the diplomat’s daughter. Police are holding the 23-year-old suspect in custody. The case is with the Public Prosecution.

Caught in the act

The incident took place after the suspect discovered the Emirati man allegedly sneaking out of his sister’s room.

He stabbed the victim seven times following a fight between them. He then turned to his sister and stabbed her twice, sources said, though a police officer denied that the suspect’s sister was wounded. She will, however, be medically examined.

Despite sustaining stab wounds on the waist, stomach and the back, the victim managed to run past the villa’s gate and called his cousin to pick him up before he lost consciousness.

Dead on arrival

His cousin took him to the Iranian Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. His family buried him on Tuesday afternoon in Al Quoz graveyard.

Dubai Police confirmed the incident but declined to provide details.

The sources said the suspect and his sister, whose mother is Emirati, belong to a well-known family and both are university students. The diplomat was out of the country when the incident took place.

The diplomat was out of the country when the incident took place.

Umm Suqeim, Brother Stabs Sister, Lover for Honor...

[Shammu]

Taliban kill mullah critical of suicide attacks
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 14, 8:05 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – Suspected Taliban militants killed a religious leader in western Afghanistan after he criticized the use of suicide attacks as a weapon of war in the country, an Afghan official said Friday.

Militants kidnapped Shamsudin Agha in Farah province's Anar Dara district on Tuesday, days after he led prayers condemning the practice of using suicide attacks, said provincial police Chief Abdul Ghafar Watandar.

Suicide attacks are one of the Taliban's preferred tactics in their assaults against Afghan and foreign troops. Most of the victims of such attacks have been civilians.

Authorities recovered Agha's body on Wednesday night, Watandar said.

Violence by the Taliban and other insurgent groups has spiked this year to record levels. Attacks are up 30 percent from 2007, military officials say.

On Thursday, another suicide car bomber struck a U.S. patrol, killing eight Afghan civilians and one U.S. soldier and wounding 74 civilians, Afghan officials said.

Nearly 1,000 civilians are among the approximately 5,400 people killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press of figures provided by Afghan and international officials. Most of the reported dead have been militants.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed four al-Qaida-linked militants during a raid in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.

The troops were targeting militants who helped local Taliban leaders bring Arab and other foreign fighters into Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement Friday.

None of the militants killed was identified.

Taliban kill mullah critical of suicide attacks
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As normal, muslims kill anyone who disagrees with them including there own.

[Shammu]

1,019 women killed for honour over three years
November 14, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was told on Thursday that more than 7,000 cases of rape and murders of women were registered between 2005 and 2007, in addition to 1,019 cases of honour killings. According to statistics tabled in the Lower House, the total number of honour killing cases is 1,019 – 321 in 2005, 339 in 2006 and 359 in 2007. Stove burning cases include 18 cases in 2005, 17 in 2006 and 10 in 2007. Meanwhile, 3,236 murder cases were registered during the period between 2005 and 2007 – 1,075 in 2005, 1,084 in 2006 and 1,077 in 2007. Similarly, 4,971 rape cases were registered in this period. The number of registered cases of domestic violence in the country is 4,290, apart from acid attacks, honour killings and stove accidents. The statistics showed that 53 cases of acid attacks were registered between 2005 and 2007. staff report

1,019 women killed for honour over three years

[Shammu]

Muslims Repeated Sexual assault of British Women and Abroad

The outrageous, steady pattern of Asian (media speak for muslim) attacking, sexually assaulting British women continues.  Just in the past few days these crimes have been noted.............
~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunt for City Centre Attacker
Story below.........

Hunt for City Centre Attacker
11/14/08
THIS is the man wanted by police after a sexual assault in Sheffield city centre.
Officers were called after a 19-year-old woman reported being attacked on Burgess Street, off Barker's Pool, at 1.20am on Thursday October 2.

The man they want to speak to is Asian, aged in his mid 30s, around 5ft 9ins tall, slim and clean shaven. He was wearing a black hooded top and grey jeans when he struck.

Sex Attacker Strikes in City Park
Story below.......

