Studying the Islamic Way of War
To know an enemy, one must first acknowledge his existence.

At the inaugural conference for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) back in April, presenter LTC Joseph Myers made an interesting point that deserves further elaboration. Though military studies have traditionally valued and absorbed the texts of classical war doctrine — such as Clausewitz’s On War, Sun Tsu’s The Art of War, even the exploits of Alexander the Great as recorded in Arrian and Plutarch — Islamic war doctrine, which is just as if not more textually grounded, is totally ignored.

As recently as 2006, former top Pentagon official William Gawthrop lamented that “the senior Service colleges of the Department of Defense had not incorporated into their curriculum a systematic study of Muhammad as a military or political leader. As a consequence, we still do not have an in-depth understanding of the war-fighting doctrine laid down by Muhammad, how it might be applied today by an increasing number of Islamic groups, or how it might be countered [emphasis added].” Today, seven full years after September 11, our understanding of the Islamic way of war is little better.



The medieval roots of Islamic extremism

In the days following the man-made tragedy of September 11, 2001, academics, pundits, and news analysts searched for a reason for the terrorist attacks. The conventional wisdom held that the Islamic extremists who targeted the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did so because of America's alliance with Israel. The reasoning was that the US had alienated elements of the Arab and Islamic world by supporting the Jewish state and ignoring Israel's suppression of the Palestinians, thereby inflaming public opinion on "the Islamic street."

The terrorists, according to this thesis, were desperate men avenging American colonialism in the Middle East, and carried out the murder of almost 3,000 people in the name of a beleaguered Islam. Had America been more supportive of the Islamic world and not a staunch ally of Israel, the attacks would not have occurred.

Conventional wisdom is usually wrong, as it was in the case of 9/11. To understand the motivation of those 19 terrorists, we need to go beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and modern European colonialism. The fact is that the call for jihad - the military struggle against infidels as well as Islamic apostates - can be traced to the earliest years of Islam. WHILE AMERICANS were searching for economic, social and political causes for the rise of Islamic extremism, they ignored the reality that the attacks were the result of a religious worldview that dates back many centuries and has always been a part of Islam. The terrorists of 9/11 were not desperate men without a future and with their backs against the wall. They were middle-class and educated. Many of the suicide bombings in Israel, Iraq and Pakistan are carried out because of Islamic theology and not because of poverty or desperation. I would argue that even if the Zionist movement and the State of Israel had never come into existence, the heinous attacks of 9/11 would still have been staged.


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US and China in secret talks on N Korea chaos fears after Kim Jong-il 'stroke'
America and China are holding secret talks about their shared fear of instability in nuclear-armed North Korea amid reports that the country's diminutive bouffant-haired dictator Kim Jong-il suffered a serious stroke last month.



N Korea 'builds new missile site'

North Korea is close to completing a second launch site for long-range missiles, reports say.
The existence of the site, said to be 30 miles (50km) from the Chinese border, was made public by an analyst using satellite imagery.

Reports say South Korea's defence minister Lee Sang-Hee told a closed-door parliamentary session that the project was about 80% completed.

"We're watching it closely," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.


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Is The Clock Ticking For Saakashvili?

TBILISI -- The Georgian capital is a late-night town. During the day, the city maintains a laid-back, leisurely feel. But with evening, cafes and bars light up, and tables overflow with people, wine, food -- and intense conversation.

Not surprisingly, the constant topic these days -- whether on the streets, in the pubs, or at the office -- is last month's war with Russia. As the postconflict chill from Moscow sets in, questions still linger in Tbilisi about how the war began, and if it was avoidable.



Generous loan for Georgia displays Asian dissatisfaction with Russia

HONG KONG: The executive board of the Asian Development Bank, representing countries from Japan and China to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, unanimously approved a $40 million loan to Georgia at the lowest possible interest rate Friday, the latest sign of Asian dissatisfaction with Russian military action there.

Juan Miranda, director general of the bank's Central and West Asia Department, said Friday that the loan had been scheduled for board consideration before Russian troops moved into Georgia a month ago. But the Russian military action strengthened support at the bank for helping Georgia, he said.

