Vital Perspective

Hamas Supporter Throws Grenade on Gaza Crowd Protesting Salary Problems

The Palestinian government on Thursday began paying partial salaries to 165,000 civil servants who haven't received their full wages in months with money donated by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but government employees complained that in some cases, the money hadn't arrived, and in others they were left with nothing after banks deducted commissions and interest and paid off existing loans. Those employees -- thousands of them -- filled the streets of Gaza today, burning tires, blocking roads and firing in the air.

Outside Rafah City, protesters threw stones at the vehicle of Attalah Abu Sabh, Hamas' minister of culture, breaking its windows. The protesters also tried to enter a number of schools and disrupt studies, witnesses said.

Later, five people were wounded when a Hamas sympathiser tossed a hand grenade into the demonstration in Deir el-Balah, security sources said.

PKK Declares Unilateral Ceasefire; Turkish PM Rejects Call, Will Fight Terrorists

The PKK has declared a unilateral ceasefire, the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency has reported. The truce is to take effect tomorrow. PKK terrorists would not use their weapons unless Turkish troops fired on them, the agency reported. The PKK's attacks in Turkey has claimed more than 30,000 lives since 1984.

The declaration came after the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, called on Thursday for the organization to seek a peaceful solution with Turkey. The Turkish government has previously said it will pursue the Kurdish group until it is eliminated or surrenders, and on Friday, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Ocalan's call for a ceasefire.

A spate of bomb attacks hit Turkey over the past month, some of them blamed on a group called the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, regarded as an offshoot of the PKK. As violent attacks by the PKK have escalated in recent weeks, Turkey has been talking tougher than ever, even threatening military intervention in northern Iraq where the group has its bases.

Jungle Gun Battle Leaves Undetermined Number of Abu Sayyaf Terrorists Dead

An undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf terrorists were killed or wounded when fighting broke out anew over the weekend between government forces and the extremist group on the island of Sulu in southern Philippines.

Quoting the Western Min­danao Command, the state-run Philippines News Agency (PNA) said that the gun battle occurred in the jungles of Patikul town some 1,000 kilometers southwest of Manila.

Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, WestMincom chief, said the gun battle lasted for almost two hours before the Abu Sayyaf terrorists retreated, dragging along their dead or wounded. The PNA said that elements of the Special Forces Battalion in the Patikul area have engaged some 30 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf terrorists under Radulan Sahiron, while the terrorist group was conducting combat operations in the hinterlands of Patikul.

Two Kuwaitis Released from Guantanamo Following Emir's Meeting with Bush

Two Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay went home this month after a personal plea from the emir of Kuwait to President Bush, an attorney said Thursday. Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the newly installed ruler, asked Bush for return of all six of his nationals just after Labor Day during an official visit to Washington, said attorney David Cynamon.

On September 14, the Pentagon announced the release of two of them -- Omar Rajab Amin, 31, and Abdullah Kamel al Kundari, 32, who had been held by the U.S. at Guantanamo since their capture in Afghanistan in early 2002.

Inside Pakistani Madrassas, Pro-Taliban Teachings Favor Jihad in Afghanistan

Charles M. Sennott has an interesting article in today's Boston Globe on education in Pakistan. He describes a religious school, or madrassa, where some 10,000 students study the teachings of the Koran. The assistant headmaster, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, sits on the floor with a Koran and a Kalashnikov as he praises Osama bin Laden's call to jihad. He expressed "great pride" that "at least hundreds" of graduates from his school have answered the call to take up arms against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. And he openly described himself and his students as "pro-Taliban."

The students are "absolutely going and those going are justified to fight jihad against U.S. troops. It is a legitimate jihad to fight and kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. . . . We teach that here because it is the accurate teaching of the concept of jihad."

Speaking in perfect English with a hint of a British accent, Ghazi continued, "Osama bin Laden's philosophy is quite logical and consistent with the Koran. If there are any forces attacking your people and your faith, you are justified in attacking in response. In fact, you are obligated to do so."

One Western diplomat said that madrassa was on a list of militant institutions that the Pakistani government has placed under surveillance. President Pervez Musharraf and other Pakistani officials say the countries have cracked down relentlessly on Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists, arresting more than 600 since 2001. Musharraf said in Washington that only 5 percent of the schools in Pakistan are radical, and added "we are moving slowly" against them.

Afghan leaders -- including President Hamid Karzai, during a visit to Washington this week -- have complained angrily that the Pakistanis have not done enough to go after Taliban networks in Pakistan and close radical madrassas. Karzai declared: "Those places have to be closed down."

