Headlines:

• Tikrit offensive reveals Iraqi army not ready for war
• Silencing Muslims in the UK
• Israel Spied on US
• US troops to remain in Afghanistan

Details:

Tikrit offensive reveals Iraqi army not ready for war

The offensive in Iraq to take back Tikrit is now three weeks old and despite making significant headway in taking back villages and areas outside the town, central Tikrit is proving a difficult target. The Iraqi army and its trainers from the US military were humiliated in the summer of 2014 when ISIS routed the Iraqi army from most of the Anbar province all the way to Baghdad. Many were in shock when many for the Iraqi army left their weapons and fled in the face of a few thousand ISIS force. This forced to the US to conduct airstrikes again and resend troops back into Iraq. The Tikrit offensive is an attempt to rebuild the Iraqi army for a major assault on Mosul itself. After failing the first time around to build the Iraqi army to protect the US constructed political architecture in Iraq, this time the US has tasked the job to building the Iraqi army to Iran.

The Iraqi offensive to take Tikrit is more or less completely an Iranian operation. The offensive began on March 1^st involving 27,000 troops and militia who advanced in three columns. ISIS at most have up to 4500 personnel in Tikrit. Most of the attacking troops are Iraqi Shia militia organized, trained, armed and advised and mostly led by Iranian officers. Gen Qasim Solomani, Head of the IRQC Quds Force, personally supervised the operation. ISIS deployed many mines, remotely detonated bombs, oil wells set on fire and snipers to hinder the advance. This type of war is large-scale urban warfare, something the Iraqi Army is not ready for. Most of the militia have been trained to view this battle as a Sunni-Shi'ah war, ISIS train in a similar manner and that is why it is very likely an epic bloodbath made will take place in central Tikrit. Already there have been reports of militia groups massacre ring villages in Tikrit after being accused of supporting ISIS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi said in a statement: "There is no neutrality in the battle against ISIS. If someone is being neutral with ISIS, then he is one of them." The people of Iraq suffered for a decade when the IS invaded the country. Then many in the north of Iraq suffered from the Malaki government who oppressed many of the Sunni to maintain his grip on power. The people suffered under ISIS and now once again sectarianism is being used to take back north Iraq.

Silencing Muslims in the UK

The UK Home Secretary, Teresa May, announced new measures as part of the Conservative party's new manifesto for the upcoming UK general election on May 7, 2015. She highlighted the UK will no longer tolerate the behaviour of Islamist extremists who "reject our values." She confirmed that anyone who does not adopt British values is an extremist. So separate seating for men and women, the Shariah, the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" are all core Islamic beliefs which May declared ‘extremist.' This would mean anyone who speaks out against Britain's failed local and global policies and chooses a different way of life, would now be an extremist.

All of this confirms that Britain has failed to incorporate Muslims in the UK and the only way left was to force Britain's values upon them. Her claims to these ‘British' values are farcical as she broke them to protect them. Banning orders to protect free speech; enforce our beliefs to protect free choice; outlaw what people think to protect free thought! All of this is similar to Senator McCarthy, who throughout the 1950's contradicted US values in order to protect them.

Israel Spied on US

Soon after the US and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran's nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.

The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former US officials have now confirmed. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential US briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe. It was this information Netanyahu shared with US lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran's nuclear program. One US official said, "It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy." The revelations by US NSA contractor, Edward Snowden on US espionage around the world, including its allies, makes this somewhat a refreshing development that the US is the victim for once.

Intel­li­gence and espi­onage activ­i­ties are sim­i­lar to war, in the sense that they are just pol­i­tics through other means. Just as mil­i­tary equip­ment and wars can yield results they can also lead to stale­mates or even losses, espi­onage activ­i­ties can also lead to results or fail­ure. In the 21st cen­tury, espi­onage is as promi­nent a tool as it was dur­ing the cold war. This recent event reveals much about the inner work­ings and trends within the espi­onage com­mu­nity, and show that every nation is spy­ing on other nations despite rhetoric to the contrary.

US troops to remain in Afghanistan

Speaking at a press conference on 24 March with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, President Obama confirmed that the planned drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan this year has been suspended. There had been talk of "delaying" the drawdown for some time, and the issue finally came to a head this week with Ghani requesting the troop level be maintained through at least the end of 2015. President Obama insists that the plan to bring the current 9,800 troops down to simply an embassy-level by the end of 2016 remain in place, though he conceded that this was largely dependent on a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. Obama insisted that the specifics of the post-2015 drawdown are totally unknown, and will only be decided at a "later date."

After more than a decade of war, after using its proxies in the region to contain afg8ansdtan, the US has failed to control and secure afg8anstan, despite all its rhetoric to the contrary. The US supported government only maintain some control in central Kabul, much of the country after a decade of war is lawless with the Taliban still controlling much of the south of the country. The US trained Afghan forces are in no position to provide security to the country and like Iraq, Afghanistan is another failure in US regime change.

On Saturday 28th March 2015, the Women's Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir will be hosting an unprecedented International Women's Conference entitled, "Women and Shariah: Separating Fact from Fiction". This momentous event is to be conducted across various continents and will consist of gatherings of female opinion-makers held simultaneously in 5 countries: Palestine, Turkey, Tunisia, Indonesia and the UK.

News

In a momentous Kelantan State Assembly meeting held on 19th March 2015, the new amendment for The Syariah Criminal Code Enactment (II) (1993) Amendment 2015, or more famously known as ‘hudud law' was passed unanimously by all 44 assemblymen; Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional alike.
Tabling of the enactment was no short of controversy from the start. The motion put forth by Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the ruling political party of Kelantan; have received strong opposition not from the opposition party (Barisan Nasional, BN) but from their own fellow ally in Pakatan Rakyat (PR). In response to the action by PAS, Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Jelutong member of Parliament called for an immediate suspension to all forms of collaboration and cooperation with Pas at all levels. In a similar move, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has expressed his disappointment over the move by PAS. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) top leadership has also make their statement very clear that the passing of the bill is in breach of a consensus reached by PR on hudud in 2011. [Source: News Straits Times]

Comment

It is a familiar old story where Islamic agenda will always receive stern opposition from those with blind hatred towards Islam. It is another sign for those who still believe that Islamic way of life could be uphold via a democratic system.

Despite PAS having hugely compromised the true extent of Islamic jurisprudence with the new bill, their secularist ally continues to abhor the Islamic based justice system. It is very clear that the only law which will get their blessing is a fallible human made law and no others.

Though the bill has been passed in the State Assembly, the new law could not be enforced until further amendment is made in the Parliament which will give the authority to the State government to do so. The road to the implementation is still far yet opposition against its implementation is already mounting. Questions arise among the public on why those political parties which have largely non-Muslim members oppose the bill which will not impact them at all? PAS has made the grave compromise by amending the enactment to only affect Muslims. And despite that exclusion, the objection shows a very clear message that they do not want the Muslims in this country to live by Islamic rule, not even an inch. Hence it should be clear to all Muslims to step back to reality and remind each other again a reminder which has already given to us more than 1400 years ago by the Lord The Almighty:

﴿وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيٍر﴾

"And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed. Say: Lo! The guidance of Allah (Himself) is Guidance. And if thou shouldst follow their desires after the knowledge which hath come unto thee, then wouldst thou have from Allah no protecting guardian nor helper." [TMQ Al-Baqarah 2:120]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Yusof Idris

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