Iranian regime intentions
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
One of the givens of the Middle East's dense diplomacy is Shiite Iran's enduring hostility toward the Taliban, the radical Sunni movement whose fall from power in 2001 was welcomed nowhere as much as in Tehran.
"It is better for Iran if America is entangled in Afghanistan with the Taliban," said Abulfazl Amooei, a political analyst for the Hamshahri diplomatic magazine, which closely reflects the views of Iran's Islamic hard-liners.
For years, Iran's power in the Middle East was held in check through a combination of U.S. sanctions and a long war in the 1980s with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, whose regime received aid from the United States and Sunni Arab nations that feared the growing influence of the Islamic Republic and the potential expansion of its hard-line theological revolution.
( Then USA took out Iraq and the Taliban? Two of Iran's biggest enemys.
Iran was just barely able to fight Iraq to a stand still after 7yrs,
USA took Iraq in a couple of weeks, and Iran is scared. G)
Just as worrying for Sunni Arab governments in the Middle East, Ahmadinejad's tough talk against the U.S. and Israel has won Iran unexpected and growing popularity in the Sunni Muslim world. Tehran now sees itself poised to become the dominant power broker in the Mideast and deeper into Asia.
....we should admit that Iran, bearing in mind the circumstances in the region, is not satisfied if the Taliban is totally banished from Afghanistan. And the status quo in Afghanistan is the best for our foreign policy," said Amooei, the political analyst.
Mohammad Kazem Anbarlouee, former head of a conservative Islamic faction in the parliament and editor of Resalat, a hard-line newspaper, described Iran's strategy in Afghanistan as a delicate balancing act between two enemies: the Taliban on the one hand, and the U.S....
Hamidreza Babaei, a deputy speaker of Iran's parliament:
"We regard the American administration as our enemy. We also regard the Taliban as our enemy.
Iran's president on Tuesday dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The United States warned Iran to take the deadline seriously.
Ahmadinejad's remarks underscored Tehran's defiance in the nuclear standoff - and also sought to send a message that his government has not been weakened by the protest movement sparked by June's disputed presidential election. He spoke a day after the latest opposition protest by tens of thousands mourning a dissident cleric who died over the weekend.
The international community can give Iran "as many deadlines as they want, we don't care," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to thousands of supporters in the southern city of Shiraz.
"We told you that we are not afraid of sanctions against us, and we are not intimidated," he said, addressing the West.
In Paris, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the chances of finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Iran were "never very significant" and that in the "worst case," France will bring up the issue of new sanctions on Tehran.
( Geeze, France's "worst case" is sanctions? Guess their not going to bomb. G )
Under the deal brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency last month, most of Iran's low-enriched uranium would be shipped abroad, where it would be enriched further to produce fuel rods. The rods would then be returned to Iran for use in a research reactor in Tehran, but it would not be possible to enrich them further to a high enough level to build a bomb.
The UN leader said he decided to send the envoy to Baghdad before Sunday's bombings. Iraq has blamed an alliance between al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam ...
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There was two suicide bombers. About 150 feet apart.
Paradigm Intel says second bomber was planed to hit first responders. Thats why there were two bombers. Second suicide bomber was to set his bomb off 25 min after first bomb killing responders and more civilians.
The second bomber may have been conflicted about killing the first responder civilians. Set his bomb off right after first, about 3 seconds.
The movement is too violent for some of the members.
Al-Qaida Declares New "Cabinet Roster" for its "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI)
By Evan Kohlmann
Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI) has issued an updated leadership "cabinet roster." The roster reads as follows:
- Deputy Emir and Minister of War: "Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Abdel Moneim al-Badawi" - Minister of Shariah Councils: "Shaykh Abdul Wahab al-Mashhadani" - Minister of Public Relations: "Shaykh Mohammed al-Dulaimi" - Minister for Prisoners and Martyrs: "Shaykh Hassan Jubouri" - Minister of Security: "Professor Shaykh Abdul Razzaq al-Shammari" - Minister of Health: "Dr. Shaykh Abdullah Qaisi" - Minister of Information: "Shaykh Professor Ahmad al-Tai" - Minister of Petroleum: "Shaykh Osama Laheebi" - Minister of Finance: "Shaykh Professor Yunis al-Hamdani"
Paradigm Intel supplies the names of the alternates
incase those above are unable to perform their duties.
- Deputy Emir and Minister of War: "Abu al-Santa Clauses" - Minister of Shariah Councils: "Shaykh Bunny of the Easter" - Minister of Public Relations: "Shaykh Mohammed al-Dummy" - Minister for Prisoners and Martyrs: "Shaykh Licon of Abraham" - Minister of Security: "Professor Shaykh Abdul Anybody" - Minister of Health: "Dr. Shaykh al-Morea Fakers Namerus" - Minister of Information: "Shaykh Professor Obama Nothera" - Minister of Petroleum: "Shaykh Osama Beanior" - Minister of Finance: "Shaykh Professor Ponzi Hopus"
Gee it seems the al Qaeda of Iraq is growing out of thin air.
