Study shows Bush, Blair making world less safe

The US-led and British-backed war on terror is only fuelling more violence by focusing on military solutions rather than on root causes, a think tank warned Wednesday.

“The ‘war on terror’ is failing and actually increasing the likelihood of more terrorist attacks,” the Oxford Research Group said in its study, titled “Beyond Terror: The Truth About The Real Threats To Our World.”

It said Britain and the United States have used military might to try to “keep the lid on” problems rather than trying to uproot the causes of terrorism.

It said such an approach, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq, had actually heightened the risk of further terrorist atrocities on the scale of September 11, 2001.

“Treating Iraq as part of the war on terror only spawned new terror in the region and created a combat training zone for jihadists,” the report’s authors argued.

It pointed out that the Islamist Taliban movement is now resurgent, six years after it was overthrown in 2001 by the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

“Sustainable approaches” to fighting terrorism would involve the withdrawal of US-led forces from Iraq and their replacement with a United Nations stabilisation force, it said.

It also recommended the provision of sustained aid for rebuilding and developing Iraq and Afghanistan as well as closing the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where most suspects are held without charge or trial.

And it called for a “genuine commitment to a viable two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

The study warned that military intervention in Iran over its nuclear ambitions would be “disastrous,” calling instead for a firm and public commitment to a diplomatic solution.

Iran insists the programme is peaceful, despite claims from Washington that it masks a drive for nuclear weapons.

The study also said the British government’s plans to upgrade the submarine-based Trident nuclear deterrent could produce international instability.

“Nuclear weapon modernisation is likely to serve as a substantial encouragement to nuclear proliferation as countries with perceptions of vulnerability deem it necessary to develop their own deterrent capabilities,” it said.

Source: Raw Story

Al-Qaeda the “Supernatural” and the Bomb Blasts in North Africa

A recent report by Europol revealed that there were 498 acts of terror in EU in 2006 and only one of them could be blamed on “Islamists”. Even that one incident has not really been proven whether it was motivated by religious belief.
The first thing that comes to mind to the majority of Muslims when they hear that some bomb blast or some “suicide bombing” has taken place somewhere, is that this is a false flag operation, either by a local or foreign secret service operating in that country.

Why do we react that way?

Well first of all we are well aware that Osama Bin Laden is no more. He is gone, buried probably. Besides he never was the main motivator of terrorism. If you care to read his past statements, he made it abundantly clear that he will not target innocent people and his main war was against rulers of Saudi Arabia.

Secondly, the security and the state machinery in all countries, except for the most under developed countries, which don’t matter in any case, is so high that no ordinary two bit “terrorist” can plan and execute major operations such as those of New York, London, Madrid, Bali, Casablanca or Algiers. Alone the logistics of getting past all the big brother police state apparatuses will test the wits of even the most organised group with the most sophisticated technology, not available to nearly all the developing countries or even some European countries. The only countries that have such technology are America , Israel and maybe Britain .

There is no Al Qaeda and it is impossible for it to operate across national borders and on international scale, just does not figure, except unless you are deliberately trying to keep up the illusion of a gigantic, armed to the teeth power with super natural powers which can travel out of body and uses some sort of metaphysical energy.

Furthermore Muslims hate to commit suicide as that is the worst that a Muslim can do and according to the Quran will go straight to hell. We all love life and we all want to live in peace and to be left alone in our own countries, cultures and religions. If suicide was a Muslim culture, believe me there would no civilisation left by now, because they would have blown up the whole world a long time ago. We just don’t suffer from Masada complex and don’t have a suicidal history, neither have we built weapons of mass destruction that will destroy entire humanity. Just don’t have the terrorist minds to develop those kinds of weapons! Wonder who developed them to begin with? And Who used them on mankind?

Even a child can figure out that the recent succession of bomb blasts in the countries of Maghreb and within days of each other can not be the handiwork of “Islamic extremists” because there are none (could the Casablanca bombs be related to the upcoming elections there to ensure that the Pro-America party wins?). There is a suspicion that they are carried out by local secret services with a certain political agenda, and if not by local secret services then the finger points to those who want to see chaos in Muslim countries, so that they never get out of poverty and subjugation and remain in America’s and Israel’s “war on terror” camp. I believe in the latter proposition.

The source of this article is IslamServices.org. It is a great web site that includes mind-freeing info.

