Thai Islamists Strike Again With Multiple Bomb Attacks

The Thai Islamists who are trying to establish an Islamic state in Southern Thailand have struck once again. This time, one of the bombs detonated and when bomb techs were studying another vehicle believed to be carrying a bomb, that bomb detonated. Photos captured that bomb as it blew up.

These Islamist separatists continue attacking police and civilians alike; there were bomb attacks again last week.

Like Clockwork, Jihadis Vow Vengeance

Like clockwork, Islamic jihadists are vowing vengeance for the death of Osama bin Laden. Some were wishing the news to not be true, but others were realizing that their spiritual leader was killed by the US - and vowed revenge:

"Oh God, please make this news not true... God curse you Obama," said one message on an Arabic language forum. "Oh Americans... it is still legal for us to cut your necks."

Some forums members urged others not to believe news of the death until it was confirmed online by militant news sources.

"The source of news that we trust is that which comes from the mujahideen (holy warrior)," a message on Ansar forum said. "Be patient and don't spread rumors...we've asked this repeatedly, so please do not write anything on the subject."

Hours later, several of the threads discussing bin Laden's death had been shutdown.

But 'Asad al-Jihad 2', labeled a "prominent member of the jihadist internet community" by the monitoring group SITE, acknowledged the leader's death and vowed revenge.

"The whole world hangs on the death of one man, and if all his enemies were killed their effect would not be the same as his," SITE quoted him as saying on the Shumukh al-Islam forum.

"We will take our revenge on behalf of the Islamic Ummah for the death of the Sheikh of Islam ... Whoever wishes this to be the end of jihad or a means to weaken the organization, I say to him: Wait a little!"

MESSAGE OF JIHAD

Bin Laden's killing, in a compound outside the Pakistani city of Islamabad, dealt a symbolic blow to the global militant network, although Islamist forum posters said the strike would not change their commitment to fighting Western powers.

"Osama may be killed but his message of Jihad will never die. Brothers and sisters, wait and see, his death will be a blessing in disguise," said a poster on another Islamist forum.

Osama bin Laden was killed, but that didn't kill the ideology or the terror group he helped spawn. We're going to have to remain vigilant to prevent further attacks, whether they're decreed to be in revenge for bin Laden's death or for any number of purported grievances that these terrorists use as excuses for their brutality and mass carnage.

Islamists Cheer As Assassinated Pakistani Governor Laid to Rest

Pakistani Islamists are cheering the assassination of a Pakistani governor, Salman Taseer, who championed a moderate course of action.

Taseer was laid to rest in a funeral ceremony earlier today:




Salman Taseer was assassinated by his bodyguard yesterday because Taseer opposed imposing a death sentence for blasphemy against a Christian woman who was alleged to have dishonored Muslims.

Mumtaz Qadri, 26, made his first appearance in an Islamabad court, where a judge remanded him in custody a day after he allegedly sprayed automatic gunfire at the back of Punjab province Gov. Salman Taseer while he was supposed to be protecting him as a bodyguard.

Later Wednesday, a political adviser to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said an assessment of Qadri by the Punjab police force months before had deemed him a security risk and said he should not be assigned to protect high-profile figures because of his "extremist views."

Qadri has already become a hero in Pakistan among Islamist fundamentalists who have a growing sway in this South Asian nation. A rowdy crowd slapped him on the back and kissed his cheek as he was escorted inside the court. The lawyers who tossed the rose petals were not involved in the case.

As he left the court, a crowd of about 200 sympathizers chanted "death is acceptable for Muhammad's slave." The suspect stood at the back door of an armored police van with a flower necklace given to him by an admirer and repeatedly yelled "God is great."

More than 500 clerics and scholars from the group Jamat Ahle Sunnat said no one should pray or express regret for the killing of the governor. The group representing Pakistan's majority Barelvi sect, which follows a brand of Islam considered moderate, also issued a veiled threat to other opponents of the blasphemy laws.

"The supporter is as equally guilty as one who committed blasphemy," the group warned in a statement, adding politicians, the media and others should learn "a lesson from the exemplary death."

Reports are now indicating that Qadri was considered a security risk because of his extremist views, and yet he was allowed to remain Taseer's bodyguard.

Another senior police official involved in the case said Qadri had claimed he was determined to stand by his confession that he was proud to kill a blasphemer.

The official said Qadri had looked for a chance to kill the governor since joining his security squad on Tuesday morning, but did not get the opportunity at the presidential or senate buildings.

His chance came when the squad was called to escort Taseer from a restaurant on Tuesday afternoon, the official said. After the attack, Qadri threw his weapon down and put up his hands up when one of his colleagues aimed at him, pleading to be arrested alive, the official said.

It once again exposes the serious problems facing the Pakistani government in stamping out the Islamists and extremists who want to impose a harsh theocratic state based on their view of the Koran and its harsh punishments. The Islamists are fully and well entrenched in the security and political apparatus of the Pakistani government, and are trying to expand their reach.

The anti-blasphemy law is an assault on the rights of non Muslims and violates human rights. The law offers little projection and mob justice often metes out lynchings even if the official sanctioned death penalty is not imposed. The law has the effect of terrorizing the minority religious groups in the country and those who do not adhere to the fundamentalist view of Islam.

Pakistan In Turmoil Once Again

A day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani suffered a major setback after one of the parties left the ruling coalition short of the necessary votes in Parliament and could raise a vote of no confidence at any time, an outspoken ally to the President Zardari was assassinated by one of his security guards at a market. The assassination was sparked by his opposition to a death sentence handed down against a woman for blasphemy.