Al Qaeda has nuclear ambitions. By Gerald, Internet Anthropologist Aug 31, 08
Just released BSU report.
Al Qaeda is actively pursuing an Nuclear option.
Some of A;Qaeda's command and control are being run out of Lebanon.
They think that is safer than Pakistan.
Their head nuclear guy is a former IT or has had some hacking experience. We haven't been able to trace HIM yet, his security is top notch. But we can track him we have had him on a Trap but he didn't stay for the required 15 seconds to trace him.
We have deployed more BSU's from remote PCs. We have armed cyber recon squads on standby for any thing the 'Bot surveillance units' develop. We are using a heavy cyber weapons squad for over watch. Our G2 has an officer on duty 24/7 ( to evulate evidence ) with the watch officer And our tip line is open.
Paradigm Intel suggests 3 targets, Iraq, USA and Israel. And they hope Iran gets blamed.
We are publishing this so other Government Intelligence agencys will have at least heard it.
Gerald Anthropologist, et Magnum Internet Anthropologist Think Tank
Gerald Internet Anthropologist Think Tank Aug 18, 08
I have been tracing and tracking a Terror financing unit.
They are raising and exporting money from USA and around the world.
It is a close knit group with at least 5 levels of supervision.
My lead started in the Islamic Army in Iraq, which I traced to a Pashtun connection in the terrorist financing and donation arm and tracked that to the USA and back to Lebanon and from there over to Georgia. It is a combined Taliban, al Qaeda run operation.
The central unit is operating out of Lebanon and has operatives in USA collecting funds and moving them to Lebanon.
They are buying/renting realestate in Georgia ( location of the latest Russian activity ), developing terrorist capabilities in Georgia. And at least one member is spending the donated money on porno sites.
This group has members in Georgia, Paki border, USA, and Lebanon that I am aware of, I have four IP's and related info. And connections in Iraq and Jordan.
Government inquiries welcome.
All are running extensive security and using elite proxys, and have been in operation for at least 5 months.
Paradigm Intel: al Qaeda's move into Georgia doesn't bode well for the GWOT, expect al Qaeda to run false flag ops in Georgia to keep trouble stirred up between Georgia, Russia and USA.
Image via WikipediaBin Laden has not been able to strike on U.S. soil since 9/11 or in Europe since the London bombings three summers ago. In Iraq, his most successful franchise operation is on the ropes. Across the Muslim world, opinion polls suggest his popularity has faded, and many of his early supporters -- including prominent jihadi ideologues -- have denounced him. Even his messages on the Internet scarcely merit headlines in the mainstream media......
According to this assessment, two decades since its founding in Peshawar, Pakistan, al-Qaeda remains a source of inspiration for certain extremists around the world. But it's far from clear that bin Laden commands them......
...a few days after bin Laden's most recent Internet postings. The officials told me they've found no evidence of al-Qaeda operations in their countries. If bin Laden has any role in the jihad, say the Europeans, it is merely as an icon. Alain Grignard, Belgium's top terrorism investigator, says bin Laden is now a "Robin Hood figure; 100 people are inspired by him, but very few respond to do what he wants."....
al Qaeda's efforts in Paki and Afghan are thier last stand so to speak, they are fast becoming irrelevant. And they are in a war of survival. Hoping to find a palace to exist, survive.
al Qaeda's top leader ship is gone, and the new leaders don't have the connections or pull of the old leaders.
We are in a mop up phase with al Qaeda and may be able to get the Taliban to deal, survival for the remaining al Qaeda leadership. The Taliban are hurting, and are experiencing some of the highest attrition rtes of mid-level management they have ever experienced, they are experiencing some relief from deserters from Iraq, but this will be short lived as they too are attrited.
This is not to say aQ isn't looking for a big punch if they get the chance.
Image by Boris from Vienna via FlickrReligion of Irony alert. Al Qaeda's #3 has called for the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah for meeting with the Pope and calling for interfaith dialogue.
Image via WikipediaSenior Saudi Cleric: Bin Laden "Is a Promoter of Evil and Deviant"; Al-Zawahiri Is a "Deviant"
Following the recent arrest in Saudi Arabia of 520 terrorists who had planned attacks on the country's oil facilities, the Saudi daily 'Okaz published an interview with Saudi Supreme Judicial Council head Sheikh Saleh bin Muhammad Al-Luhaidan. In his discussion of terrorism in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Al-Luhaidan called Al-Qaeda a criminal organization that threatens to destroy the world's purest country. He also called bin Laden a promoter of evil, and the members of his organization criminals. In addition, he said that in order to protect the youth from extremist ideas, there was a need for real da'wa at home, in schools and in the media.
