CALIFORNIA YANKEE

U.S. and Iraqi Troops Launch Offensive in Abu Ghraib District

The Associated Press reports that U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major offensive against insurgents in Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib district on Sunday:

In Baghdad, four battalions of Iraqi troops and three battalions of police backed by U.S. forces cordoned off areas of western Baghdad and searched "suspected terrorist locations," a military statement said.

The offensive, called "Operation Squeeze Play" was launched to minimize insurgent activity in western Baghdad, the military said. It focused on areas from which militants have launched attacks, particularly against the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison.

Al-Qaida In Gaza

The Jerusalem Post reports that Al-Qaida-linked terrorists are operating in Gaza.

Palestinian Authority security officials told The Jerusalem Post that Jundallah, or "Allah's Brigades," is a radical Muslim group that has close ties with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and its members are mostly of former Hamas and Islamic Jihad members:

"They believe that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have become too moderate," the official said, referring to the two groups' agreement to temporarily suspend terror attacks on Israel.

Jundallah gunmen attacked IDF soldiers earlier this week wounding four soldiers.

Abu Abdallah al-Khattab, who identifies himself as the spokesman for Jundallah in the Gaza Strip, said the group "has vowed to avenge the blood of all Palestinians and Muslims who have fallen victim to Israel and the US:"

Khattab hinted that his group was also planning to target US interests in the region. "Our people will not remain idle in the face of American crimes in Muslim countries," he said. "It is forbidden to shed the blood of Muslims and it is our duty to respond. The blood of Muslims is not cheap."

He accused the US of desecrating the Koran and killing Muslims in Iraq. "Soon everyone will see operations [against the US] that would make all the Muslims delighted," he cautioned.

I remain concerned that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will be seen as victory by Palestinian militants as was Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.

I wonder if Jundallah has anything to do with Israeli army officers wanting to delay the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Reuters reports that some top Israeli army officers want to delay withdrawal because of slow preparations and fears over the strength of Palestinian militants.

Israel is to evacuate all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip beginning on August 15, under prime minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

Saddam To Sue Over Prison Photos

The BBC reports that Saddam Hussein plans legal action after a British newspaper published photos of him in his undies:

"We will sue the newspaper and everyone who helped in showing these pictures," said Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer Ziad Al-Khasawneh, speaking from Jordan.

According to the BBC, The Sun quoted US military sources who said they handed over the pictures in the hope of dealing a blow to the resistance in Iraq:

"It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," the paper's source was quoted as saying.

But of course publishing these pictures of the vicious tyrant, who murdered thousands of Iraqi men women and children, is somehow offensive:

Khaled al-Maeena, the editor of Saudi Arabia's Arab News told the BBC the photos would be seen as "an insult and an affront".

Saddam should get his day in court for his undies picture when Saddam's victims get their day in court.

The U.S. Caves In To North Korea

After steadfastly refusing to negotiate on its own with North Korea for four years and insisting that the only way to keep the pressure on North Korea is with a united front with North Korea's neighboring countries, the administration rewards North Korea's intransigence and meets with North Korea one on one.

The Associated Press reports that U.S. officials met with North Korean officials in New York last week to discuss American policy toward the Stalinist state. According to the Associated Press, the information came from a U.S. Embassy official in Tokyo:

"We can confirm that we had working-level contact with North Korean officials on Friday, May 13, in New York," an embassy official said. "This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate."

This seems like a huge change in policy. I understood that we would not engage in one on one discussions with North Korea as long as it was pursuing nuclear weapons.

There seems to major effort to appease the North Koreans:

A report in Japan's Asahi newspaper on Thursday said senior U.S. State Department officials told North Korean officials on Friday that Washington recognizes the North as a sovereign nation under the leadership of Kim Jong Il.

The U.S. officials also told the North Korean side that the administration of President Bush does not intend to attack North Korea, the Asahi said.

The Boston Globe reports today that Charles Pritchard, a former special envoy for the Bush administration to the North Korea talks, called the meeting ''notable" because the State Department had publicly rejected North Korea's request for a face-to-face meeting two weeks ago.

So much for the six party talks. This about face by the U.S. will only encourage North Korea and other countries with nuclear ambitions. Can you say ?

Al-Zarqawi Leaders Met in Syria To Plan Bombings

The Associated Press reports Al-Zarqawi leaders met in Syria to plot the recent wave of violence. According to the Associated Press, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have attended the Syrian meeting.

Syrian officials were unavailable for comment on the reported gathering of evil doers. But Syrian political analyst Imad Fawzi al-Shueibi dismissed the report as "part of an organized campaign against Syria:"

"Syria has no interest in (helping) al-Zarqawi," al-Shueibi said. "If al-Zarqawi and his group win in Iraq, they will turn the region into a fundamentalist nightmare."

The United States has repeatedly demanded that Syria do more to stop foreign fighters from entering Iraq across their porous 380-mile-long border:

General John Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said:

"It's very important that the Syrian government do everything within its power to keep violence from migrating or being planned in Syria into Iraq," Abizaid said on Capitol Hill. Asked if he thought Damascus was doing enough, he replied: "No, I do not think the Syrian government is doing enough."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blamed Syria on Monday for complicating efforts by Iraq's new government to quell violence and appealed to Syria's Arab neighbors to force Damascus to close its borders.

