Word: mujahedin
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...rank-and-file fighters are die-hard Saddam supporters. Many are thought to be devout Iraqi Muslims who believe that fighting "infidel" occupiers is a Koranic imperative. Tensions exist between former military officers and paid militia, called fedayeen in insurgent circles, and the Muslim fighters who label themselves mujahedin, or holy warriors. The very name indicates that they would like the insurgency to become a sanctioned religious jihad against the U.S. So far, though, the groups have largely set aside their differences to focus on a common goal...
...hours earlier, U.S. forces made a similar blunder, killing six other children along with two adults, members of a village family in neighboring Paktia province. That raid was supposed to take out a powerful clergyman named Mullah Jalani, who was accused by the Pentagon of operating training camps for mujahedin, hiding a sizable arsenal inside his stockade and firing at U.S. troops with what officials call a "crew-served machine gun." But many question why Jalani had been targeted. Just two days before, he had been drinking tea and cracking jokes with the pro-U.S. governor of the provincial...
...deliver as much insight as Seierstad does into the culture of her "lost homeland." Shah's uneven account of her attempts to reconcile the enchanting Afghanistan of her exiled father's tales with her own harrowing encounters relies on clich?d Western stereotypes: the Taliban are evil oppressors, the mujahedin noble warriors. Few of her subjects come across as real?which is precisely what makes Seierstad's nuanced portraits so compelling. While traveling with her romanticized mujahedin, for example, Shah is devastated to learn that they have been selling U.S.-supplied weapons to Iran. Rather than examine their motivation, Shah laments...
...talks have touched on Iran's suspected nuclear-weapons program, its sponsorship of terrorism and other sore points. None of the issues have come close to being resolved. But Tehran has offered to repatriate some al-Qaeda suspects if the U.S. cracks down on the People's Mujahedin (M.E.K.), a group of Iranian exiles in Iraq who want to overthrow Iran's mullocracy. After complaints from Tehran, the U.S. in August shut down the group's offices in Washington and Los Angeles. But Iran wants the M.E.K.--designated a terrorist group by the Clinton Administration--to be fully disarmed...
...even talking again. Sources tell TIME that several former senior U.S. officials have recently held informal discussions with Iran, among them Brent Scowcroft, chairman of Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Tehran has offered to repatriate some al-Qaeda suspects if the U.S. cracks down on the People's Mujahedin (M.E.K.), a group of Iranian exiles in Iraq who want to overthrow Iran's mullocracy. A senior Iranian official notes, "There is no need for an unending crisis in U.S.-Iranian relations." But Administration hard-liners oppose any thaw, insisting the only sound policy toward Iran is one pressing...