***Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room

Israeli Missile Kills Hamas Man, U.S. Urges Restraint

GAZA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - An Israeli missile strike killed a Hamas militant and wounded 23 other Palestinians in Gaza City on Friday as the Jewish state promised a "war to the bitter end" against the Islamic group, despite U.S. calls for restraint.

Witnesses said at least two helicopter rockets slammed into a car carrying Fuad al-Lidawi in Gaza's Sabra district, within sight of the home of Hamas spiritual head Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. It was the fourth such attack in a week of violence that has left the new U.S.-backed "road map" peace effort in jeopardy.

In the West Bank, Palestinian gunmen killed an unidentified Israeli in the city of Jenin Friday, witnesses said.

Fearing the flareup could reduce the road map to Middle East peace to cinders, Palestinian security chiefs convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah to discuss the plan's requirement that they rein in militant violence against Israelis.

It's being reported that Daddy Saddam has sent out another threatning letter.

Purported Saddam Letter Threatens New Attacks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein has called on foreigners to leave Iraq and threatened attacks in countries with troops occupying his former state, according to a letter he purportedly faxed to an Arabic newspaper Friday.

"We warn all foreign citizens and all those who came with cowardly occupier ... of the need to leave Iraq before the 17th of next June," said the three-page letter, sent to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi and made available to Reuters.

Abdel-Bari Atwan, the editor of the paper, said the author may have intended to say July 17, a day which would mark the anniversary of Saddam's Baath party coming to power in 1968.

"If this period ends without them leaving, it will be our right for us to take our defense to their countries. As they kill the sons of Iraq, we will respond," said the letter signed "Saddam Hussein."

Following a U.S. and British invasion that toppled Saddam on April 9, other countries have sent troops to help with the task of restoring security in Iraq.

The "Saddam" letter singled out Poland and Denmark as nations with troops in Iraq.

Atwan said the handwriting and signature were the same as four other letters attributed to the ousted Iraqi leader and faxed to the paper in the weeks after the war.

Atwan said he had no indication where the letter, dated June 12 and received Friday, was faxed from. His paper would publish it Saturday, he added.

The fate of Saddam and his family are unknown. The United States launched its war in Iraq on March 20 with an air strike directed at a meeting believed to be attended by Saddam.

A second air strike in a fashionable section of Baghdad also targeted Saddam but there was no indication he was killed in either attack.

"I would obviously much prefer that we had clear evidence that Saddam is dead or that we had him alive in our custody," Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in postwar Iraq, told reporters in Washington Thursday.

"I think it does make a difference because it allows the Baathists to go around in the bazaars and in the villages, which they're doing, saying, 'Saddam is alive, and he's going to come back, and we're going to come back."'

The U.S. military has launched two big operations west and north of Baghdad this week to try to root out what it says are die-hard Saddam loyalists behind a recent spate of attacks on U.S. troops in mainly Sunni Muslim areas.

Raghead terror money wants to get out of the kitchen til he heat dies down. While Sharon is terror cleansing, he should go ahead and have RTM on out

Arafat meets with security chiefs over US ceasefire proposal: source

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Yasser Arafat met with the heads of his security apparatus to discuss an apparent US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, a source in the Palestinian leader's office told AFP.

He said the United States had proposed the ceasefire, but would not provide further details.

The meeting started shortly after 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) at Arafat's battered headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the source said.

Top Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina said the meeting was to discuss the deteriorating situation on the ground, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have launched a wave of airstrikes targetting militants.

"This meeting is aimed at discussing the very bad and dangerous situation after the two summits," he told AFP, referring to two peace summits held in Jordan and Egypt last week under the auspices of US President George W. Bush.

Following the meeting "important decisions would be taken", he added without adding further details and without mentioning any US ceasefire proposal.

Among those attending were Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, the head of national security in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, General Abdel Razeq al-Majeda, the head of public security in Gaza City, Saeb al-Aajez, and intelligence chief General Amin al-Hindi, he said.

The meeting came shortly after reports Israel was willing to hand over responsibility for security in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority as soon as Dahlan was ready.

According to a report on army radio, Israel would "facilitate such a move immediately and without preconditions".

It also comes amid heavy US pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to implement the roadmap peace plan, following a week of bloodshed in which more than 60 people have been killed.

In the latest violence, a member of the radical Hamas group was killed and 26 other people were injured, many of them children, when Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car in eastern Gaza City late Friday.

Look what our friends the Saudis are spreading in the MidEast:

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Saudis fabricate report
of Jews teaching hatred
'Study' made up quotes, facts, to prove Israeli kids want Arabs to 'burn in hell'

Posted: June 13, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

In an apparent attempt to turn the tables on critics, a Saudi-owned weekly published a story claiming a study shows Israeli society is teaching its children to hate Palestinian children, making a peace agreement impossible.

However, in a statement sent to WorldNetDaily, the author of the study says Arabic-language al-Majalla magazine completely misrepresented his work.

Al-Majalla magazine

The story – published also in English by the Saudi state-approved daily Arab News – claimed research presented to the London School of Economics showed this generation of Israeli parents knows "how to plant hate and anger toward Arabs in children's minds to such an extent that children are happy to hear of the death of Palestinian child or to hear news of a Palestinian official's being assassinated."

The article says "the hate Israeli children harbor toward Palestinians has reached a high point."

"Children under the age of 8 have pictures in their minds of Palestinian children as blind and with no teeth," the al-Majalla story says. "They wish that those children would suffer from AIDS and burn in hell. Israeli children admitted to these feelings. What is even stranger is that they used very strong language, which cannot be published here."

But researcher Asi Sharabi says the writer of the story, Tarsier Jabber, never spoke with him. The Israeli student, studying in London, says Jabber fabricated quotes and selectively used material from his research published in a 2001 story in an Israeli newspaper.

"I have never said, nor have been quoted as saying, that 'all Israeli children believe that Arabs are bad and Israelis are good, that Jews want peace and Arabs want war and that Jews are human and Arabs are not' nor that 'such feelings are increasing in these children,'" Sharabi said.