Sex Attacker Strikes in City Park

11/11/08

A woman has been sexually assaulted in a park in Leicester.

It happened at around 1245 GMT on Saturday as the 19-year-old was walking through Victoria Park on the footpath towards the university.

As she passed the tennis courts and the war memorial, a man approached her and attacked her.

Afterwards the victim kept walking along the same footpath but the man followed her, only leaving when she reached the campus site.

He is described as Asian, with a pale complexion, in his late 20s, about 5ft 6in tall and medium build.

He has short black hair and is of "scruffy" appearance with a scar above his lip on the right side.
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This is not only a British problem but a problem for Western cultures, islam teaches muslims to not only feel entitled to rape our "inferior" women but see rape as a victory over the infidel on their path to islamization of the world or Global Caliphate. It is time to look at big picture and see the ever growing numbers of rape of "kaffir" women as not just a muslim crime but also an act of terrorism.

Both Norway and Sweden persist in covering up the ever increasing numbers of rapes committed by muslims.  Muslims view Western women as cheap and "fair game". Western women are likely considered war booty" by muslims who feel they are conquering Europe & the UK."

Women in the United States at the moment, are safer then women abroad from muslim attacks.

[Shammu]

State Department: Possibly tens of thousands of Somalis in the US illegally

November 12, 2008

Take note citizens of welcoming towns like Ft. Morgan and Greeley, CO,  or not so thrilled towns like Postville, IA, Shelbyville, TN, and Grand Island, NE, the US State Department has confirmed that tens of thousands of Somalis have entered the US illegally through the US Refugee Admissions (P-3 family reunification) Program, possibly for as long as 20 years.

We had reported in August that random DNA testing demonstrated that 80% of those seeking entry into the US from African countries (mostly Somalis) were not related to those they claimed as relatives.  In light of that shocking revelation, the program was temporarily suspended.   A fact sheet, published today by the State Department, fills us in further on details of this outrage.

95% of immigrants using this program are from Africa.  36,000 alone came in the years since 2003 and as high (or higher!) than 80% of those are most likely here illegally.   So much for all the volag administrators telling the folks in these towns being swamped by Somalis that their new neighbors have been thoroughly screened by Homeland Security!   How do you screen someone when you don’t even know who they are?

Rumor has it that many of these illegal aliens bought their way into the US by purchasing Affidavits of Relationship on the streets of Nairobi.

So what I would like to know now is,  are we going to prosecute (and deport) the tens of thousands who have come to the US illegally for the LAST 20 YEARS?   According to this fact sheet, the next step is up to the Department of Homeland Security (in the Obama administration).

Convenient huh, the State Department has known about this fraud for months but only reports the details now when it is too late for the Bush Administration to do anything about it.   Just pass this African hot potato to the next President—The One with African roots.

Here are selected portions of the State Department’s bombshell fact sheet:
Q: What is this program?

A: A “Priority Three,” or “P-3 ” designation grants access to the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to individuals of certain nationalities who are claimed as a parent, spouse, or minor child by certain legal residents in the United States. Priority One and Two applicants are granted access to the program through a referral by UNHCR, a U.S. Embassy or qualified NGO, or special direct registration programs based on the individual’s vulnerability and/ refugee characteristics. Being granted access to the program is only the first step, however. DHS must determine that an applicant, regardless of priority, is a refugee under U.S. law and is otherwise admissible.

Access to the USRAP based on family ties has been available to various nationalities since the 1980s. In recent years, applications to the P-3 program have been overwhelmingly African – primarily Somalis, Ethiopians and Liberians – accounting for some 95% of the P-3 applications.

Q: Why did the US decide to conduct DNA testing of some nationality groups applying for resettlement in the US?

A: The Departments of State and Homeland Security jointly decided to test a sample of refugee cases due to reported fraud in the P-3 program, particularly in Kenya.

Q: What is the rate of fraud that has been discovered?

A: The rate of fraud discovered varies among nationalities and from country to country, and is difficult to establish definitively as many individuals refused to submit DNA samples. We were, however, only able to confirm all claimed biological relationships in fewer than 20% of cases (family units). The remainder contained at least one negative result (fraudulent relationship) or refused to be tested.

