Twin Bombs Kill Scores In Baghdad -- Full Coverage From War News Updates

From The BBC:

More than 70 people have been killed by two bombs in Baghdad, attached to two mentally disabled women and detonated remotely, says a security official.

"The al-Qaeda terrorists and criminals are proud of this method," Brig Qassem Ata al-Moussawi told the BBC.

The death toll in Friday morning's attacks at two animal markets was the highest in months in Baghdad.

Correspondents say a fragile sense of normality had returned to the capital following an influx of US troops.

Read more ...

Other News Stories on Iraq:
Female Bombers Strike Markets In Baghdad -- Yahoo News
Female Bombers Strike Markets in Baghdad -- ABC News
U.S.: 'Demonic' Militants Sent Women To Bomb Markets In Iraq -- CNN
Mentally Retarded Women Used As Bombers -- CBS News
Handicapped Bombers Kill Dozens In Iraq -- MSNBC
Al-Qaeda Straps Bombs to 2 Mentally Disabled Women-- Explosions Kill Dozens in Baghdad -- Gateway Pundit

My Comment: Even with this tragic loss of life, violence in Iraq has been steadily decreasing. Gateway Pundit examines this trend in a post today titled "Surge Success Continues-- Iraq Sees Great Gains Over Last Year".

It is still to early to predict the final outcome of this war, but all trends for the ending of this conflict are still positive. Unfortunately, the body count will still go on until this is over.

Al-Qaeda Figure Is Killed In Pakistan

From The Washington Post:

BERLIN, Jan. 31 -- A senior al-Qaeda commander was killed this week in Pakistan, according to Western officials and an Islamic radical Web site, marking a rare success in the flagging U.S. and Pakistani campaign to hunt down members of the network.

Abu Laith al-Libi, the nom de guerre of a Libyan fighter who had served alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban since the late 1980s, had become an influential field commander in recent years, overseeing many operations against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials said. The U.S. military blamed him for organizing a suicide attack that killed 23 people outside Bagram air base during a visit by Vice President Cheney in February last year.

Read more ...

My Comment: One has to wonder if this strike was approved by the Pakistani Government or was this just a solo mission done by the the U.S. In the past Pakistan has been resistant to pressure from the U.S. in pursuing known Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. Has Pakistan changed their policy, or has the U.S. changed their policy in now actively going after known Al Qaeda targets.

The attack by extremists today against Pakistani forces (5 Pakistani troops killed in attack) that were only two miles away from the airstrike is a clear sign that Al Qaeda believes that Pakistan was complicit in this attack.

Civil War In Kenya -- News Updates January 31, 2008

US Calls Kenya Violence Ethnic Cleansing -- Telegraph

Stop Kenya Burning, Says AU Head -- BBC News

Lawmaker Killed In Kenya's Rift Valley -- Yahoo News

Talks Delayed After Kenyan MP Shot Dead -- Guardian

Nobody Is Optimistic At This Stage -- Video From The Guardian

Second Opposition Lawmaker Is Killed In Kenya -- International Herald Tribune

2nd Lawmaker Shot; Kenya "In Flames" -- CBS News

Kenya Talks On Hold As Lawmaker Slain -- CNN

Can Kenya Avert a Bloodbath? -- Time Magazine

A Nation In Pain -- Newsweek

Kenya Collapse Washes Across the Border -- Strategy Page

My Comment: All the ingredients for mass killing are now in place in Kenya. The question now is ..... who and when will the match be lit.

Pakistan: US Intelligence Agents 'Uncover Bin Laden Letters'

From Adnkronos:

Islamabad, 31 Jan. (AKI) - US secret service agents operating in the remote border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan claim to have found five letters signed by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Saudi daily Al-Watan said on Thursday.

Citing unnamed local security sources, the newspaper said that the letters are allegedly handwritten in Arabic and bear Bin Laden's apparent signature and seal.

They appear to have been sent last December to some of Bin Laden's followers in the region.

One of the letters is addressed to the Taliban leader in Afghanistan's volatile southern province of Helmand, Mansoor Dadallah.

Read more ....

My Comment: Whenever Osama Bin Ladin talks, people die.

Islam's Advance

From Newsweek:

The Shi’ite ritual of Ashura is one of the most extraordinary acts of devotion in the Islamic world. From the heart of the Shi’ite faith in Iran and southern Iraq, to the mountains of Lebanon, and the shores of Indonesia, millions of adherents mourn the murder of the prophet’s grandson, Hussein, 1300 years ago.