'Okaz: "The [Saudi] security forces recently [intercepted] two messages by the No. 2 man in Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, calling to raise funds [for the organization]. What is the ruling on someone who responds to this appeal, whether by making a donation or by giving the messages wide distribution?"
Sheikh Al-Luhaidan: "These deviants, who were not tolerated in their [own] countries, went to Iraq and to other countries with the purpose of destroying the [Saudi] kingdom. I do not know of a single country in the Muslim world that has defended the Muslims' interests and invested efforts to assist the Muslims as much as the [Saudi] kingdom… Whoever cooperates with these [terrorists] or responds to their appeals is regarded as a criminal. We beseech Allah to expose anyone who seeks to harm our country or who collaborates with criminals."
'Okaz: "What, in your opinion, brings a young Saudi to travel to Iraq or to any other unstable region [in order to] blow himself up, or [in order to] train and then return to Saudi Arabia to carry out terrorist operations?"
Sheikh Al-Luhaidan: "Young people like these were also deceived by the first Khawarij rebellion. [1] They were impetuous young men who killed believers but showed leniency towards polytheists. Those who travel abroad with the intention of harming the Kingdom and its people and attacking its economy are no less evil than the Khawarij, who [threatened] the Islamic nation in the beginning of its history."
"What about anyone belonging to Al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden?"
Sheikh Al-Luhaidan: "That man [i.e. bin Laden] - his actions speak for him. He is not the one to direct a person onto the right path. Indeed, he is a promoter of evil and depravity, and whoever follows him, pursues depravity. If we saw a man call for a rebellion while getting ready for his evening prayer, we would denounce him as a useless criminal who defies Allah's laws. How much more so, if he were inciting others to destroy the purest country in the world - a country which is undoubtedly the best on earth - i.e. the Saudi Kingdom. Without doubt, anyone who calls to destroy it, to undermine its security, to harm its installations and economic centers, and who incites the public against it - such a person is a criminal, as are [all] members of Al-Qaeda. Anyone who is associated with [this organization] must be punished." [2]
Image by inju via Flickr screwed up big time on this one. G
I expected the show to start out with the ugly American and develop into a balanced truthful accurate representation of the Invasion/war on Iraq.
The show hates American troops, it never balanced out the first segment, it just got worse and worse. I makes out American troops out to be baby killing, civilian killing, no respect for human life LIKE al Qaeda.
Americans are not like that, American troops are not like that, the series is an embarrassment to HBO. It is just UGLY. I've called my cable server and canceled HBO.
The series could have been directed by al Qaeda, its is a terrorist propaganda view of American Troops.
Sorry guys I was way off on this piece of illegitimate CRAP.
It has the flavor and 'ordur', of the Military intellect and logic yet displays the extreme competence of the Military. No corporation in the world could match the US Military in combination of efficiency, restraint and success of their respective primary missions.
"They" attacked USA on 911, here is USA's response in up close and in PERSON. Warts, Power and Heart.
USA WILL HUNT DOWN ALL AL QAEDIA AND KILL THEM OR IMPRISON THEM. Everyone.
Top US military chief is convinced Iranians seek atom bomb
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 20, 2008, 10:49 AM (GMT+02:00)
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News he is convinced the Iranians are seeking to building an atomic bomb, "a very destabilizing possibility in that part of the world." He stressed the US had the capacity and the reserves to attack Iran as a last resort
DEBKAfile's Washington sources stressed the special significance of Mullen's statement on Sunday, July 20. The night before, a senior Israeli security official said that if the US-Iranian talks failed, President Bush planned to use the three-month period between the November elections in America and his exit from the White House in January for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Saturday night, too, Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi arrived for a week's visit as the admiral's guest.
Mullen warned that while the US has the capacity and reserves for attacking Iran, there could be "possible unintended consequences" and an unpredictable regional impact from any attack on Iran – a hint at a dangerous backlash from a possible Israeli strike uncoordinated with the United States.
"I'm fighting two wars and I don't need a third one," said Mullen referring to Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5450
http://snipurl.com/32j7a
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Maybe USA doesn't need a third war, but the alternative is a Nuclear armed Iran. Again what is Adm. Mullen's paradigm?
G Update:
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 19, 2008, 9:00 PM (GMT+02:00)
This assessment was reported by Israeli national radio Saturday overnight quoting a high-placed “security-political” official.
The source predicted that President George W. Bush would order Iran attacked between the November 4 presidential election and his exit from the White House in January. More...
Defense officials say commanders called for the formal investigation known in the military as a "fifteen-six" (15-6), to get answers to a series of critical questions: Just how did so many insurgent get so close to the outpost without being detected? Was security and surveillance surrounding the outpost inadequate or did those involved in security fall down on the job?.....
