John Rosenthal | Bio | 14 May 2008
World Politics Review Exclusive
When it emerged in mid-March that the perpetrator of a deadly suicide attack on American troops in Afghanistan had come from Germany, the American media showed remarkably little interest. On March 3, 28-year-old Cüneyt Ciftci from Ansbach in Bavaria drove a pick-up loaded with several tons of explosives into a guard post in Khost province in southeastern Afghanistan and then detonated his payload while still inside the truck. According to U.S. Army and Afghan sources, two American soldiers and two Afghans were killed in the attack and another seven persons, including four soldiers, were wounded. The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), the Taliban-affiliated Jihadist group that took responsibility for the attack, claimed a more massive death toll: some 60 dead in both the explosion itself and a follow-on attack by Taliban forces. In a Turkish-language statement posted in the internet, the IJU also identified the bomber: "This operation was successfully carried out by the brave Cüneyt Ciftci from Germany, who has traded in his life of luxury for paradise" (source: Focus). The text was accompanied by photos of a smiling Ciftci brandishing a pistol and sitting behind the wheel of vehicle.
And what did the American public learn about all this from American news organizations? A Factiva database search turns up a single sparse 280 word AP dispatch tentatively noting that German authorities were "checking" whether the German-born Ciftci might possibly be "linked" to the bombing. Instead, Americans were left to glean whatever more substantial information they could from the English-language website of the German weekly Der Spiegel. While Der Spiegel's March 15 article likewise studiously avoided treating Ciftci's responsibility for the attack as given, it nonetheless conceded that it was "likely": thus prompting the authors to pronounce Ciftci -- in all probability -- "the first suicide bomber from Germany." In light of the fact that Mohammad Atta and two of the three other pilots in the 9/11 attacks also lived in Germany, and indeed plotted the attacks there, the formula gives serious cause to pause. Der Spiegel dramatically described Ciftci's presumptive involvement as "Berlin's Worst Nightmare": as if the Hamburg Cell's leading role in the 9/11 attacks had not already been an even worse one or as if "Berlin" was suffering from collective amnesia and no longer remembered -- or wanted to remember -- the major German connection to 9/11.
A few days later a "martyrdom video" of Cüneyt Ciftci emerged. The video depicts Ciftci's preparations for the attack in meticulous detail and shows him pleasantly waving to the camera before climbing into the explosives-laden pickup. It also includes chilling footage of the attack itself: shot from multiple angles and complete with the cameramen's ecstatic cries of "Allahu Akbar" at the moment of detonation. (The video can be viewed here, where Ciftci is identified by his nom de guerre Sa'ad Abu Furqan.)
Following the emergence of the video, Der Spiegel and the rest of the German media largely abandoned their hopeful expressions of doubt about Ciftci's responsibility. "The first perpetrator of a suicide attack from Germany," the weekly Stern now called Ciftci -- displaying the same startling obliviousness to the German role in the 9/11 attacks as Der Spiegel had previously. But when interviewed by ZDF television, Jörg Ziercke, chief of Germany's Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BKA), continued to insist that he could not confirm that Ciftci had been the bomber. "We don't have the corpse," Ziercke said, "We have to undertake an identification of the corpse." As anyone who watches the massive explosion documented in the video will be able to appreciate, there is not likely to be much of Ciftci left to facilitate this identification.
In the meanwhile, two new propaganda videos have emerged that depict yet another apparent recruit for the Taliban cause from Germany: the German convert Eric Breininger -- or "Abdulgaffar El Almani," according to his nom de guerre. The videos were posted on the same Turkish website that the IJU earlier used to post the Ciftci video and they bear the same "brand name" logo -- "Badr at-Tawheed" -- as the Ciftci clip. They were presumably shot in the tribal regions of Pakistan where the IJU is known to have its training camps. In one of the clips, "El Almani" -- "the German" -- can be heard calling on his "brothers" in Germany to come join him in jihad.
Edwards Endorsement Brings Crucial Swing Voters Into Play For Obama
Directly on the heels of his blowout loss in West Virginia, Barack Obama received a much-needed boost when John Edwards threw his endorsement to the Illinois senator.