Q: What measures will be taken against the thousands of refugees who have come into the United States through the P-3 program in the last 20 years?

A: That is a question for the Department of Homeland Security.

Q: Why did you only conduct DNA testing in Africa?

A: We began in Africa because African P-3s have accounted for more than 95% of P-3 refugee arrivals worldwide in recent years. In addition, we received frequent reports – which were correct, as it turned out – that there was widespread fraud in the program there.

Q: How many relatives of refugees or asylees have come from Africa to the US via the P-3 program in recent years?

A: Since October 1, 2003, some 36,000 people have arrived from Africa through the P-3 program.

Q: How many P-3s were admitted to the United States, from elsewhere in the world, in recent years?

A: Since October 1, 2003, some 400 people have arrived from other parts of the world through the P-3 program.

State Department: Possibly tens of thousands of Somalis in the US illegally

[Shammu]

Wife Nearly Killed for Not Answering Phone...
13 November 2008

A man who tried to kill his new bride weeks after their wedding in Pakistan has been jailed for seven years at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Muhammed Rashad, 29, strangled, battered and tried to suffocate his cousin, Zahida, at their home in Kings Park, Glasgow, last October.

The attack happened after she had failed to answer the phone.

Rashad was convicted of attempted murder in September. He was told he could be deported after his sentence.

The court heard how Rashad attacked his wife after demanding to know where she was when he tried to phone her.

She told him she had been in the house but had not heard the phone.

Rashad called her stupid before repeatedly punching her, slapping her with his hands and hitting her with a wooden spoon until it broke.

The woman then ran to her father-in-law's room and begged for help.

The court was told that he did nothing while Rashad kicked her and wrapped a mobile phone charger cord around her neck.

Rashid then tried to strangle his wife with his hands and smother her with a pillow.

Jailing him, judge Lord Kingarth, said: "You were found guilty of a prolonged, violent, dangerous and frightening attack on your young wife who was then in a particularly vulnerable position, she having only recently come from Pakistan to live in the United Kingdom.

"This is a matter which this court has to take seriously.

"In all the circumstances I am satisfied that only a substantial custodial sentence is appropriate."

Lord Kingarth said he did not think it appropriate to recommend deporting Rashad because he had lived in the UK for years, had not offended before, and was deemed to be at low-risk of re-offending.

But he said that the Secretary of State had the power to send him back to his native Pakistan after his sentence.

Wife Nearly Killed for Not Answering Phone...

[Shammu]

Man Named Islam Jailed 9 years for Attempted Rape...
14/11/2008

A TAXI driver has been jailed for nine years for trying to rape a woman in Manchester city centre.

Shahjahan Islam, aged 27, of Meldreth Road, Longsight, was found guilty of attacking his victim after she got into his private hire taxi last August.

He was convicted of attempted rape following a trial at Chester Crown Court last month and was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

The woman, who cannot be identified, had been enjoying a night out with friends when she decided to go home in the early hours of Saturday 25 August, 2007.

She got into the rear of the taxi, driven by Islam, but after several minutes she realised they were going the wrong way.

Islam drove her to the Northern Quarter and tried to rape her. She then ran off when he was unable to start his car.

He was arrested after DNA was recovered from the victim.

Detective Constable Louise Henson, from Grey Mare Lane CID, said: "This woman had just gone out to have fun with her friends and thought she would get a taxi home for safety, but has instead been abused by somebody in a position to take advantage of a woman on her own.

"I'd like to reassure the public that although incidents like this are frightening they are also very rare."

Man Named Islam Jailed 9 years for Attempted Rape...

[Shammu]

'Mother of all suicide bombers' warns of rise in attacks
A captured Iraqi terrorist known as the "mother of the female suicide bombers" has taunted interrogators that her network of volunteers is too big to be destroyed by her arrest.

Aqeel Hussein in Baquba and Damien McElroy
16 Nov 2008

Itisam Adwan, who is accused of grooming young and vulnerable women for bomb attacks, has told police in Baquba that so many others are following her lead that they will not be able to stop them.

