Some Muslims rethink close ties to law enforcement

.... The coalition is upset over what it says is increasing government surveillance in mosques, new Justice Department guidelines that the groups say encourage profiling, and the FBI's recent suspension of ties with the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ....

San Fran bedbug epidemic - links to illegal immigrants hidden

by C.W. Nevius

When she and her husband moved into an upscale apartment in an "emerging" neighborhood near Civic Center, Katie Beckheyer may have had some concerns about crime, gritty streets and panhandlers. But she never expected what would be the real nightmare.

Bedbugs.

"I am covered in itchy red welts," she said in an e-mail, "and drained to the core from six months of insomnia, paranoia (I wake up every morning at 3 a.m., searching my sheets for signs of them feeding on me) and incessant itching."

Beckheyer had their apartment sprayed six times. But they were still getting bitten, so they finally paid for one last treatment to make sure their belongings were clean, and then moved out.

Before you extend sympathetic wishes to the poor folks who are infested with bedbugs, here's a piece of advice - better check your mattress.

Like the rest of the country, San Francisco is experiencing a bedbug boom. Dr. Johnson Ojo of the Department of Public Health said bedbugs are popping up everywhere, from "low-income housing to high-priced hotels."

It's an all-out war on the tiny, creepy, blood-sucking predators. And the bugs are winning.

Ojo has put together a citywide policy that covers all the basic steps: Hotel managers who learn of an infestation must immediately set up a pest-control spraying, and residents are encouraged to follow specific instruction on washing clothing and showering with hot water.

Yet many who deal with the problem regularly think that current methods are no more than stopgap measures. Faced with a growing epidemic, the city needs to start thinking beyond the idea of squirting insect spray and hoping for the best.

"I feel like there has not been enough research on alternative methods," said Jeff Buckley, director of the Central City Single Room Occupancy Collaborative, which works with 5,000 to 7,000 people each year who live in supportive housing. "I know for a fact that one hotel (in the Tenderloin) has had 14 sprays in the last two months."

That's not necessarily because the hotel is doing a poor job of attacking the pests. Bedbugs are everywhere, particularly in supportive housing. But it is an example of the scale of the problem and how hard it is to solve. Consider, each of those 14 treatments is actually three consecutive sprayings per room, two weeks apart.

And the bedbugs keep coming back.

"In terms of nonroutine maintenance, bedbugs are at the top of our list," said Richard Heasley, executive director of Conard House, which provides supportive housing in 525 units for clients with chronic mental illness. "It is the single most frustrating problem we have to deal with."

If you thought bedbugs were eradicated long ago, you are not alone. Arthur Slater, an entomologist who directed UC Berkeley's pest management program from 1973 to 2001, said he hardly gave bedbugs a thought.

"When I started in '73, bedbugs were something your father might know about," he said.

Slater said there are two major factors in the bedbug upsurge over the past 10 to 15 years. The first is cheaper air fares, which allow regular travel from countries where bedbugs had never been controlled. The second factor is complacency.

"We are not prepared to put out the resources to do it well," he said.

Slater, who is now a pest-control consultant and freelance bedbug expert, is among those who think there are better treatments than spraying insecticides. He is an advocate of a treatment where large heaters are brought into a sealed room and the temperature is raised to more than 120 degrees for 24 hours. That not only kills the bedbugs but also their eggs, which are the real problem in the bugs' rapid growth.

Ojo is willing to consider heat treatment for the city, but he points out that it is expensive and requires technical expertise.

"It is promising," he said. "But it has never been tried on a large-scale basis."

Well, this might be a good time to give it a try. San Francisco has been ahead of the curve on the bedbug issue, but so far that's only meant that the city realizes what a difficult and pervasive problem it has become.

Buckley wonders if the city couldn't persuade a researcher at one of the Bay Area's medical facilities to do some work on alternative methods. Besides heat treatment, Slater said, there have been some promising results from the use of concentrated orange oil.

All worthwhile ideas.

But until they can be given a try? "I'm still checking my mattress," Buckley said.

China military build-up seems U.S.-focused: Mullen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's build-up of sea and air military power funded by a strong economy appears aimed at the United States, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday.

Admiral Michael Mullen said China had the right to meet its security needs, but the build-up would require the United States to work with its Pacific allies to respond to increasing Chinese military capabilities.

"They are developing capabilities that are very maritime focused, maritime and air focused, and in many ways, very much focused on us," he told a conference of the Navy League, a nonprofit seamen's support group, in Washington.

"They seem very focused on the United States Navy and our bases that are in that part of the world."