Mearsheimer Charges 'Israel Lobby' with Responsibility for Iraq, 9/11 Attacks

University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer, co-author of the infamous 'research' paper on the 'Israel Lobby', blamed the 'Lobby' for both the Iraq war and the attacks of September 11, 2001 in a speech last night in New York.

"The Israel lobby was one of the principal driving forces behind the Iraq War, and in its absence we probably would not have had a war," said Mearsheimer. Later, in response to a question from the audience, he claimed that the "animus to the United States" of al-Qaeda terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed "stemmed from U.S. foreign policy toward Israel."

We have been through this far too many times in the past. The argument that the 'Israel Lobby' engineered the war in Iraq reeks of the type of conspiracy theories that run rampant in the Arab world. Second, blaming the 'Israel Lobby' for the 9/11 attacks blames obvious flaws in that argument. Namely, that countries that do not share a relationship with Israel analagous to the United States have been victims of brutal terrorist attacks. This includes Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Indonesia, Spain, Britain, Jordan and others.

Former Israeli FM Shlomo Ben-Ami, who served under Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, said at the event that the term "Lobby" as used in the paper "is a cover for the Jews, basically," and that there was an "element of scapegoating" in the case made by Mearsheimer and Walt.

Pentagon to Transfer Command of 12,000 U.S. Troops in Afghanistan to NATO

Secretary Rumsfeld has agreed to put 12,000 troops in eastern Afghanistan under NATO command, possibly as soon as next month. The command shift, approved at a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, would extend NATO's area of operations across all of Afghanistan. It would still leave about 10,000 American troops, including Special Operations units, under exclusive American control.

The decision to place more than half of U.S. forces in Afghanistan under NATO theater commander Lt. Gen. David J. Richards of Britain would put the alliance in control of 32,000 soldiers from 37 countries.

In discussions on Thursday, a NATO official said several countries discussed providing additional troops or equipment, including Denmark, the Czech Republic and Canada. But major European powers, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have not sent additional troops to the south. American officials said it was unlikely that American units would be shifted in large numbers to the south because they were needed on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where attacks have also intensified.

Today in Washington

09:00	DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING FROM IRAQ WITH ARMY COL. SEAN B. MACFARLAND, COMMANDER OF 1ST BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM, 1ST ARMORED DIVISION, WHO WILL UPDATE SECURITY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ.
09:40	PRESIDENT BUSH REMARKS ON THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, WARDMAN PARK MARRIOTT HOTEL, WDC.
09:45	REMARKS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES AT THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SUMMIT ON ANTI- COUNTERFEITING AND PIRACY.
10:00	HOUSE ENERGY COMMITTEE / OVERSIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING ON PRETEXTING AND INTERNET DATA BROKERS. 1223 RAYBURN
TBA	REGULAR WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING, IF ANY.
12:30	STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING.
13:00	NATIONAL PRESS CLUB LUNCHEON ADDRESS BY STAN KASTEN, PRESIDENT, THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS.
TBA	DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OPERATIONAL UPDATE BRIEFING, IF ANY.

U.S. Military Official in Iraq Points to Seized Iranian Weapons to Show Influence

One month after U.S. officials said that Iran is fomenting instability in Iraq, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence with Multinational Force Iraq told reporters that labels on weapons stocks seized inside and outside Iraq point to the Iranian government and their complicity in arming Shiite insurgents. The weapons are being used to build IEDs.

Army Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner said Iran is funneling millions of dollars for military goods into Iraq. He noted that labels on C-4 explosive found in Baghdad make it clear where the munitions came from. "You'll find a red label on the C-4 printed in English and will tell you the lot number and name of the manufacturer," he said.

In 2002, the Israelis seized a small ship bringing military supplies to Hezbollah. "Compare the labels on the military C-4 in that and tell me if they're not identical," Zahner said. He said British, Iraqi and American officials in Basra also have found blocks of C-4. "You will see the same red label for each and every one of those," he said.

Bush Administration Puts Sanctions Against Iran on Hold for EU Negotiations

The Bush administration has postponed its pursuit of sanctions against Iran for "a few weeks" to allow EU allies additional time to try to negotiate a suspension of uranium enrichment and reprocessing with the regime.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Secretary Rice in a telephone conversation before meeting with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Berlin that Larijani "seems to be sincere" in trying to find a compromise, U.S. officials said. The five-hour talks were described as intensive. The two men planned to meet again today. Officials said that Solana suggested a little more time to negotiate might pay off, and that Rice agreed.

"Our response was, 'Absolutely, if it's a matter of a few days, a few weeks here to see if there is a possibility of keeping open a negotiated diplomatic solution,' " State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "We want to give that every opportunity to succeed." The administration had given Tehran an Aug. 31 deadline and threatened to push for sanctions. China and Russia have been firm in refusing to join in any punitive move.