“Sunnis are just like the puppies of a filthy dog,” he said. “Even the purest among them is dirty.”
September 9, 2007 Iraq, Islamism beyond the Shibboleths No CommentsAt Street Level, Unmet Goals of Troop Buildup - New York Times, September 9, 2007
The hulking blast walls that the Americans have set up around many neighborhoods have only intensified the city’s sense of balkanization. Merchants must now hire a different driver for individual areas, lest gunmen kill a stranger from another sect to steal a truckload of T-shirts….
Abu Sajat, one of several Mahdi leaders known to Captain Feese’s unit, says he commands several hundred fighters in Huriya, Washash, Iskan and Topchi, a cluster of middle- and working-class areas that have become increasingly violent, and more Shiite, in recent months.
He showed up wearing a brown shirt unbuttoned to his sternum, dark sunglasses and brown polyester pants with a belt that had missed several loops toward the back.
Pulling his belt over a sizable stomach, he bragged that they were playing a game of cat and mouse with the Americans in which the Mahdi Army always has more men, more loyalty among Baghdad’s residents and more freedom of movement. Huriya, he said, was stable because the Sunnis were gone, not because the Americans had arrived.
“They can’t break up our organization,” he said. “If you count all the Americans in Iraq, they are really just prisoners.”
Ethnic Cleansing in Baghdad’s Neighborhoods (Photos and Maps)
September 9, 2007 Iraq No CommentsAssessing the ‘Surge’: A Survey of Baghdad Neighborhoods - The New York Times, September 6, 2007
To study the ground-level effects of the American troop buildup, reporters and video journalists for The New York Times visited Baghdad’s neighborhoods, interviewing residents, Americans on patrol and Iraqi officials
Some analysts claim Al-Qaeda has grown stronger in recent years
September 9, 2007 Al-Qaeda (al-Qa`ida), Bin Laden Statements No CommentsThe New Al-Qaeda Central - washingtonpost.com, September 9, 2007
The last time bin Laden showed his face to the world was three years ago, in October 2004. Since then, al-Qaeda’s core leadership — dubbed al-Qaeda Central by intelligence analysts — has grown stronger, rebuilding the organizational framework that was badly damaged after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, according to counterterrorism officials in Pakistan, the United States and Europe.
Neo-Nazi violence flourishes - in Israel
September 9, 2007 Israeli Culture War, Culture Wars, Holy Wars: The Clash within Civilizations No CommentsNeo-Nazi violence flourishes - in Petah Tikva - Haaretz, September 9, 2007
As chronicled in Haaretz, Petah Tikva’s ultra-Orthodox community of 5,000 households has been under attack for several years from neo-Nazi gangs, made up of teenage immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Married yeshiva students have been beaten up and synagogues desecrated.