Welcome! This briefing will be looking hard at the dark places the mainstream media sometimes seem determined to look away from, to better understand our declared enemies on their own terms and without illusions. Our goal is to bring you some of the top jihadi rants, idiotarian seething, and old-school Jew-hatred from around the world, leaving you more informed, more aware, and pretty disgusted every month. This Winds of Change.NET HateWatch briefing is brought to you by Lewy14 (hatewatch@winds…), and by zorkmidden of Discarded Lies. Past briefings and posts on related topics can be found here. Entil'zha veni!

HIGHLIGHTED TOPICS

• Religious Hate: British Islamists on 7/7; Convert “Sheikh” in Australia: Muslims can’t be friends of non-Muslims; Gay advocacy group reports threats by Muslim fundamentalists in Britain; Michael Graham: Islam is a terrorist organization; Saudi Imam’s incitement thrown down the memory hole; Iraqi Christians fear new constitution; Christians, Ahmadiya face persecution in Indonesia.

• Idiotarian Seethings: Colorado congressman: bombing Mecca an option; Retired Lebanese General gets creative with “Global Zionism” theme; Retired Egyptian General: Israel behind Sharm e-Sheikh bombings.

• Race and Culture: Moderate Muslims in Egypt undermined by conspiracy theories; Aryan Nations embraces “jihadeen”; Highbrow incitement against Jews in the Ukraine; Lowlife thugs murder Vietnamese in Moscow; Two essays on the evolution of modern radical Islamism.

• A Hopeful Note: Musharraf calls for jihad against… extremism; U.N. to (finally) define “terrorism”?; Iraqi prime minister calls Arab media on double standards.

Updating a Previous Post….

Finally avoiding the confusion of having two Alan's on TCP, the one is Australia is changing her name soon, to Zoe.

More pics here.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• Saddam Hussein was brought before an Iraqi tribunal official to set a hearing date for his first trial. Saddam will face charges of mass murder for the 1982 massacre of 143 inhabitants of Dujail, a small Shia village north of Baghdad. As we wait for the date of an actual trial, the people of Iraq are being reminded of the horrors that defined Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

• Kris Alexander provides an at-a-glance analysis of the current situation in Iraq called the Road Map to Victory. What are your thoughts - too much progress shown, or not enough?

• Iraqi security forces have captured the suspected mastermind behind last week's bombings south of Baghdad, which killed more than 100 and wounded scores. Meanwhile, terroist attacks continue in Baghdad.

Other Topics Today Include: PA lt. governor crashes funeral, hanging out with IP SWAT, Iraqi forces pictorial, Devil's Foyer, World bank loan, Reconstruction highlights, Constitution almost finished, Sunnis getting involved, Saddam nephews' assets frozen, Three moments of silence in Baghdad, Roggio on River War

Read the Rest…

Note: Also available from “The Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. As always, many thanks to James Taranto and Joe Katzman, and all of you readers and fellow bloggers who keep supporting this project. Please note that because of the changes in recent publishing schedule, this installment contains the good news from the past three, instead of usual two, weeks.

Traveling overseas can definitely broaden your horizons, not to mention make you appreciate your home even more:

[Spc. Christopher] Bean, 20, of Port Gibson, finished up a year-long stint in Baghdad as a truck driver with the 594th Transportation Co., a 101st Airborne division. His time in the military has given him a different perspective on the Fourth of July.

“In Iraq, we’re not fighting for ourselves,” said Bean, from his home base in Fort Campbell, Ky. “We’re over there fighting so the Iraqis can have their own Fourth of July.”

One of the things that struck Bean most about his time in Iraq was the people themselves. Most of the Iraqis he met were proud to have the Americans there, he said, and watching them go through their daily lives made him appreciate the historic significance of our Independence Day.

“Being there really opens your eyes to what our forefathers went through to get the freedom we have today,” he said.

Nation-building is never quick and never easy; hard-work and heartache are today, and the results often only years if not decades ahead. But the Iraqi people, with the assistance of the Coalition, have commenced their journey, and despite all the hardships, every day is another step forward. Below, some of these often much under-reported and unappreciated steps from the past three weeks.

• Society
  
• Economy
  
• Reconstruction
  
• Humanitarian Aid
  
• The Coalition Troops
  
• Security

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• 15 suicide bombers struck the Baghdad area over the weekend, including a single attack in a vegetable market beside a mosque that killed some 70 Iraqis and injured 95 more. The failure of the Iraqi government to stop the attacks has some Iraqis calling for the return of popular militias, a move that could increase the threat of civil war between Iraq's ethnic groups.