"There is no question that the absence of pressure on the Pakistani side of the border is creating an opportunity for more people to cross the border and to launch attacks." When asked if the U.S. military would launch unilateral strikes against the insurgent camps inside Pakistan, Gates would not rule it out. Meanwhile, defense officials say Pentagon efforts to send more American troops and equipment to Afghanistan to counter the growing enemy threat there have kicked into "high gear."
With the World Cup opening June 9 in Munich, Germany is having an increasing problem with the growth of radical Islamism. German Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm has recently stated that the country is sitting on a "powder keg" of radical Islamist migrants who could be plotting an terror attack in Germany. Today - Der Spiegel has reported on a foiled suicide bomb plot by three German women. German intelligence sources prevented three German Muslim women from traveling to Iraq; one of the German women planned to blow herself up with her child in Iraq. At least one of the women was a convert to Islam and sources state that all the German women were sympathizers of Ansar al Islam. Ansar al Islam has a history of smuggling suicide bombers from Germany to Iraq. Germany's domestic security agency, the Verfassungsschutz, has also reported recent growth of Islamists in Germany - 32,100 as of 2005, including representation in Hamas, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, Milli Gorus (Turkish group). Islamists are also angry over the recent death of Amir Cheema, a Pakistani who died in Berlin, while in custody as a suspect in a plot to kill Die Welt's editor-in-chief over publication of Muhammed cartoons. Moreover, the goals of radical Islamism's growing ranks are supported by a growing Neo-Nazism which plans to use the World Cup event to defend Iran's Holocaust Denial and denying Israel's right to exist. Germany is anxious to avoid a repeat of the 1972 Munich Olympics where 11 Israeli athletes were killed by a Palestinian terror group. Some experts believe that Germany is not sufficiently prepared in terms of security for the World Cup and that security plans are relying too much on emergency forces.
The NEFA Foundation has released a new report I have written titled “Jihad Networks in Pakistan and Their Influence in Europe.” The paper is based upon a presentation I gave on July 10 before the III International Course on “Jihad Terrorism: Contingency Plans and Response”, organized by the Pablo Olavide University and the Granada University in Spain. It assesses the proliferation of jihad training camps in Pakistan—particularly in Waziristan and the region bordering Pakistani-controlled Kashmir—and the subsequent impact that those training camps have had on the proliferation of terrorist networks in Western Europe.
"More than 100 terror camps" in operation in northwestern Pakistan July 11, 2008 9:05 AM ET By Bill Roggio
Al Qaeda and the Taliban extend their power in the Northwest Frontier Province. A cross-border attack into Pakistan wounds 11, including 9 Pakistani soldiers.
My review is based on OSINT relative the the Army's HT effort.
What I have been able to glean indicates the HT effort is based on the Company level. Which should be minimal staffing.
But could be organized on a wiki to include Battlion level all the way up to Theater level, and provide a coordinated effort linked to all levels and a past history of paradigms, groups and people.
The work product should include applied anthropology. and metrics. And demographics on the enemy.
With this Wiki a new HT troops can check what was done in the past and with whom. Reporting from multiple levels and a consildated effort would be a great force multiplier.
And linked into the Military Blogging efforts and the State departments new efforts in the Info war.
For every heart and mind won, its one less enemy that has to be killed, A noble endeavor for any anthropologist.
Image via WikipediaSituation in Pakistan spinning out of control: Stratfor
* Intelligence service claims Musharraf's regime has been replaced by a civil-military hybrid * Country is being torn apart by extremism
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The use of suicide bombings has allowed religiously radical forces to reach beyond their NWFP strongholds and strike with impunity at the core of Pakistan, including urban centres, and as it is, things are spinning out of control, according to a commentary released on Monday by Stratfor.
The Texas-based news intelligence service notes that along with the rapidly deteriorating security situation, political instability has only grown after the elections, which failed to quell the political unrest that severely weakened not only President Pervez Musharraf's hold on power but also that of the army.
Civil-military hybrid: "Musharraf's regime has been replaced by a civil-military hybrid which lacks the willingness and/or the ability to take on the threat posed by extremism and militancy. The fact is that the civilian government and the country's military establishment appear to be losing control of the situation," the analysis maintains.
Will the Paki's allow Pakistan to deteroriate into an Iraq, circa 2004? I don't expect the new Paki government to react or ask for help untill they experience sever pain, and their pain threshold is higher than I expected.
Paradoxically, Iran, an extremist theocratic Shiite regime with Ahmadinejad at its helm, is orchestrating and funding the activities of extremist Sunnis in the region.
