Bucking the trend towards body count journalism, some “grim statistics” remain less newsworthy than others (via Gateway Pundit).

Pakistan is not only among the countries with the highest incidence of terrorism but it also tops the list of suicide bombings, leaving Afghanistan and Iraq behind during the first three months of 2008.
During this period, Pakistan experienced eighteen suicide attacks in which more than 250 people died. Whereas in both war-ridden countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, had a fewer number of suicide attacks.

The battleground has shifted. But unlike the Iraqis, the Pakistanis seem more easily “awakened” and there’s news of welcome mats being yanked – providing you can find it.

The alleged militant group familiarly known as “Taliban” was declared “out of Islam” by 73 different sects of Muslims through an edict (Fatwa) circulated in parts of the narrow tribal strip of Darra Adamkhel.
The edict in Urdu language was circulated on behalf of Mufti Zainul Aabideen on Friday night. The one page edict focuses on Talibans’s terrorists’ acts in the area, particularly slaughtering of human beings and suicide attacks.
[…]
It is for the first time that a religious scholar declared “Taliban” as being “out of Islam.” The edict said that all the acts of Taliban are against the basic norms of Islam and humanity. “Even the Taliban leaders are considering themselves and their directives as superior to true Islamic principles and directives as ordained by Almighty Allah,” the edict said.

With all the professional ink spilled in complaint over Taliban “insurgents” operating from the safety of tribal areas of Pakistan. a home turf reversal of fortunes for the ministry of headchoppers should count for some coverage, yes?
Well, no.
In the eyes of western media, setbacks only happen to our own. Besides, it’s March again, and their duties lie elsewhere. Surely, the much-awaited 2007 spring offensive is just around the corner.

Rusty Shackleford;

Reporters Without Borders, of course, is outraged that a journalist–a journalist!–is being detained. After all, aren’t all journalist–journalists!–immune from any and all suspicion?
To be honest, this may be one time (finally) that Reporters Without Borders has something intelligent to say (maybe). I have Taliban phone numbers and plenty of Taliban propaganda on my computer. Granted, I’ve never actually given Zahidullah Mujahid or Qari Mohammad Yousuf a phone call, but still I have them. Our friends at the NEFA Foundation have. They certainly aren’t rooting for the Taliban.
I’m not a fan of media types doing interviews with the Taliban, but it’s common practice. AP, AFP, & Reuters routinely quote Qari Mohammed Yousef.
But it’s really the context of the contacts with the Taliban that matters in this case. If Ahmad served as a surrogate propagandist for the Taliban, then he’s a combatant and his detention is justified. Enemy propagandists are just that: enemies, and should be treated as such.
Having journalistic credentials is not some magical immunization from suspicion. There’s no reason why one cannot be a willing or tacit Taliban agent and be a member of the media.
Another problem would be if Ahmad not only called local Taliban commanders but actually met with them. By not disclosing the location of illegal enemy combatants who routinely commit war crimes, Ahmad would be assisting in the commission of those war crimes–journalistic credentials or not.

Japan demonstrates how to deal with a convicted terrorist:

Rejecting his appeal, the Supreme Court on Friday finalized the death sentence of senior Aum Shinrikyo cultist Yasuo Hayashi, a key figure in the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system.

It’s too bad it has taken more than a decade, but at least he will finally get what he deserves.

Hezbollah’s chief of military operations is dead;

For many, Mughniyah was a reviled figure, wanted by both Israel and the United States for his alleged role in numerous attacks on American and Israeli targets—including the truck-bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the attack on the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992. (Formally, the FBI most-wanted him for his role in the 1985 hijacking of an American airliner to Beirut and the murder of a U.S. Navy diver on board.)

The article goes on to suggest that the assassination couldn’t have come “at a worse time” for Lebanon. All things considered, it’s hard to conceive of a “bad time”.
Update – Two excellent pieces, at the Belmont Club (a long list of suspects) and by Sigmund, Carl and Alfred” – “the medium is the message.”
(Belmont Club link fixed – sorry!)

h/t Warwick

That one person’s terrorist is Michael Moore’s freedom fighter.

“His family was killed by Al Qaeda,” a Marine added helpfully. “They were killed because he’s a police officer.”
The Iraqi Police officer nodded.
“He went out all by himself and killed the people who did it,” the Marine said.