Last week a suicide bomber who blew herself killing five Iraqi guards at a checkpoint was revealed by police to have been just 13 years old - making her the youngest such attacker so far in a spate of such bombings in the city, capital of the troubled Diyala province.

Baquba, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, has suffered an onslaught of women, some barely out of their teens, willing to inflict mass casualties as they target the security forces and public venues like markets. Although female suicide bombers had been seen in other wars, such as Chechnya's Black Widows or the Tamil Tigers' Death Maidens, the phenomenon was rare in Iraq until early this year.

The attack on Monday brought to 27 the number of women who had dressed up in explosives to kill themselves and others in Diyala alone. Across Iraq since the beginning of the year in Iraq more than 30 women have died in suicide attacks, compared with only eight in 2007.

Six days after the attack, police said they had still not determined the identity of the girl involved. But they revealed startling details about Itisam Adwan, whom they arrested in late September, and the role of women in fomenting such attacks.

The terrorist, who goes by the nom de guerre, Umm Fatima - the mother of Fatima - is said to be both tough and unrepentant.

Captain Ahmed Jasim, a spokesman for the Baquba police, said that the 38-year-old had described how a group of women, mainly widows of terrorist "martyrs", who are grooming younger relatives and acquaintances for death.

"She said she is just one of many mothers who do the same job," he said. "And there are many girls who are willing to die. The mothers tell them that they will go to heaven, where they will sit by rivers of honey and have lunch with the prophet Mohammad and live in comfort.

"The girls are the wives of al-Qaeda members, so their husbands tell them that their martyrdom would be glorious and the husbands too will automatically get to heaven as a result of their wives willingness to kill themselves in the name of religion."

Rania Ibrahim, a 15-year old who was captured at a checkpoint wearing a suicide vest in Diyala in August, is one of those pushed into terrorism in this way. She was a frustrated, poorly-educated teenager who had been sold into marriage with a terrorist operative. Umm Fatima, her husband's aunt, then cajoled her into attacking a police station.

"I left school at 11 and my mother spent the rest of the time trying to find a buyer to marry me," she said. "I wanted to be a doctor but my husband said he wanted me to go to paradise, where he would soon join me."

But Rania, who claimed she was fed pills and alcohol before her attack, attracted the suspicions of police at the check-point. She was called forward and the police cut the belt from her body. Umm Fatima, who is believed to have held the remote electronic trigger for the device, was unable to explode the bomb.

Rania is now in prison in Baquba but her mother, Bassad Selman Mohana, lives in a dilapidated house near the centre of the once neat and prosperous central Iraqi city. She said she felt betrayed and deceived by her son-in-law, Mohammad Hassan, who was himself arrested a month after his young wife was taken into custody.

"My daughter is a good girl and I thought he was a good man," she said. "Around here, everyone makes price the first factor in determining who the girls marry. He deceived me, I did not know he was involved with al-Qaeda."

The Jamestown Institute, a terrorism research foundation, reported that al-Qaeda has recognised the success of the tactic of using women to stage suicide attacks in Iraq. For the first time the group has now nominated a woman as an emir or prince of its operation. Websites have dubbed the women, Umm Salameh, as the emir of the al-Nitaqayn - the battalion of the two belts.

The name alludes to a famous Koranic figure who was the daughter of the prophet Mohammad's closest lieutenant and first successor, Abu Bakr.

Umm Salameh is the widow of an al-Qaeda leader in northern Iraq who was killed last year in an airstrike.

"When Muslim land is occupied by non-believers, jihad is mandatory for all Muslims, male and female," said Dr Hani al-Sibai, a London-based Islamist Sunni scholar. "Women are allowed to conduct jihad without the approval of parents or spouse."

The enshrouding black gowns, known as abayas, that many Iraqi women are forced to wear in deference to Islamic guidelines on modesty, afford the perfect camouflage for a would-be bomber. Islamic tradition prevents men from searching Iraqi women.

