News Roundup: Japan, China, Iran

Japan's more assertive stance was apparent at the recently concluded APEC summit, with Koizumi showing little interest in mollifying either China or Russia in territorial disputes stemming from East China Sea gas fields and the Kuril Islands respectively. The increasingly confident - and pro-US - Japan is seen as a potential ally against possible threats from China and North Korea. More information is available from Stratfor.

China, eager to fuel its faltering economic engine, has recently been courting the IRI regime in Iran. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime is working to produce a nuclear missile, with over 350 sites involved, according to this Debka report:

... a “walk-in” source approached US intelligence earlier this month with more than 1,000 pages purported to be Iranian drawings and technical documents, including a nuclear warhead design and modifications to enable Iranian ballistic missiles to delivery an atomic strike. The warhead design is based on implosion and adjustments aimed at fitting the warhead on existing Iranian missiles. DEBKAfile’s military experts believe the data referred to the Shehab-3 and its improved version, the Shehab-4. The US official said he would not have revealed this much had not Powell alluded to the intelligence publicly. If the information is confirmed, it would mean the Islamic republic is further along than previously known in developing a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it.

MEMRI reports that Omar Hadid, one of Saddam's private guards prior to the liberation of Iraq, was also a key aide to Zarqawi and went to Afghanistan for training with al-Qaeda. Omar's brother, Hamid Hadid, was the bureau chief of al-Jazeera in Iraq, before al-Jazeera was closed by the Iraqi government for inciting violence. (This would fall under the category of "Saddam-Zarqawi-al-Qaeda-al-Jazeera links".) This November 19 item at the MEMRI News Ticker is attributed to al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, November 19.

War Crimes

'In Fallujah, where U.S. Marines and soldiers are still battling pockets of resistance, insurgents waved a white flag of surrender before opening fire on U.S. troops and causing casualties, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert said Saturday without elaborating.

U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul found the bodies of nine Iraqi soldiers Saturday, all shot in the back of the head. The military first reported that seven of the victims were beheaded, but a second statement issued later Saturday said those reports were false.

Four decapitated bodies found earlier in the week in Mosul have not been identified, the military said Saturday. American and Iraqi forces detained 30 suspected guerrillas overnight in Mosul, the U.S. military said.' - AP article (Hat tip: Big Pharaoh.)

Chamber of Horrors

'Three empty bottles of whiskey were dropped beside the front walk, and a pair of the type of black gym shoes worn by many insurgents was in the doorway beside a black ski mask. Inside, a black banner bearing Arabic writing was taken off a wall in an empty room. Translated, it read "There is no God but God" and "The Organization of Tawhid and Jihad."' This news story describes the discovery of some of the torture/execution chambers used by Zarqawi's network, Al-Qaeda In Iraq, formerly known as Tawhid And Jihad. The site "is one of more than 20 found in Fallujah", according to the article. (Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.)

Morning Report: November 22, 2004

President Bush: hands-on manager. President Bush personally intervened in a dispute among security agents, pulling his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean guards after the Chileans tried to prevent the Secret Service from accompanying the President to a state dinner. (CNN)

Iraqi government stands by January 30 election date. The date for Iraqi general elections has been set for January 30, al-Sabah reports:

The UN  High Commission on the Elections has announced that the elections will be held in 30th January . That announcement forms a reply on the rumors circulated two days ago. Which referred to the possibility of postponing the elections under pressure and demand of some regional and  local political forces.Dr. Fareed Riyaal the spokesman of the commission said that the specified date will include the elections of the national association and elections of the national assembly in Kurdistan region in addition to the elections of councils in 18 Iraqi provinces.He denied the rumors on the contacts made by Lakhdar al- Ibrahimi the UN special envoy with the Iraqi parties to postpone the elections , saying that is groundless and it is just predictions because the commission is the only concerned side in adopting the decisions concerning all elections in Iraq.  

