News for 10-30-06

10-30-06 - Iran says sanctions will hurt others


10-30-06 - Audit finds missing U.S. weapons in Iraq Missing from the Defense Department's inventory books were 13,180 semiautomatic pistols, 751 assault rifles and 99 machine guns, according to an audit requested by Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.


10-30-06 - Security firms 'abusing Iraqis'


10-30-06 - Iran nuclear talks should continue, Putin tells Ahmadinejad Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Moscow favours continued talks over Iran's nuclear programme amid a continued split in the UN Security Council over possible sanctions against Tehran.


10-30-06 - Army finds 7 incorrect war death reports The families of seven soldiers who died in Iraq or Afghanistan were given incorrect or misleading information about the deaths, the Army has concluded after a review of war casualty reports.


10-30-06 - Civilian deaths turn Afghans against NATO: report


10-30-06 - Bolton faults Syria, Iran on Lebanon Israel has said enforcement of the arms embargo, which blocks any entity in Lebanon except the national government from obtaining weapons from abroad, is crucial. Next, someone will discover guano on a seaside cliff. Will wonders never cease?...


10-30-06 - U.N. watchdog still hopes for nuclear talks with Iran Iran has yet to satisfy U.N. watchdogs that its nuclear program seeks only to produce electric power and not bombs, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency told the General Assembly on Monday.


10-30-06 - Rice: I think I know what the ?Palestinians? want Condi grilled by bible-thumping Christian Zionist Cal Thomas. The more these folks lambaste her, the more I know that she is doing something right.


10-30-06 - Judge dismisses Air Force suit A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit charging the Air Force with violating the constitutional rights of its troops through the promotion of evangelism.


10-30-06 - UN investigates Israel's 'uranium weapons' The Harwell laboratory for mass spectrometry in Oxfordshire confirmed the concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples, but the European experts were puzzled about what weapons Israel might have been using and why.


10-30-06 - Beyond Ideology


10-30-06 - Newly sworn-in Lieberman already set to visit US Lieberman is already set for his first trip abroad as a minister. He will travel to the United States on December 8 to take part in the prestigious Saban Forum at the Saban Center For Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC


10-30-06 - Confrontation off Lebanon Leads to Questions The Alster though is no run-of-the-mill battleship. It is a spy boat loaded with highly sophisticated technology. Sensitive antennas are able to not only identify radar locations and monitor flights, but they can also listen in on radio and mobile-phone conversations. And the crew is not just made up of sailors, but also German secret service agents. Don't get the Liberty treatment.


10-30-06 - Israeli Jets Trouble German Troops on UN Mission Germany was taken by surprise by the most recent incident, as Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz recently smoothed over ruffled feathers after a confrontation on Tuesday between Israeli aircraft and a German vessel patrolling Lebanon's coast.



10-30-06 - Security Council urges disarming of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias


10-30-06 - Druze leader seeks US backing for Hariri slaying tribunal


10-30-06 - Lebanon president protests Hariri murder court Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud protested his exclusion from the process of organizing an international court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri.


10-30-06 - Iran sounds an awful lot like Iraq ** Recent months have seen the creation of an "Iran directorate" at the Pentagon, using some of the same personnel as the Office of Special Plans, the shadowy Pentagon outfit led by former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith that was accused of massaging raw intelligence on Iraq to make the case for war look far more solid than in fact it was.
Iran has now supplanted Iraq as the greatest single threat to the United States, according to the National Security Strategy released earlier this year. Articles in the New Yorker and Time describe an accelerated rate of contingency military planning in an environment in which many senior officials ? on the military and civilian sides ? consider war with Iran more a question of when rather than if. And just why has Iran been placed at the fore, folks? I wonder. And again. More. Another. You get the point.


10-30-06 - UN to map disputed Shaba farms area on Israel-Lebanon border


10-30-06 - In Lieberman race, Jewish vote seems to turn on Israel support


10-30-06 - Cheney Pushing Israel Towards Fascism


10-30-06 - Israeli attack on Germany Israel doesn't like those surveillance ships getting too close for comfort - even if they're in international waters. Ask these guys. It is my belief that Israel sought to sink the USS Liberty and all aboard - leaving no eyewitnesses to report just who it was that attacked it. It was because of the sheer heroism of our men that that ship and the survivors made it out alive. God bless 'em.


10-30-06 - Shift in Lebanon's sectarian politics


10-30-06 - Israeli Arab lawmaker raps Ahmadinejad A leading Israeli Arab lawmaker came out against the anti-Jewish statements of Iran?s president.


10-30-06 - Foxman: No moderate Muslims There are no moderate Muslims with whom to dialogue, Abraham Foxman said

News for 10-29-06

10-29-06 - Iran criticizes U.S.-led nuke exercise ** a U.S. State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the topic, said PSI members can halt and board Iran-bound ships if they are suspected of carrying banned shipments.


10-29-06 - Secret Cabinet memo admits Iraq is fuelling UK terror


10-29-06 - Third Soldier Charged With Rape, Murder The Army arraigned a 101st Airborne Division soldier Friday who was charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing three others in her family.