The paradox is most striking in the case of Al-Qaeda, the most extremist Sunni organization, which has joined, in the full sense of the word, the Iranian apparatus. The alliance between the two enemies began in the wake of the defeat of Al-Qaeda and the organization's flight from Afghanistan to all Sunni countries. The first group of Al-Qaeda, which was led by Egyptian national Saif Al-Adel, and included Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's son, fled to Iran immediately after the fall of the Taliban regime. I do not know whether the first group of Al-Qaeda entered Iran by mistake, after its members roamed aimlessly in the rugged mountainous region on the Pakistani-Afghan border, or as a result of contacts who arranged for the Iranian hosting. We were initially puzzled by the rumors that Iran had arrested a group of fleeing Al-Qaeda members who crossed its border from Afghanistan, only to realize later that the story had far deeper implications. The investigators of the attack that Al-Qaeda carried out in Riyadh found evidence indicating that the operation came from Iran and that the perpetrators were Al-Qaeda members. This was confirmed after satellite mobile telephone recordings were discovered between Saif Al-Adel and the Saudi commander of the group. The communication clearly showed that the call originated in Iran. Those concerned with this were surprised because Iran did not deny the call, but quickly admitted that it had a number of Al-Qaeda members in a certain prison. It justified the incident by saying that the group members perhaps broke the rules of their hosting. Crude though it was, the justification might have been deliberate. Perhaps Iran wanted to tell concerned parties that it was now in control of Al-Qaeda. In the past four years, the largest number of Al-Qaeda members have made Iran their headquarters. It has even been suggested that Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who some consider to be Al-Qaeda's actual leader, is also being hosted by Iran, as evidenced by his many relaxed audio and video statements, and especially his famous public criticism of the late Al-Qaeda agent in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, for attacking Shiites.
Image by Quiplash! via FlickrYet, despite dire official pronouncements and travel sanctions, a brave few are venturing where no man has gone before. Why not romp through the poppy fields of Afghanistan? Play golf on dirt-and-oil "browns", fly kites, check what's left of the Bamiyan Buddhas, and dodge rocket-propelled grenades.
Wild Frontiers (www.wildfrontiers.co.uk) is one outfit that can get you there to "follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo" and Alexander the Great, if not Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. ( a good friend of MR.Laden, probaly knows where biny is, G ) Don't fret about car bombs. Travel is by donkey.
Iraq Tours (www.iraqtours.net) offers a picture of a fighter jet taking off on its home page with the caption, "Enjoy a wide variety of sightseeing tours in Iraq." Among the places you might wish to visit is the fortified Green Zone, also referred to as Little Venice on account of the numerous waterways criss-crossing the area between the palatial homes once occupied by Saddam's family. As in Venice you might get that sinking feeling but this is perhaps the safest spot in the country. One of the largest and biggest spending international tour groups – the US Army – is based here. And boy they're having fun.
Iraq Kurdistan Tourism (www.tourismkurdistan.com) is seeking capital, ideas and travellers to leverage its mountain views, rivers, idyllic sheep farms, and relative peace from Kirkuk and Erbil to Mosul. Taking a leaf from the US, the Turkish Army was among the first to respond. It conducted long hikes, took pictures and let off fireworks. The overjoyed local population threw up its hands in welcome and ran, in the opposite direction.
If all this does not slake your curiosity, what about Palestine (www.visit-palestine.com)? The tourism department is promoting trips to places like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho, Nablus, the Dead Sea and Gaza. Roll about in Dead Sea mud without paying a penny, or visit historic Gaza for a crash weight-loss programme involving a scientifically calibrated zero-calorie diet – courtesy Israel – and lots of walks. Everyone walks. There's no petrol. This is how the other half live their healthy, well exercised lives. It's time people around the world had a chance to enjoy all this. Perhaps one day I'll get you to Mars. – www.SmartTravelAsia.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- With Christmas 2005 approaching, the princes of al Qaeda's western command were gathering. They'd been summoned for something special: to plot a three-month campaign of coordinated suicide, rocket and infantry attacks on American bases, checkpoints and Iraqi army positions.
An Iraqi army officer shows a fake ID taken off an al Qaeda suspect in Mosul in May.
In al Qaeda in Iraq's hierarchy, prince designates a senior leader, and these princes had been gathered by the most senior among them, the prince of Anbar province itself.
This commander, his name not recorded in al Qaeda's summaries of the meetings and referred to only by rank, spent that December fleshing out his vision for the wave of assaults with the gathered subordinates who would lead his combat brigades.
The gathering was a council of war, its meetings remarkably detailed in al Qaeda records. In minutes of their secretive meetings, a grim notation was made: Operation Desert Shield had been approved and would "hopefully commence in mid-January 2006." Watch a report on the document trove »
With the operation approved, the prince of Anbar listened to the briefings of his assembled commanders: the chairmen of both his military and his security committees, plus the various princes from the sectors he controlled -- Falluja, Ramadi, Anbar-West and Anbar-Central. All boundary demarcations strikingly similar to those used by the American soldiers they were fighting.
