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BAGHDAD – Saddam Hussein's foreign minister Tariq Aziz was sentenced to death by hanging Tuesday for persecuting members of Shiite religious parties under the former regime. Iraq's high criminal court spokesman Mohammed Abdul Sahib did not say when Aziz, 74, would be put to death. The death sentence was for a conviction on charges of taking part in a Saddam-led campaign that hunted and executed members of the Shiite Dawa Party, of which current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member.

BAGHDAD - Hundreds of police officers, formerly members of an American-backed Sunni paramilitary force, will be stripped of their ranks in the Sunni Arab province of Anbar, tribal leaders and Anbar police said Sunday. The officers called the move by Iraq's Interior Ministry, which oversees police, a threat to security in Anbar, once a stronghold of Sunni insurgent violence. In 2006, a group called the Awakening, some of them former insurgents, rose up with tribal and U.S. backing to battle al-Qaeda in Iraq. The same strategy was mirrored across the country with American backing and funding, and what became the...

With the official end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, what bodes for Iraq's future in terms of its relations to other nations in the Middle East? One useful way to examine this question is through the lens of what Daniel Pipes describes as the present "Middle Eastern Cold War." This new Cold War represents the current ideological division in the Middle East between the "revolutionary bloc," led chiefly by Iran, Syria, and more recently Turkey, and the "status-quo bloc," led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. While most Sunni Arab states align themselves with the "status-quo bloc," there are notable...

SNIPPET: "The top US general in Iraq has identified the three main Shia terror groups in Iraq that are backed by Iran. General Ray Odierno said Iran continues to back the League of the Righteous (or Asaib al Haq), the Mahdi Army spin-off Promised Day Brigade, and the Hezbollah Brigades (or Kataib Hezbollah). "The Iranians... continue to fund, train and provide weapons and ammunition to Shiite extremist groups," Odierno told reporters in Baghdad according to AFP. Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has "gone to a more sophisticated program with a smaller set of...

NOTE The following blog entry snippet is a quote: Al-Siyassa: Hizbullah Plan To Establish Terror Network In South America Thwarted The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, known for its anti-Hizbullah orientation, reports that Mexico has thwarted a Hizbullah plan to recruit Mexican terrorists of Shi'ite Lebanese origin, and form a network that would operate against Israeli and Western targets throughout South America. Posted at: July 06, 2010

Iran's, Syria-backed Arab-Islamic Terrorists: The Hezbollah Contents 1 Funding 1.1 Criminal funding1.2 South America1.3 U.S.1.4 Europe1.5 U.S. Mexican border 2 Regional plans3 Global Plans4 Violence outside Lebanon 4.1 Iraq4.2 Somalia4.3 Afghanistan4.4 Sudan4.5 Egypt4.6 Azerbaijan4.7 Europe4.8 Argentina 5 References Funding Dirty Money, Blood MoneyCriminal funding The Lebanese Shiite Terrorist Organization has been highlighted as a profile in "Crime and Terrorism" - Hezbollah's Criminal activity is widely in Lebanon and worldwide. [1], or what researches call: "various criminal enterprises to raise funds for Hezbollah." [2] Among the illegal, criminal methods of the Islamic group is wide fraud, drug trafficking, credit card...

...As is common among Lebanon's Shiites, Fakih comes from a large, extended clan that includes everything from supporters of the Islamic militant groups Hezbollah and Amal to secular Shiites and even communists.

This just in from the “I Can’t Tell The Good Guys From the Bad Guys” department – (photo of al-Maliki and Ahmadinejad above from Michelle Malkin’s website: Gunmen wearing the uniforms of Iraqi army soldiers invaded a village south of Baghdad on Good Friday, rounded up at least thirty-one Sunni Muslims and killed twenty-four of them. Some of the dead had their arms and legs broken prior to being shot and many were beaten beyond recognition. Seven victims were found alive, hands cuffed behind their backs. These killings came on the heels of the recent Iraqi election, the final results...

Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on two Israeli warplanes that were violating its airspace at medium altitude on Sunday, the military said. "The army's anti-aircraft guns fired at two Israeli warplanes overflying Hasbaya" in southeastern Lebanon, an army statement said. The incident came amid rising regional tension and heightened concern in Lebanon over recent Israeli threats against Shiite militant party Hezbollah and its backers Syria and Iran. Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006 which destroyed much of southern Lebanon and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and close to 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers....

As Israel braces for possible war with Iran and its proxies, a new kind of conflict in which the civilian population will be a primary target for massive missile barrages, there are growing concerns about the military's ability to shield cities as well as its key bases. In the 34-day 2006 war Israel fought with Hezbollah of Lebanon, Tehran's main surrogate in the Levant, the Shiite movement fired some 4,000 rockets, supplied by Iran and Syria, into Israel as far south as the port city of Haifa, at a rate of around 150 per day. That was the deepest Hezbollah...