10-29-06 - Pakistan destroys al-Qaida-linked site


10-29-06 - Family killed as US forces battle to retake Iraqi town


10-29-06 - 'No US Deployment to Northern Iraq' U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman said they opposed separating Iraq into three parts and were not considering deploying troops to northern Iraq.


10-29-06 - Iraq, China to revive Saddam-era oil deal as Baghdad seeks investment Beijing had been thought to be out of the running for major contracts in postwar Iraq, with the best deals going to the United States and its allies. But the upsurge in violence there has made the country less attractive to Western producers.


10-29-06 - Egypt to seek Chinese aid on nuclear program


10-29-06 - CIA chief meets Saudi king after Gulf terror alert


10-29-06 - Thousands march in California against Iraq war


10-29-06 - AP Interview: Chalabi prods U.S. on Iran Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite who was once Iraq's deputy prime minister, urged the United States to open talks with Iran, saying Saturday that it could help reduce sectarian violence in Iraq and allow U.S. forces to withdraw.


10-29-06 - Americans Reject Current Foreign Policy Doctrine 67 per cent of respondents think the current administration should put more emphasis on diplomatic and economic methods.



10-29-06 - Iran's foreign minister urges Hamas leader to work for national unity Iran's foreign minister told Hamas' political leader Sunday that the Palestinian people must solve their problems through national unity and reconciliation, the official Iranian news agency reported


10-29-06 - Boot's idea for dealing with Iran Boot's idea for dealing with Iran is to sponsor ethnic terrorism in the country. First he was a cheerleader for the war in Iraq, and, not happy having won his aim there, he wants to create another festering pit of death in Iran. These are ramblings he should share with his psychiatrist, not with the readers of a respected newspaper. Max Boot is a neocon.


10-29-06 - Peretz to meet German counterpart Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized on Sunday to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an incident that occurred last week between an Israeli fighter jet and a German naval boat that was patrolling the waters outside Lebanon. ......Peretz vehemently denied reports that the Israeli jets had fired on the German vessel in his talk with Jung......Also Sunday, UN officials denied reports that Israeli jets had fired on a German navy vessel in a separate incident in the waters off southern Lebanon late Thursday night.


10-29-06 - Israel sorry for 'misunderstandings' in shooting incident


10-29-06 - In heavily Jewish Florida district, perception of Israel support is key Congressional support for Israel will remain steadfast whoever controls the House, said Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House's Middle East subcommittee who represents Florida's 18th District......."Iran is the biggest threat to Israel right now," he said. "I think we should be refocusing our attention on the real threats. The longer we're mired in this civil war in Iraq, the less it allows us to lead other countries in restricting Iran's ability to export terrorism." Regarding the title of this article -it's that way in most of America.


10-29-06 - Stung by Republican ads on Israel, Democrats defend part in online chat These candidates would SEEM to be running in an election to serve Israel, not the US.


10-29-06 - Israelis put nuclear bunkers in gardens "Israel will not allow Iran to build an atomic bomb, and even if it did, the Iranians know very well that we'll bomb them back to the Stone Age before they've launched a single missile."
However, the government is quietly updating its preparations for a possible nuclear strike.

News for 10-28-06

10-28-06 - 98 U.S. GIs killed in Iraq this month


10-28-06 - Reworked device a few months off, U.S. analysts say North Korean scientists will only need a few months at most to correct technical problems connected with the Oct. 9 test of the country's first nuclear device, U.S. analysts estimate.



10-28-06 - CIA tried to silence EU on torture flights


10-28-06 - US hails airborne laser as weapons milestone The head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency on Friday hailed what he described as epochal progress toward putting a high-energy laser aboard a modified Boeing Co. 747 to zap ballistic missiles that could be fired by North Korea and Iran.


10-28-06 - Reports: South Korea monitoring movements at North's suspected nuclear site


10-28-06 - Iran, Syria discuss stabilising Iraq Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday to discuss ways to stabilise Iraq and deepen ties between the two countries.


10-28-06 - Iran replaces air force chief, minister The change came ahead of a Persian Gulf naval exercise next week in which the United States and five other countries are participating.


10-28-06 - Assad: Syria not seeking to be nuclear state He said the international community should also apply pressure on Israel to abandon its nuclear arsenal.


10-28-06 - 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldier gets a kiss from Iraqi boy at a checkpoint on the edge of Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City


10-28-06 - A boy plays with a U.S. soldier from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at a checkpoint in Baghdad


10-28-06 - Punishing North Korea ? Eh?


10-28-06 - Robert Fisk: Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb Israel has a poor reputation for telling the truth about its use of weapons in Lebanon. In 1982, it denied using phosphorous munitions on civilian areas - until journalists discovered dying and dead civilians whose wounds caught fire when exposed to air.


10-28-06 - UN urges Solana to pressure Israel on Lebanon overflights Bagga said there were "sometimes between nine and 15 flights a day, which is quite a lot actually ... (they occur) sometimes late at night."
"It is very discomforting for the Lebanese, it could easily lead to some incident,"


10-28-06 - UN unable to confirm radiation spike after Lebanon war The UN, which has been studying the ecological damage in Lebanon caused by the war between Israel and Hezbollah, said it would soon be able to say whether uranium-based munitions were used


10-28-06 - Rice presses for Hezbollah's disarmament Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up international pressure on Hezbollah to disarm, saying the guerrilla group must surrender its weapons if it wants to remain part of Lebanon's political process.