Anderson Cooper 360°
"360°" sorts through one of the largest collections of al Qaeda documents to fall into civilian hands. Tonight, 10 ET on CNN
The overall plan, too, was similar to any that the U.S. army would devise. First, the military committee chairman outlined plans to seal off the U.S. targets as much as possible by harassing supply lines, damaging bridges and targeting helicopters and their landing zones, in a bid to restrict reinforcement or resupply.
Then the security chairman spoke of the need to maintain strict "operational security," ordaining that only the princes, or leaders, involved in the meetings be informed of the grand strategy, leaving cell leaders and battalion commanders to believe their individual attacks were being launched in isolation.
All this would be Phase I, a precursor to the 90 days of attacks of Phase II, to be timed across not just Anbar but across much of Sunni Iraq to stretch and distract America's war commander, Gen. David Petraeus.
Flowing from the memo approving Operation Desert Shield, a stream of reports follow.
On January 7, 2006, a memo called for Iraqis who'd infiltrated various U.S. bases to conduct site surveys to help identify the camps that would be hit. The two-page note also spoke of placing ammunition stores well in advance of the attacks so the fighters could resort to them during the battles.
The January memo also commented on training and rehearsals for the offensive and the extraction routes their fighters would use after the attacks, and it dictated the need to obtain pledges from the foot soldiers of their willingness to die.
Al Qaeda's methods
Roadside bombs
Abandoned vehicles, dead animals and other objects are loaded with explosives and detonated by remote control as the target passes by.
Suicide bombings
Suicide attacks are executed by means of explosive-laden vehicles or individuals wearing vests packed with explosives.
Katyusha rockets
The name represents a variety of artillery rockets, most frequently 122 mm. They have little guidance but are a favorite weapon of terrorist groups.
-- Globalsecurity.org
In another memo, reports were compiled from al Qaeda field commanders recommending which U.S. Army and Marine bases or Iraqi checkpoints or police stations should be targeted. Baghdad International Airport was one of the targets named. Beside each entry were notes on weapons each target would require: Grad surface-to-surface missiles, Katyusha rockets, roadside bombs and suicide bombers.
Phase II, the 90-day offensive, commenced around March 2006, with al Qaeda's records from Anbar that month reading like a litany of what the U.S. Army would call AARs, or After Action Reports, listing each attack's successes and failures. It also noted the losses suffered by both al Qaeda or, in what Americans would call Battle Damage Assessments, the losses suffered by the coalition.
Al Qaeda's folder on Operation Desert Shield expresses the depth, structure and measure of its military command. It is perhaps the most compelling illustration of how al Qaeda works.
Yet the Desert Shield folder is but one found among the thousands of pages of records, letters, lists and hundreds of videos held in the headquarters of al Qaeda's security prince for Anbar province, a man referred to in secret correspondence as Faris Abu Azzam.
After he was killed 18 months ago, Faris' computers and filing cabinets were captured by anti-al Qaeda fighters from a U.S-backed militia, or Awakening Council (the militias made up of former Sunni insurgents, now on the U.S. payroll and praised by President Bush for gutting al Qaeda in Iraq). The Awakening militiamen handed the massive haul of al Qaeda materials to both their U.S handlers from the Navy, Marine Corps and Army, and to CNN.
In all, these Anbar files form the largest collection of al Qaeda in Iraq materials to ever fall into civilian hands, giving an insight into the organization that few but its members or Western intelligence agents have ever seen.
Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, the American military's spokesman in Baghdad, says the document trove is unique, "a kind of comprehensive snapshot" of al-Qaeda during its peak.
"It reveals," Driscoll said, "first of all, a pretty robust command and control system, if you will. I was kind of surprised when I saw the degree of documentation for everything -- pay records, those kind of things -- and that [al Qaeda in Iraq] was obviously a well-established network."
That network is now under enormous stress, primarily from the more than 100,000 nationalist insurgents who formed the Awakening Council militias and initiated an extremely effective assassination program against al Qaeda, but also from recent U.S. and Iraqi government strikes into their strongholds.
As a result, says Lt. Col. Tim Albers, the coalition's director of military intelligence for Baghdad, "al Qaeda in Iraq is fighting to stay relevant."
Awakening Councils
Awakening Councils are civilian Sunni Muslim groups and their militias that have organized to oppose al Qaeda in Iraq.
So, what do these captured documents from 2006 tell us about al Qaeda in Iraq today? A lot, according to a senior U.S. intelligence analyst in Iraq, who cannot be named because of the sensitivity of his position.
"We're still finding documents like these throughout the country, but I would say that's starting to lessen in amount as the organization shrinks," the analyst said.
The al Qaeda command mechanism and discipline seen in the documents, he said, persist.
"The hard-core senior leadership is still trucking along, and there are always going to be internal communications, documents and videos," he said.