Israeli “Caterpillar brand D9 armored bulldozer” as pictured by the International Middle East Media Center

Israeli Caterpillar brand D9 bulldozer pictured with human being of normal height. Caterpillar D9 (under general characteristics) Height: 13 ft (4 m)

h/t to reader mhb.
Related.

At the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda;

That sounds mighty close for comfort: An al-Qaeda subsidiary had planted its terrorist cell inside the official satellite trucks of the national broadcasting network?

Wny not? They’ve successfully planted their propagandists in ours.
More.

“What’s-a behind me is not important“.

(You may use this thread for your reader tips today.)

Sometime on December 27, 2007, in a fierce gun battle in Al Kut, a milestone was reached.
The 20,000th AIF [Anti Iraqi Forces] terrorist was killed by our troops.

h/t

Al Qaeda terrorists can continue to murder Iraqis and Americans at the behest of Osama, but their tactics will only backfire. Osama will no more own Iraq than he will own America. His is a lost cause. Not because of decisive military defeats, (although these have helped) but because decent Iraqi people from all quarters, sects and regions of Iraq have had enough of his people cutting off heads of children.
It’s understandable that this turn of events might come as news to Osama, because he cannot set foot in Iraq for fear of his life.

Via Brutally Honest;

One of Al Qaeda’s senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims.”
In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.
The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.
The author of “Inside Al Qaeda,” Rohan Gunaratna said in an interview this week, “There is nothing more important than a former jihadist as important as Dr. Fadl criticizing the jihadist vanguard.” Mr. Gunaratna, who acts at times as a consultant for American and Western intelligence, described the reformed theologian as “both an ideologue and operational leader, but he was primarily an ideologue.”
An expert on Islamic terrorism with the Jamestown Foundation, Steven Ulph, also said the defection of Mr. Sharif could hemorrhage support for Al Qaeda. “The important point to make, when you have the combination of a respected ideologue, plus someone who was in the field, say these things it is more important than having a Saudi sheik that moderates his message,” he said.

Gaza edition.

60 Minutes;

.. got a rare glimpse into a Guantanamo case — one of the first that will be prosecuted. Consider this: is Omar Khadr a hardened terrorist — a bad seed, or an obedient son, led astray by his family?

I’ll settle for dead ender.
Video here.
(h/t Sammy in the comments)

Michael Totten has a first rate report out of Ramadi;

The Provincial Security Forces are a “national guard” of sorts controlled by the tribal authorities in addition to the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in the area. They resemble a militia in some ways, but they’re a legal branch of the Iraqi security forces, authorized and paid by the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad.
“An ice truck dropped off its ice at a checkpoint,” he continued. “The truck behind it in line exploded. Everybody was killed. For a five or six hour period we weren’t sure the PSF would go back to work. But eight hours later they were back in business. They are 100 percent committed to anti-terrorism and anti-sectarianism.”
“What’s the worst thing you’ve seen here?” I said.
He wasn’t sure what to say and had to think about his answer for a few moments.
“The worst thing I’ve seen, I think, is the aftermath of a VBIED,” he said.
A VBIED is a vehicle-born improvised explosive device. In other words, a car bomb.
“I’ve seen that about ten times,” he continued. “Some people are turned, literally, into red blotches. Some are just vaporized. Their families will never see them again, not even their bodies. And the smell…there’s this awful car bomb smell, the acrid stench of homemade explosives and diesel fuel. Nothing else in the world has that smell. Most of the VBIEDs were intended for civilians, but the Iraqi Police usually stopped them first at the checkpoints. So they were the ones who usually got blown up. The driver of the VBIED would panic because he was caught and then kill everyone at the checkpoint. Nevertheless, the Iraqi Police kept bravely manning the checkpoints and replacing the police who were murdered. I’m telling you, they aren’t doing that for 310 dollars a month.”

That’s just a taste, Be sure to read it all.

The assassination of popular Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Resha has backfired. Via AJStrata;

More than 1,200 Iraqi males from in and around Tarmiyah stood in line for hours to join Iraqi Security Forces, local sheiks and Coalition Forces in the fight against al-Qaeda and other insurgent militias in Tarmiyah Sept. 12.

Much more at the link.