NBC’s new show ‘The Wanted’ tracks Mullah Krekar

'The Wanted'

Airing tonight, 20th July, in the US at 10 PM ET is a new show by NBC, “The Wanted”, that brings together specialists in intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism in order to bring to justice alleged terrorists, war criminals and other suspected criminals.

In a press release published on NBC’s website they state that:

“‘The Wanted” is about seeking justice for the many victims of terrorism and atrocity around the world .. It will start a national conversation, an important dialog about war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and international terrorism, as well as the indifference and political cynicism that hampers international criminal law and the quest for justice. ‘The Wanted’ drives home the point that the rule of law is more powerful than the rule of the gun.”

The first episode follows Mullah Krekar, the founder and leader of Ansar al-Islam, an international Islamic terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of countless Iraqi Kurds, Americans and Westerners.

Mullah Krekar

Krekar lives in safety and peace in Norway despite the fact that the Norwegian Supreme Court has declared him a threat to national security. Krekar’s organisation is wanted in many countries and especially in Iraqi Kurdistan where the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been calling for him to be extradicted so as to answer for his activities within Ansar.

Ansar is responsible for a number of high profile terrorist attacks and assassinations in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In 2002 Ansar led a failed assassination attempt against Barham Salih, the current Iraqi Depty PM who was then serving as the Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. In February 2003 Ansar killed Shawkat Haji Mushir, a prominent Kurdish leader who was leading a delegation to negotiate peace with the organisation. Five others were killed in the attack including a 7 year old girl.

The victims and loved ones of these attacks and the countless other terrorist attacks Ansar has carried out against Americans and westerners can only watch as Krekar is given free rein to continue his propaganda for Islamic extremism through the internet.

He is known as “Bin-Laden 2.0″ as he uses the internet and chat rooms to advocate violence against western nations and praises terrorists like Ayman Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden.

Watch “The Wanted” to see if known criminals can be brought to justice on the airwaves!

Kurdish Politicians on the Social Web

Recently I read an article on CNN about Hilary Clinton promoting the use of Twitter and other social media in Iraq. The US state department explained the initiative by saying it would:

“ foster greater transparency and accountability, build upon anti-corruption efforts..”

I thought it was a strange move, especially considering that Iraq does not have a sophisticated communications infrastructure like in the US. That’s not forgetting to mention that Iraq is plagued by endemic corruption at all levels.

However, strange though it may seem, Iraqi politicians, or more precisely, Kurdish politicians, have taken to the initiative.

American Iranian imprisoned in Iran is Bahman Ghobadi’s girlfriend

In the last weeks there has been a lot of attention on American Roxana Saberi’s imprisonment in Iran, on charges of spying for the US.

Saberi was officially sentenced to 8 years in prison on the 8th of April 2009.

Today I was surprised to find out that Saberi is the girlfriend of world renowned Kurdish film maker Bahman Ghobadi.

The BBC, Los Angeles Times and other news sites have published articles on Ghobadi’s appeal for Saberi’s release.

Ghobadi, himself, has for many years put up with the harsh laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding his films, which are focused on the oppressed Kurdish populations of Iran and Iraq.

Ghobadi has won numerous international awards for his famous films such as “A Time for Druken Horses” and “Turtles Can Fly”. 

I really feel for Roxana and Ghobadi. They like many other artists are subjected to the worst kind of harassment and censorship any artist can dream of.

Ghobadi is feeling a lot of guilt over Saberi’s imprisonment as reported in the LA Times articles.

“My heart is full of sorrow. Because it is me who incited her to stay here. And now I can’t do anything for her. Roxana wanted to leave Iran. I kept her from it.” Ghobadi is quoted saying in the LA Times.

It now seems that this episode in Ghobadi and Saberi’s life may push Ghobadi to finally leave the oppresive regime of Iran for Europe.

My best wishes go out to both of them, and especially Roxana, who has become a victim of the bitter politics between Iran and the US.

Please help stop the closure of Kurdish ROJ TV in Denmark

The following is an appeal from Kurdish ROJ TV

—

The Turkish State has caused a new diplomatic scandal at an international level at NATO by making the cancellation of Kurdish ROJ TV’s license a point of bargaining.

Turkey has caused a diplomatic scandal by demanding the cancellation of Kurdish ROJ TV’s license in Denmark in return for accepting the Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as the new Secretary General of NATO.