10-28-06 - Old order in Iraq Democratization of Iraq has created anarchy, and in the Palestinian Authority it has led to the rise of the Hamas government ? that since then no longer recognizes democracy Really. Is it that the Hamas government no longer recognizes democracy? Or is it that Israel (and consequently the US) no longer recognize the party that the Palestinians democratically elected (and they did so due to the corruption of the previous administration, the Fatah party)? You know the answer.


10-28-06 - Solana expresses support for Lebanese gov't


10-28-06 - Make Assad an offer he can't refuse


10-28-06 - U.N. Security Council Edicts Challenged Historically, Israel is one of the few member states to consistently defy the Security Council by refusing to accept or violating over 40 resolutions, primarily because of the unwavering support it has from the United States.



10-28-06 - Trailing in Polls, GOP Senator Reaches Out to Jews "He finds a lot of common points on intersection between himself and the Jewish people and the land of Israel," said a top Santorum aide with ties to right-wing pro-Israel circles, Barbara Ledeen.


10-28-06 - On Israel's Lebanon border, a surprising optimism

News for 10-27-06

10-27-06 - US, others to conduct Gulf naval maneuvers off Iran ** The announcement came in the context of tensions over Iran's nuclear program and reports of possible terror threats against oil installations in the Gulf.


10-27-06 - US plays down Cheney's water interrogation comment


10-27-06 - Chirac says stalemate in Iran talks should trigger sanctions


10-27-06 - Russia unconcerned by Iranian nuclear 'cascade' work Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has said he was unconcerned by reports that Iran has taken a new step in uranium enrichment, saying it was still a long way from building a military capability. Now you hush that talk, Rusky! Israel wants everyone to believe Iran will have the bomb like, tomorrow. You're hurting their efforts....


10-27-06 - Coalition navies on watch for oil attack


10-27-06 - Report: Halliburton unit exploited rules If the Democrats take control of the Senate, he said, they will launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence leading up to the war to wrongdoing by contractors.


10-27-06 - UN Official: US Terror Law May Violate International Treaties "One of the most serious aspects of this legislation is the power of the president to declare anyone, including U.S. citizens, without charge as an 'unlawful enemy combatant' - a term unknown in international humanitarian law,"


10-27-06 - A Brother's Rage Kevin Tillman's incandescent statement against the Iraq war reads like poetry, and is part of a tragic tradition.


10-27-06 - Army arraigns 2 soldiers charged with murder of 3 Iraqi detainees


10-27-06 - U.S. revives terror data mining


10-27-06 - U.S. wants to ban Iranian physicists An American draft resolution at the United Nations calls for a ban on Iranians studying subjects related to nuclear development.



10-27-06 - Chris Bellamy: An enigma that only the Israelis can fully explain The initial tests on samples taken from the site of the Israeli strike on Khiam present an enigma which will only be solved when the people who produced and deployed the weapon explain themselves.


10-27-06 - Bush: World must 'double' effort on Iran nuclear program Israel says "Jump!", the US says "How high?".


10-27-06 - Israeli PM accuses world of doing 'nothing' over Iran


10-27-06 - Germany says Israel fired shots over unarmed ship The incident, which Israel has so far denied, was one of two involving the Israeli military and German forces in the region this week, defence spokesman Thomas Raabe told reporters Friday. "There have been two incidents, one involving a helicopter and another the Alster" a German electronic surveillance and reconnaissance ship.
A second incident.


10-27-06 - A 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldier hugs a young Iraqi boy in central Baghdad's Karradah district There's the difference between US soldiers and those of Israel.


10-27-06 - US to rebuild Mideast's highest bridge, damaged by Israel The United States will pay to rebuild the Mdairej bridge in Lebanon, the highest in the Middle East, which was damaged by Israeli bombs during the war this summer, a senior US official said. Deduct it from the billions in aid we give Israel. American taxpayers shouldn't have to pay any extra (to clean up after Israel) than they already do now.


10-27-06 - UN peacekeepers unlikely to disarm Hezbollah: Russia Ivanov said that concern over this aspect of the peacekeepers' mission was one of the reasons Moscow decided to send a peacekeeping contingent to Lebanon under an accord reached separately with the Lebanese government, instead of under the UN mandate


10-27-06 - Christian Zionism: An Egregious Threat to US-Mideast Understanding Christian Zionists have pushed the militarist policies of both Israel and the U.S. in an effort to secure the Holy Land in preparation for the coming of the "promised land." As part of this strategy, the U.S. occupation of Iraq is deemed absolutely necessary.


10-27-06 - Shin Bet to upgrade security in LA Airport Los Angeles International Airport invites team of security experts from Shin Bet, Ben Gurion Airport to examine airport's security arrangements. Say what? We allow the secret intelligence unit of a FOREIGN country offer up security advice to one of our major airports? How moronic is that?


10-27-06 - Will Harper back an Iran strike? The first order of business was to demonize Iran's fundamentalist Shia president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, portraying him not just as dangerous but as a madman. This is the goal behind the myth that on October 26 last year he called for "wiping Israel from the map." The Guardian, in an article on June 2, 2006, took the trouble to have a Farsi translator look at Ahmadinejad's infamous speech. He said no such thing.