• Sy Hersh is at it again. The New Yorker is reporting that the United States attempted to influence the January elections in Iraq to suppress Iranian influence in Iraq. The Bush administration has denied the charges, but Al Jazeera already has the story and its accuracy or lack thereof will matter little to demagogues seeking to undermine the Iraqi government.

Other Topics Today Include: Task Force Liberty; Baghdaddy reports; Angels Among Us; reconstruction highlights; preparing for the elections; Carnival of the Liberated; British pullout plans; Iraq PM visits Iran; Hussein formally charged.

Read the rest…

Just breaking on CNN…

Link soon.

Sky has this:

Court proceedings against deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could begin within days, according to a special tribunal which says it has made the first charges against him.

The tribunal's chief investigating judge says Saddam has been charged along with three other defendants in connection with the killing of Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982.

At least 19 people have been killed in a rash of suicide bombings today in and around Baghdad.

Iraqi police say there have been four attacks in the capital, including one that missed a U-S convey, but struck two minibuses, killing six civilians.

At least six police officers were killed in the three other attacks, that also left seven civilians dead.

Read more…

A suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body Saturday at a gas station near a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad, triggering a huge explosion in a fuel tanker and killing at least 54 people, police said.

Eighty-two people were injured.

Police Capt. Muthanna Khaled Ali said the attack occurred in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Update:

Reuters has the death toll at 98:

Stricken townspeople swept away the wreckage of a fuel truck bomb that killed 98 people south of Baghdad as three more suicide car bombers struck the Iraqi capital on Sunday in a relentless new campaign.

The overnight attack which devastated the highway town of Musayyib was the deadliest since the new Iraqi government took power in April and the highest death toll from a single car bomb since 125 people were killed in February in Hilla, also south of Baghdad.

Saturday's bombing prompted denunciations of the authorities in parliament and calls for local militia to take up arms.

Car bombs and explosions rocked wide areas of the Iraqi capital Friday, targeting U.S. and Iraqi security forces and killing at least 29 people. Two U.S. Marines died in a blast near the Jordanian border.

At least 111 people, including seven American soldiers, were wounded in the bombings — at least seven of them homicide attacks. One of the homicide bombings occurred after sundown on a bridge over the Tigris River near the home of President Jalal Talabani .

Three security guards were killed and nine people were wounded in that attack. Talabani was at home at the time, aides said, but the target may have been a U.S. convoy.

Read more..

A car bomber sped up to American soldiers distributing candy to children and detonated his explosives Wednesday, killing up to 27 other people, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. One U.S. soldier and about a dozen children were among the dead.

At least 21 others, including three U.S. soldiers, were wounded in the attack, the second major homicide bombing in Baghdad this week. A bomber killed 25 people Sunday at an Iraqi army recruiting center.

The fireball from Wednesday's blast also set a nearby house ablaze, the U.S. military said. The attack stunned the impoverished east Baghdad neighborhood of mostly Shiite Muslims and Christians.

Read more…

Reuters reports that a key operative in the organization of Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been captured:

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the PBS program “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” that Monday's capture of Abu Abd Al-Aziz, whom he called Zarqawi's “main leader in Baghdad,” was “going to hurt that operation of Zarqawi's pretty significantly.”

Myers said Al-Aziz was picked up “on the battlefield,” but provided no other details.

A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added, “When you look at the picture of the Zarqawi network of the different elements that are known to exist, he's the second-in-command of the Baghdad element and has the reputation of being the 'emir of Baghdad' for Zarqawi.”

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• The U.S. and UK are planning to pull out the majority of their armed forces out of Iraq by early 2006, according to a memo penned by the UK's defense secretary. If the report is true, it will be interesting to observe the effect it has on both the activities of the insurgents and the antiwar movement. The UK is already in negotiations with the Australian government to allow the UK to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.

• Wretchard takes a look at what effect the Iraq war is having on terrorists' ability to strike other targets such as London.

• Suicide bombers struck three different targets in Baghdad over the weekend, killing at least 33. The attacks broke up a recent string of calm in the city, providing a painful reminder of how easily terrorists can disrupt daily life.

Other Topics Today Include: building Iraq's army; recruiting arrest; Israeli armor for Bradleys; Americans held in Iraq; the books of Salah al Din; Carnival of the Liberated; Zarqawi admits murdering ambassador; American Soldier comes home.

Read the Rest…

Bombs in three Iraqi cities, including two suicide bombings, killed a total of 30 people and wounded up to 70, authorities said.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed 22 people, including five Iraqi police officers, and wounded more than 50 others at an army recruiting center, Iraqi security sources said.

The blast occurred about 8:55 a.m. (0455 GMT), police said, when a bomber wearing an explosives vest underneath his clothing detonated among recruits.

