SundayTimes (UK)

First, the attackers threw a grenade to stop the minibus. Then they shot dead the passengers, one by one. Only the driver survived. The executioners heard him gabbling to Allah for forgiveness, realised he was not a Buddhist and spared him.
After that, communal passions erupted. Crowds of Muslims and Buddhists took to the streets to demand protection. Since the ambush a string of killings claiming victims of both faiths has taken the death toll to more than 2,100.
The insurgency is now the bloodiest conflict in southeast Asia. Yet it is a war of shadows. The militants issue no communi-qués. They have no known leaders. They have made no precise demands. If they are connected to the worldwide network of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates there is no proof.
There is a sense of siege over the hushed towns and quiet fishing villages in the palmy jungles of the far south of Thailand.
[…]
“The coup leaders continue to ask the wrong questions and refuse to take the conflict for what it is — an Islamic insurgency,” said Professor Zachary Abuza of Simmons College, Boston, the leading foreign expert on the struggle. “Many Thais think it’s only about poverty and social justice,” he added.
Abuza says that two well established separatist groups, the National Revolutionary Front and the Pattani Islamic Mujaheddin Movement, are the prime movers.
Intelligence officers from Thailand and its allies are not wholly convinced. Interrogations have produced stories of tall, hooded terrorist trainers who are not Thai. Eavesdroppers have picked up radio chatter in Indonesian.

This comment from Mel Welch, Minneaplis, (in the comments below the article);

As [earlier commentor] Usman Ali illustrates, there will always be a valid justification for Islamic violence against anyone (oh, except civilians, of course, though if they’re infidel civilians it will be alright) – a right to an insurgency, though no palpable enemy or oppressor is visible. The very existence of non-Islamic ideology presents a credible threat to the oppressive Islamic Theo-tyranny that would rule your thoughts and your actions.
It is an insult and disingenous article that the Times would call this murderous action an “insurgency.” It is what it is – terrorism and murder by a tunnel-visioned worldview that will, when able, convert or kill all opposition.

The leaders of a car-bombing ring responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis have been captured,

It is noteworthy, though the AP can’t quite bring itself to note it, that the anti-al-Qaeda Sunni insurgents have advanced beyond the Democratic congressional leadership in their thinking.

According to Wired;

After Google recently updated its satellite images of parts of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, much of the region still looked blotchy — the kind of low resolution that persists in coverage of, say, upstate New York. But several small squares (they stand out as off-color patches from 680 miles up) suddenly became as detailed as the images of Manhattan. These sectors happen to be precisely where the US govern­ment has been hunting for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Turns out, Google gets its images from many of the same satellite companies — DigitalGlobe, TerraMetrics, and others-that provide reconnaissance to US intelligence agencies. And when the CIA requests close-ups of the area around Peshawar in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, Google Earth reaps the benefits (although usually six to 18 months later). This is also why remote parts of Asia went hi-res after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and the Kashmir earthquake in 2005.

h/t

The transcript.

More at LGF.
Via Dust My Broom.

At Catprint, a summary of the SOC decision;

In short, the Court fully supported the idea of security certificates, just not two aspects of their implementation. The Court granted a years grace to the gov’t to bring forward new legislation that rectifies those two areas.

Another good Michael Totten interview;

Eli is the CEO of the advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi in the Levant. He worked on Iraq’s first post-Saddam get-out-and-vote campaign, then applied his advertising and design skills to Lebanon’s movement to oust the Syrian occupation. His work was seen all over the country back then, and it’s still all over the country today.
He also runs a professional political consulting firm called Quantum. I went to see him in his futuristic post-modern office on the top floor of a glass tower in East Beirut. I felt like I had been whooshed into the 23rd century when I walked in there. The lighting, the windows, the walls…the whole place appeared straight out of a science-fiction movie. His employees looked like they had been genetically engineered to human perfection. I should have taken some pictures.
“It’s good to see you again,” he said. “How can I help you?”
“Lebanon is a disaster right now,” I said, although it certainly didn’t look that way from his spiffy uber-modern tower looking out toward the mountains and the Mediterranean. “And it looks even worse than it is in the media. I wanted to check in with you again and interview somebody sane, show the other side of the story. Lebanon looks like a terrorist state again to Americans. And also to the Israelis.”
He put his face in his hands then blew out his cheeks. “This,” he said ominously and nodded. “This is the most important thing.”
[…]
When political theories fail in the Middle East they fail hard. People who believed in them have a tendency to support a total opposite point of view later. That’s why the Shia will be okay after Hezbollah is defeated.”
“Hezbollah will always have some support, though,” I said.
“Yes,” Eli said. “Among irrelevant people. The fact that we have some of these silly leftists who support Hezbollah just shows we are a normal country. We are like everyone else. Those people are everywhere. Did you see the protestors in London who said We are all Hezbollah now? Give me a break.”

