One Little, Two Little, Three Little Eichmanns The Christian Science Monitor has details on the assassination of the former Lebanese prime ...
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Eichmanns
The Christian
Science Monitor has details on the assassination of the former Lebanese
prime minister and the possibility the blame will fall on Syria.
Rafik Hariri, a billionaire businessman and former Lebanese prime minister
who helped rebuild Beirut from its civil war, was killed Monday in a massive
car bomb explosion in the city's downtown district. ...
Hariri was prime minister for 10 of the 15 years since the end of the
1975-1990 civil war and was the driving force behind the massive multibillion
dollar reconstruction program here. His last term in office, which ended with
his resignation in October, was marred by a cold relationship with the
pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud. Hariri was regarded as a powerful, if de
facto, member of the increasingly robust Lebanese opposition which is pressing
Syria to withdraw its estimated 14,000 troops from Lebanon and cease
interfering in the Lebanese political process.
The bomb exploded as Hariri's mortorcade passed by, killing him and nine
other people. Hariri's body was taken to the American University Hospital
where he was pronounced dead. Some 100 people were injured in the blast,
mainly from flying glass.
Meanwhile, a world away, three
bombs claimed by the Abu Sayyaf have exploded in three Philippine cities.
The Manila bombing occurred about 7:30 p.m. local time on a bus travelling
along a busy highway. Police said three people were killed and at least 60
others injured. A blast outside the Gaisano mall in southern General Santos
city an hour earlier killed at least five people and injured at least 36
others. Another bomb that went off almost simultaneously killed a 12-year-old
boy and injured at least eight people at a bus terminal in Davao, also in the
southern Philippines.
The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for the blasts
in the capital Manila and two other cities, saying the attacks were a Valentine's
Day "gift" to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. ... The group
said the bombings were retribution for a military offensive against Islamic
militants in the southern Philippines. Some 60 people have been killed in
fighting during a government attack on the island of Jolo. "Our latest
operations – planned and executed with precision by the gallant warriors of
Islam – is our continuing response to the Philippine government's atrocities
committed against Muslims everywhere," said Solaiman, promising more
attacks in the future.
How did that Philippine "government attack" on the island of Jolo
start? The BBC
has details:
The fighting began last Monday. An Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Solaiman, told a
radio station it had joined forces with the Misuari followers to avenge the
death of a couple and their son who were killed by troops. The military says
it returned fire after the couple shot at soldiers. The rebels then attacked
troops at an army base, killing 30, including the battalion commander, the
military says. The government flew in reinforcements, including US-trained
counter-terrorist troops, and said the army has killed more than 60 rebels in
heavy fighting.
(The CBC report should really have said '90 people, including 60
rebels', which is how some other news outlets relate events.) Although events in
the Lebanon and the Philippines have different actors and disparate proximate
causes, they resemble each other in that each represents a campaign by a
determined minority to advance a political agenda with the assistance of outside
help. Both are also manifestations of a terrorist style of war that has proved
difficult, but not impossible, for their opponents to combat; features it shares
with troublespots like southern Thailand and Indonesia, among others. That style
of combat, supported by a loosely coupled, but coherent infrastructure, was once
described as netwar
by RAND researcher John Arquilla. Tracing its development from anarchists in
Seattle, the Zapatistas in Mexico to Al Qaeda, Arquilla
notes:
More than ever before, conflicts revolve around “knowledge” and the use
of “soft power.” Adversaries are learning to emphasize “information
operations” and “perception management”—that is, media-oriented
measures that aim to attract or disorient rather than coerce, and that affect
how secure a society, a military, or other actor feels about its knowledge of
itself and of its adversaries. Psychological disruption may become as
important a goal as physical destruction.
Update
The Abu Sayyaf have perfected the 'victim is guilty' line and may be
successfully selling it to the news outlets. According to the local
Inquirer newspaper, the dead and mutilated victims are combatants --
"little Eichmanns".
"This is our Valentine gift to Gloria (President Macapagal-Arroyo)," Abu
Solayman, a self-proclaimed Abu Sayyaf spokesperson, said when interviewed by
GMA Network radio station dzBB. Speaking at least 30 minutes after the Makati
bombing, Solayman warned of more attacks.
"We will find more ways to inflict damage," he said. "The defenders of
Islam have struck again. It is our response to unabated atrocities that the
government has been committing against the Muslims, from the harassment and
arrest of innocent Muslims in Manila, to the attack in our own homes (in
Mindanao)." Solayman ominously added: "Grieve and mourn your dead. We will
make no distinction between civilians and (soldiers). You create your own
government."
The "harassment and arrest of innocent Muslims" may be a reference to the
recent rollup of a gang planning to bomb a traditional church procession in
crowded district of Quiapo, ironically only a short distance from a mosque of
fairly new construction.
Some 320 suspected Muslim militants are being hunted in connection with
terrorist plots, including an alleged plan to bomb the Feast of the Black
Nazarene procession in Quiapo, Manila last Sunday, the Philippine National
Police (PNP) said yesterday. ... At least three improvised explosive devices
and hand guns were seized in the raid which police said foiled the planned
bombing of the Black Nazarene procession, in which an ebony image of Jesus was
paraded around Quiapo. The procession pushed through without a hitch.
Organizers said it was the biggest crowd in recent years. ...
Penny Disimbal, national president of the Assalam Bangsamoro People’s
Party, branded as "irresponsible" the CIDG’s claims that the arrested men were
terrorists ... Disimbal added that they have witnesses to prove that the
alleged explosives and firearms seized from the suspects were "planted" by law
enforcers who barged into the Islamic Information Center, located on the
second floor of the Agoncillo Building on Pedro Gil street and Taft Avenue in
Manila, without search warrants.
Witnesses said two members of the raiding team brought black bags where the
supposed explosives and firearms were kept, later presenting these to
reporters as evidence. "We abhor and detest the unceremonious desecration of
the Muslim Mussalla prayer room and learning center and the arrest of 16
innocent Muslim individuals without justifiable reason or basis and the
continuing harassment of the Muslims in Metro Manila and elsewhere," Disimbal
said.
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