Debka: 350 nuclear sites in Iran. "What installations?" an IRI official asked innocently, when international nuclear inspectors requested, last May, to revisit installations they had seen earlier in the year. According to this Debka report, US intelligence estimates that as many as 350 sites may have to be hit in order to destroy the regime's nuclear weapons program. Additionally, Pentagon planners are convinced that such an operation must also accomplish regime change:

The first stage would be a bombing mission against the regime’s primary prop, the Revolutionary Guards. The second stage would be the destruction of known and probable nuclear sites – a much harder mission given the hundreds of sites known and unknown number and carefully camouflaged underground behind cunning window-dressing. US intelligence estimates as many as 350 sites. It does not have precise knowledge of which are the most important or even which are active. Regime change in stage three would entail ground action.

Dreams Into Lightning encourages readers to voice support for regime change in Iran by signing the Iran Regime Change Petition, which is endorsed by the activist forum Free Iran.

Let's blogroll!

Some people think of terrorism as a "nuisance" comparable to organized crime. Kat at The Middle Ground puts the same analogy in a more useful context: like the generations-long battle with the Mafia, it will be a slow and difficult, but ultimately winnable, war. Winnable, that is, if we remain committed to shrewd and relentless prosecution of the battle. BTW, I've added a long-overdue sidebar link to TMG as well.

Zeyad at Healing Iraq has gotten a much-too-close-for-comfort view of the fighting. I don't know how he manages to stay sane enough to blog ... he must have a pair of those brass cojones.

Jane at Armies of Liberation is more than a little bit miffed about journalistic double standards, and she's not mincing words in her latest article published in the Arab News. She also picks up where a previous Dreams Into Lightning post left off, with a comprehensive listing of progressive Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern organizations.

As you've probably figured out by now, your host doesn't get out that often, and rarely manages to leave downtown Portland. Michael J. Totten doesn't have that problem. Follow this post to his article on his recent trip to Tunis. Also read MJT's recent posts for his thoughts on Zeyad's predicament, and a guest post by Jeremy Brown on Fascists, Nazis, and assorted other totalitarians.

A plague of locusts is the subject of recent posts by Allison Kaplan Sommer and Imshin. Let's hope this turns out not to be a major problem in Israel.

Drawing the line. Ampersand of Alas, a Blog offers some thoughtful critiques of the controversy surrounding various cartoon or caricature portrayals of our next Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Amp isn't impressed by the International Women's Forum's accusations of "racist" political cartoons, but is nevertheless troubled by the racial overtones of Danziger's and Oliphant's cartoons.

Dumb and dumber? You were probably worried that the Washington Post was too high-brow for most readers. You weren't? Well, fret not, because they're lowering the reading level even further to try to stop the paper's circulation hemorrhage. And, oh yeah, they're doing all kinds of other neat stuff ... LaShawn Barber has the details.

Update

Regular posting will return to Dreams Into Lightning starting tomorrow. I've gotten caught up on American Literature and I've gotten a handle on Simpson's Rule and other approximate integration techniques ... now if I can remember the difference between the Shell Method and the Disk Method, I'll have Solids of Revolution down pat, and I'll be almost done with second-semester Calculus.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend, as The Next Generation is coming up from San Francisco for a visit.

On the home front, I just got a new vacuum cleaner and a new bed - no more sleeping on a futon on the floor! - and the apartment is finally starting to look presentable. And my DVD set of "The L Word" arrived last week, so I've got no shortage of mindless melodrama to keep me entertained during my downtime.

There's a lot I want to write about, particularly around anti-Semitism, authority and responsibility, and the changing landscape of American culture and politics. Stay tuned.

