From the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, Sept. 17:

An open letter to Mr. Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General

Re: Deportation of Kurdish asylum seekers from Britain

Dear Mr. Annan,

In violation of the Geneva Convention of 1951 and Human Rights Charter in regard to asylum seekers, the British government has forcibly deported 49 Kurdish asylum seekers to Iraqi Kurdistan.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Sept. 17:

IFC Statement On Kidnapping And Raping Of Women In Iraq:
We Must Stand Against Sectarian Barbarism

The dirty sectarian war has launched a new phase in Iraq. A few days ago a sectarian gang abducted a woman of the Shiite sect from Alhussianya district (northern Baghdad), raped her and abandoned her in a deserted area in the outskirts of Baghdad. In retaliation, a Shiite sectarian gang kidnapped eight women of the Sunni sect from Rashidya district (across the street from Alhussienya) and excreted the same vicious acts of rape and torture.

From Pakistan's Dawn, Sept. 24:

RIYADH, Sept 24: The Saudi government has distanced itself from reports about Osama bin Laden's death on or about August 23 somewhere in Pakistan. The news was carried by the French newspaper L'Est Republicain citing Saudi intelligence sources.

From AP, Sept. 24 (emphasis added):

BAGHDAD - A crowd of Shias had gathered around a kerosene truck in Sadr City yesterday to stock up on fuel for Ramadan when a bomb went off, killing 38 people - mostly women and children - just days after the U.S. military had warned of increased sectarian bloodshed during the Islamic holy month.

From AP, Sept. 24:

WASHINGTON - Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.

U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now surpass those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history, the trigger for what came next.

File this under "Duh." The State Department just said the same thing, as we recently noted. From the New York Times, Sept. 24 (emphasis added):

Terror threat higher since 9/11, report says

WASHINGTON A stark assessment of terrorism trends by U.S. intelligence agencies has found that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

We generally agree with the thrust of leftist Israeli commentator Uri Avnery's argument here, but he makes a few glitches which are all the more embarrassing in a piece which attempts to set the historical record straight (and which actually calls out the Pope on a scholarly glitch). As the Catholic Encyclopedia informs us, Constantine was declared Caeser by his troops in 306, but did not actually become emperor of Rome unitl the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October 312. But the more important matter is that Avnery overstates his case—and therefore risks delegitimizing it. It is true that Jews and Chrisitians were generally treated better in the medieval Islamic world than Jews and Muslims were in the contemporaneous Christian world. But the tolerance of dhimmis in the conquered territories doesn't mean those territories weren't conquered by the sword. Yes, when the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099, they carried out a general massacre of the populace, Muslims and Jews alike. In contrast, when the Muslims under Caliph Omar took Jerusalem in 638, there was no bloodshed. But this was only after an 18-month siege following the defeat of the Byzantine armies at the Battle of Yarmouk. Funny how the very same event is cited by those who wish to debunk the notion of Islam as a region of peace (e.g. the Islam: Spead by the Sword timeline at the pro-secular Iranian.ws wesbite). History, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder. From Media Monitors Network, Sept. 24:

From JTA, Sept. 24:

A synagogue in the southern city of Astrakhan was vandalized twice within a few hours early Friday. In one attack, assailants threw a Molotov cocktail at the synagogue, setting its door ablaze. A guard at the building quickly put out the fire. Another synagogue was vandalized in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk, where vandals threw stones at a shul shattering several windows. Criminal investigations were launched into both attacks.