The researcher continued: "Neither did I ask an Arab child to write a letter to an Israeli child or say – as was quoted in al-Majalla – 'The letter came as a shock to me.'"

~~~

The mosque is probably where these sanctamonious idiots have stored the WMDs. Coalition troops kick the doors in.

Protestors gather in front of the Palestine Hotel at Freedom Square in Baghdad, to demonstrate against the American Forces after Army troops allegedly entered the Abu Hanifa Mosque. The protestors also said the troops stole money from the Mosque before they left

Baghdad demo protests US soldiers entering mosque

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Some 1,500 people protested after Muslim weekly prayers in Baghdad against the entry of US soldiers into a Sunni mosque overnight, an AFP correspondent reported.

"Don't violate mosques," said one of the banners raised by the protesters, who were led by the prayer leaders, or imams, of the capital's three major mosques.

One protester said the troops entered Abu Hodeifa bin al-Yaman mosque around midnight Thursday and seized the equivalent of 90 dollars.

"It was a deliberate violation of Iraq's holy places and we are here to protest against this provocation," said Ahmad al-Azawi, who lives in the mosque's neighborhood in southeast Baghdad.

"The Americans entered the mosque under the pretext of searching for weapons, but in reality, they were trying to provoke us," said Zaki al-Rawi.

The US-led coalition had on June 2 accused Iraqi militants of using mosques as arms depots and bases to carry out attacks on American soldiers.

Meanwhile, a Sunni imam who last week urged Muslims to wage jihad, or holy war, to recover their usurped rights and called on US forces to speed up their withdrawal from Iraq refrained on Friday from making any reference to political issues following a coalition ban on incitement to violence.

"Muslims are entitled to raise the banner of jihad to restore usurped rights or repel an evil threatening them," Sheikh Muayyed al-Aazami said in his sermon at the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad last week.

On Friday, Aazami spoke only about the importance of prayer for Muslims and stressed the need to be magnanimous. He declined to answer when asked by AFP why he had moderated his tone, saying he was tired.

The US-led administration this week outlawed incitement to violence and warned that anyone who ignored the ban would be immediately detained.

"Any person making a prohibited pronouncement in a public place, distributing or attempting to distribute any prohibited material in whatever form, will be subject to immediate detention by coalition security forces," a public notice said.

The ban covered "pronouncements and material" that "incite violence against any individual or group, including racial, ethnic or religious groups and women ... civil disorder, rioting or damage to property ... violence against coalition forces" or that "advocates the return to power" of the deposed Baath Party.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Hardline Islamic vigilantes used clubs and iron bars around a Tehran university campus overnight Friday to disperse thousands of anti-regime protestors, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Hundreds of members of the Basij volunteer militia, among the most fervent defenders of the Islamic regime, were seen chasing gatherings of demonstrators through streets surrounding Tehran university dormitories -- the focal point of four consecutive nights of demonstrations.

One Basij group leader was heard shouting "show no pity to these people, they are armed with knives", as one group chased some young protestors.

The area surrounding the dormitories remained sealed off in the early hours of Saturday by hundreds of police. However thousands of cars full of residents hoping to join the protests managed to approach the facility through back streets.

Powell Asks Syria to Clamp Down on Terror

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Syria on Friday to help stem terrorism in the Middle East.

Powell telephoned the request to Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa as he widened his appeal to Arab countries.

Syria, itself, is listed by the State Department as a sponsor of terror. Spokesman Richard Boucher said Hamas and other groups had offices in Damascus.

Powell on Thursday made similar appeals to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

In all the conversations, including the one with the Syrian minister, Powell's message was "to stop the violence, to stop the violent groups," Boucher said.

"I think it is clear what we want," Powell said Friday. "Hamas to stop it. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Brigades, all of them to stop it."

Fourth Night of Clashes Erupts in Tehran

TEHRAN, Iran - Hundreds of pro-cleric militants and state security forces fired bullets and tear gas and beat bystanders in Tehran late Friday, the fourth and most widespread night of clashes in the Iranian capital.

Violence erupted in scores of locations throughout the capital, particularly in areas surrounding Tehran University's dormitory complex, the scene of demonstrations against the country's Islamic clerical regime that triggered the crackdown.

Witnesses said security officers fired tear gas to disperse crowds of hundreds of people, mainly curious onlookers in cars and doorways who had gathered to watch the heavy police presence around the city.

It was unclear what sparked the clashes, which involved hundreds of hard-line militants — some in groups of two to four, others on motorcycles — firing machine-guns in the air, beating pedestrians with batons, hurling rocks or punching people.

Annan calls for peacekeeping force in Mideast as US blames Hamas

JERUSALEM (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the dispatch of an international peacekeeping force to stem the spiralling violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which the White House squarely blamed on the extremist group Hamas.

Annan told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the intervention of US monitors to shepherd through President George W. Bush's "road map" for peace probably would not be enough to bring an immediate halt to the bloodshed.

"The monitoring mechanism that will be put in place next week is a beginning and it may be enough if the parties are able to break the cycle of violence," the UN chief said.

"In the interim I would like to see an armed peacekeeping force act as a buffer between the Israelis and Palestinians," he told Haaretz in New York.

EU soldiers in Congo find their hands are tied

The village of Katoto was smouldering, and one house still burning, after the reported massacre of 121 people on Saturday during the latest Lendu attack. Bloodied mattresses lay scattered outside a looted mud hut. Throughout the attack the French troops stayed in their barracks.

"The white men will run, we have the city".

- - - - - - - - - - -