Via Halls of Macademia;

But Democrat Patrick Leahy and Republican Arlen Specter clammed up about what they were told by Justice Department officials on Thursday during a meeting that lasted an hour and 40 minutes. (G&M)

Jordan’s version (video at link);

A propoganda photo is recycled.

An interview with an Israeli soldier.

Iran feels the squeeze;

The recent campaign by the United States and its allies in the Gulf to increase the political, economic and military pressure on the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is beginning to show some results. Internal Iranian opposition by rival political factions are threatening Ahmadinejad’s hold on power, as they fear of economic collapse, confrontation with the West and the very existence of the Islamic Republic may be the results of his reckless policy of confrontation with the West.

Details at the link.

h/t
More – Context, just for the spectacularly obtuse.
Update Oh man…. apparently I’ve overlooked the fact that these babies are dressed for the religious observance of “Ashura” – “If, as your post and subsequent comments imply, you believe that any child, when raised under even a moderate, mainstream version of Islam (such as that depicted in the linked photos), will somehow be primed towards radicalism, then you’re effectively saying that the problem is with all of Islam and not merely its extremist strains.”
Being generous enough of spirit to acknowledge that bloggers and commentors more open-minded than myself have bettered my appreciation of this gentle commemoration of the beheading martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali (grandson of Muhammad), the best way to express my gratitude is to assist the readership here to expand theirs.
More photos of Ashura, this taken in Pakistan.

I stand corrected.

MIchael Totten was providing continuing coverage of rioting in Lebanon yesterday;

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fouad Seniora accuses Hezbollah of intimidation and terrorism. He may be over-reacting a bit with the t-word in this context, but it’s telling because he used to call them a “resistance” movement instead of terrorists. Those days are gone.

I caught CBC World Report with Mideast correspondant Margaret Evans on Sunday, as I was somewhere on the road between Kenaston and Outlook. I didn’t have a pen to transcribe while I drove, so this is from memory. While I may have a few of the words wrong, I think this captures the essence;

The grey, overcast skies yawning over the Bethlehem refugee camp blend oppressively with the looming concrete slab that threatens tiny girls in a school that huddles in its shadow. Canada’s Foreign Minister is on a visit to the camp, unmoved by shattered walls torn bare by the deadly bullets of rampaging Israeli soldiers.

Disappointingly, Evans’ reporting overlooked the obvious summation – “Critics argue that Israel can no longer justify the continued existence of this leering grey scar of apartheid now that suicide bombings have all but ceased.”
Oh well. Maybe next time.
Mark MacKinnon has a related item for Monday’s Globe & Mail (buried near the bottom). Hamas warns Canada … “co-operate with the Islamic movements”;

When told that Mr. MacKay would likely have responded to his questions by insisting that Hamas still needs to meet the three conditions of the international community — denouncing violence, recognizing Israel and respecting the agreements signed by the previous Palestinian government — [Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar] turned hostile.
“What borders of Israel should we recognize? The border that includes the Golan Heights? The borders it occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem? What type of Israel should we recognize? What is the constitution of Israel? And what is our border?”
Later in the interview, he suggested that there should be a single Islamic state stretching across the Middle East, adding that there was plenty of space in Canada to establish a Jewish homeland.

I hate it when they talk in code.
Note: Looks like CTV’s News Staff cleansed missed that last portion.

If this is victory, I’d hate to be around for a defeat. “Facing the Al Manar gate is the remains of Hezbollah’s ‘Security Square.’ The hole in the ground pictured below is where their media relations office once stood.”

Another photo essay by Michael Totten.