With as many as six suicide attacks and three car bombings in the past 10 days in Iraq (including one attack that killed a U.S. soldier and wounded 18 others), Driscoll agrees the picture the documents paint of a well-oiled, bureaucratic organization is relevant today.
"Certainly, we see that in several different ways how they communicate ... as they've got to be able to talk to their troops in the field to maintain morale, especially when we're pursuing them very aggressively," Driscoll said.
Be it then, in 2006, or be it now, al Qaeda in Iraq is nothing if not bureaucratic.
Included in the headquarters of the security prince, Faris, are bundles of pay sheets for entire brigades, hundreds of men carved into infantry battalions and a fire support -- or rocket and mortar -- battalion. To join those ranks, recruits had to complete membership forms.
"These are the application forms filled in by the people who join al Qaeda," Abu Saif said, holding one of the documents obtained by CNN. Until recently, Abu Saif was himself a senior-level al Qaeda commander.
"They took information about [the recruits], and if the applicant lied about something -- because they were investigated -- they would whip him," Abu Saif said.
Induction into al Qaeda, he said, would take up to four months. In one case, Abu Saif recounted, an applicant lived for four months at the home of what he thought was a local supporter of the organization providing a safe house. Finally accepted and called to a cell leaders' meeting, he discovered that his host was actually a senior recruiter who'd been studying his every move for those four months.
Al Qaeda's bookkeeping was orderly and expansive: death lists of opponents, rosters of prisoners al Qaeda was holding, along with the verdicts and sentences (normally execution) the prisoners received, plus phone numbers from a telephone exchange of those who'd called the American tip line to inform on insurgents, and motor pool records of vehicle roadworthiness.
And there are telling papers with a window into al Qaeda's ability to spy on its pursuers. One is a document leaked from the Ministry of Interior naming all the foreign fighters held in government prisons. Other documents discuss lessons al Qaeda learned from its members captured by American forces and either released or still in U.S.-run prisons. The leadership studied and discussed the nature of the American interrogations, the questioning techniques used and the methods that had been employed to ensnare its men.
And an Iraqi contractor even wrote the Anbar security prince, asking permission to oversee a $600,000 building project on a U.S. base, attaching the architectural drawings of the bunkers he was to make, with an offer to spy and steal weapons during the construction.
It seems al Qaeda in Iraq is almost as pedantically bureaucratic as was Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party, a trait that really shouldn't surprise.
Though al Qaeda was denied a foothold in Iraq during Hussein's regime, with its ideology unappealing to the mostly secular professional military officers in the former dictator's armies, that has now changed.
According to the internal al Qaeda correspondence in the files, Iraqis have taken to, and effectively run, al Qaeda in Iraq. Foreign fighters' roles seem mostly relegated to the canon fodder of suicide attacks.
Though the upper tiers of the organization are still dominated by non-Iraqis, in Anbar, at least, all the princes and brigade and battalion commanders are homegrown.
"Correct. They're all Iraqis," Abu Saif said. "In my house [one time], there were about 18 Arab fighters under Iraqi commander Omar Hadid, mercy of God upon him, and the [foreigners] did not object, they just did their duty."
That Iraqification of the network is what perhaps enabled al Qaeda to foresee its demise years before the Americans did.
Documents from 2005 and 2006 show that top-ranking leaders feared the imposition of strict religious law and brutal tactics were turning their popular support base against them.
One memorandum from three years ago warned executions of traitors and sinners condemned by religious courts "were being carried out in the wrong way, in a semi-public way, so a lot of families are threatening revenge, and this is now a dangerous intelligence situation."
That awareness led al Qaeda to start killing tribesmen and nationalist insurgents wherever they began to rally against it, long before America ever realized that it had potential allies to turn to.
Yet those same practices that accelerated al Qaeda in Iraq's undoing were breathtakingly documented.
In a vein similar to the Khmer Rouge's grisly accounting of its torture victims, within the files of one al Qaeda headquarters in Anbar alone was a library of 80 execution videos, mostly beheadings, none of which had been distributed or released on the Internet. And all were filmed after al Qaeda in Iraq ended its policy of broadcasting such horrors.
So why keep filming? According to former member Abu Saif and the senior U.S. intelligence analyst, to verify the deaths to al Qaeda superiors and to justify continued funding and support.
The videos also bear insight into al Qaeda's media units. Raw video among the catalog of beheadings shows how al Qaeda's editing skills hide not just its members' faces (caught in candid moments on the un-edited films) but also their failures.
When three Russian diplomats were kidnapped and killed in June 2006, a well-polished propaganda piece was released. It showed two diplomats being gruesomely beheaded, and yet the third diplomat was shot with a pistol, in a different location. The full video of the slayings answers why.
Though bound and blindfolded, the third diplomat struggled so defiantly that his ailing executioners could not draw their knife across his throat. In the horrific and chaotic scenes, the faces of his killer and the cameraman are seen.