10-27-06 - America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser US industry -- or at least what little is left of it -- is responsible. In the span of only a few decades, US industry has shrunken to half what it once was. A miscellaneous article - but an important one nonetheless.


10-27-06 - 50 Years After Suez, US Hegemony Ebbing Fast the Bush administration's failure to exercise any demonstrable pressure on Israel to seriously engage the Palestinians in a peace process, its transparent support for Israel's military offensive and bombing campaign in Lebanon last summer's war with Hezbollah, and its rejection to date of renewed Arab efforts to promote the 2002 Saudi peace plan in the wake of the Lebanon conflict have effectively destroyed the image of Washington as an honest broker. Thus far in his Presidency, Bush Jr. has refused to stand up to Israel like his old man did.


10-27-06 - 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers greet a young Iraqi boy in central Baghdad's Karradah district


10-27-06 - Rice?s Counselor Gives Advice Others May Not Want to Hear , in choosing Mr. Zelikow as her counselor, she eschewed Elliott L. Abrams, a darling of neoconservatives and the pro-Israel lobby.



10-27-06 - Israel denies German ship clash This is a denial of the first incident.


10-27-06 - Report: FBI In Expanded Aipac Probe the allegations - along with the upcoming trial of Rosen and Weissman, and the recent book deal signed by two of the pro-Israel lobby's most prominent and vocal critics, scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer - are likely to trigger increased media and public scrutiny of the pro-Israel lobby's efforts to influence the decision-making process in Washington.
Oh dear.


10-27-06 - Olmert compares Iran with Nazi Germany Look in the mirror. The Palestinians : have been forcibly expelled from their properties, had their properties seized, have been ghettoized and walled in, are deemed inferior by Zionists both past and present, are deemed a 'demographic problem' by Zionists both past and present, are collectively punished for the sins of a few, are impoverished and starving as most of the 'civilized world' turns a blind eye, are severely dehumanized in the Western media (at the behest of pro-Israeli media 'watchdogs'), are in need of a homeland.


10-27-06 - US Affairs: Is there an ally in the House? Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the only Holocaust survivor in Congress, is in line to become chairman of the House International Relations Committee if the Democrats win. But some rumblings suggest other lawmakers - namely Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) - may bypass him because of Lantos' support for the Iraq war. Privately, congressional aides say Lantos has been reassured by Pelosi that he will get the chairmanship; both men are considered strong backers of the Jewish state...... the new foreign operations subcommittee chair would be Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), a strong, proactive Israel backer. Lantos is an Israel-firster.


10-27-06 - High radiation levels said to be found after Israel's Lebanon bombing


10-27-06 - Early Opposition to Iraq War Bolsters Moran in House Race


10-27-06 - Israel and U.S. to expand civil air defense cooperation It's outrageous that our security systems continue to be outsourced to Israel.


10-27-06 - Why Is No One Talking About The 400-600 Israeli Nukes ?


10-27-06 - From 2002: Lieberman and Cheney March In the Footsteps of Joe McCarthy Among the agencies engaged in this coordinated witch-hunt are: View the article to check out the list of offenders, the usual (pro-Israeli) suspects. He forgot to include WND and FrontPage mag.


10-27-06 - Analysis: Aid could impact Muslim opinion And here's the key to winning hearts and minds: deeper American assistance directly to the people, following their expressed priorities."
A better idea: end the unconditional support of Israel's policies vis a vis the Palestinians. That would be the single greatest boost for America in not just the ME, but the world.


10-27-06 - Republican staffer threatened TAU funds

A Republican congressman reprimanded a staffer for threatening to cut U.S. funds to Tel Aviv University unless a donor agreed to stop backing his opponent.



10-27-06 - Former militia chief does not foresee civil war


10-27-06 - 1993 interrogation described Nadav also testified that in 1993 Judith Miller, then a New York Times reporter, visited the detention facility where Salah was being held.
Nadav said he asked Salah questions at Miller's direction. Strange.

News for 10-26-06

10-26-06 - Russia queries EU draft on Iran Moscow has said a draft UN Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear programme appears not to match positions agreed within the council.


10-26-06 - Confession that formed base of Iraq war was acquired under torture: journalist Libby was tortured in an Egyptian prison, according to Stephen Grey, the author of the newly-released book "Ghost Plane" who investigated the secret US Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA) prisons that housed terror suspects around the world


10-26-06 - Up to 85 Afghan civilians killed in US airstrike The President of Afghanistan has ordered an investigation into a night of Nato airstrikes that reportedly killed up to 85 civilians celebrating a major Islamic festival.


10-26-06 - Bolton: sanctions 'help regime change'


10-26-06 - Cheney confirms use of waterboarding Last year, in an interview with the BBC, Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, said that in an internal Bush administration debate about the use of the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of detainees, Cheney led the argument to "do away with all restrictions."


10-26-06 - U.S. nuclear secrets feared on stolen disk


10-26-06 - Witness grilled in CIA leak case Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald took on the first witness in the CIA leak case Thursday, dissecting an expert witness until she acknowledged errors and misstatements in her research.


10-26-06 - This is not another Iran Syria's acceptance of religious and ethnic diversity is extraordinary by international standards, let alone those of the Middle East.


