Friday, July 8, 2005
A few worth your time todayThe LA Times has a piece about the London bombings and the "experts" who say there is a direct link between the bombers and Iraq: 11:07:25 AM | Experts
said Britain's role in Iraq probably served as a strong motivation for
the bombers, citing a message posted on a website declaring that
Britain had paid the price for its presence there and that other
members of the coalition faced the same fate.
Some investigators suspect the plot involved Islamic extremists from Europe who went to Iraq, gained combat experience and ideological fervor and then returned to wage their holy war. Before Thursday's attacks, investigators say, they had been concerned by the increasing presence in Europe of veterans of the Iraq conflict. During the last six months, Western intelligence reports described a "redeployment" onto the continent of operatives of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The operatives were thought to be planning attacks, a senior European police official said. And in Salon today, Juan Cole gives a thorough analysis of the note posted on an Islamic extremist website claiming responsiblity for the bombings and comments on Bush's failing policy in Iraq: Conservative
commentators argue that Iraq is a "fly trap" for Muslim terrorists. It
makes much more sense to think of it as bin Laden's fly trap for
Western troops. There, jihadis can kill them (making the point that
they are not invulnerable), and can provoke reprisals against Iraqi
civilians that defame the West in the Muslim world. After Abu Ghraib
and Fallujah, many Muslims felt that Bin Laden's dire warnings to them
that the United States wanted to occupy their countries, rape their
women, humiliate their men, and steal their assets had been vindicated.
These claims were not credited by most of the world's Muslims before the Iraq war. Opinion polls show that most of the world's Muslims have great admiration for democracy and many other Western values. They object to the U.S. and the U.K. because of their policies, not their values. Before Bush, for instance, the vast majority of Indonesians felt favorably toward the United States. Even after a recent bounce from U.S. help with tsunami relief, only about a third now do. The global anti-insurgency battle against al-Qaida must be fought smarter if the West is to win. To criminal investigations and surveillance must be added a wiser set of foreign policies. Long-term Western military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq is simply not going to be acceptable to many in the Muslim world. U.S. actions at Abu Ghraib and Fallujah created powerful new symbols of Muslim humiliation that the jihadis who sympathize with al-Qaida can use to recruit a new generation of terrorists. The U.S. must act as an honest broker in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And Bush and Blair must urgently find a credible exit strategy from Iraq that can extricate the West from bin Laden's fly trap. I missed this on Monday, but four Iraq vets were on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, including Operation Truth blogger Ben Flanders, talking about the war, the insurgency, and the politics behind it all. You can watch the video here. 
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Friday Baja Blogging Again, this is a "found object" photo. I didn't move the stones or manipulate the image in any way.
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From the vaultSo my little excursion into the basement of my mind led me to look
through a plastic bin full of photos. Here are two of S I took when he
was fighting in a tournament he ended up winning (by knocking out two
fighters in one night, btw). Usually I cornerjudged, but not this
night. I couldn't. I had to watch. The only pictures I took were during
the round breaks. There was no way I was going to be destracted by a
camera during the fights. And that black belt he's wearing? Mine! 12:45:51 AM |   This tournament was held before we got married. Unbelievable! I feel like I'm running through the years these days. I got an email from him an hour ago, horribly brief. He's okay, but he's running missions day and night and only comes back to base every few days to get supplies. Hopefully he'll have a break soon.
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I can't believe it12:37:58 AM |
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Last update: 8/3/05; 12:28:23 AM .