ROJ TV is the oldest satellite channel broadcasting the struggle of the Kurdish nation. Millions of Kurds globally look to ROJ TV as their main source of Kurdish language programming and news on human rights abuses against the Kurds in Turkey.

The Turkish State has employed every possible method to take away the fundamental right of expression of Kurdish people in their own language, by making ROJ TV a point of bargaining at NATO.

By trying to use NATO members as an instrument for its own interests, Turkey has raised questions about its eligibility to join the European Union. France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who previously supported Turkey’s EU application, is now against allowing Turkey to join the EU because of the scandal at NATO.

The Turkish State has not only confined itself to the implementation of methods such as denial, exile, pillage, torture and massacre against the Kurds, but also, it made the USA and EU countries a part of its crimes by seeking to close down ROJ TV. Turkey had sought to impose its denial of Kurdish language and culture on the European civilisation which is built on liberal democracy.

The closure of ROJ TV would undermine the liberal democratic identity of the EU, all to please the interests of an undemocratic state. Turkey, to this day, denies even the most basic of human rights to more than 20% of its population. It is a country built on the blood of minorities, and the massacre of many nations with the Armenian Genocide from the outset.

We should not allow such a country to blackmail the EU and compromise our democratic ideals.

Please help stop the closure of ROJ TV in Denmark by signing the following petition:

http://www.rojagel.com/

It will take less than a minute to complete but will send a strong message, in support of human rights and freedom of expression, to Denmark and Turkey.

Kurd ranks #26 in list of 100 most influential Arabs

Nemir Kirdari, an Iraqi Kurd, has ranked number 26 in ArabianBussiness.com’s 2009 listing of the World’s most influential Arabs.

Mr. Kirdar, an Iraqi of Kurdish origin who was then an officer at Chase Manhattan Bank, was about to leave to set up his own investment group and was giving up his only day off merely to shake the Emir’s hand. It was time well spent, he told a visitor to the palace, since in the Arab world such gestures help gain trust.

Mr. Kirdar succeeded in earning enough trust from hundreds of wealthy Arab investors to help him start Investcorp Bank E.C., which on Wednesday agreed to purchase the Saks Fifth Avenue retail chain for $1.5 billion. Since its founding in 1982, Investcorp has grown into a large and powerful investment group. In recent years, it has put together deals worth more than $3.5 billion, involving well-known corporate names like Tiffany and Carvel in the United States, Guccio Gucci in Italy and Chaumet, the prestigious French jewelry maker.

An interesting fact about the list is that the Iraqi reporter, Muntadar Al Zaidi, who became famous for throwing his shoes at George W. Bush, is ranked at number 3.

PKK attack leaves 17 Turkish soldiers dead and 12 injured

17 Turkish soldiers have been killed and 12 injured by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), reported Firat News on April 8^th.

Source AFP

The armed wing of the PKK known as the Peoples Defence Forces or HPG, attacked Turkish gendarmes – part of the Turkish armed forces – in retaliation for the killing of 2 Kurdish civilians by Turkish security forces on April 4th.

The attack took place between the 6^th and 7^th of April in Hakkari (Colemerg: Kurdish) province in South Eastern Turkey.

The Kurdish regions of Turkey have been put under a state of emergency since local elections last weekend. Supporters of the Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) have been protesting election fraud in a number of regions.

There has been considerable unrest in the Kurdish regions and on April 4^th two Kurdish protestors were killed when Turkish security forces fired into a crowd of 3,000.

This latest attack by the PKK is seen as retaliation for those deaths.

MORE UPDATES WILL FOLLOW

2 dead and scores injured as Turkish security forces fire into crowd of Kurds

2 people have died in southeastern Turkey as Turkish security forces tried to stop Kurds from celebrating Abdullah Öcalan’s birthday, reported Roj TV.

The dead have been identified as Mustafa Dağ, 27, and Mahsum Karaoğlan, 21. 60 others were injured as security forces continued their siege on the crowd.

Today is the birthday of Abdullah Öcalan the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). This year a crowd of Kurds decided to celebrate by going to Öcalan’s home village of Amara, Sanliurfa province, to plant trees as a sign of peace.