In Kirkuk, a suicide car bomb exploded near offices in the city center about 8 a.m. Sunday (0400 GMT), said Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin, commander of the Iraqi Army of Kirkuk. Four people were killed and at least 18 wounded.

The suicide bomber was waiting in a side street off a main road that is usually used by Iraqi government officials and employees, Amin said. The attack apparently was targeting government officials. The blast destroyed three civilian cars as well.

And in Mosul, a car bomb detonated about 10 a.m. as a police convoy passed, authorities said. Four people were killed and at least three wounded.

Read more…

Al Qaeda in Iraq said in a Web posting that it killed Egypt's top envoy in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat, identifying himself.

“We announce in the Al Qaeda in Iraq that the verdict of God against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt, has been carried out. Thank God,” a written statement in the Web posting said.

The claim's authenticity could not immediately be confirmed. Al Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ), threatened to kill Ihab al-Sherif in a Web posting Wednesday.

Al-Sherif was seized by gunmen in western Baghdad on Saturday. On Tuesday, gunmen fired on senior envoys from Bahrain and Pakistan in apparent kidnap attempts.

Read more….

Welcome and a fine Fourth of July! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you the day after the long weekend by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• U.S and Iraqi forces launched Operation Muthana Strike near the Baghdad International Airport, detaining at least 100 suspected militants. The operation took advantage of tips from locals to nab a number of foreign fighters and provided another opportunity for the Iraqi forces to prove their mettle.

• Bill Roggio covers (al-Qaeda's) Brain Drain in Qaim.

• Michael Yon has been busy “Walking the Line” with the Coalition Forces Command Sergeant Major. In the past couple of weeks we have brought you segments of Michael's trip - WTL I: why the CSM is the best person to talk to in all Iraq | WTL II: Defending the al-Basra oil terminal | WTL III: Insurgent hunt. This week Michael visits the (friendly & enemy) wounded, and reports that Taps is played for LT Noah Harris and SGT Arnold Duplantier.

• President Bush spoke up for his Iraq policy on America's 229th birthday. The President argued that the insurgents's attacks would not shake American resolve and that the U.S. would be in Iraq as long as it took to to win the war. Winds has links, Maj. Donald Sensing (ret.) adds some military & strategic context, and Callimachus talks about the speech he wishes W. had given.

Other Topics Today Include: Operation Sword; Milblogger injury report; memorial for the fallen; new al-Zarqawi challenge; Japanese recovery pledge; reconstruction highlights; Sunni clerics cast their vote; Carnival of the Liberated; Bush administration takes the offensive.

Read the Rest…

(published March 24, 2003; last updated July 20, 2005)

Stuck on the home front, but still want to make a difference in the War on Terror? Well, one of the unique features of our Internet and 4th Generation Warfare is that you can. The explosion of direct citizen-soldier and citizen-citizen assistance opportunities is unprecedented - and you can be a part of it!

The U.S. Dept. of Defense keeps a list of organizations at America Supports You. We continue to update our compilation here because [a] it includes troops from other nations and related efforts as well; [b] we offer explanations and personal recommendations, not just a list; and [c] we offer resources they don't - such as advice for gay members of the U.S. military. With that said, there are many worthy organizations at AmericaSupportsYou.com and we recommend it as a resource.

Meanwhile, I'm still updating this list, validating its links and accepting new submissions. On with the show, this is it…

• Advice for Charities on This List
• Battlefront Aid
• Extending a Helping Hand Abroad
• Getting It There
• Australian Forces
• British Forces
• Canadian Forces
• Danish Forces
• Israel
• Polish Forces
• United States of America
  ** US Forces: Care Packages & Gifts
  ** US Forces: Communications
  ** US Forces: Family Assistance
  ** US Forces: Foundations & Memoriam
  ** US Forces: Other Aid
  ** US Forces: Re-integration & Speaking
  ** USA: Civilians in the War Zones
• Add to Our List

A suicide bomber killed up to 20 people and wounded at least 21 at a police recruitment center in Baghdad on Saturday, while across town an angry crowd of Shi'ites buried a senior cleric gunned down by insurgents.

The bombing was the worst in Iraq in at least six days after a relative lull in the Sunni Arab insurgency against U.S. forces and the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.

A senior Interior Ministry source said 20 people had been killed and the death toll could rise.

Twelve bodies lay under sheets surrounded by wailing relatives in a courtyard at the nearby Yarmuk hospital.

Doctors there said they were also treating 21 wounded, many of them in serious condition. Others may have been treated elsewhere and some bodies may have been collected by families at the scene.

Read more…