The governor of Pakistan's largest province was assassinated Tuesday at a genteel market in the nation's capital--allegedly by one of his own security guards, angered by the governor's support of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Police said Salman Taseer- a sharp-tongued supporter of embattled President Asif Ali Zardari and an outspoken critic of religious extremists - was shot multiple times at the shopping plaza, which is near his home in Islamabad and is frequented by foreigners.

A Pakistani news station quoted a witness who said he saw a security guard get out of Taseer's vehicle, raise a Kalishnikov rifle and fire through the window of the vehicle.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said one of the governor's guards surrendered to police after the shooting, and told them he was angered by Taseer's recent public endorsement of a pardon for a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.

That position had earned Taseer threats from Islamist parties, who held a strike last week against proposed changes to the nation's controversial anti-blasphemy laws. Taseer stood by his stance, posting on Dec. 30 on his Twitter account: "I was under huge pressure sure 2 cow down b4 rightest pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I'm the last man standing."

Islamists have been gunning for Taseer for months now, calling him an apostate over his stance on blasphemy laws and because he was not kowtowing to the Islamist line.

None of this is especially helpful to the ongoing counterterrorism efforts against the Taliban and al Qaeda that operate from Pakistan's frontier provinces that are loosely governed from Islamabad.

Jamaican Imam Fancies Himself Next Awlaki

A Jamaican imam fancies himself to be the next Anwar al-Awlaki and that's got intel agencies and the New York Police Department concerned.

The NYPD intelligence division, CIA and FBI are concerned Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal is becoming a new Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni Al Qaeda cleric who went from preaching to plotting.

"El-Faisal is focused on propaganda," one U.S. counterterror official in Washington told the Daily News. "But the last few years, he's dabbled in operational things like recruitment and facilitation."

He also inspired Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and failed airplane underwear bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab.

"His reach goes far beyond Jamaica," the U.S. official said. "He's trying to expand his network in Africa and Asia."

A law enforcement source said El-Faisal "has a big ego" and hates "playing second fiddle" to perceived rival Awlaki - targeted for death by the U.S. for his links to the Fort Hood shootings and Abdulmutallab.

El-Faisal started out giving fiery sermons in London that were posted online by New York-based extremist website Revolution Muslim, which regards him as an in-house imam.

Awlaki has been the most active of the imams providing spiritual guidance to al Qaeda inspired jihadis around the world, and several of the most recent terror plots and incidents were by those inspired by Awlaki, including the Fort Hood massacre shoot Maj. Nidal Hassan, Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, and underwear bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab.

However, when he was known as Imam Al-Jamaikee, Faisal preached to Al Qaeda shoe bomber Richard Reid, 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and 2005 British train bomber Germaine Lindsay before the U.K. jailed him on a terror rap for four years.

If he's nearly as vainglorious as intel services and law enforcement believes him to be, his outsized ego will try to exhort his followers on to carrying out more spectacular attacks and al-Awlaki's been able to achieve. He is also likely to attempt to muster more followers to his ranks in an attempt to wrest control from Awlaki, who is currently in Yemen and trying to avoid being captured by Yemeni and Saudi forces or UAV airstrikes.

Law enforcement may also try to play the factions against each other in an attempt to undermine both.

The Jihad Against Israel Continues In Ways Large and Small

A top terrorist in Israeli jail complains that Israel is thwarting the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit. Of course, he then turns around and says that not only that he should be among those released, but that he will go back to continuing the jihad against Israel's existence.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is putting spokes in the wheels of the prisoner exchange deal, Hamas official Abdullah Barghouti said at the Nazareth District Court Sunday.

Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences for murdering 66 Israelis and being an accomplice in the murder of others, is one of the prisoners Israel is refusing to release in an exchange deal that would bring IDF soldier Gilad Schalit back home. Schalit has been in Hamas captivity for almost four years.

Israel brought Barghouti to court to ask to extend the conditions of his solitary confinement.

Upon arrival, he confidently told reporters, “If there is a deal, I would be set free along with Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat.” Marwan Barghouti and Sa’adat are other ‘high-value’ prisoners convicted of multiple counts of murder.

Barghouti also said, “After my release, I will continue to fight for Palestine, so long as the occupation continues.”

Why is Israel contemplating any such prisoner release under those terms? It shouldn't. It further shows the fallacy of the equality of any prisoner swap - where Israel releases hundreds of terrorists for one of its own citizens in return. It's an unconscionable decision to make and while it is heartbreaking for the Shalit family, the release of hundreds of terrorists only emboldens and strengthens the very terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction and who was responsible for Shalit's captivity for so long.

Israel should make no deal under these circumstances.

Hamas should be forced to release Shalit unconditionally and immediately. Where is the international pressure to force his release? It's all on Israel to conduct a prisoner swap, even if it means releasing terrorists from Israeli jails who have the blood of Israelis on their hands and that many will go back to carrying out the jihad against Israel's existence.

Meanwhile, you've got Turkish leader Erdogan claiming that the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb, which Israel labeled as national heritage sites, will never be anything but Islamic sites. In fact, he claims Rachel's Tomb was never Jewish in the first place. Really? Ever read a Bible? Those sites are specifically mentioned and the Jewish connection stretches back more than 3,000 years to those sites. They were Jewish sites long before Islam was founded. It's yet another sign of Islam's intention to wipe any and all Jewish historical traces from the landscape.

This is the enemy that Israel faces - and Erdogan is from the relatively Westernized Turkey. If he's pushing this meme, what does it say about the more extremist groups throughout the region that deny Israel's very existence.

Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah and the PA say that Israel is pursuing a religious war. That's nothing short of projection given that Fatah's (and Hamas') charter are explicit in their calls for jihad and the obliteration of Israel. Israel can and must protect itself from such threats and cracking down on rioters who stone visitors to the Temple Mount is not engaging in a religious war; those rioters, however are - pursuing jihad by any means necessary and hoping to inflame an already explosive situation.

The riots on Friday at the Temple Mount came specifically after the usual Friday sermons calling for such violence. It's not a coincidence. It's planned:

Eighteen policemen were lightly wounded in their attempt to restore order on the Temple Mount after Arab youths emerging from Friday prayers started hurling rocks down onto those worshiping at the Western Wall.

Having restored calm by use of stun grenades, and following helpful intervention by other Muslim worshipers to defuse the clash, police eventually withdrew in coordination with the Waqf to allow older worshipers to leave the Temple Mount.

Eight of the injured policemen were hospitalized in light condition. Five suspects were arrested during the riots.

Ron Krumer, a spokesman for Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center, confirmed an Arab woman was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet and hospitalized in serious condition. Palestinian medics reported 13 injuries.

Police denied using rubber bullets to disperse the riot.

Najeh Btirat, a Waqf official, said the clash followed a mosque sermon on the issue.

"The Friday sermon focused on the Islamic sites that are being targeted by Israel and the need to preserve them," he said. About 300 young men threw stones at police after prayers, he said.

Rock-throwing then spilled over into Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter. Police deployed stun grenades, restoring calm.

Throughout the afternoon, stun grenades fired by security forces could be heard exploding in the Muslim Quarter. The faces and bloodshot eyes of Arab medics, who could be seen running through the alleyways, clearly reflected the usage of tear gas. Crowds were milling around waiting for something to happen.

Those sites are being preserved - with a shared Jewish and Muslim heritage, and that's simply unacceptable to the Islamists who want to eliminate the Jewish ties to them.

It's unacceptable that opinion continues to run against Israel for trying to protect the rights of Jews to visit and practice their religion at Judaism's holiest locations even as Islamists deny the history that Jews have ties to those locations at all. This is revisionist history in action and it must be confronted.

Bomb Rigged Motorcycle Kills Iranian Nuclear Scientist With Ties To Mousavi

A nuclear scientist who the Iranians claim was not involved in Iran's nuclear program was killed when a bomb rigged motorcycle blew up as the scientist emerged from his apartment in Tehran. The scientist, who was a professor at Tehran University, also happened to be a supporter of opposition leader Mirhussein Mousavi, which raises questions as to whether the regime's thugs took out the scientist as a message to Mousavi and his supporters.

State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student opposition supporters. Before the election, pro-reform Web sites published Ali Mohammadi's name among a list of 240 Tehran University teachers who supported Mousavi.

Hard-line government supporters called at recent street rallies for the execution of opposition leaders. But Ali Mohammadi was not a well-known figure in Iran.

The government blamed the rare assassination on an armed Iranian opposition group that it said operated under the direction of Israel and the U.S. Iran often accuses the two countries of meddling in its affairs - both when it comes to postelection unrest and its nuclear program. Israel's Foreign Ministry had no comment.

A spokesman for the atomic agency, Ali Shirzadian, told The Associated Press that Ali Mohammadi had no link with the agency responsible for Iran's contentious nuclear program. Iran is under pressure from the United States and its European allies, which suspect Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that.

"He was not involved in the country's nuclear program," Shirzadian said of the victim.

Another Iranian nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared in June while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, raising questions about whether he defected and gave the West information on the country's nuclear program. Amiri worked at a university linked to the Revolutionary Guard and his wife said he was researching medical uses of nuclear technology at a university.

That the Iranians are stressing that this wasn't a scientist involved in the nuclear program increases the likelihood that the assassination was the work of the Basiji at the order of the regime to intimidate Mousavi's opposition to cease and desist or face the harsh repercussions.

Coming Home To Roost

After getting whacked in Iraq and Afghanistan and along the Afghan-Pakistani border, al Qaeda thugs are heading back to Yemen to regroup.

"There are dozens of Saudi and Egyptian al-Qaeda militants who came to the province," said Shabwa's governor, Ali Hasan al-Ahmadi.

He told the al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper the militants had joined homegrown Yemeni radicals both from Shabwa and other regions of the country.

The province, in the south-east of the country, was one of the targets of a series of air raids against al-Qaeda targets conducted by the Yemeni authorities with American military support shortly before Christmas.

Among those targeted was Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric who has given lectures in London and is believed to have inspired both the army psychiatrist who went on a shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants over Detroit on Christmas Day.

Awlaki is thought to have a house in Shabwa, though his family, which is local to the area, have said he survived the attack.

Gordon Brown has called an international conference in London later this month to discuss how to deal with Yemen's well-publicised security problems.

Abdulmutallab admits being trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen, and is said by the authorities to have been in Shabwa.

They deny claims that large-scale American military intervention will be needed for it to re-establish authority over the country, which is torn by a civil war with Shia rebels in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and an active al-Qaeda network.

But the names of al-Qaeda members who have openly advertised their presence in the country, and who include several former inmates of the Guantanamo Bay internment camp, show its appeal as a new base as the Americans step up their campaign in Afghanistan and the Pakistan border regions.

In a sign of some desperation, President Ali Abdullah Saleh at the weekend called on al-Qaeda members to lay down their arms and enter into negotiation with his government.