A Hezbollah minister said on Sunday that disarming his Shiite militant group was not "a subject for discussion," two days before Lebanon's national dialogue on defence strategy is due to resume. "Some have implied that the dialogue session seeks to establish when Hezbollah will be disarmed," Administrative Reform Minister Mohammad Fneich was quoted as saying by the state news agency ANI. "This issue is not a subject for discussion and will not be debated at the dialogue session," Fneich said. Politicians from rival parties are due to meet Tuesday for a new session on defence strategy to be chaired by...

Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber – but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.” In an unusual display in the normally sleepy chamber, Bunning – without the support of GOP leadership – has blocked efforts to quickly approve a series of extensions to measures that would otherwise expire Sunday, including unemployment insurance and the Cobra program that allows people who lose their health benefits to continue getting coverage. And that has led to a furious exchange...

As national elections in Iraq loom on the horizon, Iran continues to subvert its western neihbor’s security and political infrastructure, top American military officials said. Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top American commander in Iraq, said Iran aims to foment violence in Iraq and to play diplomatic and other nonmilitary roles that call into question Iran’s respect for Iraqi sovereignty. “Iran clearly has a strategy that goes across lethal aims, diplomatic aims and then soft-power aims -- i.e., influencing people through investment in the economy -- and into some other practices inside of Iraq,” the general said yesterday at...

VIDEO - Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi Vilifies Shiites, Calling Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani "an Infidel"

ISLAMIC SUPREMACY - THE FASCIST IDEOLOGY OF: WORLD DOMINATION - TO CONTROL THE WORLD ISLAMIC SUPREMACISM is the belief that Islam is superior to other religions, cultures, and governmental systems, and the belief that Islam's superiority entitles Muslims to dominate, control, and rule non-Muslims. http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2008/12/islamic-supremacism.html 'Islamic Supremacy' - WSJ.comhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB123211637982290301.html British Jihad and Islamic Supremacism http://www.britishjihad.com Study: Iran Indoctrinating Children in Islamic Supremacism - http://www.nysun.com/foreign/study-iran-indoctrinating-children-in-islamic/73162/ Crossroads in History: The Struggle against Jihad and Supremacist... In fighting Islamic supremacism, instead of an approach only based on ... The true challenge of Islamic supremacism to America and the free world... http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/090.html Islamic Supremacism:...

Yemen's government said Sunday it will accept a truce offer only if the rebels operating in the country's north comply with six previously laid-out conditions. The Shiite Muslim rebels, known as the Houthis, had indicated Saturday that they were open to a cease-fire and to accepting the government conditions. But they demanded an end to military operations first. The intractable stance on both sides means the conflict, which had lasted more than five years, is likely to continue. In August, Yemen laid out cease-fire terms that included removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all military equipment and weapons, and releasing...

Kuwait has been investigating reports of an Iranian-backed Shi'ite insurgency plot. Officials said Kuwait has launched an investigation into allegations that Shi'ites funded and directed by Iran planned to attack key facilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council sheikdom. The investigation was said to center on Shi'ite soldiers in neighboring Bahrain trained in sabotage. Officials have warned of a growing Shi'ite threat in Kuwait, a Sunni-ruled country with nearly 50 percent of the population being Shi'ite. They said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has increased surveillance and other intelligence operations in Kuwait, which hosts more than 15,000 U.S. military soldiers. "There...

Impoverished Yemen is reeling under the threat of Al Qaeda, northern Shiite rebels and southern secessionists, but a lack of water is putting its ancient capital at even greater risk, experts say. Within a decade - or even less - Sanaa could become the first waterless capital in the world, they warn, adding the outlook is also bleak for the rest of this parched country where wells in some regions are already dry. A conference in London on Wednesday will discuss Yemen's anti-terrorism drive, but it is unclear whether the water woes that experts say are likely to fuel more...

Members of the tiny Jewish community in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, say they have not received their monthly food rations or any government financial assistance for the past three months. Rabbi Yahya Yusuf, leader of the 65-member community, told IRIN the Jews had been “suffering terribly” of late; many had been finding it very difficult to even feed their children. “We have sold everything we possess to buy food for our families. We even sold our women’s gold rings. We have run out of money,” he said. Yusuf said that two weeks ago they had staged a protest outside government headquarters...

Yemeni forces killed anti-U.S. rebel cleric SAN'A, Yemen (AP) -- Yemeni forces killed anti-U.S. rebel cleric Hussein al-Houthi and dozens of his supporters on Friday, ending over two months of clashes in which over 200 rebels and troops have died. Houthi was one of a number of rebel leaders in Yemen, but he represented a considerable target having engaged the security forces over a long period. His group is not linked to al Qaeda. The Yemeni defence and interior ministries, in a joint statement, announced that their forces had killed Houthi in a mountainous area north of the capital Sanaa....