10-26-06 - Iraq War Damaged U.S. Reputation, Say Americans


10-26-06 - Rice says 'axis of evil' proven right


10-26-06 - The strategic case for talking with Iran


10-26-06 - Russian project holds up Iran sanctions deal


10-26-06 - Iran denies Argentina bomb charge Mr Hoseyni said the charges were intended to divert "world attention from the perpetration of crimes by the Zionists against women and children in Palestine".


10-26-06 - Israel to provide F-15 fighter components Israel's Elbit Systems unit Cyclone has been awarded a $19 million contract with Boeing Co. to provide components for U.S. F-15 fighters.


10-26-06 - A U.S. soldier from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team plays with a child at a checkpoint in Baghdad


10-26-06 - Berlin wants 'smooth cooperation' with Israel after warplane incident "Shots were fired by Israeli planes. It is under investigation," a spokesman said. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has denied that the planes had fired at the German forces



10-26-06 - In pictures: Lebanon oil spill clean-up Fishermen who were badly affected by the war and Israel's sea blockade of Lebanon have been employed to clean the beaches.


10-26-06 - The Fault Lies in Ourselves Even if the Bush administration and the rubber-stamp Congress are held accountable in next month's election, the ringleaders of the war are unlikely to be brought to justice.


10-26-06 - An Iraqi boy smiles at a US soldier at a spot checkpoint setup as part of a series of measures to locate a missing US soldier


10-26-06 - What's for Dinner? The dinner was hardly an unusual one for AIPAC. The group often arranges such elite pow-wows at the homes of senior members of Congress and government officials (one in the mid-1990s was hosted by then Vice President Al Gore) as a way for AIPAC to both demonstrate its political clout and to provide a perk for major donors.


10-26-06 - U.N. sees hold-ups in Lebanon withdrawal Talks have been under way for weeks on Israel?s demand that the bolstered United Nations peacekeeper force in southern Lebanon impose new security regulations in Ghajar to ensure Hezbollah does not use the village as a conduit for attacks or drug smuggling.


10-26-06 - Bush: Returning Shalit would help Syria President Bush said facilitating the return of a captured Israeli soldier would help Syria in American eyes.


10-26-06 - Waxman blasts Justice on Harman A top congressional Democrat called on the Justice Department to publicize what it knows about an investigation into relations between AIPAC and a Jewish congresswoman.


10-26-06 - Peres: West bolsters Iran Shimon Peres chided the international community for not being firmer in its efforts to curb Iran?s nuclear program.



10-26-06 - Israel's DM reiterates continuation of overflights Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz reiterated on Thursday that Israeli Air Force (IAF) overflights would continue in Lebanon as long as the UN cease-fire resolution had not been fully implemented.


10-26-06 - Lieberman urges discretion on Iran "We have to wait and see what the European Union, United States, Russia and China do about Iran," Lieberman said. "We don't need to be on the front line on this issue. We just have to sit and wait."


10-26-06 - No aggression intended, Israel says after German ship incident The confrontation occurred when Israeli jets scrambled after a helicopter took off from a German frigate serving with a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) task force. German Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said six Israeli F- 16s had flown very low over the German vessel and one of them fired two shots into the air. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the helicopter took off without having coordinated this with Israel


10-26-06 - Argentine Jewish groups welcome call for Iranian arrests in AMIA case The prosecutors' call reprises the original investigative tack - first suggested by the Mossad and CIA - that pointed to Iran as the intellectual author of the attack.


10-26-06 - Agent's testimony contradicts Salah's torture claims The Salah case marks the first time that Israeli intelligence agents have testified on U.S. soil, and extraordinary security measures are in place to keep their identities secret


10-26-06 - Lebanon's celebrity hangout shakes off war hangover


10-26-06 - Israeli president rape charges spurred by Lebanon war: Putin

News for 10-25-06

10-25-06 - U.S. troops on active duty call for Iraq withdrawal "The real grievances are: Why are we in Iraq if the weapons of mass destruction are not found, if the links to al Qaeda are not substantiated," said Marine Sgt. Liam Madden of Rockingham, Vermont, who was in Iraq from September 2004 to February 2005 and is based at Quantico, Virginia.


"The occupation is perpetuating more violence," he said. "It's costing way too many Iraqi civilian and American service member lives while it brings us no benefit."
I'll tell you why you're in Iraq. See related news from this batch.

10-25-06 - 'US withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous for Israel' ** "...And what if the US becomes trigger-shy? No one else except the US has the military might to set back Iran's nuclear program. Maybe Israel, but it's not certain. If the US gets trigger-shy, then we're in trouble." .....The result would be that "the terror efforts currently directed against US forces in Iraq would be turned against Israel," Ahh. I see. So the US military is being used as a type of human shield.



10-25-06 - Bush warns N.Korea against selling nuclear arms


10-25-06 - European plans for arms sanctions against Iran are too weak, says US The United States indicated yesterday that it wants tougher sanctions on Iran - for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment - than the measures in a UN resolution drafted by Britain, France and Germany.


10-25-06 - US demands UN sanctions on Iran US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.


