Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

U.S. commander in Iraq: Sectarian bias limits police - Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2007

BAGHDAD — A departing major general who oversaw the U.S. military operation in northern Iraq delivered blunt criticism Friday of the ministry that manages Iraqi police forces, accusing it of “foot dragging” in hiring desperately needed officers because of sectarian bias.

The comments put in stark terms the sectarian divisions in Iraq’s Shiite-led Interior Ministry, which has been beset by allegations of infiltration by Shiite Muslim militiamen and human rights violations, including torture….

Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, who will soon conclude his 15-month term commanding the U.S. forces in northern provinces, said he had negotiated Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s approval in May for the Interior Ministry to hire 6,000 additional Iraqi police officers for Diyala province north of Baghdad.

Mixon said he had hoped the officers would be a mix of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to reflect the region’s ethnic and religious makeup — especially Sunnis, who make up a large share of the population. But six months later, he said, the officers had still not been hired because of “certain individuals trying to influence who is being hired.”

“The problem we’re dealing with now is what still appears to be sectarian divides in the Ministry of Interior that is responsible for the support to the police,” he said, speaking via teleconference from Camp Speicher, outside the northern city of Tikrit.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done down there to do away with the sectarian decision-making that occurs in the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad.”

‘I Don’t Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier’s Life’ - washingtonpost.com, October 27, 2007

Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice — 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad — Alarcon said no: “I don’t think this place is worth another soldier’s life.”

While top U.S. commanders say the statistics of violence have registered a steep drop in Baghdad and elsewhere, the soldiers’ experience in Sadiyah shows that numbers alone do not describe the sense of aborted normalcy — the fear, the disrupted lives — that still hangs over the city.

Before the war, Sadiyah was a bustling middle-class district, popular with Sunni officers in Saddam Hussein’s military. It has become strategically important because it represents a fault line between militia power bases in al-Amil to the west and the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Dora to the east. U.S. commanders say the militias have made a strong push for the neighborhood in part because it lies along the main road that Shiite pilgrims travel to the southern holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

American soldiers estimate that since violence intensified this year, half of the families in Sadiyah have fled, leaving approximately 100,000 people. After they left, insurgents and militiamen used their abandoned homes to hold meetings and store weapons. The neighborhood deteriorated so quickly that many residents came to believe neither U.S. nor Iraqi security forces could stop it happening.

The descent of Sadiyah followed a now-familiar pattern in Baghdad. In response to suicide bombings blamed on Sunni insurgent groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Shiite militias, particularly the Mahdi Army, went from house to house killing and intimidating Sunni families. In many formerly mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad, such as al-Amil and Bayaa, Shiites have become the dominant sect, with their militias the most powerful force.

“It’s just a slow, somewhat government-supported sectarian cleansing,” said Maj. Eric Timmerman, the battalion’s operations officer.

Gordon, Iraq Balks as U.S. Seeks to Enlarge Sunnis’ Policing - New York Times, October 28, 2007

HABBANIYA, Iraq — The American military’s push to organize Sunni Arabs into local neighborhood watch groups has been one of the United States’ most important initiatives in Iraq — so much so that President Bush flew to Anbar Province in September to highlight growing alliances with Sunni tribal leaders.

But now that the Americans are trying to institutionalize the arrangement by training the Sunnis to become police officers, the effort has been hampered by halfhearted support and occasionally outright resistance from a Shiite-dominated national government that is still inclined to see the Sunnis as a once and future threat.

Raised arm of evangelical woman praying, by Christopher Morris/VII

Evangelical Movement, Presidential Election of 2008, New York Times, October 28, 2007

The hundred-foot white cross atop the Immanuel Baptist Church in downtown Wichita, Kan., casts a shadow over a neighborhood of payday lenders, pawnbrokers and pornographic video stores. To its parishioners, this has long been the front line of the culture war. Immanuel has stood for Southern Baptist traditionalism for more than half a century. Until recently, its pastor, Terry Fox, was the Jerry Falwell of the Sunflower State — the public face of the conservative Christian political movement in a place where that made him a very big deal.

With flushed red cheeks and a pudgy, dimpled chin, Fox roared down from Immanuel’s pulpit about the wickedness of abortion, evolution and homosexuality. He mobilized hundreds of Kansas pastors to push through a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, helping to unseat a handful of legislators in the process. His Sunday-morning services reached tens of thousands of listeners on regional cable television, and on Sunday nights he was a host of a talk-radio program, “Answering the Call.” Major national conservative Christian groups like Focus on the Family lauded his work, and the Southern Baptist Convention named him chairman of its North American Mission Board.