This is both an opportunity and a threat. It means that the tenuous control that the Yemeni government has over the country is even more precarious, but it also means that closer scrutiny of the hinterlands by the US, Saudis and Yemeni security could put a serious dent into al Qaeda activities.

The problems are familiar - failed states and governments that have turned a blind eye at best to co-opting and working in concert with al Qaeda at worst - pose a threat to all those around them.

Where the Threats Are

Where is the threat of jihad greatest and where does it pose the greatest concern for the US?

Pakistan? Yemen? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Somalia? The insurgency remaining in Iraq?

All of the above? None of the above?

Tunku Varadarajan says that the Obama Administration shouldn't take its eyes off the ball in Pakistan to deal with the mess in Yemen.

It's hard to disagree with Varadarajan in that Pakistan is teetering on the brink with al Qaeda and Taliban threatening the government in Islamabad; a government that has nuclear weapons at its disposal.

A nuclear-armed Muslim country with a fragile democratic government, Pakistan is our ostensible ally in the Afghan war against the Taliban and al Qaeda. The problem is, however, that the Pakistani military—which is not under civilian control, and which chafes continually against the democratically elected president, Asif Ali Zardari—wishes for nothing more fervently than the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan. The Obama administration cannot continue to ignore this obscene dance, in which the army of an allied state gives succor to the very enemy that young American soldiers fight daily in bloody battle.

This has to be the year in which the dance ends: The U.S. must demand that that the Pakistan Army sever its links with Mullah Omar and the Taliban military leadership. A case in point is the Taliban's Quetta shura, or council, which operates with impunity in the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The country's generals must also be told that they can no longer protect groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which—in addition to butchering scores of Indians—sought out and killed American and Israeli nationals in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

The problem is that the threats have piled up since the 1980s because the US has been distracted from the dirty business of dealing with failed states around the world. Somalia remains a consistent threat against shipping and provides safe haven for jihadis. Yemen has been home to some of the most notable terror attacks, including the attack on the USS Cole, and al Qaeda is all too comfortable there.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are each exporting jihad to maintain control on their countries.

Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan form a ring along South Asia of Islamic extremists and all too fertile ground for al Qaeda and other terror groups. Iran's mullahs are busy trying to crack down against the Iranian people who have grown weary of the regime's machinations to maintain control.

Somalia and Yemen both pose threats to sea traffic through the Red Sea and have repeatedly harbored al Qaeda terrorists that are able to evade the feeble government attempts to dispatch them.

Afghanistan was a terror safe haven prior to 9/11 and Iraq formerly sponsored international terrorism to pursue its agenda. Iran still does.

The world, and the US in particular, must reevaluate its approach to failed states, because the failure to do so will have repercussions long into the future.

So, to push a strategy for dealing with Pakistan while diminishing the need to deal with Yemen is one that will result in problems down the road; the threat has to be dealt with all across the globe; not just in the fashionable locales (Islamabad, Tehran, etc.).

US Officials: UAV Airstrike Took Out Senior Al Qaeda Terrorist

This is still awaiting confirmation, but a US official says that the top level al Qaeda terrorist killed in an airstrike earlier this week was none other than number three leader Abu Yahya al-Libi.

A U.S. government official says a top al Qaeda operative has been killed in a drone attack in western Pakistan and local media says that the strike killed al Qaeda's number 3 in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, CBS's Sami Yousafzai reports.

The U.S. is still not confirming the report, CBS News has learned.

Abu Yahya al-Libi is the spiritual successor to Palestinian philosopher Abu Azzam - and the inspiration for much of Bin Laden's beliefs, according to CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. He is very powerful and believed by some to be the natural successor to Bin Laden.

Well, he's not succeeding anyone if the reports are accurate. The online jihadi groups are also indicating that Libi was killed.

Bear in mind that the ISAF (the US led international force in Afghanistan had captured Libi in 2003 but managed to escape in a mass-breakout from the detention facilities at Bagram in 2005 along with along with senior al Qaeda operatives Abu Nasir al Qahtani, Abu Abdallah al Shami, and Omar Farouq.

He had been on the run ever since; of the other four al Qaeda terrorists, two were killed and a third was recaptured. There had been a $5 million bounty on his head.

UPDATE:
It turns out that the early reports that Libi was killed were incorrect. The US has announced that senior al Qaeda terrorist Saleh al Somalia was killed. As his name implies, he was a Somali and even had his hand in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia.

Saleh al Somalia is thought to have been killed in the strike in the town of Aspangla near the main town of Miramshah in North Waziristan. The region is controlled by the dangerous Haqqani Network,a Taliban group with close links to al Qaeda and Pakistan's military and intelligence services.

Initial reports indicated that two Arabs from Saudi Arabia were among the three people killed in the Dec. 8 attack. A follow-up report, which later turn out to be incorrect, stated that Abu Yahya al Libi, a chief al Qaeda ideologue and propagandist, was killed in yesterday's strike in South Waziristan..

"There are strong indications that senior al Qaeda operations planner Saleh al Somali has died," a senior US official told ABC News.

A senior US intelligence official contacted by The Long War Journal confirmed al Somali was the target of the strike, said he was a long time operative in al Qaeda, and was actively plotting attacks in the West.

The headline has also been amended to reflect the changes.

The Gaza Terror Incubator Hatches al Qaeda Spinoff

It looks like an al Qaeda spinoff in Gaza is busy claiming that they attempted to assassinate Jimmy Carter and Tony Blair. The group is a spinoff of Hamas, who figures that Hamas isn't sufficiently Islamist enough. Hamas has been hunting these guys down, but these are the most militant of the former Hamas terrorists -

Mahmoud Taleb, a former commander of Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, also threatened that his supporters were planning to launch attacks on Hamas.

