In a new audio tape from al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi accuses US forces of using 'poison gas' in its offensive on Tel Afar. The audio of the tape is available here (scroll to Sept. 12th, second link).

Some Arab and hardcore Leftist presses have often repeated the claim that the U.S. is using chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons in Iraq. [related story here]

Zaraqawi's audio speeches have often come at times when it appeared that al Qaeda was on the run. This tape comes as US forces have launched an all out offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq, with a large measure of success. A similar audio tape emerged after reports that Zarqawi had been shot and after the fall of Fallujah to U.S. forces. Both tapes promised the immenent defeat of the U.S. at a time when al Qaeda was on the run.

On the audiotape, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is heard to say:

The Crusaders mobilised their big armies and used the most destructive and lethal weapons and the most deadly and hurtful poison gas together with their stooges. But God made them drink at the hands of the mujahedeen the different kinds of death and made them face horrible things that they will never forget. [source]

Tel Afar is now controlled by the Coalition troops and al Qaeda forces are reported to have fled the city. Who was it that ran away Zarqawi?

SITE has a partial translation here, in which Zarqawi claims that hurricane Katrina was an act of Allah brought about by the prayers of the faithful:

I believe that the destructive hurricane which hit America, within its own house, was nothing but the result of a prayer of a father or a mother whose son was killed, or of boy who became an orphan, or of a woman whose honor was violated on the lands of Afghanistan, Iraq or others”.

This morning, another operation was launched to root out al Qaeda linked terrorists in Iraq's al Anbar province. The new offensive, Operation 'Cyclone', targetted the terrorist safe haven of Rutbah.

For the past several months, terrorists within Rutbah have escalated their intimidation and murder campaign against the local populace and city government officials. The resulting effect was an increased ability to move freely within the area and a base for them to launch attacks against innocent civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces.

In recent days, Coalition Forces have also captured Ammar ‘Abd-Al-Hafiz ‘Abd Muhummad (aka Ammar Amam Wakhtif or Sheik Ammar), an admitted terrorist and leader of the lnu’man Brigade, in a raid earlier in September in the Ramadi area. Sayf-al-Din Yahya 'Anad (aka Sheik Sayf or Abu Hamza), a Nu’man Brigade cell leader, was also captured during the raid. He was responsible for organizing and directing attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces.

Abu Zayd, (above right) identified as the current Al Qaeda in Iraq military emir of Mosul, was also killed in a raid.

Others: In the Bullpen

Posted by: Rusty at 08:43 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 620 words, total size 4 kb.

Michelle has the story as well as another good 9/11 post to go along with todayÂ’s caption contest.

ABCNEWS link.

Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion," the tape warns. "We are Muslims. We love peace, but peace on our terms, peace as laid down by Islam, not the so-called peace of occupiers and dictators." American intelligence officials believe the man who appears on the tape to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif. Last year, Gadahn delivered a similar taped communiqué for al Qaeda. That tape was later deemed authentic.

Michelle has the scoop on him.

As does Rusty here and here.

Also see MTP today. Tim takes NO mayor to task. Oh I canÂ’t wait for a transcript. At least Nagin admits he could have done a better job and gives Mr. Bush a fair shake. Kind of adds to the talk this week what while Mr. Bush was talking up the FEMA director privately he was hot. Intresting Nagan did't do the same for the LA Governor.

Also It's cooling off so Howie is starting a new batch of wine. Yes hard times call for tough measures. And I am going to say again. Don't miss the caption contest it's a hit.

Updated: below the break as promised are those MTP quotes. full transcript here.

Also It apprears John Cole also enjoyed Mr. Russert's work. Since one of his commenters points out that Nagin was a Republican before switching parties to run for Mayor, It's fair to point out that Russert is or was a Democrat.

Update II : Mike Brown has resigned. If anyone has not noticed Bush likes to mangle the names of those he is miffed at. He called him brownie.

Update III. R. David Paulison chosen to replace Mik Brown and FEMA.

more...

Posted by: Howie at 11:57 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 835 words, total size 6 kb.

It's already 9/11 in Afghanistan. Among the several hundred news articles that pass on the Leftist meme that the U.S. hasn't really accomplished anything after 9/11, I did find one from Reuters reporting from Afghanistan.

Of course, it wouldn't be al Reuters if halfway into the article they cut away from it to remind readers that the U.S. hasn't really accomplished anything after 9/11 in Afghanistan.

Here's how our soldiers in Afghanistan are remembering the day that changed the world. God bless them, every one. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 04:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 312 words, total size 2 kb.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have enter Tal Afar today.

In the Tal Afar offensive, which had been expected for weeks, coalition forces faced several hundred lightly armed insurgents in the largely deserted city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad and about 60 miles east of the Syrian border.
There was heavy gunfire in the Sarai district, the oldest part of the city and the major insurgent stronghold." I can see why the terrorists chose this place for a fight, it's like a big funnel of death," Sgt. William Haslett of Rocklin, Calif., said of the twisting streets and alleys in the old city.

