Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) has booked the Hilton in Oak Lawn, IL for the "Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam" conference, according to an update on their Khilafah Conference web site. HTA was forced to find another venue at which to hold their conference after the original venue, the Aqsa School in Bridgeview, Illinois canceled. The Aqsa School's business manager told a CBS News reporter that the representatives of HTA had "misrepresented themselves and the event" and the school did not "want to be in the middle of something like that."
According to the announcement on the HTA conference web site, the conference will still be held on July 19th, from 11 am to 5 pm, as originally planned.
The Hilton Oak Lawn reservations department does not have any record of guest rooms held under the name "Hizb ut-Tahrir," or "Khilafah Conference," or "Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam." The Hilton's catering department, which keeps a record of the organizations that have booked event spaces at the hotel, was not open at the time of the publication of this article; therefore, it cannot be determined at this time whether HTA booked under its own name or if it has used a cover name to reserve the Grand Ballroom. *** UPDATE: 7/2/09 - Hizb ut-Tahrir reserved the banquet space at the hotel under its own name and apparently did not find it necessary to use a cover name. ***
For more information on HTA and the Khilafah Conference, please see my recent posts on the Counterterrorism Blog.
One of the Obama administration's first major military operations in Afghanistan is under way. U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces began moving into the nation's southern Helmand province to clear out the Taliban and secure locals from insurgent threats.
Three months into interrogating Saddam Hussein, the FBI had heard no bombshells. There had been no startling boasts by Iraq’s ousted president of ordering the Kurds in northern Iraq to be gassed, nor had he bragged of sending his thugs to slaughter Shi’a in the south to quash the uprising that followed the first Gulf war.
But the more the FBI confronted him with its painstakingly-gathered evidence - documents, videos, witnesses and interrogations of other regime detainees - the harder it had been for Saddam to lie, spin or obfuscate. By May 2004, he was still defiant - but the chinks in his armor were noticeable.
He admitted as a point of pride that he was “responsible” for everything his regime did, good or bad.
FBI Agent George Piro had mostly kept Saddam in the dark about current events, forcing him to reckon with the hell he brought on his own people. Now it was time to show the ex-dictator he was no longer in charge of anything more than his own thoughts. Now it was time to humiliate him over his failures. Only then would he come clean about what propelled the U.S. and Iraq into war, agents reasoned.
In the FBI’s 21st interrogation session, Saddam asked what was making headlines. He was told Iraq had signed a new constitution, was about to regain its sovereignty, had a new all-Iraqi Governing Council and that elections were on the way. None of that made him happy, according to the Bureau’s files.
Next came intense discussions about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. “Iraq does not have any WMD and has not for some time,” the FBI reported back to Washington, summing up Saddam’s responses. (Charles Duelfer - who had taken over the WMD hunt from the CIA’s David Kay in January - was coming up just as empty as his predecessor.)
Why had he rejected UN weapons inspections and defied President Bush? Saddam’s answer - one never seriously considered inside the Beltway before the 2003 invasion - was shockingly credible. “Even though Hussein claimed Iraq did not have WMD, the threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not allow the return of the UN inspectors,” the FBI reported.
The Navy is separating 15 USS George Washington sailors as it intensifies efforts to discourage the use and distribution of several off-limits drugs sold legally in Japan, officials said Tuesday.
Oshkosh Corp. won a $1.06 billion Army contract to build new, off-road terrain vehicles to outfit ground forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said late Tuesday.
The Defense Department said Wednesday it has suspended joint military operations with Honduras to protest a coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, a move that suggests the U.S. could further curtail dealings with the new Honduran government.
A federal judge sentenced a retired University of Tennessee professor to four years in prison Wednesday for passing sensitive information from a U.S. Air Force contract to two research assistants from China and Iran.
The Marine Corps has denied clemency to a Marine who pleaded guilty in the death of an Iraqi policeman but is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Through an exclusive arrangement with Bouhammer Afghan & Military Blog (www.bouhammer.com), Vision Strike Wear, www.vision-strike-wear.com, (Designers and Printers of custom military unit apparel) are providing a wonderful promotion to help out military units of any size, both in the US and abroad and the charity of the unit’s choice.