Thanks for the Congo update. I've read elsewhere how the French are the real "liberators and heroes". Not looking good so far. Its all sad because everyone is coming to Iraq

U.S. works on Iraq deployment deal [India]

Japan Wants Role in Postwar Iraq

Pak may send troops to Iraq: Musharraf

Spain to join Iraq stabilization force

The Congo has 11 y/o with AK-47 and people are eating each other. While the rest of the world is following the U.S. around like a little puppy dog.

Israel opposed to UN peacekeepers: diplomat

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Israel rejected the idea of deploying a peacekeeping force to defuse violence, as floated, according to an Israeli newspaper, by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Asked by reporters, Arye Mekel, the number two Israeli diplomat, said: "We do not think we need any foreign forces."

"There is no need for any intervention of any foreign power," he added after Security Council debate on the situation in the Mideast.

He also said Annan had not informed his government of such a proposal.

Annan, in an interview with Haaretz, proposed sending an international peacekeeping force to act as a buffer between the Israelis and Palestinians in their 32-month-old conflict, which has cost more than 3,300 lives.

"We do not think there is merit in this issue," said Mekel, adding: "The only way to a solution is the two sides talking together."

The Israeli government always has opposed deployment of UN forces in the occupied territories but agreed to US observers as part of the roadmap plan.

Kieran Prendergast, under-secretary general for Political Affairs, said in his monthly report to the council that construction of a wall in the territories to separate Israelis and Palestinians "should be halted. As a minimum first step to alleviate its effects, humanitarian access points should be opened in those portions of the wall that have been completed."

"During the period since the last briefing, there was continuing significant destruction of Palestinian property by the IDF," Prendergast said.

"Agricultural lands, totalling some 477 acres of citrus trees and olive groves were bulldozed. In addition some 74 homes in the occupied Palestinian territory were destroyed, rendering more than 700 persons homeless."

Alright already, either make peace or make war. Which ever do it and get over with it.

Sharon offers three-day ceasefire with Hamas: Palestinian source

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - A top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered a ceasefire proposal for a halt in its war against Palestinian militants, a senior Palestinian source told AFP.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, initially to last three days, Israel would stop all attempts to assassinate Palestinian militants in exchange for an agreement by the radical Hamas group to halt all attacks on Israel, including the firing of Qassam rockets, the source said.

Following the three-day period, the truce would be renewed on a daily basis while the two sides discuss plans for a comprehensive ceasefire, he said.

The offer, delivered by Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass to Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayad, was discussed late Friday at a meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his security chiefs, he added.

But he would not comment on the reaction of the security chiefs meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The meeting is to be continued on Saturday, Palestinian sources said.

A senior adviser to Arafat earlier said the meeting was called to discuss an apparent US proposal for a ceasefire, amid heavy pressure from Washington for Israel and the Palestinians to return to the US-backed roadmap peace plan.

"It will continue in the morning to follow up on all the issues and to adopt measures and decisions that will serve the higher Palestinian cause," said Nabil Abu Rudeina.

Among those attending were Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, the head of national security in the West Bank and Gaza, General Abdul Razeq al-Majeda, head of public security in Gaza City, Saeb al-Aajez, and intelligence chief General Amin al-Hindi.

More than 60 people have been killed since a US-Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in Jordan on June 4, most of them in Israeli helicopter strikes targeting Hamas in Gaza and in a Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus.

Pakistan Court Queries Islamists on Qualifications

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's top court sent notices Friday to several leaders of an Islamic alliance locked in a bitter row with the government, to answer whether their educational qualifications met election criteria.

The Supreme Court sent the notices on a petition by a private lawyer seeking the disqualification of 65 members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party Islamic alliance.

MMA is engaged in a standoff with the government over the powers of military President Pervez Musharraf -- a key ally of the United States in its war on terror.

The MMA wants Musharraf to resign as army chief and seeks a reversal of constitutional changes which undermine parliament.

The lawyer, Aslam Khaki, has argued that the degrees held by MMA members from Islamic seminaries were not equivalent to graduate degrees, the minimum qualification set for those contesting the 2002 national elections.

The Supreme Court said Friday it would hear the petition at a later date and sent notices to all the respondents.

Khaki has also mounted a separate legal challenge in the Supreme Court against a decision to impose sharia, or traditional Islamic law, in a northwestern province controlled by the MMA. The court adjourned the case Thursday for two weeks.

Khaki has called the Islamic bill passed by the assembly of North West Frontier Province unconstitutional.

Critics say the sharia law, passed by the assembly last week, and other Islamization steps already adopted or in the pipeline, are reminiscent of the policies of the hard-line Taliban overthrown in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.

US seeks to stifle armed resistance in Iraq, says troop strength sufficient

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US troops in Iraq pressed at least three massive operations around Iraq, a day after killing 27 assailants in the northeast.

But the coalition's drive to take the battle to the enemy drew new tactics with twin blasts hitting the main oil export pipeline to Turkey.

And the US military's Central Command (Centcom) said that 74 "suspected al-Qaeda sympathisers" had been detained in a huge raid near the northern oil capital of Kirkuk.

US spokesmen in Baghdad declined to give a casualty toll for a major operation launched by US troops in northwest Iraq before dawn Thursday as it continued for a second straight day, but US commanders previously described it as "very lethal".

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