Taleb, who is wanted by Hamas's security forces, has been in hiding for more than two years. Several attempts by Hamas to arrest him have failed, prompting the movement to detain many of his friends and relatives.

A veteran journalist in the Gaza Strip described Taleb as the Palestinian Osama bin Laden. The journalist said that Taleb's group was seeking to establish an Islamic "emirate" in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has been dealing with other al Qaeda affiliated groups too, such as Jund Ansar Allah. This is just the most recent example, but perhaps signals that there is much worse to come.

That's because this group, Jaljalat (Thunder), is a spinoff and so closely tied to Hamas and is so knowledgable in its methods, operations, and tactics, to say nothing of manpower, that it poses a serious threat to Hamas.

They've carried out a string of attacks against Hamas in response to Hamas crackdowns against Jund Ansar Allah.

So, it was as a result of Hamas going after terrorists even more extreme than themselves that they thwarted assassination attempts against former US President Jimmy Carter and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Sadists Run Iran; Rape Is Acceptable Means Of Extracting Information

Once again, the pure evil of the Iranian regime is on display for all the world to bear witness. Iran's mad mullahs hold court and provide guidance. One such mullah, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, has determined that rape is a perfectly acceptable means of securing confessions and is okay for interrogation. In fact, it's one of the best things that a Muslim can do - akin to going on Haj:

At the Jamkaran gathering, Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad answered questions about the rape and torture charges. The following text is from a transcript alleged by Iranian dissidents to be a series of questions and answers exchanged between the ayatollah and some of his supporters.

Asked if a confession obtained "by applying psychological, emotional and physical pressure" was "valid and considered credible according to Islam," Mesbah-Yazdi replied: "Getting a confession from any person who is against the Velayat-e Faqih ("Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists", or the regime of Iran's mullahs) is permissible under any condition." The ayatollah gave the identical answer when asked about confessions obtained through drugging the prisoner with opiates or addictive substances.

"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was the follow-up question posed to the Islamic cleric.

Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."

Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's spiritual guide. He's the one who's telling Ahmadinejad what's acceptable conduct. He's apparently got no trouble with raping people in its custody.

Combine that with reports that the opposition has been assaulted and violated by the regime's thugs, and you get a systemic and entrenched system of violence to maintain power.

UPDATE:
Despite the illegitimacy of the regime and the fact that Ahmadinejad and Supreme Ali Khamenei are busy trampling on the rights of Iranians, President Obama is still trying to extend a lifejacket to the regime. He sent another letter to the regime, addressed to Khamenei, although the content of the letter is not known. This is a regime that engages in torture and rape. It's about torture - real torture, not the waterboarding and nitpicking over whether a few seconds of discomfort equals torture that the left faints over at here in the States, and yet the Administration has no problem holding its hand out to give the regime a pick-me-up when they engage in systemic and systematic rape of prisoners to fulfill political and religious goals.

And even when the Administration engages in the "unclenched" foreign policy, the regime in Tehran shows its utter disdain for the Administration.

Ahmadinejad and Khamenei Settling Scores The Old Fashioned Way

A rival mullah said that Khamenei turned Iran into a dictatorship. He isn't far off the mark. Both Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei and el Presidente Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are looking to settle scores against political rivals now that Khamenei declared the election results final and installed Ahmadinejad as president despite evidence that the election was rigged. They're going with the tried and true -

Ahmadinejad is prosecuting political rivals.

This isn't something done in a regime based on democracy, or even a veneer of democracy. It's all about consolidating power and eliminating rivals who threaten that power.

Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke in front of thousands of government supporters gathered in a covered arena at Tehran University. The president appeared unafraid to effectively contradict the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Wednesday said he was not convinced that reform leaders had conspired in advance with foreign forces to orchestrate the post-election unrest. The supreme leader did, however, stick by the government’s claim that the protests were planned.

If Ayatollah Khamenei was hoping to blunt calls for revenge, more arrests and severe punishment, Mr. Ahmadinejad showed no signs of softening.

“We must deal with those who led these events,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “Those who organized, incited and pursued the plans of the enemies must be dealt with decisively.”

Even before the current crisis, Iranian politics had competing power centers. But all such groups had their place within the Islamic republic, even if they had different ideas about government powers and priorities. Political analysts say that what is different now is that President Ahmadinejad is trying to transform his rivals into outsiders, shrinking the circle of those who have a voice and role in the system to a minimum.

“What has been remarkable about the last two months is that the tent of insiders has narrowed to such a small faction,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “The outsiders are the vast majority of the country.”

Indeed, the tent of insiders is now focused on two thugs - Khamenei and Ahamdinejad. Everyone else either kowtows to those two, toes their line, or is seen as an outsider, even when the opponents are no less strident on matters of Iranian foreign policy than Ahmadinejad or Khamenei:

His remarks were clearly aimed at Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — some of the most important and influential figures in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history — whom the president has wanted to jail as enemies of the state.

“Serious confrontation has to be against the leaders and key elements, against those who organized and provoked and carried out the enemy’s plan,” he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “They have to be dealt with seriously.”

Mr. Khatami, a former two-term president and reform leader, blasted Mr. Ahmadinejad in a statement issued on his Web site the night before, sharply criticizing the government crackdown and what he called “these so-called trials,” which have been held for the dozens of intellectuals, former officials and journalists arrested since the election conflict began.