500 Terror Attacks in EU in 2006 – But Only 1 by Islamists

There were almost 500 acts of terrorism across the European Union in 2006 — but only one, the foiled suitcase bomb plot in Germany, was related to Islamist terror, a new EU report reveals. Meanwhile the trial of one of the main suspects in the German plot has been adjourned in Lebanon.

Almost all the terrorist attacks in the European Union in 2006 were unrelated to Islamist terror, a new report reveals — but the potential impact of an attack aimed at mass casualties made Islamist terrorism a top priority for European investigators nonetheless.

According to a report released Tuesday by Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement organization, 498 attacks were carried out in the EU in 2006. Of them, only one — the failed suitcase bomb attacks in Germany — was perpetrated by Islamist terrorists.

The vast majority of terrorist attacks were carried out by separatist terror groups targeting France and Spain. Almost all attacks “resulted only in material damage and were not intended to kill,” the report’s authors write.

However, Islamist attacks such as the German plot and the foiled airplane mass bomb attacks in the United Kingdom were aimed at mass casualities, the report points out. As a result, “investigations into Islamist terrorism are clearly a priority for member states’ law enforcement,” the report writes. Half of the 706 terrorism-related arrests made in 2006 were related to Islamist terrorism, with France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands having the highest number of arrests of Islamist terrorist suspects.

A small number of attacks by left-wing and anarchist terror groups were also carried out in Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain. The report concluded that France, Spain and the UK are the EU member states “most severely affected” by terrorism.

One of the two main suspects in the German suitcase bomb plot, Jihad Hamad, went on trial in the Lebanese capital Beirut Wednesday with three other Lebanese suspects. However the trial was immediately adjourned to April 18, as the defense had asked for the trial to be relocated to the northern city of Tripoli because the defendants are all from northern Lebanon. The other main suspect, Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib, is in custody in Germany, but will also be tried in absentia by the Lebanese court, according to media reports.

Meanwhile a new report by the UK-based think tank the Oxford Research Group has warned that British and American policy towards Iraq has “spawned new terror in the region.” The report, “Beyond Terror: The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World,” said that the ongoing war on terror and particularly the war in Iraq were increasing the risk of future terrorist attacks on the scale of those of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Treating Iraq as part of the war on terror … created a combat training zone for jihadists,” it said, and also warned that any military intervention in Iran would be “disastrous.” The report added that the United States is “increasingly viewed as the greatest threat to world peace.”

dgs/ap/dpa

Source: Spiegel Online International

Pentagon to Extend Service for All Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

April 11, 2007 — The Pentagon will extend the tours of duty for every active-duty soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As ABC News first reported Tuesday, this plan was in consideration, but will be announced today by the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Forget small extensions and trickles of National Guard troops. Under the plan, deployments for active-duty soldiers will be extended from the current 12 months to 15 months. This will apply to all active-duty soldiers, but not to the National Guard and Reserve.

“These soldiers have paid the price for this policy for four years. Now they are being given an additional burden to bear, and it will be a cause of concern for the soldiers and even more so for the families,” said retired Gen. William Nash.

The stress on the Army has been compounded by the surge of additional forces President Bush announced in January, a surge Iraq commander David Petraeus wants to extend.

Senior officials tell ABC News there is now consensus at the Pentagon and the White House that Petraeus is right. The surge needs to be extended, until at least the end of the year.

Defense officials say extending the surge is simply impossible to do without extending the tours of those troops already there, or dramatically cutting the time soldiers spend back home.

The Army is proposing an across-the-board extension in part because it is considered to be fairer than imposing piecemeal extensions on individual units. It will also erase uncertainty: Soldiers will know ahead of time how long they’ll be in Iraq.

“A clear policy that applies to all is greatly appreciated by soldiers,” Nash said. “It is the unknown that is more of a problem.”

This plan will be unwelcome news to soldiers who have already had two and sometimes three deployments in Iraq, but officials say there is something of a silver lining: Under the plan, soldiers will be guaranteed at least 12 months at home between deployments.

The plan will not affect the 25,000 Marines now serving in Iraq, although there has been discussion at the Pentagon of extending Marine deployments as well. The Marines currently serve seven-month tours in Iraq.

Source: ABC News

لقراءة الموضوع باللغة العربية اضغط على: الرابط