Fi Sabil Saddamists

For the cause of Saddamists. That is what they kill for. The Salafi who murders Shia thinks he will be rewarded in heaven because he is killing "infidels" and "apostates". But does the Salafi who kills Sunni Muslims really believe he will be rewarded by God? Or does he believe that God hates the new Iraqi security forces, even if they are Sunni Muslim?

A suicide bomber in northern Iraq walked into a restaurant and detonated an explosives vest, killing at least three people and injuring 25 others on Saturday night, police said.

The incident occurred in Samarra in the predominantly Sunni province of Salaheddin. The popular, busy restaurant in the city center is frequented by Iraqi security forces and civilians.

It seems to me that the killer in cases like this kills only for the sake of Saddamists, for those who want to destabilize the country and topple the government. The suicide bomber must have been convinced that killing security forces who work for the new government will be rewarded by God, even if the victims are Sunni Arabs. How does one warp the Qur'an to convince Muslims to commit such murder?

Tony Blair: world safer without Saddam Hussein

"I think he was a monster. I believe he threatened not just the region, but the world," Blair said. "If I'm asked if I believe we are safer, more secure, that Iraq is better, that our own security is better with Saddam and his two sons out of power . . . then I believe indeed we are."

Most Britons are descendants of ancient farmers from Iraq and Syria

"Most Britons are direct descendants of farmers who left modern day Iraq and Syria 10,000 years ago, a new study has shown."

Interesting. Thanks Ammu.

Key AQI leader killed in Iraq

'A key Al Qaeda in Iraq figure involved in smuggling hundreds of suicide bombers across the border from Syria has been killed in a raid in northern Iraq, the US military said yesterday.

The military called the death a blow to the insurgent organization in Iraq, but acknowledged it remains very much capable of carrying out well-planned, coordinated assaults with large body counts.

A series of attacks against three hotels and a police crime lab in Baghdad this week killed dozens.

The US military said it had confirmed the identity of the operative through fingerprints and other means.

The man was identified as Saad Uwayid Obeid Mijbil al-Shammari, also known as Abu Khalaf, the military said in a statement.

Abu Khalaf was killed Jan. 22 during a joint US-Iraqi raid in the northern city of Mosul, about 60 miles from the Syrian border. He was killed after he broke free from his restraints and attacked his guard, the military said.

He was believed to have been moving foreign fighters across the border since 2006, the same year a US air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The military said he also worked as a financier, gathering and distributing money and weapons to Al Qaeda throughout the country.' --Chelsea J. Carter

Syria getting serious about tackling terrorism?

'Damascus has jailed two Syrians convicted of seeking to foment unrest in Iraq for nine and seven years, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.

"The state security court on January 26 sentenced two Syrians, Abbas Yusif and Maher Yusif, to nine and seven years in prison, for attempting to cause trouble in Iraq," SOHR said in a statement.

According to the newspaper Al-Iraqi, the condemned men were arrested "while trying to supply bombs to an armed group" in the war-torn country. The Iraqi paper did not give the group's name, while the decision by the court in Damascus went unreported in the official Syrian media.'

Iraq inquiry should begin with 1991

'The "Iraq inquiry" in the UK should focus on the illegalities of genocidal sanctions and abandoning Iraqis in 1991 before touching on 2003'

I agree.

Blackwater's Youngest Victim

I am impressed by Jeremy Scahill's efforts to document the details of the Nisour Square massacre and other crimes committed by private security contractors. Thanks NARCELX for posting.

'Mohammed had just pulled away from his family's home in the Khadamiya neighborhood in his SUV. His youngest son, 9-year-old Ali, came tearing down the road after him, asking his father if he could accompany him. Mohammed told him to run along and play with his brothers and sister. But Ali, an energetic and determined kid, insisted. Mohammed gave in, and off the father and son went.

As Mohammed and Ali drove through Baghdad that hot and sunny Sunday, they passed a newly rebuilt park downtown. Ali gazed at the park and then turned to his father and asked, "Daddy, when are you gonna bring us here?"

"Next week," Mohammed replied. "If God wills it, son."

Ali would never visit that park. Within a few hours, he would be dead from a gunshot wound to the head. While you may have never heard his name, you probably know something about how Ali Mohammed Hafedh Kinani died. He was the youngest person killed by Blackwater forces in the infamous Nisour Square massacre.' --JEREMY SCAHILL, The Nation