The 32-year loan carries an interest rate of just 1 percent for the first eight years and 1.5 percent for the remainder of the loan, making it a soft loan on preferential terms.

The loan was so popular with the 12-member board that if the loan had not already been on the most generous terms available from the bank, "we would have softened it," Miranda said.



Russia seeks stronger ties with Syria

Russia announced Friday it was renovating a Syrian port for use by the Russian fleet in what signals an effort for a better foothold in the Mediterranean amid the rift with the United States over Georgia.

Syria was Moscow's strongest Middle East ally during the Cold War. The alliance largely waned after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, though Russia has continued some weapons sales to Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad has increasingly reached out to Russia recently, including seeking weapons and offering broader military cooperation.

Friday's announcement was the first tangible sign of any new cooperation. The Itar-Tass news agency said Friday that a vessel from Russia's Black Sea fleet had begun restoring facilities at Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus for use by the Russian military.



Medvedev 'Would Attack Georgia Even If On NATO Track'

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that even if Georgia were on a firm path to NATO membership, he would not hesitate to attack it under circumstances similar to last month's conflict.

Speaking to the annual meeting of the Valdai Club, a group of Russia experts, Medvedev also said he believed that Georgia's August 8 attack on the pro-Russian breakaway region of South Ossetia was Russia's equivalent of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"Immediately after the events in the Caucasus, it occurred to me that August 8 was for us almost what 9/11 was for the United States," Medvedev said.


Yes, you fucking asshole, Georgia hijacked your passenger airlines and crashed them into the Kremlin. Fucking POS. [Forgive the language. This is a very, VERY sore spot with me. --Amanda]



The true price of war in Georgia

Damages in civil infrastructure estimated at 1.5 to 2 billion dollars. Western countries pledging aid to Georgia – 3.5-4 billion USD - writes Wojtek Szpociński, Institute of Eastern Studies/Economic Forum, School of Commerce and Law

The war in Georgia has not demolished the country’s economy, although losses are substantial. But Europe’s energy security depends on whether an upheaval may be averted.

The conflict in Georgia has resulted in a serious undermining of the supply route for energy resources from the Caspian basin. This is evident from the recent actions of neighbouring countries, which have suddenly undertaken intensive negotiations with Gazprom.



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Thousands stranded by XL collapse

The collapse of the UK's third largest package holiday group has left tens of thousands of Britons stranded abroad.

The decision to place XL Leisure Group into administration has also left thousands of staff facing the axe.

Chairman Phil Wyatt said he was "totally devastated" by the failure which has grounded XL's 21 planes. The company flies to about 50 destinations.

There are 67,000 stranded who booked directly with XL, and another 23,000 who booked via other companies.



Middle class flight threatens state schools and the NHS, warns Clegg

Britain's middle classes are fleeing state schools and the NHS "en masse" because Labour's "extraordinary experiment" of doubling spending on public services has failed to improve standards, Nick Clegg claims today. On the eve of his first party conference as Liberal Democrat leader, Clegg tells the Guardian that "middle class flight" from schools and the NHS poses a dangerous threat to public services which need "cross-class solidarity" to guarantee taxpayer support.

In an interview to mark the start of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth today, Clegg highlights middle class resentment to justify his pledge to cut state spending by £20bn and to impose the biggest tax rise on the rich ever proposed by his party. These would fund Lib Dem policies to improve health and education - to win back middle class support - and a 4p cut in income tax, to be targeted at lower and middle income tax earners.


Yes, socialism is failing, so lets do more of the same! And so Britain continues its swirl down the toilet.


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Doubts over Niger Delta ministry

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has announced that a new ministry will be created to deal with the problems of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The region has seen little economic development in the 50 years that oil has been produced there and militants often attack oil installations.

One activist told the BBC he feared it would just add "another bureaucracy" and avoid the Delta's "real issues".



'No peace in Mideast if Israel exists'

Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah voiced his opinion on Thursday about the various peace processes currently underway in the Middle East, saying that as long as Israel exists, there will never be peace in the region.

