Despite the church bombings this weekend.

Ayatollah al-Sistani has condemned them:

Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric condemned as “hideous crimes” the coordinated bomb attacks on five churches in Baghdad and Mosul that killed at least seven people and marked the insurgency’s first major attacks on Iraq’s minority Christians.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said in a statement that Sunday’s assaults on churches “targeted Iraq’s unity, stability and independence…”

“…We assert the importance of respecting the rights of Christian civilians and other religious minorities and reaffirm their right to live in their home country Iraq in security and peace.”

It looks like he understands the problem. Amazingly, even Mooky al-Sadr’s guy got into the act:

“This is a cowardly act and targets all Iraqis,” Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, told Al-Jazeera television.

Unfortunately, I’ll bet we won’t be hearing this from the imams across the border in Iran, or from the loony bins that are many of the mosques in Saudi Arabia. This is why Iraq is so fundamental in the war on the fundamentalists.

…and who we fight, in Iraq and the Middle East.

Steven den Beste has been thinking a lot about the nature of terrorism.

Now for a brief break from conference blogging–just how idiotic is this?

Beards are out. So are jeans and athletic shoes. Suit coats are in, even on the steamiest summer days.

That dress code, imposed by the Department of Homeland Security, makes federal air marshals uneasy

I was listening to Fox just now, and they ran a report on summer camp for Palestinian children, at which instead of making lanyards and leather products, learning to swim or sail, and engaging in various sports, they are learning to sneak past Israeli checkpoints, and the virtues of dying for the Palestinian cause. You know, the kind of child abuse that Charles Johnson documents on a regular basis.

And then I recalled that people like Human Rights Watch have actually expressed concern about the use of children as soldiers. Surely, thought I, they will have had something to say about this?

I wandered over to see, and sure enough, it’s a major area of concern. So I clicked on the link on the right of the page, for specific area reports, confident that I’d find the abuse described above reported in detail, with appropriate opprobrium.

But (and I know you’ll be amazed to hear this), there was no obvious mention of it among the reports as listed. Oh, wait, down toward the bottom, there’s a discussion of Lebanon, which at least is in the neighborhood. We discover there that some civilians have been expelled from Lebanon for refusing to join a militia.

Well, that sounds promising. Of course, am I cynical to suspect that the only reason this gets a mention is because, according to the little blurb, it is “an Israeli auxiliary militia”?

But of course.

But I wanted to be fair, so I decided to dig down another level, to the latest (2003) overall HRW report on the subject.

This showed a little more promise–it has a section called “ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES.”

Surely, I thought, now we’ll find out about all of this turning young Arab children into Jew-hating killbots.

Imagine my surprise again, to learn that they discuss:

• Israel holding teenagers in the same prisons with adult men.
• Israel using youth as informers against Hamas and Islamic Jihad
• Israel allowing seventeen-year-olds to volunteer for the IDF
• Arrest and interrogation of children suspected of throwing rocks, by (you guessed it) Israel

Now, arguably some of these, if true, can certainly be said to be human rights violations, but I’m straining my brain to determine how they constitute forcing children to be soldiers, which I thought was the point of this particular report. And as to the Palestinian summer camps that Charles and others point out?

There was no evidence that the Palestinian Authority (PA) recruited or used child soldiers. In May 2002, the PA addressed the United Nations Special Session on Children and advocated the application of the CRC-OP-CAC, which prohibits the use in hostilities of those under the age of eighteen.129 In 2002, the PA also reaffirmed its commitment to the Coalition not to use children in hostilities in a private communication…

…During 2002, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad disavowed the use of children after under-18s were involved in suicide bombings and armed attacks on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. A Hamas statement in April 2002 called on mosque imams

Well, well, well…

They’ve captured two Iranian agents in Baghdad, fomenting much of the murder and terrorism in the newly emerging nation. This, of course, is an act of war.