There is no question that this helps, said Obama campaign spokesman Darren Guilford. How couldnt it? Senator Edwards brings several key voting blocs into play that, quite honestly, had been out of reach for us before. For starters, he has an unheard of favorable rating of 99.5% among white, metro-sexual males with monthly hair care expenditures of over $1,000. And I think his crossover appeal among non-verbal, cerebral palsy sufferers and unborn children goes without saying. We are very happy to receive such an important endorsement.
Edwards noted that the time was right to make his endorsement of Senator Obama.
Since I dropped out of the presidential race I have been working quietly, if not feverishly, behind the scenes to learn all that I could about both Barack and Hillary, he said. Once I became comfortable that my beliefs were much more in line with Baracks, which was confirmed by polling numbers showing him as the shoo-in candidate, my decision was an easy one. I just hope that my humble ability to communicate with all kinds of Americans from medically neglected zygotes, to the uber-fabulously coiffed, will benefit Baracks campaign.
At least one veteran beltway watcher agreed with Edwards assessment.
I think Senator Edwards is being extremely self-deprecating when he speaks of his humble ability to communicate with critical special interest groups, said Martin Gascoigne of the DC Policy Institute. Well-kept caucasian males with free-spending haircare habits are a vital demographic, and they are not easily swayed by empty political rhetoric. Theyve been burned too many times before by promises of universal haircare from smooth talking politicians. As the young people say, Edwards has an inordinate amount of street cred with them. When we look back at this presidential race, it is very likely that this could be the tipping point for Obama getting both the Democratic nomination and a clear shot at the presidency.
(2008-05-15) Former Democrat presidential hopeful John Edwards Wednesday endorsed Sen. Barack Obamas White House bid, but said hes still undecided about which horse to pick in the Kentucky Derby, which was run on May 3.
Sen. Obama welcomed the support of the one-term senator who is, thus far, 0-for-3 in attempts to win a post in the executive branch of the U.S. government.
Coming as it does after nearly all of the primaries are finished, Sen. Obama said, The timing of John Edwards endorsement illustrates what he often says. There are two Americas: One that backs a candidate in the heat of battle when he really needs help, and another that sucks up to the victor when his triumph is clearly at hand.
Meanwhile, Democrat presidential rival Sen. Hillary Clinton said, Im a fighter, and I remain determined to secure John Edwards endorsement. Ill continue to pursue him up through the convention, and even during President Obamas inaugural address if necessary.
Some black leaders within the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are complaining that under Gerald McEntee, Hillary Clinton's strongest and most outspoken backer in the labor movement, union money is being spent to build white turnout for the New York Senator in what has become a racially polarized competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a number of sources.
The conflict is emblematic of the intensifying hostility within Democratic ranks as the nomination fight slowly moves towards closure. The fact that the two leading candidates are a black and a woman has produced internal and external disputes involving civil rights, women's rights and a variety of other groups and leaders in the liberal wing of the party. . . .
On the issues, Hillary! and Obama! are within three decimal places of each other. the only things that distinguish them are skin color, gender, and which sleazeballs they're associated with (e.g., Tony Rezko versus Marc Rich.) What else do they have to fight about?
Read the comments boxes--there's some serious fratricidin' goin' on in there.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/15/2008 11:24 ||
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#1
I hope they skip fists and go straight to automatic weapons and car bombs. Nothing I like better than seeing red-on-red.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/15/2008 12:29 Comments ||
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Khalid Yasin is one of the most notorious Islamic hate sheikhs in the world today. He had been widely condemned from the US to Britain to Australia for his virulent Wahhabist extremism, his intense anti-Americanism (despite the fact that he is an American-born convert), his justification of Islamic terrorism, his wild-eyed conspiracy theories, and his outright racial and religious bigotry. And an Australian news investigation found that Yasin had claimed academic degrees that the schools had no record or, and also discovered that he had engaged in outright fraud in his building his international Islamic media empire.
So it is troubling to see that Khalid Yasin will be lecturing at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio on May 16th, sponsored by Daytons Masjid-at-Taqwa.
For example, consider some of his stated positions and activities:
Yasin says that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks.
Yasin claims that AIDS was invented at a US government lab and spread by Western governments through UN agencies and Christian missionaries.
Yasin advocates for the death penalty for homosexuality.