10-25-06 - Bush 'dissatisfied' with Iraq war


10-25-06 - UN powers unveil Iran sanctions draft


10-25-06 - Iran could have nuclear bomb by 2015: Germany ** Iran is unlikely to be able to develop a nuclear bomb before 2015, the chief of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency said on Tuesday.


10-25-06 - US naval war games off the Iranian coastline: A provocation which could lead to War? **


10-25-06 - Iran wants to boost Arab ties President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told Jordan's King Abdullah II in telephone talks that Iran is seeking to boost ties with Arab states in the Middle East, the state news agency IRNA reported


10-25-06 - Iraqis Were Better Off Under Saddam, Says Former Weapons Inspector


10-25-06 - No Excuses -There's no wriggling out of responsibility for the Iraq disaster "If only we knew then what we know now" ? that's the mantra we're hearing from the excuse-makers, Democrats as well as Republicans and repentant neocons, now that the truth about this rotten war is out there in the open, plain enough for even the willfully blind to see.


10-25-06 - Bush team defends US Iraq plans Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was among several officials defending the government's Iraq policy as adaptable, as US mid-term elections approach


10-25-06 - Military Build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf: Israel and NATO sign Framework Agreement ** This Israel-NATO framework agreement not only has a bearing on the military build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean, which in practice is directed against Syria and Lebanon, it is also related to the massive deployment of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf, oppositie Iran.


10-25-06 - Qatar offers to host Israeli delegation Long-term, Israeli leaders want to build contacts with moderate Arab states to counter the influence of Iran's anti- Israel government.


10-25-06 - 'Syria increasing preparedness following IDF maneuvers' According to the report, a Syrian source added that Israel?s military activity is increasing tensions in the region. He mentioned Chief of Staff Dan Halutz?s Monday to a Golan Heights division exercise as contributing to the heightened tensions.


10-25-06 - Israeli jets fire over German navy ship off Lebanon The daily Der Tagesspiegel quoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters had flown low over the ship, firing twice.


10-25-06 - Israel, Germany at odds over Lebanon air incident Israel denied a German newspaper report on Wednesday that two of its air force planes had fired twice as they flew over a German navy ship patrolling the Lebanon coast as part of an international peacekeeper force. This story sounds familiar...


10-25-06 - NATO: Israel ties must remain strong


10-25-06 - Part of Canada anti-terrorism law tossed


10-25-06 - UAE's Khalifa discusses Lebanon's reconstruction with Siniora


10-25-06 - Iran, Syria rapidly rearming Hezbollah Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday.....He met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, among others, on a visit to Washington this week in advance of U.S.-Israel security talks set for December.


10-25-06 - Iran charged over Argentina bomb Chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused the Iranian authorities of directing Hezbollah to carry out the attack.


10-25-06 - "I will only leave this house in a coffin" Palestinians living in Iraq have increasingly come under threat since the US-led occupation of the country began in 2003, according to a recent report by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.



10-25-06 - Dodd: U.S. wrong to urge Palestinian vote He joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also addressed the conference, in urging final passage before the year is out of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which would isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority....McCain said a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would endanger Israel.



10-25-06 - Ayalon: Focus on Palestinians before Iran "Taking care of the Iranian threat begins with achieving a diplomatic accord with the Palestinians," Ayalon told Israel Radio, adding that such an accord would help Israel enlist pan-Arab support for a tough stand against Tehran's nuclear program.


10-25-06 - Report: UN mediator in talks with Hezbollah so far unsuccessful


10-25-06 - Israel's experience with harsh questioning may provide guidance Mohammed Barghouthi - the labor minister for the Palestinian Authority, which is led by the militant group Hamas - was held and questioned for 48 days this summer before being released without charge. He said he was shackled to a chair in a painful position for hours at a time. But more painful, he said, were the threats against his family, the screams of interrogators and the humiliation of other Palestinian lawmakers that he was forced to witness. The problem is, Dion, this is exactly where the US got the ideas in the first place. It's where the term 'Palestinian hanging' came from and it's why it was used on Iraqi prisoners. This nation is heavily under the influence of a foreign entity.


10-25-06 - Candidates speak out on the issues On Israel What role should the United States play in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, and their "benefactors," Iran and Syria?


10-25-06 - Hamas expert's testimony continues in Salah trial On cross-examination, Levitt testified that many Palestinians also have been killed in the conflict and that living conditions in Gaza and the West Bank are often desperate


10-25-06 - Exclusive: Hillary Clinton On Israel, Iraq And Terror Sen. Clinton: First, I don't think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake.
If we were going to push for an election, we should have made sure we did something to determine who was going to win instead of signing off on an electoral system that advantaged Hamas.
"If we were going to push for an election, we should have made sure we did something to determine who was going to win"........

News for 10-24-06

10-24-06 - Severity of Injuries Requires New Forms of Rehabilitation A disturbingly high number of young US citizens are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with serious cases of brain damage. Most of them were injured by mortar, grenades or other explosives. Bullet-proof vests may protect the heart, but not even Kevlar helmets can offer complete protection for the head.


10-24-06 - After Pat's Birthday Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document. The MSM would appear to be ignoring this story.


