Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, purportedly the highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative in US custody, has now confessed to being "responsible for the 9-11 operation from A to Z," as well as being the mastermind of the 1993 WTC attack, Richard Reid's attempted shoe-bombing, the Daniel Pearl slaying, and a slew of planned attacks on such targets as Chicago's Sears Building—although given the notorious interrogation methods used at Guantanamo Bay, we are skeptical as to the veracity of these allegations. However, his statement sheds much light on al-Qaeda's worldview—and its appeal in the Third World. From the International Herald Tribune, March 14, emphasis and link added:

"We believe the threat we face in the near term is less than that currently confronting our European allies," Charles Allen, assistant homeland security secretary for intelligence and analysis, told Congress March 14. "But we are concerned that radicalization will continue to expand within the United States over the long term." The government has identified only isolated pockets of homegrown extremists, mostly involved in what he called "aspirational plotting. " Unlike their European counterparts, Allen said, those groups appear to lack direct ties to al-Qaeda. "But we remain concerned that radicalization will eventually spawn operational attacks in the homeland if we do not gain deeper insights into the phenomenon and actively work to deter it," he said.

Five civilians were killed when gunmen opened fire targeting on Sunni worshippers coming out of Huthaifa mosque after noon prayers in al-Risala neighborhood of Baghdad March 13. Four civilians were also killed and four others wounded when a Katyusha rocket fell in Karrada Dakhil neighborhood of Baghdad. (NYT, McClatchy Newspapers, March 14) On March 16, gunmen ambushed a convoy that was carrying the mayor of Sadr City, Rahim al-Darraji, leaving him seriously wounded. Two bodyguards were killed in the attack, as was Lt. Col. Muhammad Motashar, director of the Sadr City police. Also March 16, Sabir al-Issawi, the head of Baghdad's city council, was wounded when a car bomb exploded beside his convoy in the Karrada district, killing eight police and soldiers. (Press TV, Iran, March 16)

Three bombs, two of them carried by suicide attackers, exploded in southern Afghanistan March 13, killing four people and wounding at least 10. The two suicide bombers struck in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. The third explosion was a bomb left under a pile of rags in a crowded area at Spinbaldak, a crossing at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The attacks took place during a visit to Kabul by a US assistant secretary of state, Richard A. Boucher. (NYT, March 14)

The United Nations observer mission in Georgia has opened an investigation into missile attacks in three remote villages near the Russian border March 11, claiming initial evidence suggested that Russian helicopter gunships were involved. The military action damaged several buildings in the Kodori Gorge. Both Russia and the forces of the nearby breakaway region of Abkhazia denied involvement in the attacks. (NYT, March 14)

Authorities announced the arrest of four men in Beirut who they described as members of Fatah al-Islam, a radical Palestinian faction, in connection with the bombing of two minibuses in the city last month that killed three people and wounded 23. Two other members of the group were being sought in the attack, which took place on the eve of the second anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. News reports said the men were detained after explosives were found in an apartment in the Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh. (NYT, March 14)

As we have argued, Washington has its own overriding imperatives for a war drive against Iran, which have to do with the global struggle for control of oil and maintaining US global hegemony. But, once again, the indefagitable if myopic AIPAC sets itself up to take the hit—thereby playing its assigned role in the dominant propaganda system of Jewish scapegoating. From the JTA, March 13:

Given all the reactionary prattle we have seen in the New York Times lead op-ed slot of late, it was quite a breath of fresh air to read something downright progressive and courageously iconoclastic: "Whose Oil is It, Anyway?" by Antonia Juhasz, an analyst with Oil Change International and author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time. We have felt like we're spitting in the wind when we have attacked the bogus arguments of those who claim the Iraq adventure is not about oil, or that oil privatization is good for Iraq. It is vindicating to see someone with a much bigger soapbox and mainstream creds leading the charge against these rascals—for a change. From the New York Times, March 13: