04 April 2005

Eating the seed corn

[source, source]

The case file of the French homeboys who joined the Iraqi jihad contains a startling photo.

It’s the mug shot of Salah, the alleged point man in Damascus, Syria, who authorities say arranged for guns and safe passage into Iraq for extremists from Paris. Salah has a serious expression beneath a short Afro-style haircut. He looks as if he’s posing, reluctantly, for a middle school yearbook.

When Salah left for Damascus with the jihadis last summer, he was 13 years old.

While some are concerned about the appeal of jihad to boys this young, I find it a sign of weakness or desperation if the Caliphascists are reduced to using boys this young in actual operations. As the conflict becomes more complex, with both sides learning and counter-acting the other side’s tactics, depending on 13 year olds to at a minimum execute in this increasingly demanding environment is not a winning strategy. People talk about how the conflict in Iraq is generated well trained, experienced jihadis. But if that were true, why would the Caliphascists need people like Salah in the field?

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Oh, Canada!

[source, source]

While publicly denouncing the killing of Zahra Kazemi in July 2003, Canadian officials were also quietly allowing an Iranian government official to visit Canada, according to documents obtained by CBC Radio.

Iran had requested that one of its officials, Seyed Abu Talib Najafi, be briefed on the workings of Canada’s new Advance Passenger Information database, designed to identify potential threats to civil aircraft before they board.

[…]

In dozens of e-mails, there is no mention of Kazemi, and no one questions why Canada would help Iran, considered by some to be a brutal police state. As well, no one asks why a government with a known track record of sponsoring terrorist attacks might want information about a new passenger security screening procedure. [emphasis added]

At first I was outraged at the “considered by some” — who wouldn’t so consider the Iran regime? Then I remembered what former President Clinton said and I had to admit the accuracy of the statement. One is still left with Canada making an effort not only to brief the Iranian official but to keep it quiet so the excitable types wouldn’t get excited. So the officials involved knew it would provoke an outrage but didn’t seem concerned about why that was.

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