Hezbollah Drone Update

On November 12, a Hezbollah-operated reconnaissance drone called the Mirsad-1 penetrated Israeli airspace and flew over the northern town of Nahariya for fifteen minutes. The incident raises serious questions about Israel's air security, according to this Debka report. Debka notes that a Patriot air-defense system normally posted in the area was absent on the day of the intrusion, leaving the area guarded only by the less advanced Hawk missiles - which, unlike the Patriots usually on duty, lacked the ability to detect small objects like the drone. Debka points out another curious aspect of the incident: the footage broadcast after the overflight, purportedly shot by the drone, "shows a Patriot battery present". Either these photographs were taken by a previous, undetected mission over Israel, or they were illicitly obtained from another source such as a private satellite company. The report also weighs in on an unidentified submarine spotted of Israel's coast at the time of the incident; read the article at the link for full details.

RELATED:
Morning Report: April 12, 2005 (Hezbollah drone penetrates Israeli airspace.)
Hezbollah Drone Update
Eagle/Heron, and Another UAV

Some of the Boys Dressed in Pink Shorts Anyway

Hat tip: Emily at Strangechord
You knew, didn't you, that when a rural elementary school in East Texas had a "let's swap gender roles" day, someone would complain that the practice "promotes homosexuality" (shudder).

Students in Spurger, Texas were encouraged by school officials to wear camouflage hunting gear to class on Wednesday after they called off their annual "TWIRP Day" in which boys dressed as girls and vice versa.

The cross-dressing tradition began some years back as a kind of Sadie Hawkins Day where girls ask boys to go out on dates.

TWIRP stands for "The Woman Is Requested To Pay."

But Delana Davies, who has two children in the Spurger school, complained this year that the tradition could promote homosexuality and got the Liberty Legal Institute, a right-wing Christian legal group, to take up the cause.

"It might be fun today to dress up like a little girl -- kids think it's cute and things like that. And you start playing around with it and, like drugs, you do a little here and there (and) eventually it gets you," Davies told reporters.

So in the interests of promoting heterosexuality (and deer hunting), the authorities re-designated the day as "camouflage day". Now personally, I know some women who look fabulous in camouflage and combat boots, but I'm not sure that's quite what the school had in mind. Anyway, you can read about the whole subversive plot here.

Say You're Sorry

You may recall that a group of well-meaning Americans has seen fit to apologize on behalf of the American people for the recent Iraq war.

These folks are a little behind the times. A year ago, Mohammed at Iraq the Model wrote that the peace movement does, indeed, owe the Iraqi people an apology:

I don’t know really know why Saddam’s regime lasted for over three decades, but I am sure as an Iraqi who survived that period that there’re no legal or moral justifications for it to remain.

I was counting days and hours waiting to see an end to that regime, just like all those who suffered the cruelty of that brutal regime. It’s been really a disgrace chasing the world ,the world of the 21st. century, reminding it how incapable it was to aid the oppressed and to sue those who dispised all the values of humanity. Through out these decades I lost trust in the world governments and international committees. Terms like (human rights, democracy and liberty..etc.)became hallow and meaningless and those who keep repeating these words are liars..liars..liars.

I hated the U.N and the security council and Russia and France and Germany and the arab nations and the islamic conference.
I’ve hated George Gallawy and all those marched in the millionic demonstrations against the war .It is I who was oppressed and I don’t want any one to talk on behalf of me, I, who was eager to see rockets falling on Saddam’s nest to set me free, and it is I who desired to die gentlemen, because it’s more merciful than humiliation as it puts an end to my suffer, while humiliation lives with me reminding me every moment that I couldn’t defend myself against those who ill-treated me.

What hurt me more and kept my wound bleeding was that they gave Saddam a tribune so the skinner can talk, and offered him a diplomatic representation almost all-over the world to broadcast his filthy propaganda and sprinkle Iraq’s wealth on his supporters. I really didn’t understand those countries demands to take away our misery. Did they really think that the sanctions were the cause?

We were not even human, Saddam wiped off our humanity , we were just numbers and a lot of Identity cards that we had to show wherever we went.