Iraq Bomber Attacks Sunni Militant Group, AP, October 26, 2007

A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, called on the Iraqi government to stop violence he said was increasingly plaguing southern Iraq and warned the inaction could further alienate Iraqis from the political process.

Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai said 200 people were killed in the past three months in the city of Basra alone, in addition to kidnappings, and he accused the government of failing to hold the attackers accountable or to stop oil smuggling operations.

Al-Karbalai’s figures could not be independently verified, but his complaint was a sign of growing frustration over rampant clashes and violence in the mainly Shiite south largely blamed on rival militia factions.

Iraq | They say the Mahdi is coming back | Economist.com, October 25, 2007

Many Basrawis use the language of apocalypse to describe the rival Shia parties and their militias (the biggest calling itself the Mahdi Army) that are struggling for control of their city. The police force, set up by the British, is infiltrated by the militias and involved in crime. Some Basra people say the clashes, assassinations, kidnappings, the daily threat of violence and the enforcement of a rigid Islamist code of conduct amount to a “Shia Talibanisation”, with music and wedding parties banned and huge billboards warning women against venturing outside unveiled.

“We live a half-life in Basra,” says a university teacher. “There’s no space for life, no parks, theatres, cinemas or space for freedom. Civil and political activities are controlled. When you go outside, the fear is inside you that you may be followed and targeted. We’re living in a nightmare.”

Many Basra people blame the British for their plight but still say that their rapid withdrawal would lead to outright war between the militias. “We have a saying”, says another academic, “that a just non-Muslim ruler is better than a Muslim tyrant.” The British invaders, some Basrawis argue, could have won people over if they had showed a willingness to support the hidden Mahdi. “One of our traditions says that most of those standing against him will be Muslims and most of his followers will be from the Christian community.”

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Israel approves Gaza power cuts, BBC, October 25, 2007

Israel’s defence minister has approved sanctions against Gaza, including cuts in the supply of electricity and fuel to try to halt rocket attacks.

Ehud Barak authorised the cuts, which are expected to follow immediately after rocket attacks are launched.

Palestinian leaders say the measure amounts to collective punishment.

Israel supplies 60% of the electricity for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants - but last month Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity”.

By formally declaring Gaza “hostile”, Israel argues it is no longer bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to the civilian population.

Levy, ‘Everything fell apart’ - Haaretz, October 25, 2007

Shifa, the only medical institution in the Gaza Strip that can somehow be called a hospital, was quiet last week. A deathly silence also pervaded the construction site of what is supposed to be the new surgical wing: There are no construction materials to be had anywhere in Gaza, because of the embargo imposed on it by Israel, and work at the hospital has been frozen for several months, too. The wooden scaffolding stands abandoned. There is no shortage of medicines at the hospital, and fuel for the generators that ensure the electricity supply is provided by a donation from the European Union. The holes in the building’s walls were made by gun battles between Hamas and Fatah, which took place here as well. The elevators are not working, which is not unusual.

In the surgical ward, high up on the fourth floor, lies Assad Mahmoud. Upon entering his room, a visitor is perplexed at first: What is this lying here in the bed? It takes a few seconds for the eye to adjust to the unbearable sight. A boy. Half a boy. What’s left of his upper body is exposed, a bandage covers his stomach, to which a drainage bag is attached; bandages cover his three stumps, a blue sheet covers what’s left of his body. His expression is blank, staring, dead. His father Jabar tenderly clutches the remaining wounded hand, his eyes bleary with grief and lack of sleep. For the last three weeks, 40-year-old Jabar has not left his son’s bedside except for occasional trips home to change clothes. He sleeps on the hospital floor at night. The boy’s right leg is amputated above the knee, the left leg below the knee and his entire left arm, up to the shoulder, is gone. A tank shell left its mark on Assad.

BJP dismisses Gujarat riot claims, BBC, october 26, 2007

India’s main opposition party has dismissed claims that its government in the state of Gujarat supported violence against Muslims in 2002.

The allegations against the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party BJP were made in secret video recordings by the Tehelka magazine.

They have also been broadcast on local television.