Breakdown of Gordon Brown’s Speech to Congress

The Guardian has an interactive webpage on Gordon Brown’s speech at the US Congress.

from http://cnews.canoe.ca/

The page shows a breakdown of how many words, in his speech, the PM dedicated to different issues. In order of importance:

Economy: 1,462 out of a total of 3,356 words was dedicated to the economy. The most interesting part of the speech in my opinion was this:

And you [US] are also restructuring your banks. So are we. But how much safer would everybody’s savings be if the whole world finally came together to outlaw shadow banking systems and offshore tax havens?

That must be going down a treat with multinational elites. Brown recieved big applause for that part with some raising their voices and whistling in praise. However, he did reassure by saying:

We do not value the wealthy less when we say that our first duty is to help the not so wealthy. We do not value the powerful less when we say that our first responsibility is to help the powerless.

Tributes: to the US

Values: common and share values as well as ‘ancient truths’

US relations: The “special” relationship was not emphasised as much as Blair during the Bush years. The PM brought Europe into the equation. Are there indications of true multilateralism?

Green issues: Brown paired issues regarding the environment to the economy.

Foreign policy: Middle East peace process, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and also Africa.

BBC Video of the speech in full

Check out the full text of the speech here.

Iraq Conflict Watch: The Mosul Case

Ethnic divide in northern Iraq threaten the country’s relative peace.

If they (Iraqi Army) come here, there will be a problem.

Brig. Gen. Azad Hawezi, Kurdish Peshmerga commander on northern outskirts of Mosul.

This is the message from the Kurds to the Arab Iraqi army in the northern city of Mosul, as reported in Stars and Stripes.

Mosul is the most violent city in Iraq presently. It’s got the whole Iraqi cocktail from Kurds to Christains. Since 2003 it has been in a constant state of conflict regardless of bad times or good in the rest of Iraq.

Kurds have controled this region of Iraq since 2004 when they won over the Ninevah province elections that Sunni Arabs boycotted.

Now they have lost the power to the Sunni Arabs in recent local elections in January. The winning party a Sunni Arab nationalist grouping campaigned on an anti-Kurdish ticket.

Now all that stands between Kurds and Arabs going to war with one another is the US army.

Gen. Baha Hussein Abed (from www.stripes.com)

Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, a Sunni Arab commanding thousands of troops in the Iraqi army in Mosul blames the Kurds for most of the problems and violence in the city.

Curiously enough the rest of the Iraqi Army (non-Sunnis) the US army and the Kurds are all in agreement that Sunni Arab insurgents are to blame for violence.

The American’s don’t want to take sides and the Kurds predict a war without a responsible US withdrawal.

Organ Stealing Jews, Bloodthirsty Americans and Terrorist Kurds

That’s the message of a not so acclaimed movie called “Valley of the Wolves”.

Well at least it hasn’t recieved popular acclaim outside Turkey where it broke box office records back in 2006. An now its popularity is spreading to the Arab world

The movie was criticised for demonising Americans, portraying Jews as organ stealing money grabbers and  Kurds as puppets of the US.

Despite this it became the most popular movie in Turkey and among Turks living in Germany. It is also the most expensive movie ever produced in Turkey with a budget of $10 million.

It was based on a real event in Kurdistan of Iraq in 2003. US marines raided a Turkish safehouse in the city of Sulaymaniya for plotting to assassinate a Kurdish governor. The marines put bags over the heads of Turkish special forces as they were taken into custody.

US Marines arrest Turks in Valley of the Wolves

Images of the raid sparked outrage in Turkey which is among the most, if not THE most anti-American country in the world.

The main theme of the movie is revenge (and maybe even the reason for the movie itself). The film follows a Turkish intelligence agent as he seeks to avenge the officers and restore their honor,

writes Cem Özdemir, a Turkish German MEP, in a 2006 article for Der Speigel.

Valley of the Wolves (Kutlar Vadisi in Turkish) became famous in Turkey as a tv series before making the jump to the big screen.

Now the TV series is getting more acclaim, this time from that “progressive” part of the Arab world, the UAE.

The TV series is braking viewing records on Abu Dhabi TV. The series has been complimented by Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan’s tantrum at Davos, further increasing its popularity.

What a great service this movie is doing to ease tensions between the Muslim world and the west!

No doubt the movie will be premiering throughout the UAE soon, spreading the great message of Turkish propaganda.

No worries though, at least Turkey’s tourism industry will be benefiting at the expense of Middle East-West relations.

That will be a relief to Turkey after loosing many Israeli and Jewish tourists due to souring relations between the two countries. There are more Arabs than Jews you see.