Meanwhile, Khamenei must realize that claims that the demonstrations were the result of foreign agents isn't sitting well with Iranians who have seen their rights stripped from them, and is trying to walk back from earlier statements.

Video confessions are backfiring, primarily because they show that the regime is engaging in methods that result in serious weight loss - torture, withholding of food, etc. Reports of rape are also being made. The show trials are exposing the regime's barbaric methods to lay claim the levers of power.

Iranian Show Trial Proceeds With Reformers Confessing

The Iranian regime continues with the show trials of those it claims formented violence in the wake of the botched elections that were given a rubber stamp of approval by Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They've even managed to get some reformers to admit to formenting violence:

The courtroom statement by Saeed Hajjarian — who is considered one of the reform movement's top architects and who was shot in the head in a 2000 assassination attempt — was the latest dramatic confession in the month-old trial that the opposition has compared to Josef Stalin's "show trials" of opponents in the Soviet Union.

More than 100 defendants are on trial, accused of trying to overthrow Iran's clerical leadership in a "velvet revolution" by fomenting huge protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election, which the opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.

Also among the defendants who appeared Tuesday was Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic. The prosecutor read out charges against him including espionage, contact with foreign elements and acting against national security.

Speaking before the court, Tajbakhsh appeared to try to speak broadly about foreign interference in Iran, saying "undeniably this was a goal of the U.S. and European countries to bring change inside Iran" and that "the root cause of the riots are found outside the borders."

The root causes for the violence was the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the election and sent his thugs, the Basiji, to crush the opposition. Khamenei gave his approval to Ahmadinejad and the election results were made official, even if many Iranians don't think Ahmadinejad won.

No full recount will take place because Khamenei already declared the winner.

The opposition has been harassed by the regime ever since.

A Gaza Blowup

Things in Gaza are coming to a head, and it completely the result of Hamas and other Islamists taking offense with each other. Al Qaeda-aligned groups in Gaza don't think that Hamas is sufficiently Islamist enough, even as Hamas has been busy cracking down on what it calls un-Islamic behavior. One of these groups, Jund Ansar Allah, defied Hamas rule and claimed Gaza to be an Islamic emirate.

Hamas didn't like that one bit.

So, they're battling among the mosques.

The fighting erupted Friday when Hamas security men surrounded a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egypt border where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, were holed up.

Flares lit up the sky overnight as Hamas machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades slammed into the mosque. The militants inside the structure returned fire with automatic weapons and grenades of their own.

The head of the radical Islamic group, Abdel-Latif Moussa, was killed when fighting resumed after dawn Saturday, Ihab Ghussein, a Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press.

He said Moussa detonated an explosives vest he was wearing during the fighting.

"The so-called Moussa has committed suicide ... killing a mediator who had been sent to him to persuade him and his followers to hand themselves over to the government," Ghussein said.

Also killed in the fighting between Hamas and this group was one of the Hamas terrorists responsible for the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Note that Hamas and the Islamists do not care that they're in mosques; they're actively fighting in and among them; their leaders purposefully wear suicide vests so as to maximize casualties should they be confronted, and all are armed to the teeth.

Hamas is continuing its offensive against the Jund, arresting other members of the terror group.

Iranian Mourners Roughed Up Following Memorial To Slain Protesters

Islamic law provides a 40 day mourning period, the last day of which was today in Tehran. Among those who were memorialized was Neda Soltan, who was murdered in cold blood by the Iranian thugs operating at the behest of the Guardian Council and Iranian thug Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad and the other mullahs warned that opposition leader Mirhussein Mousavi should stay away from the memorial service.

Of course, it didn't stop the regime from taking the opportunity to rough up those who paid their respects to those slain 40 days ago.



As CNN reports:

The witness saw baton-wielding riot police and Basij militia charging the gathering of 3,000 people and observed at least three beatings. The witness also saw other people running from police who appeared to have been beaten. One of the mourners had a bloody head.

People came to mourn the death of Neda Agha-Soltan on the 40th day after she was shot in Tehran, and the day had the potential to cause broader demonstrations.

For Iranians, a predominantly Shiite Muslim population, the 40th day marks the last day of mourning.

Agha-Soltan, 26, was shot during street protests on June 20. Her last moments were captured on a shaky video, probably shot with a cell phone, and dispatched for the world to see.

Reformist candidate Mir Houssein Moussavi, who was hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief challenger, said on his Web site that he and fellow reform candidate Mehdi Karrubi would commemorate Agha-Soltan with her mother at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery.

An official death toll in post-election violence has not been updated in weeks, but the Iranian Labor News Agency cited Farhad Tajari, deputy chief of the parliament's judicial and legal commission, as saying that "evidence shows that ultimately 30 people were killed."

CNN fails to note that Mousavi and Ahmadinejad were both hand picked challengers by the Guardian Council and "reformist" is a matter of degree - if not without distinction since both would be generally operating at the behest of the Guardian Council and the Supreme Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei. Further, evidence suggests that the death toll from the crackdown against the protesters is far higher than 30. With the regime cracking down on media outlets, there's no way to officially determine how many were murdered by the regime, and how many remain in custody.

MSNBC reports that the police arrested some of those who attended the memorial at the cemetery, plus they forced Mousavi to leave the cemetery as hundreds surrounded his car. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports that the police were forced to retreat as tens of thousands of Iranians converged on the cemetery.

