September 8, 2007

In a dispatch posted at 11:39am Makkah time Friday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that eight Iraqi Resistance organizations had come together to form a new umbrella group called the Front for Jihad and Change, according to an announcement on the Internet signed by representatives of the groups.

Mafkarat al-Islam reported the announcement as saying that "Front work is a demand of Islamic law and a necessity in the coming stage which requires a strategic program that assures that efforts be properly made use of."

The declaration announcing the formation of the new front was signed by the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, the Army of the Rashideen, the Army of the Muslimeen, the Islamic Movement of Mujahideen of Iraq, the Saraya of the army of ar-Rahman, the Saraya ad-Da'wah wa-ar-Ribat, the at-Tamkeen Brigades, and the Brigades of Muhammad al-Fatih.

On Wednesday, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) issued an appeal to the Resistance groups to unite, to adopt a program for their work, and to prepare for the stage after the end of the US occupation. The AMSI warned that the occupation might
"leave by the door, but then climb back in through the window" through its use of local stooges and accordingly urged the Resistance to adopt a unified program of action to forestall such an eventuality.

The announcement of the formation of the Front for Jihad and Change appeared to coincide with the perspective expressed in the AMSI message.

One day before their assassination by US-installed puppet regime, imprisoned Iraqi leaders ask to see families before they are killed.

In a dispatch posted on its website Friday, Quds Press reported that 'Ali Hasan al-Majid; the Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad; and the Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army Husayn Rashid – all three under death sentences from the American-installed "court" that and sentenced to die on Saturday, 8 September, have requested to see their families before they are killed.

Lawyer Badi' 'Arif 'Izzat, who represents all three Iraqi officials – who were captured by the US occupation forces and then brought before an American orchestrated show "trial" – said that over the telephone they requested the opportunity to see their families before they are put to death.

Speaking over US-run Radio Sawa, 'Izzat protested the death sentences, noting that they would be carried out without the signature of the President of the Republic and without the three being allowed to see their families. He told the American-run Arabic-language station that a half hour before going on the air, the three men contacted him to request to see their families.

'Izzat noted that the executions will be illegal without the signature of the President under Iraqi law which regards any execution without presidential signature to be an illegal act of murder.

In a dispatch posted at 7:59pm Baghdad time Friday evening, the Aswat al-'Iraq news agency, which was set up by Reuters and the U.N. Development Agency, reported that the US-appointed Iraqi "President" Jalal Talibani was not going to sign the execution orders for Sultan Hashim, the Iraqi Defense Minister because he had "reservations" about the execution of Iraqi officers.

Aswat al-'Iraq reported that Talibani told a press conference that the orders would be brought to the puppet "Presidential Council" for ratification, but that he had reservations about the sentences, particularly that of Sultan Hashim. Talibani also denied the reports that the three officials were going to be executed on Saturday.