Free Republic

CAMP STRIKER — Local government officials visited tribal leaders of Qarghuli to discuss a number of issues May 3. “The government representatives approached us to speak of our concerns,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, who held the meeting in his home. “This is out of the ordinary. We are usually the ones going to them about our concerns and issues.” Rakkasan leadership of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), attended the meeting but only to observe. “It’s rare for me to come to a meeting and not have to mediate, but I didn’t have to do that...

Sgt. Christopher Humes, with Company C, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, chats with an Iraqi child during a meeting with tribal leaders to discuss humanitarian and infrastructure aid projects in Musayyib, Iraq, March 9. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ben Brody. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — “It seems quiet out there, but there’s always a calm before the storm,” said the burly platoon sergeant as he tightened the straps on his helmet. “We have to take care of the people and get the bad guys.” Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Williams, the platoon sergeant,...

Americans in Iraq quickly discover that they are in a different culture. It's a violent culture, where the public order we take for granted in the U.S. does not exist in many parts of the country. What is going on here? Don't the Iraqis appreciate our efforts to liberate them from Saddam Hussein's cruel rule? Well, most Iraqis do, but a sizable number want to bring back the good old days (for them), and are taking advantage of some aspects of Arab culture to make it so. Understand this, and you understand what is going on in Iraq.  Iraq has been a violent...

LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC could announce a 500,000 barrels per day output hike within two weeks if oil prices stay above $55 for at least the next 10 days to 14 days, Nigerian Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Edmund Daukoru said on Sunday. "I think we will take the decision shortly if the price stays above $55 for 10 days or two weeks," Daukoru told Reuters in an interview. "I think the decision can be announced within two weeks." OPEC chief Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Saturday he was likely to start telephone consultations with the group's oil ministers on...

NEW YORK (AP) - A Yemeni sheik and his assistant were convicted Thursday of plotting to funnel money to al-Qaida and Hamas, handing a victory to prosecutors shaken last year when the man who was supposed to be their star witness set himself on fire outside the White House. Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed were found guilty on all but two of the 10 charges in an indictment that accused them of vital roles in a terror-funding network that stretched from Brooklyn to Yemen. In a meeting with FBI informants in a German hotel room,...

<p>November 17, 2003 -- A Yemeni cleric who allegedly boasted of giving Osama bin Laden millions of dollars collected at a Brooklyn mosque could be hauled into federal court as soon as today, after more than 10 months spent fighting extradition from Germany, a law enforcement source said. Sheik Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad and his alleged assistant, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, are expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court immediately upon their arrival in the U.S. on charges they gave material support to al Qaeda and Hamas.</p>

<p>LONDON — Britons bracing for a terror attack like last month's Madrid train bombings are coming to terms with the idea the attackers may not be foreign militants but the sons of friendly Asian families living next door.</p> <p>Police yesterday were questioning eight young British-born Pakistanis arrested a day earlier in raids that officials said had foiled a major bomb plot. Half a ton of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer suitable for making bombs, was seized.</p>

CANBERRA, Australia, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A former baggage handler for Qantas Airways has been identified by the CIA as an al-Qaida member. Government officials told The Australian newspaper they are aware of claims that Bilal Khazal of Sydney and Melbourne cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran have been linked to an al-Qaida detainee known as Abu Dahdah. The allegations, made public this week by the Australian Broadcasting Corp., reportedly stem from telephone intercepts revealed recently in a Spanish court. The newspaper said the intercepts suggest repeated contact between the two Australians and the Spaniard. The Australian said, among other things, Abu...

Sheikhs agree to peace deal with coalition troops By Harry de Quetteville in Fallujah (Filed: 09/08/2003) After months of bitterness, the heads of the seven major tribes of Fallujah have met for the first time with the Iraqi town's mayor and its American forces commander. Clan leaders and their hangers-on packed the mayor's office at the morning meeting, described by Lt-Col Chris Hickey, US army Fallujah commander, as "an extremely important day". They came from the Albuaisa tribe, from the al-Jumela and from the al-Halabsa. They greeted the sheikhs of the al-Mahamuda tribe, the Albu al-Wan, the al-Zuba'a and Albuaisa-Qais....

Desert sheikhs feast on hate for detested American 'invaders' (Filed: 28/06/2003) Peter Foster finds the Bedouin in north-west Iraq are increasingly irritated with their occupiers The Iraqi desert is a lawless place. On the advice of a British diplomat we travel armed, although not with a Kalashnikov. Our safety is to be guaranteed by a letter written by Sheikh Fahran al-Sadeed. He is the head of Iraq's Shamir tribe and, we are told, a very powerful man. We meet and drink Turkish coffee for about three hours. The sheikh, fresh from a meeting with Paul Bremer, the US administrator, spends...

Leading Sunni Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi and Other Sheikhs Herald the Coming Conquest of Rome In articles written by Islamic clerics, the clerics herald the imminent conquest of Rome by Islam, in accordance with the prophecy of Muhammad. The issue is also discussed in Friday sermons. Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, one of the most influential clerics in Sunni Islam, often makes this claim in his religious rulings and on his television programs. The following are remarks made by Al-Qaradhawi and other Muslim clerics:Al-Qaradhawi: "Islam will Return to Europe as a Conqueror"In a fatwa posted on the website www.islamonline.net,(1) in response to...