While ass wadds in Aswad beg to be next.

Gunmen on Saturday opened fire on workers heading to their jobs at a U.S. military base in Khalis and killed four people, police said. The incident took place in the village of Aswad nearly 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Baquba. The dead were described as civilians. Four other people were wounded as well. Baquba and Khalis are in Diyala province north of Baghdad.

The more things change the more things stay the same.

Hugo caused $7 billion ($9.4 billion in 2000 dollars) in damage in the US (plus $3 billion in the Caribbean). At the time it was the costliest hurricane in US history, but was exceeded in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew in south Florida. In South Carolina, which bore the brunt of the storm on the continent, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was slow in responding and Senator Fritz Hollings referred to them as "a bunch of bureacratic jackasses." An investigation was launched, which led to some reforms in FEMA procedures that helped the agency do a somewhat better job during Andrew, the next catastrophic hurricane to strike the United States.

So are you telling me that since 1992 Democrats have known FEMA was slow and did very little, not even with 8 years of Bill Clinton in the White House? Excuse me for thinking about that. It seems to be the larger the organization the slower and less flexible. That's why little old churches get there first. They are small and flexible no red tape required. It could also be related to the fact that many roads were cleard by a rednecks with a package of Red Man in the hip pocket and a chainsaw in the pickup.

Posted by: Howie at 12:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 415 words, total size 3 kb.

Randy at WTVW asks that all his viewers talk this up today. So here goes. WTWV the Evansville/Vanderburgh County police and the Evansville Otters baseball team are holding a telethon this week to raise money for the American Red Cross for Hurricane relief. Last night a total of 20,020 dollars was raised. Calls will be taken on Thursday and Friday from 6 to 10 pm CDT. Donations can be by credit or debit card or if you prefer give your address and they will send you an envelope and you can pay by check. It's not so much how much you give but scrape up that change out of the couch and send it along.

Cingular Wireless has donated cell phones for our volunteers to take pledges. The following numbers will be used to donate during the three days of the phone-a-thon: (812) 618-6956, 618-6957, 618-6958, and 618-6959.

Then don't forget to log donations and mention The Jawa Report. No matter where you are, let's make our presence known. Also if you prefer note the blogadd for mercycorps on our home page.

Also one more thought. Some of the most effective relief efforts I've seen coverage of are done by churches. So toss an extra buck or two their way as well.

Also the company I work for in my real job has added another 20 grand to the effort bringing thier total to 45,000. Way to go.

Posted by: Howie at 08:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 243 words, total size 2 kb.

Not even a UN recognized nation-state, Palestine slowly creeps toward civil war. Who is in control of Gaza and the West Bank? No one. Israel fears bad press from its Western allies for striking at militant terror organizations such as Hamas, who openly display their weapons in organized press events, and the Palestinian Authority fears its own people, who support the terrorist cause. This is an intractible problem.

Not only did The Popular Resistance Committee assassinate the former head of PA security and cousin of Yasser, Moussa Arafat, they also have taken his son hostage.

Washington Post:

The former head of general security in Gaza, Moussa Arafat, was killed before dawn Wednesday when gunmen stormed his home here, dragged him outside and shot him in the street. The incident threatened to aggravate tensions among Palestinian factions and security services struggling for power in the Gaza Strip following Israel's evacuation of its 21 Jewish settlements here.

A militant faction known as the Popular Resistance Committees comprising disaffected members of various Palestinian parties asserted responsibility for the assassination of Arafat, who was a cousin of the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The group also claimed to have kidnapped his son, Manhal, a major in the Palestinian military intelligence service, from the three-story family home shortly after 5 a.m....

Arafat held the rank of minister and served as Abbas' military affairs adviser at the time of his murder, carried out in the street only a half-mile from the presidential compound.

"The way this was carried out underlines a very strong message, even if that message may not have been intended," said Ziad Abu Amr, an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council who often serves as a mediator between the various Palestinian factions. "It points out the chronic failure of the Palestinian Authority to establish law and order in Gaza and the price it is now paying for past decisions not to do so." ...

We are saying that we can take responsibility," Shaath told reporters here. "We will take all the steps necessary, and I don't think there is any doubt in anyone's mind. This is not political resistance to the occupation. This is a crime by any definition - no justifications, no pretext."

Moussa Arafat, 65, was a senior member of the important Fatah Revolutionary Council. The committee guides the secular nationalist movement that is the largest faction in Palestinian politics and whose members fill out the ranks of the Palestinian Authority....

The statement read over the phone described Moussa Arafat as a "collaborator," a term used to describe Palestinians who assist Israeli intelligence services. "He was one of the heads of the corruption and his poison spread among the Palestinian people," said a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, who identified himself as Abu Abeer. "We're going to deal with his son according to the results of the investigation we are conducting."