Syria obviously does not fear the U.S. enough. Of course why should we expect Syria to control its border when we can't control ours.

HOLY SHIITE

You just got to love the people that write the New York Post's headlines.

Newsweek Retracts Koran Desecration Story

Newsweek magazine retracts the erroneous Michael Isikoff and John Barry story that the U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay:

Editor's Note: On Monday afternoon, May 16, Whitaker issued the following statement:
Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an
internal military investigation had uncovered Qur'an abuse at Guantanamo
Bay.

I truly wish the damage caused by the false allegations in the Isikoff and Barry story could likewise be retracted. People have died, the nation's image badly tarnished, our enemies encouraged and the War Against Terror setback, none of which can be retracted. I can't find the words to express how dispicable I find Newsweek's publication of these false allegations.

Newsweek Undermines The War On Terror

In the May 9 issue Newsweek magazine's Michael Isikoff and John Barry erroneously reported that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay:

Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet and led a detainee around with a collar and dog leash.

On May 11 more than a thousand demonstrators rioted and threw stones at a U.S. military convoy, as protests spread to four Afghan provinces over the erroneous report. According to the Associated Press the violence left 4 dead and 71 injured:

Mobs smashed car and shop windows and attacked government offices, the Pakistani consulate and the offices of two U.N. agencies in Jalalabad. Smoke billowed from the consulate and a U.N. building.

By May 13, the unrest had become more widespread in Afghanistan and spread to Gaza, Indonesia, and Pakistan. The New York Times reported:

In the Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Quetta and Multan, hundreds of protesters - led largely by the country's religious parties - burned American flags and chanted anti-American slogans after Friday prayers.

[. . .]

In Gaza, about 1,500 members of the radical Islamic group Hamas marched through the Jabaliya refugee camp as outrage spread over reports, which included a brief item in Newsweek magazine that interrogators at Guantánamo Bay had flushed a Koran down the toilet in an effort to rattle prisoners.

Protesters carrying the green banners of Islam and Hamas shouted, "Protect our holy book, " and some burned American and Israeli flags.

By Saturday protests were occurring in Yemen as well. The Associated Press reports Yemen's government and thousands of university students added their voices to the Muslim world's anger over alleged desecration of the Qur’an.

In the Yemeni capital, thousands of San'a University students demonstrated on campus, chanting "Death to America!"

[. . .]

Yemen's official news agency, Saba, quoted an unidentified government official as describing the alleged abuse by U.S. soldiers as "dangerous" and "inhumane."

In Afghanistan, where recent protests against the reported desecration left 15 people dead, President Hamid Karzai blamed the violence on opponents trying to tarnish the country's image. Another U.S. ally, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, called for a thorough investigation.

So far the growing unrest over the Newsweek report has resulted in fifteen deaths in Afghanistan.

It is simply outrageous that Newsweek now says it erred in the May 9 report that said U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay:

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday.

Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Koran down the toilet.

It is even more outrageous that Newsweek acknowledges it error, but fails to retract the story. This Newsweek story is starting to seem like CBS' Rathergate.

Even Reuters reported that Newsweek's acknowledgment "came amid a continuing heightened scrutiny of the U.S. media, which has seen a rash of news organizations fire reporters and admit that stories were fabricated or plagiarized."

You just have to question whose side some in the media are on. With a story as sensitive as this one, especially in a time of war here is no excuse for Newsweek not having checked the facts a lot more carefully.

Submarine Base in Groton To Be Closed

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton is on the Pentagon's list of proposed base closures.

The Groton submarine base is homeport to 18 attack submarines and the home of the Naval Submarine School, three submarine squadrons staffs and other support facilities.

According to New London's The Day, closing the base would have a profound effect on the region's $10 billion-plus economy and reverberate across the state, even jeopardizing the close relationship between the Groton base and the nearby Electric Boat shipyard:

The sprawling submarine base has been a key component of eastern Connecticut's economy for decades. The first submarines were housed at the base in 1915, and today it employs 7,800 active duty military personnel as well as more than 650 reservists. In addition, the base has a civilian work force of about 1,400 and more than 1,000 contractors work there.

The base's annual military and civilian payroll is about $452 million, and local experts have said that the replacement value of its 230 major buildings and huge campus would be about $914 million. Local experts also point out that its combined electricity, water, gas and sewer bills exceed $17 million annually.

Connecticut officials have been lobbying hard for months to keep the base opened. Maybe you just can't be effective on issues like this when the state is perceived as one of the most blue of the blue states and even your Republican Congressmen take on national Republican leaders like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Serial Killer Executed In Connecticut

Michael Ross, an admitted serial killer who was forced to prove he wasn't out of his mind, was executed this morning. It was New England's first execution in 45 years.

According to the Associated Press, Ross' 1984 arrest ended a three-year spree of attacks on women that stretched from Connecticut to New York, North Carolina, Illinois, and Ohio. He raped most of his victims and killed eight, including six in Connecticut.

The Hartford Courant reports that Ross was a 25-year-old insurance agent in June 1984 when he confessed to kidnapping, raping and killing young women over a three-year period. His victims ranged in age from 14 to 25. "They were dead as soon as I saw them," he said in a 1994 interview.

I am opposed to the death penalty, but only because we make mistakes. At the risk of sounding hypocritical, I not sorry to see an end to this monster and the twenty odd years of legal battles over whether he should be executed. Good riddance.