Michael Totten;

Soon we reached Bint Jbail, Hezbollah’s de-facto “capital” in South Lebanon. The outskirts were mostly undamaged, but the city looks now like a donut. Downtown was almost completely demolished by air strikes and artillery.
“So this is our victory,” Said said. “This is how Hezbollah wins. Israel destroys our country while they sleep safely and soundly in theirs.”

He has many, many photos. Take the time to read the whole thing.

The marshes were always a mysterious place, a haven and hideout for rebels, bandits, dissenters. When the Shiites failed in their uprising against Saddam after the Persian Gulf War, many of them sought refuge in these marshes. And the local residents, hating the regime — like most Iraqis — sympathized with them. Saddam decided that the area and the people had to be eradicated. What happened next is a picture of pure evil; it can scarcely be absorbed. In a massive push called the Third River Project, the regime created dams, dikes, and canals — and dried up the marshes. One new canal was called the Mother of All Battles River; there was also the Fidelity to the Leader Canal. With amazing speed, this vast wetland became a desert. The plants died, the animals died, water was nowhere. One newspaper report had residents saying that it was as though someone had pulled a plug. Saddam destroyed a full 90 percent of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, establishing a military zone in their place.

But there’s much, much more. The elimination of the marshes caused the people to starve, flee, or die — and Saddam did all he could to make sure they died. He poisoned the lagoons; he shelled villages; he set reedbeds ablaze; he imprisoned, tortured, and executed; and he attacked these Iraqis with WMD — with chemical weapons. He left no technique untried. In August 1993, a British writer and filmmaker, Michael Wood, said that the dictator’s “slow genocide of the Marsh Arabs is nearing its climax.” Yet it had not been so slow, really.

h/t

Where did this profile appear, you ask? A Iran Holocaust Denial Conference trading card? Jimmy Carter’s reference notes?
CAIR’s 2007 pick for Sexiest Man Alive?
Not quite.
h/t

It looks like James Lileks wasn’t far off the mark;

I left the mall and headed to the Element, which waited under a fog-shrouded parking lot light. Drove around on some other errand, listening to Hugh Hewitt, who seemed depressed. It was about Iran and Israel, I gathered; another day, another speech threatening to wipe Israel off the map. It’s interesting: if the Holocaust “conference” decides that the Holocaust didn’t happen, well, then the justification for Israel is specious and founded on lies, and the mullahs are justified in redressing a mistake. I have the awful feeling that terms, conditions and justifications are being set right before our eyes, and the putative leaders seem unwilling to acknowledge what most canny observers infer.
It’ll all make horrible sense. In retrospect.

Memri reports (read the whole thing);

On December 14, 2006 the Iranian news agency IRNA reported, in English, that participants in the Iranian Holocaust Denial conference, dubbed “Holocaust: A Global Vision,” had announced the establishment of a “world foundation for Holocaust studies” and unanimously appointed Presidential Advisor Mohammad-Ali Ramin as its secretary-general.
According to IRNA, Ramin said that “one of the plans of the foundation is to assign a committee to find out the truth about the holocaust [sic], and noted that its main office will be in Tehran, and that it “will eventually be transferred to Berlin, once proper grounds are prepared.”

Via Jules Crittenden, who writes;

An international center with a secretary general. Sounds almost like it could become a United Nations for murderous Jew-haters.

We already have a United Nations for murderous Jew-haters, Jules. It’s called the United Nations.

Armed Liberal;

Over at HuffPo, Alec Baldwin, (of the “Film Actors Guild”) speaks out on what’s wrong [in the war to defeat Arab terrorism], and what we need to do about it. One of these is real, and one is a line from a puppet movie*. Can you tell which is which?

Andy McCarthy on more dangerous fools;

ISG Chairman James Baker, a foolish man, looked Congress in the eye on Thursday and explained his master plan. Did it seem foolish to propose negotiations with Iran, our relentless enemy? Sure. But, the “realist” doyen puttered, if we invite them to negotiate about Iraq’s future, and they demur, why, we’ll expose their intransigence for all the world to see.
Right. They slaughter and abet the slaughter of our marines, our airmen, our sailors, William Buckley, Robert Stethem, William Higgins, and countless others. They tell us their defining goal is a world without America, a world in which our allies are wiped from the face of the earth. But, at long last, we’ll know who they really are … if they don’t show up for a meeting.