China in March unveiled its official military budget for 2009 of $70.24 billion, the latest in nearly two decades of double-digit rises in declared defense spending.

Beijing bristles at criticism, saying its spending is line with economic growth and defense needs, and its budget remains a fraction of the Pentagon's.

Mullen acknowledged that "every country in the world has got a right to develop their military as they see fit to provide for their own security."

But he said the build-up propelled by fast economic growth required the United States and allies or partners like South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to work together to "figure out a way to work with (China)" to avoid miscalculations.

Mullen's comments followed remarks by President Barack Obama's top adviser on Asia on Friday calling for high-level talks with the Chinese military to reduce mistrust.

A brief naval clash in March in waters near China underscored that "the absence of a sound relationship between our two militaries is a part of that strategic mistrust," said Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

In that encounter, the U.S. Defense Department said an unarmed U.S. Navy surveillance ship was shadowed and harassed by Chinese ships.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs, writing by Paul Eckert, editing by Alan Elsner)

General Commander of Iranian Army: "I do not think we will need more than 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence"

by Robert Spencer

"According to the shari'a and the law, it is forbidden to obtain a nuclear bomb." Other Islamic authorities differ. sharia

More on this story from MEMRI (thanks to Clark): "General Commander of the Iranian Army Ataollah Salehi: It Will Take Us 11 Days 'to Wipe Israel Out of Existence," May 3:

Following are excerpts of statements by Iranian military commanders, from a TV report which aired on LBC TV on May 3, 2009.

Over voice: Nothing can prevent Iranian missiles from targeting the heart of Israel, if Iran is subjected to a military strike by Israel. This was the response of the Iranian military commanders to the Israeli statements about a possible military strike against Iran, because of its insistence on obtaining nuclear energy. Yet an [Israeli] attack seems improbable to the Iranians, because Tel Aviv does not have the ability to go through a war with Tehran.

Iranian Chief-of-Staff General Hassan Firouzabadi: We are fully prepared to confront any attack that would threaten the interests of Iran. We have sufficient means and the necessary force to defend our territory.

General Ataollah Salehi, general commander of the Iranian army: The truth is that Israel does not have the courage to attack us. If we are subjected to any attack by Israel, I do not think we will need more than 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence.

Over voice: Tehran denies that its military preparations are aimed at attacking any neighboring country. Iran justifies its military preparedness as a means to defend Iran and the region, which may alleviate the fears and concerns of countries in the region. [...]

Over voice: But fears about Iran's missiles remain, especially among Western countries, concerned that Iran might arm its missiles with nuclear warheads, since the superpowers doubt that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful. This is categorically denied by Tehran, which says that according to the shari'a and the law, it is forbidden to obtain a nuclear bomb.

Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Thermobaric Slaughter in Sri Lanka?

By David Hambling

Media War, T is for Terror, Terrorists, Guerillas, Pirates

Both sides in a bloody conflict in Sri Lanka are alleging the use of a type of enhanced explosives, known as thermobaric weapons.

Government forces are well into the decisive final phase of operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Six thousand civilians have been killed in fighting over the last three months.

On Monday the LTTE,a Tamil group fighting for independence, announced a unilateral ceasefire, apparently to allow civilians to escape from the “no-fire zone,” a coastal strip of about four square miles.

Reports of mass casulaties and gruesome injuries over the past few months is part of what sparked reports about the use of thermobaric weapons, which produce a prolonged pressure pulse that is far more destructive and lethal than standard explosives. There has been considerable concern about terrorists gaining thermobaric weapons such as the Russian RPO-A Schmel, because they can counter standard protection, such as armored vehicles (unless completely sealed) and body armor (which may amplify the blast effect). And the internal injuries caused by thermobaric weapons are difficult for battlefield medicine to treat.

How realistic are the allegations that the LTTE have employed thermobarics? The FBI calls the LTTE “among the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfit in the world,” and they have been accused of many attacks on civilians. They invented the suicide belt, and their Black Tiger suicide units have carried out more suicide bombings than Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda put together. (Incidentally, the LTTE are largely Hindu and have been accused of carrying out anti-Muslim campaigns.)

The Sri Lankan media, which is by no means impartial, have accused the LTTE of using thermobaric weapons for some years. The LTTE allegedly used thermobaric rockets in a 2005 attack that killed thirteen sailors, leaving bodies burned beyond recognition; a police investigator is quoted as saying : “We have asked the Government Analyst to carry out a special investigation into the matter as this type of weapon are banned all over the world.”