Yasin justified the terrorist bombings in Bali because of years of Western oppression.
Yasin says that the Quran permits wife-beating and that equal rights for women is a delusion and foolishness.
Yasin calls the beliefs of Christians and Jews filth.
Yasin says that Muslims cannot have non-Muslim friends.
Yasin rejects any separation between Islam and the state and openly advocates for the reestablishment of the caliphate.
Yasin visited Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir in prison.
Yasin has lectured with Hizb-ut-Tahrir hatemonger Omar Bakri Mohammed, who was banned from the UK in 2006.
Yasin was in Saudi Arabia on 9/11 soliciting the support of Al-Qaeda front Al-Haramain Foundation, which was designated a terrorist organization in 2004 by the US government, to help finance his Islamic Broadcasting Company,. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
05/15/2008 09:05 ||
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It is a crime to fake a resume. A lot of people do it to secure employment. KY did it to create false credentials, so he would find converts to his jihad subversion. Put him away!
"[Tel Aviv] Was Called Tel Al-Rabi', But the Zionists and Jews Hebraicized the Name to 'Tel Aviv'"
Assud the Bunny: "Grandpa, where did you live? In what city?"
Grandpa: "We used to live in the most beautiful place in Palestine."
Assud: "Where?"
Grandpa: "My dear, you've never seen such a place. I used to live in Tel Al-Rabi' [the Arab word for 'spring,' which is 'aviv' in Hebrew]. What a beautiful place. My God, when I recall Tel Al-Rabi', which the Zionists have called..."
Assud: "There's no such place called Tel Al-Rabi'. What's the matter, Grandpa? Have you gone senile?"
Grandpa: "I'm not senile. My head is working just fine. How can you say I'm senile? This place was called Tel Al-Rabi', but the Zionists and Jews Hebraicized the name to 'Tel Aviv.' Where did this 'Tel Aviv' come from? It has been Tel Al-Rabi' for generations, on the land of Palestine, right next to Yafa. How can you say I've gone senile? I know this. My head still works just fine. Are you trying to confuse me? I'm not senile yet. I have documents and proof. I have all the papers here. The documents are right here with me. How can you say I'm senile? I have all the documents with me. Here they are. Everything is here, from the days of the British and even before. This is our land, as well as the fields, the trees, and the houses. I can even show you the key. You're calling me senile? I have proof."
"It's the Fault of the School Curricula, Which Did Not Teach Us That Tel Aviv Is In Fact Tel Al-Rabi'"
Assud: "Forgive me, Grandpa, it's not our fault. It's the fault of the school curricula, which did not teach us that Tel Aviv is in fact Tel Al-Rabi', and vice versa."
Grandpa: "No, my dear, take it from me. I know, and I have the papers and the land deeds. The name Tel Al-Rabi' has been forged by the Jews and Hebraicized to 'Tel Aviv.' They invented all these names. 'Ashdod' is, in fact, Isdud. 'Ashkelon' is, in fact, Al-Majdal. Where did they get these names? Al-Sab' is called 'Beer Sheva'! It's all a lie. There are all pseudonyms. Yafa, Al-Lydd, Al-Ramla, Al-Sab' - they changed all these names and Hebraicized them, and now they say: That's Tel Al-Rabi'? There is no such thing. It's Tel Aviv. It's all a lie. All these names were Hebraicized by the Jews."
#1
Quick google-search confirms my distinct memory that Tel Aviv was entirely modern, established around the turn of the last century on empty sand-dunes outside of Jaffa. No trees, orchards, houses there at all from which to have displaced the poor pitiful Paleos. If anything, the land would have been bought and sold legally, under the rule of the Turks. British Mandate didn't come into play until after WWI.
You know, sometimes I wonder how the Paleos have the neck to stand there and utter such bold-faced and easily refuted falsehoods. And then I remember, they're only telling them to each other. No wonder they're so screwed up.
#2
Betcha it will be accepted as a fact 10 years from now---even among some people who sincere friends of Israel. That's how entile Palestinian Myth was created.
