Extremist attacks drive Christians out of Mosul

BAGHDAD - Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, political and religious officials said Saturday. Some 3,000 Christians have fled the city over the past week alone in a "major displacement," said Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, the governor of northern Iraq's Ninevah province.

City of Mosul

The old city of Mosul is on the west bank of the Tigris River. It is a maze of narrow alleyways filled with mud-brick homes and drab mosques. The majority of the city's Arab residents live on the west bank, and U.S. forces rarely enter the area because their armored vehicles cannot fit. Kurdish officials say that has made the western quarter a haven for Baathists and Islamic militants, who launched last month's rebellion from the old city.Once a key trading post on the fabled Silk Road, Mosul linked Persia to the Syrian capital of Damascus and to ports along the Mediterranean. Like many great cities, Mosul straddles a river. It is a cosmopolitan city made up of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen, Assyrian Christians and Yazidis.

POWELL: POVERTY , NOT ISLAM CAUSES TERRORISM

The folowing comments by General Colin Powell's taken during a session Meet The Press interview.

“I think, the new president has to realize that the world looks to America for leadership, and so we have to show leadership on some issues that the world is expecting us to, whether it's energy, global warming and the environment.

And I think we have to do a lot more with respect to poverty alleviation and helping the needy people of the world. We need to increase the amount of resources we put into our development programs to help the rest of the world. Because when you help the poorest in the world, you start to move them up an economic and social ladder, and they're not going to be moving toward violence or terrorism of the kind that we worry about.

He explained that he made up his mind on Islam based on seeing a picture of a Muslim mother with her head on the gravestone of her son who was killed in Iraq "fighting for this country." And that he thinks it’s shameful to imply that "a little 7-year old Muslim boy" could not aspire to become President one day.Jonah Goldberg at National Review agrees with Powell that there's nothing wrong with a Muslim running for President, but thinks that his suggesting that the responsibility for these stories lies with McCain is "a low and dishonest blow."

SEVEN MALAYSIAN STUDENTS IN PERTH, AUSTRALIA MISSING

Seven Malaysians who are studying at several Australian universities have done a vanishing act. Three of the students are with Curtin University of Technology, Perth, while the others are at other institutions, also in Perth.
All of them are sponsored by a government-linked company.Umno Youth social welfare secretariat chairman Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim found this out after their parents voiced their fears. "The students may have been demoralised into giving up their studies."

In any case, we have contacted Wisma Putra, Interpol and the Malaysian students club in Australia for assistance."He added that the secretariat was prepared to fly the parents to Australia to find and coax them back to the university and not jeopardise their future.

One of the missing students is Norzarifah Kamarauzaman, 21, from Curtin, who had scored 9As in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.She went to Australia last year but has failed to contact her family since Oct 6 this year.Her parents, Kamarauzaman Nasir, 50, and Noraini Daud, 48, were present at a press conference at the secretariat's office yesterday.
Noraini, a library assistant at Universiti Putra Malaysia, said Norzarifah had sent a short text message to her other daughter, Norzawani, on Sept 17, saying she had been hospitalised after consuming 50 tablets to relieve stress."Norzarifah's email account had also been terminated.

We lodged a report at the Kajang police station on Sept 23."We fear that Norzarifah may have deviated from Islam after befriending two Australian men when she was discharged from the hospital," said Noraini."Norzarifah had worked part-time as a cleaner with a company and quit studying last August after being promoted as a manager with an attractive income."