A Palestinian intelligence officer Wednesday held interior minister Naser Yousef responsible for the assassination of former security chief Musa Arafat and urged him to resign.

Palestinian intelligence chief in the West Bank city of Nablus, Maher al-Fares, told a press conference that he wondered the Palestinian security forces didn't react quickly to the early morning attack on Musa's home in Gaza City which is just few metersaway from the preventive security headquarters.

He called on the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to find and punish those behind the assassination.

But notice that the specific charge that led to his assassination was collaboration. Thus, his execution was justified on Islamic grounds. Collaboration with the infidels is the most common reason given when terrorists murder hostages.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:49 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 700 words, total size 5 kb.

While this is not good news, it is important to realize that the U.S. had been pounding the town off and on for over a week. The town has been the center of fighting between a pro-government Sunni tribe and a tribe that has aligned itself with al Qaeda. No government forces are in the city. With no one apparently in control, al Qaeda has instituted harsh sharia law and is murdering citizens and closing down any business that sells anything that smack of Western culture.

Washington Post:

Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."...

Armed insurgent fighters loyal to the Jordanian-born Zarqawi openly traveled Qaim's streets. The fighters included both Iraqis and foreigners, including Afghans The foreign-led fighters hung rooftops with Zarqawi's al-Qaeda banner of black backgrounds with a yellow sun.

Shops selling CDs, a movie theater and a women's beauty parlor were newly burned, apparently targeted by Zarqawi's group under its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 248 words, total size 2 kb.

So a Muslim woman has an affair with a Christian man and how does the family react? Murder their own daughter and then round up a couple of hundred thugs to march to the neighboring Christian town and then start burning down houses. I have a great idea, let's give these people their own country and army!

What most Muslims do not know themselves, so immersed in a false history which portrays a past Islamic Utopia broken only by Western Imperialism and Zionism, is that pograms against Christians and Jews were not uncommon events during the past thousand years of Muslim domination in the region.

JPost:

Efforts were under way on Sunday to calm the situation in this Christian village east of Ramallah after an attack by hundreds of Muslim men from nearby villages left many houses and vehicles torched.

The incident began on Saturday night and lasted until early Sunday, when Palestinian Authority security forces interfered to disperse the attackers. Residents said several houses were looted and many families were forced to flee to Ramallah and other Christian villages, although no one was injured.

The attack on the village of 1,500 was triggered by the murder of a Muslim woman from the nearby village of Deir Jarir earlier this week. The 30-year-old woman, according to PA security sources, was apparently murdered by members of her family for having had a romance with a Christian man from Taiba.

"When her family discovered that she had been involved in a forbidden relationship with a Christian, they apparently forced her to drink poison," said one source. "Then they buried her without reporting her death to the relevant authorities." ...

"More than 500 Muslim men, chanting Allahu akbar [God is great], attacked us at night," said a Taiba resident. "They poured kerosene on many buildings and set them on fire. Many of the attackers broke into houses and stole furniture, jewelry and electrical appliances."

With the exception of large numbers of PA policemen, the streets of Taiba were completely deserted on Sunday as the residents remained indoors. Many torched cars littered the streets. At least 16 houses had been gutted by fire and the assailants also destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary.

"It was like a war, they arrived in groups, and many of them were holding clubs," said another resident.

"Some people saw them carrying weapons. They first attacked houses belonging to the Khoury family [looking for the man who had the affair with the women, not realizing he had already fled the village.] Then they went to their relatives. They entered the houses and destroyed everything there. Then they tried to enter the local beer factory, but were repelled by PA security agents. The fire engine arrived five hours later."

Col. Tayseer Mansour, commander of the PA police in the Ramallah area, said his men arrived late because of the need to coordinate their movements with the IDF. "The delay resulted in the torching of a number of houses and cars in the village," he said.

Related let's give these guys a state news: Huge explosion rocks Gaza strip. May I suggest to Bill Quick that a more likely explanation is that Hamas bombers are generally retards?

Posted by: Rusty at 03:33 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 535 words, total size 4 kb.

Darn I've got some catching up to do here. So I'll be pretty busy and with Rusty out guest bloggers are welcome.

See bush saves Police officers. Not Bush, a bush.

Also this morning I was listening to an interview of an evacuee from Katrina. She was a nurse at a veterans hospital/retirement home and had accompanied vets to a DC area evacuation site. Paraphrased quote

I've lost my job, my house, my car, everything I'm now free to fish

Updated: Also our last festival of Fatwas has moved pretty far down. Link this post and send a trackback if you would like a Friday Fatwa.

Posted by: Howie at 08:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 116 words, total size 1 kb.

See this entry from deansworld about Michael Yons blog. Mike is in iraq and blogging strait from Mosul. He has pics and first hand accounts events there.

Posted by: Howie at 01:17 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.