This goes with the article just below -- Pity Lebanons Shia Community
By NIBRAS KAZIMI May 12, 2008
The healing in Iraq and the deterioration in Lebanon are not unrelated. In fact, Iraq will serve as both cause and effect to Lebanons misfortunes. Iran, eclipsed in Sadr City, had decided to allow its sectarian acolytes to put on a show of strength in Beirut. And the jihadists of Al Qaedas ilk, soon to be eclipsed in Mosul, will migrate to Beirut to meet Irans challenge.
Five years ago, there was a hope that held Iraq as a would-be beacon for democracy throughout the Middle East, but that vision had too many determined enemies both inside and outside Iraq. Yet as the situation there darkened through the actions of these regressive forces, the spontaneous outpouring of liberty demonstrated by the Lebanese people seemed to validate the notion that democracy and liberty would take in the region, and that the hope for what Iraq may portend was not misplaced. But the Cedar Revolution, as the March 2005 events of Beirut are remembered, also had too many internal and external enemies determined to spoil the elation.
Two countries that were dead-set against Iraq succeeding were Syria and Iran. These are also the two countries most responsible for fomenting political paralysis and chaos in Lebanon.
In Iraq, the Iranians and the Syrians began a joint-partnership aimed at harnessing the disruptive energies of the Mahdi Army as a weapon by which to retaliate against America should either of them get attacked, as well as acting as a force keeping Iraq in a state of permanent disorder.
Syrias influence on the Sadrist movement from which the Mahdi Army springs is often overlooked: Damascus was a refuge for many prominent Sadrists during the latter years of Saddam Husseins tyranny, and the Syrian Baathists brokered the initial rapprochement between the Sadrist old guard and Iran. Many of these Sadrist apparatchiks were openly hostile to the Iranians and Irans preferred acolytes in Iraq such as the Hakim family, long-standing rivals of the Muqtada al-Sadrs father, the man who founded the Sadrist movement. Actually, many of them continue secretly to believe that Saddams regime had nothing to do with their leaders murder in early 1999 and lay the blame solely on the Hakims and Iran.
However, after the first major confrontation between the Sadrists and American troops in the spring of 2004, the Iranians saw potential in Sadrs thugs at around the same time as they were becoming increasingly disappointed with the Badr Corps, the Iranian-trained militia under the leadership of the Hakim family. The Hakims had become too invested in, and integrated within, the Iraqi state their revenues from contracts and trade earned inside Iraq exceeded the overall budget of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which had funded them previously and could not be counted on to act as Irans agents of disorder. Whereas the Hakim turned independent as they didnt need Iran anymore, the Sadrists were desperate for arms and training, and Iran was more than willing to accommodate them with the Syrians acting as go-betweens.
It was in this vein that the first batch of Iranian-administered training was supposed to take place in Damascus during November 2004. It was geared towards turning ten of the top Mahdi Army field commanders into the security chiefs of a parallel intelligence agency working on behalf of the Iranians. The seminar did not take place on time, and it is unclear whether it ever subsequently took place in Damascus.
But other training, on security matters and terrorism, did take place in a camp near Tehran, according to captured Mahdi Army commanders in Iraq, and it was administered by instructors from Lebanese Hezbollah. It should also be noted that the political channel through which the Syrian leadership maintains its relationship with Hezbollah primarily through General Muhammad Nassif, ostensibly the Syrian prime ministers deputy on security matters is the very same channel through which the Syrians communicate with the Sadrists.
Thus, the Iranians and the Syrians were hoping to turn the rag-tag elements of the Mahdi Army into an Iraqi version of Hezbollah, with both a political wing represented by Mr. Sadr and a military wing that they called the majamee alkhasa, or Special Groups, a name chosen in Tehran and not a technical term invented by American commanders as so many Iraq-watchers seem to think.
And boy, was that a mistake: the Mahdi Army as a whole and the Special Groups in particular have collapsed after seven weeks of fighting against a confident and capable Iraqi Army that was bolstered by American air cover and logistical support. On Thursday, the Sadrists effectively offered their surrender to Prime Minister Maliki, who had earlier put them on notice that he would smash into their redoubts, especially Baghdads slum of Sadr City, if they continued to act as saboteurs. Mr. Maliki was prepared to go all the away, including displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sadr City and arresting Sadrist parliamentarians.