Farhana Ali, an analyst with Rand Corp, told an American radio station: "It's creating an enormous security problem for US and Iraqi forces."

Baquba has been a stronghold for al-Qaeda since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Saddam Hussein by the American-led coalition. The city has been named by al-Qaeda propagandists as the putative capital of an Islamic state of Iraq. A senior interior ministry official has acknowledged that conflict on its streets has impelled some woman to strike out at the authorities.

Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf said: "The psychological pressures of the security situation that we used to have in Diyala - the systematic killing, especially in some parts of Baquba where the government's forces' presence was weak - allowed the insurgents to use religion to exploit women. Women bombers are a problem for us. Men can't search women... so they take advantage of this weakness in Iraqi society."

Some see the recruitment of women suicide bombers an act of desperation by al-Qaeda, which has been pushed out of its former strongholds in Baghdad and western Iraq by a surge of US forces. Diaa Rashwan, who follows Islamic militancy for Egypt's Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies said women should be in the "last rows" of fighting. "So to see women (suicide bombers) shows an abnormal situation: the absence of men."

To cope with the higher threat the Baquba police has recruited a 200-strong women only force to search females passing though checkpoints.

But the cult of the suicide bomber is now part of the city's daily life. One student said that whenever he passes a heavy-set girl, he is often tempted to ask if she is concealing plastic explosives.

'Mother of all suicide bombers' warns of rise in attacks

[Shammu]

Iranians train Syrians to fight Sunnis
Nov. 16, 2008
The Media Line News Agency , THE JERUSALEM POST

Iranian officers affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have in the past four months established intelligence cells in Lebanon, comprised of Syrian agents and Hizbullah members, whose aim is to track down and annihilate extreme Sunni armed cells, the Kuwaiti-based daily A-Siyasa reported.

The paper quoted a diplomatic source from the Gulf, who revealed the content of a report compiled by European intelligence agencies.

"Approximately 200 IRGC agents, who were based in Iraq, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, have arrived in Lebanon via Syria since late July, and began forming cells comprising members of [the Lebanese Shi'ite movements] Hizbullah and Amal, as well as Syrian intelligence officers," the diplomatic source told A-Siyasa.

The cells included between 10-20 people each, and were residing in apartments belonging to pro-Syrian parties and individuals, including former Lebanese legislators and ministers.

The intelligence report stated that the IRGC-trained cells' prime target was to track down members of Sunni terror cells and to reveal their sources of weapons and money. Another aim was to assassinate or arrest Sunnis affiliated with terror in Lebanon. This, the report maintained, would serve to prove Syrian Bashar Al-Assad's claims that Lebanon has turned into a terror hub.

"This will also prove to the United States, Europe and Israel that Syria is mending its ways," added the report.

The cells have already begun to operate, when last week several Sunnis were kidnapped and others were killed inside Palestinian refugee camps.

The Syrian army has amassed thousands of troops along its border with Lebanon in the past few weeks. This move followed statements by top Syrian officials, according to which Lebanon has turned into a terror hub that threatens Syria's stability.

Syria has nevertheless asserted that its troops along the Lebanese border are not aiming to enter Lebanon, but are rather tasked with preventing cross-border infiltration and smuggling.

Iranians train Syrians to fight Sunnis

[Shammu]

Supplies to US troops in Afghanistan held up by temporary Pakistan truck ban
By RIAZ KHAN
The Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan

Container trucks and oil tankers bound for U.S and NATO troops in Afghanistan have suspended deliveries after militant attacks prompted Pakistan to block a major supply line, highlighting the vulnerability of the mountain passage.

The ban in northwest Pakistan, confirmed on Sunday, was intended to allow for a review of security in the famed Khyber Pass. The convoys currently have little to no security detail as they travel to Afghanistan with vital food, fuel and other goods.

The suspension could be lifted as early as Monday with new procedures in place, said Bakhtiar Khan, a No. 2 government representative in the area.

Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are behind much of the escalating violence along the lengthy, porous Afghan-Pakistan border. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have accused each other of not doing enough to stop militant activity, while U.S. missile strikes in Pakistani territory have ratcheted up tensions further.

