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by Ted Galen Carpenter ............Despite such scare mongering, it is highly improbable that al Qaeda could use Iraq as the kind of safe haven it enjoyed in Afghanistan. There, the organization had the protection of an entrenched, friendly government, which it will not have in Iraq. Al Qaeda also had a much larger force in Afghanistan -- an estimated 18,000 fighters. Even the U.S. government concedes that there are fewer than 2,000 al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, and the Iraq Study Group put the figure at only 1,300. Indeed, foreign fighters make up a relatively small component of the Sunni insurgency against the U.S. and British occupation forces. It strains credulity to imagine 1,300 fighters (and foreigners at that) dominating a country of 26 million people........

Official Lies Over Najaf Battle Exposed by Dahr Jamail with Ali al-Fadhily NAJAF, Iraq - Iraqi government lies over the killing of hundreds of Shi'ites in an attack on Sunday stand exposed by independent investigations carried out by IPS in Iraq. Conflicting reports had arisen earlier on how and why a huge battle broke out around the small village Zarqa, located just a few kilometers northeast of the Shi'ite holy city Najaf, which is 90 km south of Baghdad. One thing certain is that when the smoke cleared, more than 200 people lay dead after more than half a day of fighting Sunday Jan. 28. A US helicopter was shot down, killing two soldiers. Twenty-five members of the Iraqi security force were also killed. "We were going to conduct the usual ceremonies that we conduct every year when we were attacked by Iraqi soldiers," Jabbar al-Hatami, a leader of the al-Hatami Shi'ite Arab tribe told IPS. "We thought it was one of the usual mistakes of the Iraqi army kil...

Murdoch Confesses To Propaganda On Iraq Murdoch was asked if News Corp. had managed to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq. His answer? "No, I don't think so. We tried." Asked by Rose for further comment, he said: "We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East...but we have been very critical of his execution."..............

Bloody week ends in Somalia with blast at school for women and girls Fri Feb 2, 2:32 PM By Mohamed Olad Hassan And Tom Maliti MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - An explosion at an Islamic school for women and girls killed a student Friday at the end of one of the worst weeks of violence in the Somali capital since an Islamic group was driven from power by Ethiopian-led transitional government forces.

Amnesty supporting US army Iraq refusenik LONDON (AFP) - Amnesty International said a US army officer would be a prisoner of conscience if a pending court martial convicts him of disobeying orders to go to Iraq. "If found guilty, Amnesty International would consider Ehren Watada to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release," said Susan Lee, the human rights group's Americas program director.

Costa Rica moves embassy to Tel Aviv The new president of Costa Rica has said that his country will move its embassy in Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, in a move that pleases Arab nations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamas condemns sentence The ruling Palestinian movement Hamas has condemned the death sentence handed down to Saddam Hussein, recalling the help the deposed Iraqi leader gave to the Palestinian people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iranian dissident 'admits' working for US An Iranian intellectual imprisoned for four months for espionage has said that he was unintentionally involved in a US plot to overthrow the government in Iran. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Report criticises US press freedoms The US, France and Japan have been criticised in a rep...