Iran had lost and the leaders in Tehran needed to save face fast. Iran needed to show that it could create mischief around the region for that has always been one of Tehrans strategic strengths. That is why they pushed Hezbollah to overreact when given a juicy provocation by the American-backed cabinet of Fouad al-Siniora. The Lebanese government has done and said many provocative things in the past but Hezbollah chose this particular provocation to throw a theatric and violent tantrum.
The situation in Lebanon is immensely complex and there are too many factors to list as to why it had been so messy, yet it was a manageable mess that never seemed to boil over that is, until Hezbollah decided to rampage through Beirut and humiliate the Siniora government and the March 14 coalition that supports it; showing them up as weak and feckless, and in turn embarrassing America and Saudi Arabia for being unable to do anything to help their allies. This was no coup or deft move aimed at breaking the political stalemate: Iran was simply flexing its muscles in Beirut through Hezbollah because Irans other pawns were shown-up as feckless and weak in Sadr City.
That too was a major mistake. The Iranians and the Syrians may have concluded that they have passed the worst of the Sunni-Shia tensions that were roiling the Middle East over the last couple of years. In particular, the ruling Alawites of Syria, a Shia-offshoot minority, were worried about internal fall-out should the majority Sunni Syrians get exposed to headlines blaring sectarians strife in Lebanon next door. However, recent polling from the Middle East seemed to indicate that being virulently anti-American and anti-Israeli was enough to offset the stigma of being a Shia or an Alawite among Sunni audiences, and this may have emboldened the Syrians to go along with Irans plan.
But there was no escaping the potent imagery of armed Shia gangsters, under orders from Hezbollah and its affiliates, seemingly emasculating Beiruts Sunnis and wounding their pride, especially given the rising sectarian temperatures in Lebanon that had never abated. Suddenly, the Sunnis of Lebanon felt exposed and no longer able to trust their established communal leaders, such as the Hariri family, to protect them. That is why they may look elsewhere for muscle, and thats why jihadist internet forums have lighted up with giddy expectations of taking the jihad against the Shias from the streets of Baghdad to the streets of Beirut.
Mr. Maliki has just ordered the launch of a much-anticipated military campaign to rid Mosul, Iraqs third largest city, of whatever significant vestige of Al Qaedas remaining in Iraq. The inevitable jihadist collapse there will push more and more jihadists to re-establish their efforts elsewhere, and nowhere looks more promising than Lebanon.
Mr. Kazimi is a contributing editor to The New York Sun.
A superb piece by Michael Young on the repercussions of Hezbollah's mad, and failed, coup attempt on the Lebanese Shi'a. Original link and other info on (Hezbollah's Stupidity) located on Michael Totten's website.
#1
It's too complex for my simple mind, folks. Radical this, Sunni that, Hezzies winning/losing, Druse, Christians, Methodists, and Gnostics... The mind whirls!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/15/2008 17:37 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
When it emerged in mid-March that the perpetrator of a deadly suicide attack on American troops in Afghanistan had come from Germany, the American media showed remarkably little interest. On March 3, 28-year-old Cüneyt Ciftci from Ansbach in Bavaria drove a pick-up loaded with several tons of explosives into a guard post in Khost province in southeastern Afghanistan and then detonated his payload while still inside the truck. According to U.S. Army and Afghan sources, two American soldiers and two Afghans were killed in the attack and another seven persons, including four soldiers, were wounded. The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), the Taliban-affiliated Jihadist group that took responsibility for the attack, claimed a more massive death toll: some 60 dead in both the explosion itself and a follow-on attack by Taliban forces. In a Turkish-language statement posted in the internet, the IJU also identified the bomber: "This operation was successfully carried out by the brave Cüneyt Ciftci from Germany, who has traded in his life of luxury for paradise" (source: Focus). The text was accompanied by photos of a smiling Ciftci brandishing a pistol and sitting behind the wheel of vehicle.
There is no question that this helps, said Obama campaign spokesman Darren Guilford. How couldnt it? Senator Edwards brings several key voting blocs into play that, quite honestly, had been out of reach for us before. For starters, he has an unheard of favorable rating of 99.5% among white, metro-sexual males with monthly hair care expenditures of over $1,000. And I think his crossover appeal among non-verbal, cerebral palsy sufferers and unborn children goes without saying. We are very happy to receive such an important endorsement.