10-24-06 - US in Iraq: We're out of here Coming after the White House formally abandoned Mr Bush's previous "stay the course" formulation for US policy, the appearance by Mr Khalilzad and General Casey seemed part of a carefully choreographed exercise to signal, without explicitly saying so, that a timetable for pull-out - long rejected by the President - was in fact taking shape.


10-24-06 - Iran expands nuclear centrifuge program, diplomats say A senior diplomat familiar with UN nuclear inspections in Iran said the Iranian program remained a long way from "industrial scale" capacity that would signal its emergence as a nuclear power, as North Korea showed on October 9 by detonating an atomic device


10-24-06 - Iran condemns US Gulf exercises ** Reports say the US is to hold naval exercises at the end of October with Bahrain, Kuwait, France and Britain


10-24-06 - German ministers 'knew about CIA torture cells' The German intelligence report said US interrogators at the base had beaten a 70-year-old terrorist suspect with rifle butts and that "his injuries meant that he had to be given 20 stitches to the head wound he sustained". The report said the American interrogator responsible "appeared to be proud" of his actions.


10-24-06 - UN talks on Iran sanctions could take weeks: US


10-24-06 - Bush drops 'stay the course' slogan for Iraq The White House says President George W Bush has retired his "stay the course" slogan for Iraq, worried about its use as a weapon against his Republican Party in the November elections.


10-24-06 - West wants Iran technology sales banned The U.S. and its allies want the U.N. Security Council to ban the sale of missile and atomic technology to Iran and end most U.N. help for its nuclear programs - moves diplomats said Tuesday are narrowly focused in hopes of winning Russian and Chinese backing for sanctions.


10-24-06 - Moves toward War with Iran: Part 2 **


10-24-06 - Outrage over North Korea dissipates


10-24-06 - Iraq in danger of breaking up: Russia Iraq could break up unless steps are taken towards unifying it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said, amid rising fears over the future of the war-shattered country.


10-24-06 - Opec quota pledges lift oil price Oil prices are back above $59 a barrel, after confirmation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that it will follow Saudi Arabia and cut output next month Why isn't gasoline under $2/gallon? It's after Labor Day, there are no hurricanes (that have made landfall in the US), etc etc etc. Where is the outrage America? You're being soaked.


10-24-06 - Pressure grows on Bush to soften approach to Syria The debate over Syria has been fuelled by the Iraq Study Group, which was set up by Congress to look at policy choices in Iraq and led by James Baker, the former secretary of state. Political analysts expect it will call for a regional contact group that includes Syria and Iran


10-24-06 - Gitmo interrogations spark battle over tactics - The inside story of criminal investigators who tried to stop abuse In the end, the law enforcement investigators said, they were not able to stop abusive interrogations, but they were able to slow them.


10-24-06 - Time for Bush to talk to Iran and Syria


10-24-06 - ElBaradei warns on sanctions on N.Korea, Iran New U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea and under consideration for Iran could empower hardliners in both countries, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned on Monday.


10-24-06 - Perle, Ex-Pentagon Aide, Dropped From SEC's Probe of Hollinger The leading architect of U.S. nuclear arms policy during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, Perle served on the Pentagon's advisory Defense Policy Board for 17 years until he quit in 2004. He's a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, and advised Bush on foreign policy during the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign


10-24-06 - U.S. blames Iran, Syria for Iraq violence The Orwellian phenomenon of America's foreign policy continues.


10-24-06 - Syria has done nothing to deserve sanctions: Russian FM "Frankly, I do not see what Syria could have done to deserve facing sanctions," Sergei Lavrov told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.


10-24-06 - Why Didn't the US Warn Us about the 9/11 Terrorists?


10-24-06 - Michael Savage Backs Jerry Brown America's most fiery conservative talk show host backing liberal Jerry Brown for California's attorney general?


10-24-06 - Air Force to Establish New Cyberspace Operations Command Lani Kass, director of of the service's Cyberspace Task Force, served in the IDF. She also served at the Pentagon - what a surprise. And it looks like I answered one of my own questions from last week.


10-24-06 - The Bush Administration's Assault on Defense Lawyers


10-24-06 - 500,000 Iraqis make a new life in Syria Palestinians, Lebanese and now Iraqis find refuge in Syria as a result of US-Israeli policy in the region. Some legacy, eh?


10-24-06 - Senior US diplomat's candor gets play in the Middle East, ire at home


10-24-06 - Russia: Go easy on Hamas Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Tuesday that it?s unrealistic for Western powers to shun the radical Islamist group to get it to recognize Israel?s right to exist and renounce terrorism.



10-24-06 - Despite friendly words, Olmert visit to Russia highlights Iran differences "It is necessary to act on Iran, but that action should be in direct proportion to what is really happening," the RIA-Novosti Russian news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. "And what is really happening is what the" International Atomic Energy Agency "reports to us. And the IAEA is not reporting to us about the presence there of a threat to peace and security."


10-24-06 - Report that Jews backed Harman for help on AIPAC trial dismissed The lead Democratic Party donor making the case for Harman was Haim Saban, the Power Rangers toy and TV-show magnate, who also has been a major donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Brookings Institution, where a center for Middle East studies was established in his name. Saban, a dual Israeli citizen, also is a donor to Israel's Labor Party....Sources close to Harman, who is Jewish, and Pelosi acknowledged that there has been such lobbying, but added that it's par for the course and not illegal, though Pelosi has made it clear she resents the pressure


10-24-06 - Olmert pins hopes on Lieberman to stop Iran ** Beside Olmert's faith in President Bush and the United Nation to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, the prime minister is seeking to speed up Israel's preparations for a possible confrontation with Iran.