Allawi has been making justifiably belligerent noises toward Syria as well, saying that he wouldn’t necessarily mind if coalition forces were to take offensive action there.

I wonder how far off we are from a war between Iraq, and Syria and Iran (in which we would participate on the side of Iraq)? That would be a continued draining of the swamp, and we know that a majority of the Iranians, if not the Syrians, would like to see the end of their current government. If so, it would be the next step on the path toward a saner Middle East.

The problem, of course, is that if it happens before November, the conspiracy loons will claim that Bush is going to war out of desperation, in the face of the “exciting” (oh, be still, my heart) John-John ticket, to distract the populace with another war based on “lies.”

One thing that might help in the near term would be a UN resolution condemning Syria and Iran for their attempts to destabilize Iraq. Any bets on whether such a thing would pass? After all, it wouldn’t be condemning the US and Israel, which is the only kind of condemnation in which the UN has shown any historical interest…

For people eager for actual bad news in Iraq, that is. At least that’s what Amir Tehari says:

The Iraqi civil defence corps has gone on the offensive, hunting down terrorists, often with some success. At the same time attacks on the Iraqi police force have dropped 50% in the past month.

There is also good news on the economic front. In the last quarter the dinar, Iraq’s currency, has increased by almost 15% against the dollar and the two most traded local currencies, the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial.

Thanks to rising oil prices, Iraq is earning a record Pounds 41m to Pounds 44m a day. This has led to greater economic activity, including private reconstruction schemes. That money goes into a fund controlled by the United Nations but Iraqi leaders want control transferred to the new interim government, when sovereignty is transferred at the end of this month.

Despite the continuing terrorist violence Iraq has attracted more than 7m foreign visitors, mostly Shi’ites making the pilgrimage to Najaf and Karbala where (despite sporadic fighting) a building boom is under way. This year Iraq has had a bumper harvest with record crops, notably in wheat. It could become agriculturally self-sufficient for the first time in 30 years…

…”We are coming out of the cold,” says al-Ayyari. “The world should help us put our house in order.” But this is precisely what many in the West, and the Arab world, won’t do.

Having opposed the toppling of Saddam, they do not wish to see Iraq build a better future. Arab despots and their satellite television channels fear a democratic Iraq that could give oppressed people of the region dangerous ideas. The anti-American coalition in the West shudders at the thought that someone like Bush might put Iraq on the path of democratisation…

…Iraq is not about to disintegrate. Nor is it on the verge of civil war. Nor is it about to repeat Iran’s mistake by establishing a repressive theocracy. Despite becoming the focus of anti-American energies in the past year, its people still hold the West in high regard. Iraq has difficult months ahead, nobody would dispute that. But it has a chance to create a new society. Its well-wishers should keep the faith and prove the doomsters wrong.

You know, if Dubya were one tenth the murderous bloodthirsty imperialistic stormtrooper cowboy that the foaming-at-the-mouth rabid left says he is, we wouldn’t be dropping leaflets with reward offers. We’d be dropping leaflets with an ultimatum to give him up in twenty-four hours, allow a monitored exodus, and then MOAB the place.

I’m not saying that’s an appropriate strategy, of course–I’m just pointing out that that’s what the George Bush of their fevered fantasies would do. Or perhaps he wouldn’t even give the warning–he’d just level the town. You know, like most other rulers in the region (who they seem determined to keep in power) would.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.

I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read things like this and not understand that Iraq is a fundamental front in the war on Islamic fundamentalism.

Titled “The text of al-Zarqawi’s message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,” the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“The space of movement is starting to get smaller,” it said. “The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors’ necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.”

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country “four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.” It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

It also says insurgents are planning to intensify attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police, seen as collaborators with the U.S.-led coalition. Calling Iraqi forces “the occupier’s eye, ear and hand,” the statement says: “We are planning on targeting them heavily in the coming stage before they are fully in control.”

[Tuesday update]

Citizen Smash says that this is old news.

The point remains, however.