The King of Pointland

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Here are some interesting articles in today's paper.

U.S. forces think they've figured out how the Iraqi insurgency is structured:

Hunt for Hussein Led U.S. to Insurgent Hub
Five Families Believed to Direct Attacks

Remember the Justice Department investigation into who leaked an undercover CIA officer's identity to Bob Novak? It continues:

Leaks Probe Is Gathering Momentum

And Israel has it's first suicide bombing in nearly three months. It follows two weeks of "accelerated [Israeli] incursions into the Palestinian territories." The PFLP, who claimed responsibility, "said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of two of its members by Israeli military forces in the West Bank city of Nablus last week." They said the bomber was related to one of the PFLP members killed.

The attack came ten minutes after Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car on a crowded Gaza City street, killing a Islamic Jihad's military leader, another person in the car, and four bystanders.

It seems like more cause and effect to me: 1. Kill terrorist leaders (and bystanders). 2. Wait for inevitable retaliatory strike.

Israeli officials say they had to assassinate the Islamic Jihad leader because he was helping to plan a "massive attack" in Israel. No details were offered. Israel also says the reason it's been quiet in the last couple months has been because they've thwarted at least 22 suicide bombings and 35 attacks overall. Again, no details.

The article in the print edition is headlined "Suicide Bomber Kills Four Israelis", but on-line it gets the more balanced "Eleven Killed in Mideast Violence". The other articles posted on the "Print Edition" section seem to have unaltered headlines (but I haven't checked them all).

Posted by cradle at December 26, 2003 03:29 PM