The Baath idea was this:
YOU’RE A CITIZEN , THEN YOU’RE A SUSPECT

Believe me , we were living in the” kingdom of horror”.

Please tell me how could the world that claims to be civilized let Saddam launch chemical weapons on his own un-armed people? Shame..

Can anyone tell me why the world let Saddam remain and stood against America’s will to topple him?

Till when will the charts of human rights remain incompulsory , cancel them, because they remind you of your big disgrace.
Keep giving time and tribunes to regimes like those in Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Libya to justify their presence.

To me I don’t recognize your committees and I have no time to listen to that nonsense, I’ve got along way to walk building my country and helping my people forget the days of abasement.

You all owe the Iraqi people an apology.

The Real Peace Movement

The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism: United we stand.
Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism

The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism does not seek to change the tenets of the religion. However, the Coalition believes that the Koran only provides general principals of governance which leaves the faithful with substantial flexibility to modernize popular Muslim practices and beliefs.

The Coalition seeks to encourage discussion among Muslims about every aspect of their religion as it applies to modern times. The unwillingness of the Muslim religious establishment to consider modernizing the faith has relegated most Muslims to third world status and in many instances to a medieval existence.

Those who seek change are often afraid to speak out because of the aggressive and violent nature of those Muslims who reject change. The silence of peaceful Muslims has resulted in the hijacking of Islam by extremists and terrorists. This must change.

... The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism strongly supports the promotion of democracy in the Middle East. However, the Coalition cautions that imposing democracy on the Middle East without first promoting secularism and destroying terrorism may lead to the creation of Islamic extremist states that will ultimately reject the democracy that brings them to power.

The Coalition supports the right of all peoples to self government, but recognizes the importance of a solid system of government which guarantees a secular democracy protecting the rights of all people, regardless of gender, race or religion, and strives tirelessly to eliminate threats to democracy including extremism and terrorism. The Coalition fosters this secular environment by opening debates on the prerequisite of secularism in governments in the Middle East & North Africa, rallying against Islamist propaganda in media outlets, in institutions of education and in political campaigns, and by exploring the creation of secular democracy-preserving constitutions for Arab and Muslim countries.

... The Coalition believes that fundamentalist Islamic terror represents one of the most lethal threats to the stability of the civilized world. The existence of Islamic terrorists is the existence of threats to democracy. There is no room for terrorism in the modern world and the United States should take a no-tolerance stance on terrorism in order to avoid another tragedy, along the lines of 9-11. With the added threat of biochemical weapons, the call to defeat terrorism has never been so urgent.

Faith Freedom: Ex-Muslims speak out.
FaithFreedom

Today humanity is being challenged. Unthinkable atrocities take place on daily basis. There is an evil force at work that aims to destroy us. The agents of this evil respect nothing; not even the lives of children. Every day there are bombings, every day innocent people are targeted and murdered. It seems as if we are helpless. But we are not!

We are losing the war against terrorism because we do not know our enemy. Terrorism is just a tool, the enemy is the ideology behind terrorism and that is Islam.

Those of us, who know Islam, know that the understanding of the terrorists of Islam is correct. They are doing nothing that their prophet did not do. Murder, rape, assassination, beheading, massacre and mutilation of the dead "to delight the hearts of the believers" were all practiced by Muhammad.

If truth matters it should be now! This is the time that we have to find the root of the problem and eradicate it. The root of Islamic terrorism is Islam. The proof of that is the Quran.

We ex-Muslims have seen the face of the evil and have risen to warn the world. No matter how painful the truth may be, only truth can set us free.

