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An exceptionally vivid sense of the grievances, obsessions
and motivations of an Islamic enemy of the United States
can be gleaned from the statement of accused Jordanian
terrorist and Ansar al-Islam figure Abu Musab Zarqawi,
which was broadcast last week in the Arabic media.
Behind the Islamist hyperventilating, an itemized complaint
can be discerned: the U.S. is bent on seizing the region's
natural resources, defending the security of Israel, and
deflecting the rise of Islam.
"America came to spread obscenity and vice and establish its
decadence and ribald culture in the name of freedom and
democracy. It hopes to remold the region and change its
political, religious, and cultural map according to its
personal interests."
As much as he hates Americans and Jews, Zarqawi loathes
Shiite Muslims even more.
"They (Shiites) harbor more evil and rancor against Muslims,
big and small, devout and non-devout, than anyone else...To
them, anyone who does not believe in the infallible Imam
(Al-Mahdi) -- who incidentally does not exist -- is a
nonbeliever in God and the prophet, may the peace and
blessings of God be upon him."
Seething with anger, resentment and an insatiable longing
for transcendence or death, the author threatens continued,
escalating violence against American and Shia targets in
Iraq.
The Zarqawi statement also includes improbable lines like
"Listen, O Muslims, to the words of Leslie Gelb, president
of the Council on Foreign Relations in an article in The
New York Times."
See the April
6 statement, translated by the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information
Service.
AMENDING THE PATRIOT ACT
In the face of intense pressure from the Bush Administration
to affirm the USA Patriot Act and to extend all of its
provisions beyond their 2005 "sunset," there is bipartisan
movement in Congress to amend certain provisions of the Act
and to place new checks on the authorities it provided.
"Given the bipartisan opposition to the [Patriot Act] at
this moment as it currently stands, there are many of us
who believe it is necessary to make some adjustments in the
law as we move toward reauthorization," said Sen. Larry
Craig (R-ID), an original sponsor of the Security and
Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act to amend the Patriot Act.
"The SAFE Act restores what I believe is the proper level of
judicial oversight in the process," said Sen. Craig.
The Ashcroft Justice Department opposes the measure.
"Information Sharing and Homeland Security" was the subject of a seminar
last month at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Several meaty
papers presented by senior analysts and policy makers are now
available here.
The Department of Energy released its latest quarterly report on inadvertent
disclosures of classified nuclear weapons information through the
declassification of historical records. As before, the most common
inadvertent releases concern the location of historical nuclear weapons
depots and stockpile quantities. More...
The status and conduct of defense intelligence programs were examined
in some depth in an April 7 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The prepared testimony from that hearing is available
here.