And those scenes, like the intricacy of the prince of Anbar's planning and internal analysis of Operation Desert Shield, reveal an al Qaeda in Iraq that the world still barely knows.
Suicide bomber, 10 yr old Girl, choses to kill only herself
This isn't her but you get the Idea. G 10-Year-Old Al-Qaeda Girl Carries Out Suicide Bombing In Iraq
An Iraqi security source reports that Al-Qaeda sent a 10-year-old girl to carry out a suicide bombing at an Al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces building in a village north of Ba'aqubah, Iraq.
The girl blew herself up near the building but no one else was wounded.
The Iraqi website Alnajafnews noted that Al-Qaeda's use of children for suicide operations, which follows its use of women and mentally ill individuals, attests to the bankruptcy of the organization and to the fact that it can no longer influence anyone but children.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx There is a strong probability she chose to blow up where she would hurt no one else. As she would have been given specific instructions to blow herself up in a group of people. The 10 yr old GIRL had more courage, and morals then all the al Qaeda in Iraq together. They have no shame or Honor. May Allah bless the 10 yr old girl and burn those in hell that sent her.
Asking the Lord to accept. نطلب الى الرب ان يقبل. The overall objective of this bulletin : Brothers and sisters urged to publish this article to relatives and friends, and in the mosques, and every person standing on the Internet Through the printing and distribution of the bulletin, and read on boards and also through sent by e-mail and e-mail Different groups, and chat rooms. يتمثل الهدف العام لهذه النشرة : حث الاخوة والاخوات على نشر هذه المادة على الاقارب والاصدقاء ، وفي المساجد ، ولكل شخص الداءمه على شبكة الانترنت من خلال طباعة وتوزيع النشرة ، ويقرأ في المجالس وايضا من خلال بعث بها البريد الالكتروني والبريد الالكتروني المجموعات المختلفة ، وغرف الدردشه. , and other ideas that have the positive impact ، وغيرها من الافكار التي لها تأثير ايجابي
EMAIL ME TELL ME THE NAME OF THE PERSON BEHIND THIS. EMAIL ADDRESS: INTERNETANTHROPOLOGISTTT AT GMAIL.COM
Gerald
Allah said : (Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion -the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: 'They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me. 'If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.) 55,AlNOOR. قال الله : (ولقد وعد الله ، لانك من بين اولئك الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات ، وانه سيقوم ، من كضمان او منحهم حق في الارض ، والميراث (السلطة) ، كما انه يمنح لها الذين من قبلهم ؛ انه ستنشئ السلطة في دينهم واحد - التي اختار لها ؛ وانه سيتغير (دولتهم) ، وبعد الخوف الذي (عاش) ، الى واحد من الأمن والسلام : 'انهم سوف العبادة لي (وحدها (وليس معي اي شيء المنتسبين. 'هل وجدت كفروا بعد هذا ، فهي متمرده والاشرار.) 55 ، النور.
the arrogant [powers] of the world must be destroyed.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "Our beloved Imam [Khomeini], you commanded that the arrogant [powers] of the world must be destroyed. You commanded that the global rule of hegemony must be removed. I'd like to say that thanks to your illuminating presence, thanks to your guidance, thanks to your ardent and divine words, thanks to the continuance of your illuminating rule, and thanks to the steadfastness of the Iranian people, today, the cruel and arrogant [powers] have reached a total dead end, and thanks to God, the countdown for the decline of America's demonic power has begun."
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Geeze, the most arrogant power is Iran, let his will be done, but destroying Iran seems a bit much. Just take out every tank in Iran for the IEDs they sent to Iraq, and the nuke stuff and all C2.
Will Mahmoud Ahmadinejad be in cross hairs? The count down has begun.
.....A friend of mine at the White House complained to me the other day that the Bush administration and the Pentagon until this day believe we are fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
They ignore the fact that although a handful of Osama bin Laden's followers showed up in Iraq after the invasion, in a futile attempt to hijack the Sunni resistance, al-Qaeda is not the main enemy in that country.
It should be clear by now, but apparently it isn't: al-Qaeda is an idea, a way of thinking. Al-Qaeda thinks the world is divided between believers and nonbelievers, and the believers are divinely obliged to destroy the nonbelievers.....
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Using his own argument he is not consistent, "al-Qaeda is an idea, a way of thinking." Then if someone is thinking that way they are al Qaeda by his own definition.
I just don't know what to say, the post denys all the facts. "al qaeda in Iraq" the groups name says it all. Have they for got Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's beheadings, or the letters fro Bin Laden to Z. The announcements from al Qaeda about their ops in Iraq. These statements about al Qaeda not being in Iraq are not related to reality, news or critical thinking. Now that they have been beaten back someone denys they were there?
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