Tehran Bureau is attempting to compile a list of those murdered by the regime. Also, Tehran Bureau relates how an Iranian lawmaker has admitted the existence of a previously secret detention facility under the Iranian Intelligence Ministry building, where some protesters were taken and were routinely assaulted, tortured and deprived of food and water.

Here's more video - showing Iranian soldiers beating on protesters using chains and batons:



This is an evil and corrupt regime to the core.

UPDATE:
More video, this purporting to be from the cemetery skirmishes:

The Iranian Regime Takes Rafsanjani To Task

Yesterday, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gave a sermon that got the regime in a tizzy. The full text of that speech is here, in which he slammed China for killing Uighurs (and which those present began chanting Death to China), but which devoted significant time to attacking Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad for making a mockery of the democratic process such as it exists in Iran.

He said:

As you are aware, according to the constitution, everything in the country is determined by people's vote. People elect the members of the Assembly of Expert and then they elect leader, that is, leader is [indirectly] elected by people's vote. Presidents, MPs, members of the councils are elected by direct votes of people. Other officials are also appointed [indirectly] through people's vote. Everything depends on people. This is the religious system. The title of Islamic Republic is not used as a formality. It includes both the republican and Islamic nature.

The title of Islamic Republic is not just a formality. This is a reality passed on to us on the basis of Koran, as well as the religious sayings of the [Shiite] Imams and prophet. We believe in them. We should have them at the same time. Rest assured if one of those two aspects are damaged we will loose our revolution. If it looses its Islamic aspect, we will go astray. If it looses its republican aspect, it [The Islamic Republic] will not be realized. Based on the reasons that I have offered, without people and their vote there would be no Islamic system...

This was our path. We should reach the destination. We should strengthen it day by day. If the problems after the [presidential] election had not emerged, we would have had taken the best largest step towards realizing the Islamic [aspect of the establishment] at the 30th anniversary of the revolution. I am not going to say that we have not taken the step. I want to explain why this happened.

What I understand is that towards the end of the election campaign we were taken over by doubt. In other words, people started to have doubts and the seeds of doubt were sown, for whatever reason. Whether it was unfavourable publicity or the Voice and Vision's inappropriate actions or other things, seeds of doubt were planted in the minds of the people. We consider doubt as the worst disaster.

Doubt came down on our nation like the plague. Of course, there are two separate currents. There is a group of people who have no doubts, they...and mind their own business. But there is also another group, whose numbers are not few and include a great section of our erudite and knowledgeable people, who say: " We doubt". We should take measures to remove this doubt. This period, after the results of the elections , is a bitter era. I do not believe anyone from any faction wanted this to happen. We have all lost in this event. We have all lost and now ask ourselves: why did it happen. We need unity today, more than ever.

Our country should be united against all the dangers that threaten us. They have now upped their ransom demands and are coming forward to take away our achievements in the fields of hi-tech and particularly nuclear technology. Of course, God will not give them the opportunity to do so, but they are greedy. My brothers and sisters, first of all, you all know me, I have never wanted to abuse this platform in favour of a particular faction and my remarks have always concerned issues beyond factionalism. I am talking in the same manner today. I am not interested in any factions. In my view, we should all think and find a way that will unite us to take our country forward and save ourselves from these dangerous and bad effects, and the emerging grudges. We should disappoint our enemies so that they would not covet our country. What should we do? I have a few suggestions...

Note that while he continues attacking Ahmadinejad and Khamenei for all but stealing the election and sowing the seeds of doubt in the legitimacy of the regime through their heavy handed actions to declare a winner without a full recount, he too supports Iran's long term goals of nuclear technologies and is just as wary of the West and the US as the current regime.

Still, it was the comments about the regime that got Rafsanjani in hot water. One of the official mouthpieces for the government slammed Rafsanjani for questioning the election outcomes. Moreover, at least one member of the Guardian Council, which rubber stamped the election, invokes the name of Allah to support their results:

But a prominent cleric who is a member of the electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, which upheld the poll result, rebuked Rafsanjani for his focus on popular legitimacy.

"The legitimacy of the government is given by God," the ISNA news agency quoted Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi as saying.

"Acceptance by the people doesn't bring legitimacy to (an Islamic) government. Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani ignored this important Islamic point and talked in both parts of his sermon yesterday as if governments are assigned only by the people."

These comments give lie to the fact that the people have ever had a say in who governs. It was always concentrated in the hands of the Guardian Council.

It suggests that Rafsanjani is part of a conspiracy against the regime. That's not good news for the regime, but it puts Rafsanjani on the same side as the opposition. It means Rafsanjani is the highest ranking cleric to side with the opposition.

As for the chants of Death to Russia and Death to China, those stem from the fact that both of those countries were quick to recognize Ahmadinejad as winner, though it doesn't mean that the US is on the back burner.

Iranian Regime Tear Gasses Opposition At Prayer

I've been saying that the fight for control of Iran wasn't over by a long shot. There would be lulls in the conflict between the regime and the opposition, but things have once again heated up following Friday prayers. Today's events show that the regime, led by the illegitimate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continue their assault on the intelligence of all Iranians and once again directly attacked the opposition as they met for Friday prayers.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters packed Iran's main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical supporter, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivered a sermon sharply criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.

Outside Tehran University, where the prayers were held, pro-government Basiji militiamen in front of a line of riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of opposition protesters who chanted "death to the dictator" and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Some protesters kicked away the tear gas canisters as others scattered and regrouped.

The opposition aimed to turn the Friday prayers into a show of their continued strength despite heavy government suppression since the disputed June 12 presidential election. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, sat in the front row of worshippers, attending for the first time since the turmoil began. Many of the tens of thousands at the prayers wore headbands or wristbands in his campaign color green, or had green prayer rugs.