Last Monday, dozens of suspected Taliban militants hijacked several trucks near the Khyber Pass whose load included Humvees heading to the U.S.-led coalition. Over the weekend, U.S.-led coalition troops reported killing 38 insurgents in fighting in southern Afghanistan and detaining two militant leaders near Pakistan's lawless border.

U.S. and NATO officials in Afghanistan have sought to downplay threats posed to the convoys coming through Pakistan, but NATO has said it is close to striking pacts with Central Asian countries that would let it transport "non-lethal" supplies from north of Afghanistan.

In April, NATO concluded a transit agreement with Russia, but it will be of practical use only once the Central Asian nations between Russia and Afghanistan come on board.

"It's not the first time this has happened," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said of the hold up on Sunday. "When this has happened in the past it did not have any impact in the long term."

A Pakistani official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said authorities planned to offer paramilitary Frontier Corps escorts to trucks carrying supplies for troops in Afghanistan. He did not say when this would happen.

"The suspension was made to review the security arrangements and that has already been done," Khan said. "Along with increasing the security and establishing more checkpoints, we have issued orders to deal with attackers and snatchers more strictly."

The suspension left dozens of trucks and oil tankers stranded along a main road near Peshawar, the regional capital.

"This is our job, and we have to do it, but yes, we have a security risk every time we pass through the route," said Rehmatullah, a driver who gave only one name and said his truck was carrying a military vehicle of some sort.

Most of the supplies headed to foreign troops in Afghanistan arrive in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in unmarked, sealed shipping containers and are loaded onto trucks for the journey either to the border town of Chaman or on the primary route, through the Khyber Pass.

The recent ambush took place at the entrance to the pass. U.S. officials say the attackers seized two Humvees and a water truck. Several trucks carrying wheat for the World Food Program were also hijacked.

While critical of recent U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest tribal regions, both Pakistan's prime minister and president denied any plans to subvert the supply line as a pressure tactic in recent interviews with The Associated Press.

U.S.-led troops are battling an escalating insurgency in Afghanistan that has pushed violence to its highest levels since the 2001 invasion that ousted the Taliban regime and raised the specter of American failure in a key theater in the war on terror.

The U.S. military reported Sunday that 38 insurgents were killed during a clash with coalition troops in southern Helmand province.

Also Saturday, in eastern Paktia province's Zurmat district, coalition troops killed five al-Qaida-associated insurgents and nabbed eight, including a militant leader accused of helping the Taliban move and train Arab and other foreign fighters into Afghanistan, a statement said. The militant was not identified.

In eastern Khost province Saturday, coalition and Afghan troops detained a militant leader of the network of Afghan insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The U.S. once supported Jalaluddin Haqqani as a "freedom fighter" when he fought against the former Soviet Union's 1980s occupation of Afghanistan. He and his son Sirajuddin are now considered major threats to U.S. forces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, offered Sunday to provide security for the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, if he agrees to enter peace talks, and suggested that if the U.S. and other Western nations disagreed they could leave the country or oust him.

"If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices, remove me or leave if they disagree," Karzai said.

Omar is believed to be in hiding but still running the insurgency.

Karzai has long supported drawing the Islamist militia into the political mainstream on the condition that they accept the country's constitution.

Omar has not directly responded to these calls, but spokesmen associated with the Taliban have previously said U.S. and other foreign troops must withdraw before any talks. Karzai dismissed that, saying foreign troops are necessary for Afghanistan's security.

Also Sunday, suicide car bombers struck a NATO convoy in the northern Baghlan province and a U.S. convoy in western Herat province, officials said. One civilian died in the northern attack.

The British military said one of its soldiers was killed when his vehicle was hit by an explosion in the southern Helmand Province on Saturday. NATO reported one of its soldiers was killed in a roadside bombing, but it was unclear if the two attacks were related.

Attacks in Afghanistan are up 30 percent from 2007, military officials say. More than 5,400 people — most of them militants — have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to a tally of official figures provided to the AP.

Supplies to US troops in Afghanistan held up by temporary Pakistan truck ban