Masri AQ leader entered Iraq before 2003

"The Egyptian commander of Al-Qaeda forces in Iraq who was killed in a US-backed raid this month arrived in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein's rule, a press report on Wednesday quoted his widow as saying."

US expresses concerns over Iraq election results

"US Ambassador Christopher Hill today expressed concern that nearly two months after the Iraq election, a government has not been formed. Complicating the drawn-out process, Iraqi officials today disqualified two winning candidates."

De-Baathification Committee invalidates votes for 52 candidates

"An Iraqi review panel on Monday invalidated votes cast for 52 candidates in last month's election, throwing into question the slim lead of the winning Sunni-backed alliance."

Iraq Pundit writes: "I don't know how it looks to the rest of the world, but my friends and I see it as Iran stealing the election from the Iraqi people. My friends, a teacher, a dentist, and a lieutenant in the Iraqi army all agree that Iran is behind all the legal moves to declare Maliki the winner."

Lebanese "sorcerer" may not be executed

'A Lebanese man sentenced to die for "sorcery" in Saudi Arabia remains on death row but may not be executed - at least not yet, the man's lawyer said.
May El Khansa said that Lebanon's justice minister met with Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon this week in an effort to spare the life of her client, Ali Hussain Sibat.

The Saudi ambassador told Lebanon's justice minister, Ibrahim Najjar, that Sibat wouldn't be beheaded because a final verdict had not been reached, El Khansa said, citing an account of the conversation that she received from the Lebanese justice minister.'

Al Qaida cockroaches en route to jehenem

"Another al-Qaida leader has been killed in Iraq during a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation.

Iraqi military officials say joint forces used intelligence to track down and kill Ahmed al-Obeidi in northern Iraq Tuesday.

The officials say al-Obeidi, who was also known as Abu Suhaib, planned many attacks in the northern provinces of Nineveh, Salahuddin and Kirkuk.

The operation followed a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid Sunday near the northern city of Tikrit that killed the two top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq."

Palestinians think Saddam was cool

Layla Anwar wrote a post in defense of Saddam, which is not surprising. But she made some good points, and of course some deceptive ones. She called it "Saddam Hussein's Iraq." As if Saddam owned the country. Well he certainly acted like he owned Iraq.

It's not surprising that Tony of the Palestinian Pundit (a Levantine Christian who moved to California in the 60s, like Sirhan Sirhan) has posted Layla Anwar's entire post. The Palestinians, along with most Sunni Arabs, seem to think Saddam was a cool cat. He safeguarded Iraqi Christians, who have been persecuted since the fall of Saddam. This is true.

Layla: "Did any of the Arab countries safeguard the rights of Arab Christians like Saddam's Iraq did ? The answer is a flat NO."

Here's where the deception begin: "Did any country in the Middle East/Arab world engage as many Shias in the political process as Saddam's Iraq did ? The answer is again a flat NO."

Engage the Shias in the political process? How? By imprisoning them and hanging them? By torturing them?

Layla wrote: "Over 60% of BOTH the Baath party as well as the leadership was Shia."

I've heard this repeated many times, and it's true. But no Shia ever reached Saddam's top brass, who were all Tikriti. There was never a Shia Vice President in "Saddam's Iraq". The current Vice President of Iraq is a SUNNI Arab.

Saddam mass murdered Iraqi Shia, Kurds, and killed any Sunni Arab who dare tell the truth about the criminality of Saddam's govt. And the Arabs kinda like the mass murderer. It is so embarrassing.

Vali Nasr summarizes the Iraqi Shia struggle under Saddam's rule:

"...Shias have never risen beyond the glass ceiling that separates them from the Sunni elite. A few, such as Saddam's last and highly colorful information minister, Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, rose to prominence. But they were tokens in a world where Shia feet never trod the real halls of power. Saddam Hussein liked to make much of the second part of his name before his Shia subjects - especially during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s - but he nevertheless characterized Shias as Iranian lackeys, and he periodically purged the Ba'th Party of its Shia members in order to make sure that the levers of state power and the banner of Arab nationalism remained firmly in Sunni hands. Shia privates filled the ragtag conscript ranks of Saddam's poorly equipped and ill-trained regular army, but the elite Republican Guards and Special Republican Guards were Sunnis almost to a man. "

I might add to this post later...

Christian liquor store owner killed in east Baghdad

"Militants planted a bomb in an eastern Baghdad liquor store on Tuesday, killing the Christian owner and two others, while a TV reporter had his legs blown off by a bomb attached to his car in scattered violence across the city."

Total bribed Saddam

"A French judge has charged Total SA (TOT) with bribery in connection with the oil major's involvement in the United Nations' Oil-for-Food program in Iraq during the late 1990s and early 2000s, company lawyer Jean Veil said Tuesday, confirming a statement in the group's annual report."

Sectarian violence continues after elections

"Bombings gutted a market and destroyed at least five buildings in working-class Shiite Muslim areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing dozens as violence following last month's elections continued to escalate and raise fears among Iraqis that a new civil war could erupt."

Meanwhile the "Palestinian Pundit" is much more concerned about a three year old US helicopter attack that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists.

WikiLeaks did not merely post the 38-minute video, it used the label “Collateral Murder” and said it depicted “indiscriminate” and “unprovoked” killing.

Hey that sounds like what Al Qaeda did just in the last few days. But our Arab brethren seem to be angered only when Americans kill Iraqis, as they always have been.

Hardcore Baathists think killers are Iranian

"The talk about the suicide bombers was lively today at work. Not one person said they supported the killers because nobody could justify the killing of civilians. The intersting thing was those who are pro-Baath said the killers were Iranian." --Iraq Pundit

I've heard this brand of conspiracy theory before. The hardcore Baathists, like so many Arabs, apear to be clueless. My comment on IP's post was that the Baathist idiots seem to ignore logic completely. One of the targets was the Iranian embassy!

Please stop exporting death ya 3arab

"Iraq does not need Arab Forces to provide security; we just need Arab terrorists to stop blowing themselves up and to stop slaughtering our people. Instead of sending us soldiers why can’t they just stop exporting death?"

-Hayder Al Khoei

41 people killed in 3 suicide bombings

"At least 41 people were killed and 237 wounded Sunday in three suicide car bombings targeting the Iranian and German embassies and the Egyptian Consulate in Iraq in a span of 30 minutes.

The attacks, which Iraqi government officials blamed on the Sunni Arab extremist group Al Qaeda in Iraq, came two days after unknown gunmen in uniforms massacred 25 people in a Sunni district south of Baghdad.

The bloodshed raises fears that the security situation could unravel before Iraq's next government is formed, as armed groups and political parties look to exploit the uncertain period after last month's national elections. The conditions are reminiscent of early 2006 when Al Qaeda in Iraq took advantage of the transition between elected governments to blow up a major Shiite Muslim shrine and ignite a civil war between the country's Shiite majority and its Sunni minority, which dominated the government of President Saddam Hussein before he was toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion."

--Ned Parker and Usama Redha, LA Times

Iraqi forces killed AQI leader in Mosul

"Iraqi troops, backed by US advisers, have struck a blow to al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership in the north during targeted raids in March.

This past month, three top al Qaeda leaders have been killed and three more have been captured during multiple raids in Mosul and northern Iraq. Among those killed were the top leader and the "economic security emir" of al Qaeda's network in northern Iraq, and al Qaeda's top leader in Mosul, US Forces Iraq said in a press release."

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/04/iraqi_forces_strike.php#ixzz0jzACD6Sb