Rafsanjani is no friend of the West, but even he sees that the regime has gone too far. Rafsanjani had been on the sidelines until now, but taking this stance puts him up against Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

The protesters continue to stand up against Ahmadinejad at great personal risk to their lives. Women, who make up a significant portion of the protesters are at risk of being raped by the Basiji who are at the forefront of Ahmadinejad's crackdown. Killing protesters turn them into martyrs. Rape then is a favored tactic since Iranian society traditionally shuns such victims:

Taraneh's is not the first allegation of brutal raping of a post-election protester -- according to the UK Guardian, an 18 year old boy in Shiraz was repeatedly gang raped by prison officials while in detention after being arrested for participating in the protests on June 15. That boy's father won't let him back in the family home.

Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it's the stigma of rape that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. "By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society," Azarmehr said.

Not that the stigma of rape is exclusive to Iran and other more traditional societies. A friend of Azarmehr's who is presently in Iran told him that he's "sick of hearing that people like Taraneh are better off dead" from friends abroad, just because they "can't handle the fact that she's been raped."

Via Hot Air comes the following two clips showing the protests and the crackdown:





There are also photos purportedly of the ongoing demonstrations and crackdown, including protesters dealing with tear gas fired by police and the Basiji.

Iranian Protesters Defy Regime's Crackdown Threats

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei aren't giving up so easily. They've once again taken to the streets in demonstrations.

For days, supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been calling for new protests in Tehran and other cities on Thursday, their first significant attempt to get back on the streets since security forces crushed massive demonstrations nearly two weeks ago in Iran's postelection turmoil.

Tehran governor Morteza Tamaddon warned that any new march Thursday would meet the same fate.

"If some individuals plan to carry out any anti-security actions by listening to calls by counterrevolutionary networks, they will be smashed under the feet of our aware people," he said, according to the state news agency IRNA in a report late Wednesday.

Thursday afternoon, a stepped-up number of uniformed policemen along with plainclothes Basiji militiamen stood at intersections all along Revolution Street and at nearby near Tehran University, some of the sites where protests were called.

Still, a group of around 300 young people gathered in front of Tehran University and began to chant, "Death to the dictator," witnesses said. Many of them wore green surgical masks, the color of Mousavi's movement.

Police charged at them, swinging batons, but the protesters fled, then regrouped at another corner and resumed chanting, the witnesses said. Police chased them repeatedly as the protesters continued to regroup, the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared government retribution.

Within an hour, the number of protesters grew to about 700 and marched toward the gates of Tehran University, the witnesses said. A line of policemen blocked their path, but they did nothing to disperse the gathering as the protesters stood and continued to chant, the witnesses said.

As I've noted, the situation in Iran will continue to ebb and flow as the regime tries to maintain its grip on power and the opposition looks for ways to organize just beyond the regime's grasp.

The regime has continued making threats against the opposition, claiming that they are working at the behest of the US, the West, and/or Israel. It's a tried and true formula in the Middle East, but it's not going to fool many this time around, not when so many people see the regime for what it is - a fraudulent attempt to remain in power.

Iran Continues Crackdown Including Executing Captured Protesters

There have been multiple reports over the past week that the Iranian regime has been arrested, convicting, and executing protesters who are standing up to protest the stolen election.

This latest report gives the most detail to date:

The state-run Fars news agency reported that 20 people were hanged at the Karaj prison west of the capital on Saturday, and another 14 executions elsewhere in Iran have been reported by state media since Wednesday, including six hangings at Teheran's Evin Prison. Many of those executed have been described in state media as drug traffickers - a charge often leveled at dissidents.

Iranian police say that about 1,000 people have been detained for involvement in the public protests that erupted after June 12 presidential elections.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate who has branded the victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fraudulent, has been laying low since last Wednesday while still challenging the results.

Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are busy trying to spin the election debacle as though the protests are the result of foreign interference, including claims that Mousavi was a US agent.

That's a most interesting claim, given that Khamenei himself has to sign off on all the candidates that run for office. Mousavi was one of the hand-picked candidates for President, and Khamenei and the Guardian Council have to agree to their credentials. Also, as Supreme Ayatollah, Khamenei is supposed to be infalliable. So, how is it that all of a sudden he's totally wrong about Mousavi?

People out on the streets in the vicinity of protests are also subject to arrest, search, and seizure. The Basij are looking for people who have cellphones with images or video of the demonstrations - and the ensuing crackdowns. They don't want people to see the truth.

Meanwhile, a group of clerics, the Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers, has ruled the election invalid, setting up a confrontation with Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, and their fellow mullahs. The group claims that the Guardian Council no longer has the authority to rule in such matters.

That's in addition to the regime's attacks on employees working at the British Embassy and foreign journalists:

On Saturday, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that post-election events had caused bitterness.

Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for "inciting protests" would be released.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the aftermath of the poll to protest at what they alleged was a fraudulent election.

The protests died down after the authorities deployed lethal force, killing at least 20 demonstrators. More than 1,000 were arrested.

On Sunday, state news agency Irna quoted Iran's police chief as saying about two-thirds of those arrested had been released.

The authorities have blamed the West, in particular the UK, for fomenting the unrest through the use of the media, including BBC Persian television which broadcasts to the country via satellite.

The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, has said "those who co-operate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution".

On Sunday, Iran's foreign ministry said a British-Greek journalist working for The Washington Times - who had been arrested in connection with "recent street riots" - had been released.