That seminal moment has split the Islamic world in two ever since, between the Shia, who claim Hussein and his descendants as the rightful rulers of the Muslim world, and the Sunni, who espoused the claims of the Caliph, or ruler, in Damascus.

Read more ....

My Comment: A must read article that examines the history of the Sunni-Shiite split in Islam.

Iraq -- The Mosul Offensive

From The Long War Journal:

Just over one year after the surge officially began Coalition and Iraqi forces continue to pursue al Qaeda in Iraq. After al Qaeda has been driven from its havens in Baghdad and the surrounding belts regions, and most recently in Diyala, the city of Mosul has emerged as the latest battleground.

Read more ....

My Comment: A side of me likes to believe that this is the end of Al Qaeda in Iraq, but I know that realistically this is not the case. Al Qaeda is weaker .... yes .... but as a force spent it is not. Al Qaeda, or its offshoots, will always be around. The best thing that we can hope for is that as a spent force it is diminished, and maybe over time it will be gone.

Is it Necessary To Confront Political Islam As An Anti-Western Ideology

From the Belmont Club:

One of the persons following the Belmont Club discussion over whether it is necessary to confront political Islam as an anti-Western ideology is a Marine in Anbar province. His email to me has been reproduced in toto below. It is clear and eloquent. I am grateful for it, not in the least because it lends some substance to my hope that "because of the size of the stakes this whole question will be resolved, not by some politician but by the 'decision of crowds'." Here's his email in toto.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Marine's letter from Anbar Province does give a positive outlook on the possibility that Islam can co-exist with other religions and political cultures. That its embrace of militant Islam and jihad by the average person in the Muslim world is just an aberration, and that it solely exists as a testament to the difficult times that people in the Middle East are going through.

Unfortunately, if history is any indication, there has always been majorities .... if not significant minorities ..... of muslims in the Middle East who have always had a very anti-Western and/or anti-Hindu and/or "just name that group" point of view that when they felt they were in a position of power was quickly manifested into war and bloodshed.

Religion has always been a predominant influence on many peoples, cultures, and civilizations through the ages. Europeans had to go through centuries of incredible bloodshed to get rid of this environment among its many different faiths .... unfortunately ..... many Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere have not yet gone through their reformation.

Western Allies Developing Cold Feet In Afghanistan

These two stories recently caught my eye, one on Canada and the other on Australia:

Ready To Quit Afghanistan, Canada PM Tells Bush -- Yahoo News

West Will Never Beat Taliban, Rudd Warned -- Sydney Morning Herald

My Comment: Western allies are not only developing cold feet in Afghanistan, but are becoming vocal about it. The groundwork is being laid by these "allies" for their departure in the near future.

The following story is an indication of what people are now starting to fear. Afghanistan May Plunge Into 'Failed State,' Experts Warn -- Yahoo News

Kenya Mediation Resumes, Kibaki Heads To AU Summit

From Reuters:

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's feuding politicians hold a second day of talks brokered by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Thursday and African leaders gather in neighboring Ethiopia for a summit likely to be dominated by the post-election crisis.

President Mwai Kibaki will travel to Addis Ababa for the 53-nation African Union meeting, a forum where his country is more used to playing the role of regional peacemaker than a cause of continental concern.

Political and ethnic violence has killed 850 people in Kenya since Kibaki's disputed re-election on December 27, a wave of instability that has shocked its neighbors and Western donors and battered its image as a stable trade and tourism hub.

"Kenyans are killing one another at an alarming rate and are putting the country in grave danger of civil war," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of U.S.-based rights group Freedom House.

Read more ....

My Comment: While the politicians and leaders talk, the real story is summed up by the following report from Yahoo News and the Toronto Star. Tribe All But Vanishes From Kenyan City -- Yahoo News and Ethnic Cleansing Or Death, Kenya's Kikuyu Tribe Vows -- Toronto Star

Iraq Conflict Has Killed A Million Iraqis: Survey

From Reuters:

LONDON (Reuters) - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.

The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.

The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997 found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war, the researchers found.

Read more ....

My Comment: 1,000,000 dead Iraqis for the past five years, 200,000 per year, 4,000 per week, 550 per day, 22 per hour. Their stats do not measure up unless one attributes other causes as being due to the war. i.e. hunger, disease, breakdown in medical services, etc.. But are all of these deaths as a result of the war .... hmmmm....