The BJP has described the allegations as a conspiracy hatched by India’s governing Congress party.

Elections are due in Gujarat next month.

According to official figures, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the 2002 riots. Independent groups placed the figure closer to 2,000.

A spokesman for the BJP, Prakash Javdekar, described the Tehelka report as an election stunt stage-managed by Congress.He said it was a sting operation based on rumours and hearsay.

In the secret video footage, apparently filmed over six months, several hardline Hindu politicians, mostly belonging to the BJP, are seen describing how they carried out the violence against the Muslim community, often with graphic details.

Former head of Shin Bet Ami Ayalon

Israeli seeks Hamas participation, BBC, October 25, 2007

An Israeli minister has called on his government to invite “moderate” members from the Palestinian movement Hamas to an upcoming Middle East conference.

Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon said any invitation would be conditional on Hamas members fully recognising Israel right to exist.

Mr Ayalon said that Israel should be talking to moderates regardless of their political stripes.

The conference is planned for late November in Annapolis in the US.

Mr Ayalon said that potential Hamas attendees would have to agree to abide by any agreement signed between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Hamas’ bitter rival Fatah.

“All the definitions of Hamas and Fatah are becoming irrelevant,” Mr Ayalon told the BBC.

“There are both Hamas and Fatah factions that are terrorists. We must speak to the moderates. “

Sri Lanka Admits More Damage by Rebel Raid - New York Times, October 25, 2007

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 24 — A rebel attack on a Sri Lankan air base this week caused far more damage than previously acknowledged, destroying eight aircraft, including a vital surveillance plane, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said Wednesday.

The admission, in a statement to Parliament, came amid growing accusations from the opposition that officials had lied about the destruction from Monday’s predawn attack on the Anuradhapura air base.

…the prime minister announced that three helicopters, four training planes and a Beechcraft surveillance plane had been destroyed in the attack, essentially confirming the Tamil reports of the damage. He did not explain the discrepancy.

Mahmoud Abu Tala, a cancer patient denied medical care in Israel (B’Tselem)

Hass, Shin Bet prevented medical care to Palestinian cancer patient - Haaretz, October 24, 2007

The Shin Bet is refusing to allow a 21-year-old Rafiah man who is sick with cancer and in need of immediate medical care to come to Israel, even though he obtained permission from the Israeli Defense Forces’ Coordination and Liaison Administration.

The Shin Bet also arrested the patient’s father, who accompanied him to the hospital.

Mahmoud Abu Taha was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine in August 2007. Treatment in Gaza was unsuccessful, and he lost a third of his body weight. In addition, he is not taking all of the vitamins he needs because of the shortage of medications in Gazan hospitals.

Because of his serious condition, the doctors decided to postpone chemotherapy and send him to Tel HaShomer hospital in Ramat Gan. According to Mahmoud’s brother, Hanni Abu Taleh, on October 18, they received permission shortly after they filed a request with the IDF. The father and his sick son drove in an ambulance to Erez Crossing, and after a half-hour wait, the father’s name was called on the loudspeaker.

According to the brother, the patient continued to wait in the ambulance, lying on a stretcher and attached to an oxygen tank and an infusion. After two hours, it was announced on the loudspeaker that he was denied entrance into Israel.

To Be a Journalist in Iraq - New York Times, October 24, 2007

“Every interview we conduct may be our last…. since the war started, four and half years ago, an average of about one reporter and media assistant killed every week is something we have to live with….

“I smile as I give my children hugs and send them off to school; it’s only after they turn their backs to me that my eyes fill to overflowing with the knowledge that they are just as much at risk as I am.

“So why continue? Why not put down my proverbial pen and sit back? It’s because I’m tired of being branded a terrorist: tired that a human life lost in my county is no loss at all. This is not the future I envision for my children. They are not terrorists, and their lives are not valueless. I have pledged my life — and much, much more, in an effort to open a window through which the good people in the international community may look in and see us for what we are, ordinary human beings with ordinary aspirations, and not what we have been portrayed to be.

“Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to reach out. Help us to build bridges of understanding and acceptance. Even though the war has cast a dark shadow upon your nation and mine — it is never too late.”

Livni behind closed doors: Iranian nuclear arms pose little threat to Israel - Haaretz, October 25, 2007

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni to be published tomorrow.

Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears. Last week, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy said similar things about Iran.