Arabs For Israel: Yes, really.
Arabs For Israel

We can support the State of Israel and the Jewish religion and still treasure our Arab and Islamic culture.
There are many Jews and Israelis who freely express compassion and support for the Palestinians. It is time that we Arabs express reciprocal compassion and support.
The existence of the State of Israel is a fact that should be accepted by the Arab world.
Israel is a legitimate state that is not a threat but an asset in the Middle East.
Every major World religion has a center of gravity. Islam has Mecca, and Judaism certainly deserves its presence in Israel and Jerusalem.
Diversity should not be a virtue only in the USA, but should be encouraged around the world. We support a diverse Middle East with protection for human rights, respect and equality under the law to all minorities including Jews and Christians.
Palestinians have several options but are deprived from exercising them because of their leadership, the Arab League and surrounding Arab and Moslem countries who do not want to see Palestinians live in harmony with Israel.
If Palestinians want democracy they can start practicing it now.
We stand firmly against suicide/homicide terrorism as a form of Jihad.
We are appalled by the horrific act of terror against the USA on 9/11/2001.
Arab media should end the incitement and misinformation that result in Arab street rage and violence.
We are eager to see major reformation in how Islam is taught and channeled to bring out the best in Moslems and contribute to the uplifting of the human spirit and advancement of civilization.
We believe in freedom to choose or change one’s Religion.
We cherish and acknowledge the beauty and contributions of the Middle East culture, but recognize that the Arab/Moslem world is in desperate need of constructive self-criticism and reform.

Irshad Manji: Author of "The Trouble with Islam."
Irshad Manji - Muslim Refusenik

The Trouble with Islam shatters our silence. It shows Muslims how we can re-discover Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking -- a tradition known as "ijtihad" -- and re-discover it precisely to update Islam for the 21st century. The opportunity to update is especially available to Muslims in the West, because it's here that we enjoy precious freedoms to think, express, challenge and be challenged without fear of state reprisal. In that sense, the Islamic reformation begins in the West.

It doesn't, however, end here. Not by a long shot. People throughout the Islamic world need to know of their God-given right to think for themselves. So The Trouble with Islam outlines a global campaign to promote innovative approaches to Islam. I call this non-military campaign "Operation Ijtihad." In turn, the West's support of this campaign will fortify national security, making Operation Ijtihad a priority for all of us who wish to live fatwa-free lives.

Free Iran: Iranian activists' homepage.
Free Iran

Iraq The Model Celebrates One Year

I've got a lot going on right now and I don't have time for regular posting ... but THIS I've got time for:

Iraq The Model is one year old. The Fadhil brothers - Omar, Ali, and Mohammed - are marking their first anniversary of blogging today.
Iraq The Model homepage
first anniversary post

The Voice of Reason

Dan Savage, writing in the Portland Mercury, offers this bit of clear-sighted, dispassionate analysis:

We can't literally secede and, let's admit it, we don't really want to live in Canada. It's too cold up there and in our heart-of-hearts, we hate hockey. We can secede emotionally, however, by turning our backs on the heartland. We can focus on our issues, our urban issues, and promote our shared urban values. The Republicans have the federal government--for now. But we've got Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City (Bloomberg is a Republican in name only), and every college town in the country. We're everywhere any sane person wants to be. Let them have the shitholes, the Oklahomas, Wyomings, and Alabamas. We'll take Manhattan.

To red-state voters, to the rural voters, residents of small, dying towns, and soulless sprawling exburbs, we'll say this: Fuck off. Your issues are no longer our issues. We're going to battle our bleeding-heart instincts and ignore pangs of misplaced empathy. We will no longer concern ourselves with a health care crisis that disproportionately impacts rural areas.

We'll fight to keep guns off the streets of our cities but the more guns laying around out there in the heartland, the better. Most cities have strong gun-control laws--laws that are, of course, undermined by the fact that our cities aren't walled. Yet. But why should liberals in cities fund organizations that attempt to get trigger locks onto the handguns of NRA members and Bush supporters? If red-state dads aren't concerned enough about their own children to put trigger locks on their own guns, it's not our problem. If a kid in a red state finds his daddy's handgun and blows his head off, we'll feel terrible (we're like that), but we'll try to look on the bright side: At least he won't grow up to vote like his dad.

Better Dead Than Red