Iraq and the War on Terror

Iraq today sees the bombing of a mosque killing 9 and injuring 24 others. A bomb in a BMW exploded outside the Al-Subaih mosque in south-east Baghdad. CNN reports up to 50 insurgent attacks a day in what is being seen as an upsurge in violence. After Fallujah the groups have reformed and “are coming back with a vengeance” says Ken Pollack from the Brooklyn Institute. Meanwhile, the lives of 4 Romanian TV journalists hung in the balance today as their government was given 4 days to pull out from Iraq.
And in the ‘War on Terror’, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged over the 9/11 attacks, has pleaded guilty, in the United States, to conspiracy and could face the death penalty. In Spain, three men have appeared in court charged with helping to plan the 11th September 2001 attacks in the US. The main defendant at the trial is Syrian-born Immad Yarkas, 42, known as Abu Dahdah. He along with Moroccan-born Driss Chebli, is said to have set up a meeting in June 2001 which was allegedly attended by at least one of the attack ringleaders, Mohamed Atta, who piloted one of the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Another man, Jose Luis Galan, also known as Ghassub al-Abrash Ghaylun, is accused of filming the World Trade Center and other US targets, to be used as reconnaissance. Further trial proceedidings against al-Qaeda suspects in the Uk came to a conclusion as ‘shoebomb plotter’ Saajid Badat was sentenced to 13 years in jail for planning to blow up a passenger plane. The 26-year-old, a religious teacher from Gloucester, was sentenced after he admitted conspiring with fellow Briton Richard Reid. Reid was himself jailed for life in the US for similar charges after being caught on a plane attempting to carry out his attack.