Saturday, August 07, 2004

Juan Cole: "Did the Bush Administration Burn a Key al-Qaeda Double Agent?"
Simon Cameron-Moore and Peter Graff of Reuters reveal the explosive information that the Bush administration blew the cover Monday of double agent Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. On Sunday August 1, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced a new alert against an al-Qaeda plot concerning fincial institutions in New York and Washington, DC.

The Reuters article is here. Lets see if the US press does anything with this. If true the level of incompetence is stunning. And all in the service of corruption. The government has no defense.

Also read Cole on what's happening in Najaf, Basra and elsewhere. Sistani's illness may just be a cover. Other than that, it's not good.
Fires burned out of control in Najaf, where streets were deserted in the wake of the worst fighting the city has seen since Saddam put down the revolt of spring, 1991. Marines launched a massive assault on Sadr forces in the vast, sacred cemetery behind the shrine of Ali, where they had been hiding out in crypts. The emotional impact on Shiites is similar to what Americans would feel if a foreign power bombed Arlington cemetery. The US also reportedly fired tank shells into hotels being used as safe houses by Mahdi Army militiamen (the hotels usually house pilgrims to the shrines).

The only way the US could kill 300 Iraqis in two days, if that is the right number, would be by massive and indiscriminate use of firepower that disregarded civilian life. (And, no, the Mahdi Army militiamen don't care about innocent life at all). Some 13 civilians were killed and 58 wounded on Friday in Najaf.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment moderation is enabled.