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As a one-time Special for our Nation’s Independence Day, one of the owners of Vision Strike Wear is providing an additional 5% off of the total cost of the initial order. To qualify for this one-time special click the link above or email 10percent@bouhammer.com with the subject of (July 4th) in the email on July 4th. The initial contact to start the process HAS TO OCCUR ON JULY 4TH for the additional 5%!!
Yesterday I participated in a Hudson Institute event on Populism, Islamism and "Indigenism" versus Democracy in Latin America. What came into focus there was the joint narrative of the Bolivarian populist governments (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua) and radical Islamists, led by Iran.
It is hard, on the surface, to imagine what a secular revolution that allows women on the beach in bikinis, salsa music, racy soap operas and rum has in common with a theocracy that tolerates none of those things and believes that divine law should rule the world.
One of the primary unifying threads in the joint narrative is the utopian vision that a human system can be devised that will bring justice and peace. Hence, from this vision, both groups construct a narrative of heroic battling against the earthly forces of evil and corruption, and both have chosen the United States as its primary enemy, followed closely by other liberal democracies that, in their view, have failed to live up to the utopian ideals.
This is where, as I have written about before, the joint fascination with asymmetrical warfare and its desirability meshes with the larger story line. Both sides view themselves as small powers taking on vast world powers, a David and Goliath narrative that imbues a sense of inevitable ultimate victory with the need to find the weapons that will lead to the defeat of enemy.
The keynote speaker at the Hudson event, Spanish parliamentarian Gustavo de Arístegui, has written that those in this alliance, whether secular or religious, view themselves as "legitimate soldiers in an heroic battle within the context of an asymmetrical war of liberation. It is a theory that justifies any kind of violence, including terrorism, if it is used against the most powerful countries, the repressive forces of the West."
This view of the heroism of the actions is in part what gives such a dangerously romantic view of suicide bombings, as espoused in the book Chavez has adopted as official military doctrine: Peripheral Warfare and Revolutionary Islam: Origins, Rules and Ethics of Asymmetrical Warfare (Guerra Periferica y el Islam
Revolucionario: Orígenes, Reglas y Ética de la Guerra Asimétrica) by the Spanish politician and ideologue Jorge Verstrynge. I have written about that more extensively in a previous post.
There is little doubt that this tactical alliance would shatter if either side were to gain significant ground. The Islamists have shown, particularly in the Iranian revolution that was viewed initially by many as triumph of secular, reformist forces, that it will eat the young revolutionaries for lunch.
But for now, the common view of the struggle against the West, bound by a narrative both can offer as an explanation for their actions, is sufficient. The common enemy is there, and the weapons for the struggle can be obtained.
One of the dangers of this narrative is not just the seduction it holds for messianic leaders like Chavez in Venezuela and Ahmadinejad in Iran, but the lure it holds for non-state armed groups like the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who increasingly find themselves isolated and without a coherent reason to continue the revolution.
Chavez's willingness to embrace and help write this narrative means that he has shared with his allies in the FARC, and why his pro forma protestations of not supporting the revolutionary cause are meaningless, and will remain so. The FARC needs to articulate a reason for its continuation in the armed struggle. The narrative not only offers that, but well-trained allies (Hezbollah particularly) who can help them advance once a common agenda is established. And that is truly alarming.
(NOTE: My personal site is still under attack. Apologies).
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s), myself included, and not intended as a directive or recommendation. Your ability to in turn express your opinions are just one of the rights I defended as a United States Army soldier. I respect and encourage that right. I ask only this; if you disagree with any of the material presented, either by the author or by posters, take a deep breath and think before you post. Be introspective. Be concise. Form a complete, well thought, and above all polite response before posting. The inability to communicate politely and succinctly on emotionally charged issues will do nothing to promote productive sharing of viewpoints. We must speak rationally and intelligently to each other as individuals before we can ever hope to do it as a country. To do anything less is to denigrate each other, hide away the truth, and perpetuate that which we seek to overcome.