Recently the Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the government had found evidence that the LTTE were seeking to buy thermobaric weapons (as well as anti-aircraft missiles) on the international market. The government also claimed to have found an arms cache that included “”nine mortar launchers of five different caliber of 120 mm, 81 mm, 82 mm, 80 mm and 60 mm, six Multi Purpose Machine Guns (MPMG ), two thermobaric launchers, twenty pistols, three Rocket Propeller Guns (RPG), [and] seven claymore mines.”

It’s impossible to verify these claims, however.

On the other hand, there are also claims that the Sri Lankan government forces are using thermobaric weapons; they reportedly have acquired Russian RPO-A rockets in 2001 via a British company, Gladstone Industrial Holdings. The Sri Lankan army also appears to have been using heavy weapons in areas crowded with civilians, though government officials have denied it.

In an article in the Indian English-language newspaper The Statesman, M G Devasahayam last week described what he calls a humanitarian tragedy of horrendous proportions:

According to reports, not denied by the Sri Lanka government, a thermobaric bomb — a device that uses a fuel-air explosive capable of creating over-pressures equal to an atomic bomb — has been used in this mass killing. In one such attack over 520 men died and the Sri Lanka defence website displayed the photos as if these were trophies won.

The Sri Lanka defense website does indeed have an impressive gallery of “achievements” photographs from recent operations (as well as “LTTE Atrocities” and “Commander in Chief: official Events”) , with a section on the capture of the last LTTE stronghold at Puthukkudiyirippu. The pictures show bodies with no obvious external injuries, which might be a sign of death from thermobaric blast. But there also may be other explanations.

At least one petition to the UN has been raised over the Sri Lankan government’s use of thermobarics. I think we can guess how effective that is likely to be.

And, thermobaric or not, the slaughter of civilians in Sri Lanka continues.

Photo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence

Pakistan Implodes

(Compiler's note: Must read.)

by Alan Caruba

The wars going on in the Middle East will soon be the entire world’s next war as the fanatic Islamists throughout the region threaten to take over Pakistan and Afghanistan while continuing to wage war in Iraq. If they’re successful, India will be dragged into the full scale battle against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Where it spreads from there is anyone’s guess.

It is a battle between the 7th century of Islam and the 21st century of the rest of the world. It is a battle between men who believe that Allah demands it and they are prepared to spend as much time as necessary to achieve victory.

It is a battle in which the United States has been an unwilling participant for a very long time. The Jihadists drew blood in Beirut, Lebanon during the Reagan years in the ‘80s and again when they blew up two U.S. embassies in Africa during the Clinton years. Tellingly, it included an abortive effort to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993.

After September 11, 2001, Americans applauded the vigorous response of the Bush administration in Afghanistan, but in point of fact al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahirieasily moved across the border into Pakistan and intelligence services believe they have been there ever since.

This enemy senses serious weakness in the new President. Obama has chosen Afghanistan, the worst place to fight a war, as his new “front” while at the same time announcing he is withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The increase of bombings in Iraq is no accident. It is an al Qaeda calling card. The worst of the news is the potential collapse of Pakistan as Taliban factions acquire more and more territory in what has always been a very poor excuse for a nation.

As Pakistan’s leading English-language newspaper, Dawn, recently said in an editorial, “…the Taliban are no longer a threat, but a grotesque reality,” noting that “The writ of the government weakens by the hour, while the terrorists are steadily emboldened. Yet the state and its institutions – including the military – have so far shown an appalling lack of commitment or wherewithal to force back the swarm.”

This is a newspaper in a Muslim nation, written by Muslims, who call the Taliban “grotesque.” And they should know! The editorial warned that, “The time in which to turn back the tide is fast running out.”

One of the most brilliant analysts of Middle Eastern affairs is Walid Phares, the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “As the U.S. administration and its allies are devising a new strategy for the next steps in Afghanistan, the Jihadists have already begun their next move – but this time it’s inside Pakistan.”

“If Washington and its allies fail to see the big picture in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda,” wrote Phares, “which unfortunately may be the case now, the rapidly deteriorating situation will soon exceed the northwestern provinces of Pakistan to spill over to both Afghanistan and India.”

Simply put, you cannot negotiate with the Taliban or al Qaeda. Their promises mean nothing because they operate under taqiyya, an Arab/Muslim term that terrorism expert, Douglas Farah tells us is “embraced by radical Islamists. It blesses the concept of disguising one’s beliefs, intentions, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions or strategies from the enemy and the infidel.”

“In practical terms,” says Farah, “it is manifested as dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling or pre-emptive blocking.”

In an excellent Policy Analysis published by the Cato Institute on April 13th, Malou Innocent shared her observations after having recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Pakistan.

Just how bad is the situation there? All of the seven tribal agencies administered by the Pakistan government are either under the de facto control or threatened by the Taliban movement. A recent truce between the government and the Taliban is of no real substance and should not be treated as such. As Ms. Innocent notes, “the military agreed not to launch operations without consulting tribal elders…(but) the army is more inclined to fight India, not a civil war within its borders.”

That is extremely bad news, but Pakistan has been a nation of extremes since it came into being after breaking away from the newly independent India in 1947 to become an Islamic state. The army – currently some 600,000 soldiers – has been the only stable element and has provided a number of presidents or rulers via coups.

Elements within the government such as its intelligence service have leaned favorably toward the Taliban and al Qaeda. Even so, “U.S. officials acknowledge, however, that the Pakistani government has captured more terrorists and committed more troops than almost any other nation in the ‘war on terror’.”

In its urban, modern cities and areas, there appears to be a genuine desire for real democracy, but the Taliban threatens to drag Pakistan back to the 7th century in its quest for a new caliphate. While the nation has remained focused on war with India since its founding, the real threat has always been the growth of fundamentalist Islam and it now poses the potential overthrow of the government.

Should that government fail, you will watch India go to full battle-ready status. Afghanistan’s government will likely fail despite the presence of U.S./NATO forces and the momentum to continue the jihad into all the nations of the region would pose a grave threat to the West. It could only be solved only by combat.

And the question everyone is wondering, if not asking, is whether Barack Obama will make the tough decisions necessary to keep Pakistan from falling to the Taliban or is willing, as George W. Bush was, to drive out a tyrannical regime?

Iran threatens Israel with "destruction in 11 days"

(Compiler's note: Must read.)

by Robert Spencer

A strange and ominous report from a German publication.

Here is my rough translation of "'Zerstörung in elf Tagen': Iran bedroht Israel," by Ulrich W. Sahm in n-tv.de, May 3 (thanks to The Total Collapse):

Iran has for the first time announced the destruction of Israel with a concrete goal. Israeli television showed an interview with the Iranian chief of staff General Attalah Salihi. He announced the "destruction of Israel within eleven days."

The Arabia expert Oded Granot explained: "Never have we heard so clear and open an announcement from Iran." President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again and again announced the destruction of Israel in a general manner and as a political goal, but never so concretely and with a date, as did Salihi. Granot has not discovered why the destruction of Israel should happen in eleven days.... sharia

Corrections to my translation welcome.

Public Confidence in Free Fall over Administration’s Approach to Terrorist Threat

by The Editors with Family Security Matters

The American people are growing increasingly concerned about the Administration’s strategy – or lack thereof – when it comes to confronting and defeating the terrorist threat. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, only 42% of Americans believe we are winning the war on terrorism. That’s a 20 point drop since February – a huge decline in confidence as the Administration begins its second 100 days.

Why are Americans having such misgivings about the Administration’s approach to the threat of radical Jihadists? A new web video highlights some of the reasons – reasons underscored in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week. The poll showed that a majority of Americans oppose the Administration’s political decision to selectively release memos detailing advanced interrogation techniques used on terrorists and oppose the President’s plan to close a terrorist detention facility with no plan for what to do with the terrorists housed there.

On Day 101 of the Administration, the President and Congress are being called upon to make a commitment to an overarching strategy for fighting and defeating terrorism. As recent polling, the web video, and the Administration’s piecemeal, political actions in determining how to deal with the terrorist threat make clear, that strategy doesn’t exist – and that has the American people concerned. Is the Administration prepared to do develop that strategy?

U.S. faces limited options in Pakistan

(Washington Post) As Taliban forces edged to within 60 miles of Islamabad, the Obama administration urgently asked for new assessments of whether Pakistan's government would survive ...

Iraq prime minister ties Saddam regime to captured Al Qaida commander

from WorldTribune.com

BAGHDAD — The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said Al Qaida worked closely with former operatives in Saddam Hussein regime.

Officials said leading members of the Al Qaida network have coordinated operations with Saddam aides since 2003. They said Al Qaida and Saddam forces attacked Shi'ites in an effort to spark a civil war in Iraq.

"They agreed that Al Qaida would carry out the suicide attacks, while the Baathists [Saddam's ruling party] would do the remote-control bombs," Al Maliki said.

The Al Qaida-Saddam link, asserted by then-U.S. President George Bush in 2002, came in wake of the reported capture of a leading Al Qaida commander in Iraq.

The government has determined that an Iraqi Sunni arrested in April 2009 was Abu Omar Al Baghdadi, identified as the head of the the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that contained Al Qaida.