"As long as Israel exists and its eyes are honing in on the territories of other states, the world will not know peace in the Middle East," Nasrallah said during an interview with Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

"The region will not see the light of peace and stability," he continued, adding that this was due to the "aggressiveness and the natural militancy of Israel."



New Delhi Rocked by Blasts in 3 Markets; 18 Killed

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- India's capital New Delhi was rocked by blasts in three busy market areas, killing at least 18 people, the worst bomb attack in the country since 50 people were killed in the city of Ahmedabad in July.

Home MinisterShivraj Patil, who said five blasts took place within 45 minutes starting at about 6 p.m., condemned the attacks in a televised statement in the capital.

A group calling itself Indian Mujahideen, which claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Gujarat state, said it was behind the blasts, Press Trust of India reported, citing an e- mail sent by the group. The e-mail made references to blasts in Jaipur and Ahmedabad and was signed Arbi Hindi, the agency said.



Strip of Iraq 'on the Verge of Exploding'
Kurds Extend Role Beyond Autonomous Borders, Angering Arab

JALAWLA, Iraq -- Kurdish leaders have expanded their authority over a roughly 300-mile-long swath of territory beyond the borders of their autonomous region in northern Iraq, stationing thousands of soldiers in ethnically mixed areas in what Iraqi Arabs see as an encroachment on their homelands.

The assertion of greater Kurdish control, which has taken hold gradually since the war began and caused tens of thousands of Arabs to flee their homes, is viewed by Iraqi Arab and U.S. officials as a provocative and potentially destabilizing action.



Pakistan orders end to foreign incursions

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's military chief said Wednesday that no foreign forces will be allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan in light of last week's "reckless" U.S. military ground operation.

Pakistan's "territorial integrity ... will be defended at all cost and no external force is allowed to conduct operations ... inside Pakistan," according to a military statement attributed to Chief of Army Staff Gen. Parvez Kayani, who succeeded Pervez Musharraf after he stepped down as Pakistan's army chief last year.



Pakistani fury as suspected US drone attack kills 12
A missile from a suspected US drone has killed 12 people in the lawless Pakistani tribal area linked to al-Qaeda, fuelling angry protests and threats of a withdraw from George W Bush's 'war on terror'.

The missile hit a house on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a local official said, in the fourth such strike in a week aimed at Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters hiding out in the mountainous region on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan.

Residents said they heard the sound of propeller-driven US Predator drones circling overhead before the explosions.

They follow the revelation that President Bush secretly ordered US special forces to conduct ground assaults in Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistan government, and warnings from the Pakistani military that it would defend its borders from foreign intervention "at all cost".



German police arrest suspected al Qaeda supporter

BERLIN: German police have arrested a 30-year old Turk suspected of having collected money and equipment for al Qaeda, prosecutors said on Saturday.

Germany's federal prosecutor's office said Oemer Oe., who was arrested on Friday, had also tried to recruit militants to al Qaeda training camps since 2006.

The 30-year-old had worked on the orders of Aleem N., a German of Pakistani origin, who was arrested in February and has been charged with "membership in a foreign terrorist organisation and "offences against foreign trade legislation".



Orissa Christians: Attacks Will Glorify God, Bring More to Christ

Christians in the Indian state of Orissa are refusing to abandon their faith despite weeks of killings, beatings and attacks on their homes and churches.

Juria Bardhan, Orissa state leader for Gospel for Asia, said he had seen missionaries and Christians being beaten and killed. Yet he remains unwavering in his faith.

“We know the Lord is in control,” he said.



At Least 18 Killed as Trains Collide in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — A freight train collided with a rush-hour commuter train in Los Angeles on Friday evening, killing at least 18 people and injuring scores of others, many of them critically. The crash was potentially the deadliest accident in the history of the Southern California commuter trains.



U.S. sees Japan's refueling mission in Indian Ocean as crucial

WASHINGTON — The United States sees Japan’s refueling mission in the Indian Ocean for the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan as crucial and its extension as valuable, a State Department official said Friday. The official, speaking to Kyodo News on condition of anonymity, said Japan and other U.S. allies should increase their contributions to the stability of Afghanistan.