Iraq

Iran: Muslims and Arabs must protest offensive in Fallujah

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader on Thursday criticized Arab and Muslim silence over the U.S. attack on Fallujah, and he urged the region's governments to help the Iraqi people.

"How can Muslim and Arabic governments accept playing the role of an indifferent observer? We can hear the voice of the needy coming from Iraqi families. Doesn't this voice deserve a protest by governments and the people against the arrogant Western powers?" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by state-run Tehran radio.

LONDON - French President Jacques Chirac coupled a state visit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, a pact that brought Britain and France together, with unrepentant criticism of the American-British war in Iraq and, more generally, of America's global posture.

Chirac reiterated his view that the war in Iraq had led to an expansion of terrorism in the world.

Although he said France was willing to put its differences with Britain and the United States aside and look to the future by helping to rebuild a stable, democratic and sovereign Iraq, Chirac indicated that he believed that history would vindicate the war's opponents.

ZARQAWI KIN HELD: The nephew of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's point man in Iraq, was detained near the Jordanian-Iraqi border, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed distant relative and an unnamed clergyman close to the family. Both said security officials informed the family that Mohammed al-Harahsheh was detained last month.

104 ARRESTED: U.S. and Iraqi forces swept Thursday through an insurgent neighborhood in central Baghdad, arresting 104 suspected guerrillas, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. Nine of those arrested were believed to have fled from Fallujah. Most of those arrested were Iraqis.

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