10-24-06 - Iran warns of U.S., Israel ME schemes He cautioned peoples of the region -- "especially the Lebanese and Palestinians" -- as well as all Muslim nations not to fall for the U.S. plan or act in a way that serves Washington's and Israel's schemes


10-24-06 - Israeli deputy PM warns of Iranian nuclear threat "We discussed the Iranian issue which is a threat not only against the state of Israel but it is a threat against all the Western countries," Mofaz told reporters after meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns, the State Department's number three, in charge of the Iranian nuclear issue.


10-24-06 - Governments say they follow U.S. on jail treatment That's quite an example we're setting.


10-24-06 - Student admits bomb hoax in bid to delay flight The 21-year-old, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a felony count of conveying false information of a threat targeting an airplane. He faces from probation to five years in prison at sentencing Jan. 29.



10-24-06 - Government expert tells terrorism trial of Mideast violence A terrorism expert told a federal court jury Tuesday that suicide bombers have killed hundreds of Israelis but a defense attorney said five times as many Palestinians have died amid the violent conflict. Palestine on trial in the US courts.


10-24-06 - Democratic leaders: Carter wrong on Israel Both parties must pander to the Israeli lobby - lest they be perceived as hostile to Israel, and thus lose the elections. The interests of the majority of Americans (who do not make up the Israeli lobby) do not factor in.

News for 10-23-06

10-23-06 - Iran defiant on nuclear as sanctions loom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed his country will not retreat even "an inch" over its nuclear programme despite the mounting threat of UN sanctions.


10-23-06 - US 'cannot stay course' in Iraq The US is not winning in Iraq and will not be able to stay the course in the long-term, a US state department insider has said.


10-23-06 - Halliburton Will Spin Off KBR Unit Halliburton's Iraq-related work contributed nearly $1.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2006 and $45 million of operating income, a performance that pleased analysts.


10-23-06 - Intel: What the Brits Said the foreign rep cautioned, "I hope we can all agree that we should concentrate on Afghanistan and not be tempted to launch any attacks on Iraq."


10-23-06 - Pilot who lost her legs in Iraq takes on Republicans


10-23-06 - Londoner was victim of secret CIA rendition Newly revealed flight logs of a CIA Gulfstream executive jet ? detailed in a book to be published this week ? indicate that it was used in April 2002 to transport Martin Mubanga, a Londoner now aged 33, to Guantanamo after he was captured in Zambia.


10-23-06 - The President's Saudi Moment Reportedly, the Saudis have amended it since it was first introduced in 2002. In its previous incarnation, it would have required Israel to relinquish all of the territories occupied in 1967 as a precondition to negotiations toward a peace agreement between Israel and the entire Arab League. The current version drops the precondition and envisions negotiations under international auspices


10-23-06 - UN hands 'final' Hariri tribunal plan to Lebanon


10-23-06 - Israel warplanes in Lebanon overflights in defiance of France Two warplanes twice flew low over Beirut, police said Monday, with four planes carrying out similar mock raid over southern Lebanon, causing a sonic boom over the port city of Tyre, as Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan.


10-23-06 - Washington Whispers Jack Abramoff, the lobbying scandal figure, has become such a chatty rat that probe insiders say he's been given a desk to work at in the FBI. We're told he spends up to four hours a day detailing his shady business to agents eager to nail more congressmen in the scandal


10-23-06 - Breaking the Silence - The debate ignited by Walt and Mearsheimer gathers momentum. On any other political question?abortion, guns, health care?it is understood that there are two sides, but in the United States (and only in the United States), where Israel is concerned there is only one position. As far as I'm concerned, with respect to America's well being, Mearsheimer and Walt rank right up there with the founding fathers of this nation.


10-23-06 - Olmert appeals to world on Iran threats ** Israel considers Iran to be the greatest threat to its survival, and rejects Tehran's claim that its nuclear program is peaceful


10-23-06 - Peretz: IAF to overfly Lebanon until soldiers back


10-23-06 - Top Dems slam Carter book
According to advance publicity, the book argues that Israel?s settlement policy is principally to blame for the failure of peace initiatives in the Middle East. AIPAC's shills on Capitol Hill take Carter to task for daring to speak out.


10-23-06 - Israeli envoy protests Iranian statements Israel's U.N. envoy protested recent threatening statements against the Jewish state by Iran's president.


10-23-06 - Israel-U.S. to develop plane defense? Israel and the United States are considering the joint development of defense systems for civilian aircraft. Just curious, does "joint development" mean Israel develops it, the US pays for it, and Israel uses it? Or that the US develops it, the US pays for it, and Israel uses it?....


10-23-06 - The Lobby, Unmasked


10-23-06 - Elections to Watch

News for 10-22-06

10-22-06 - Helping the hungry on base - Many military families rely on donated goods "Here they are defending the country. . . . It is heartbreaking to see,"


10-22-06 - The Next War ** We face today a crisis similar to those of 1964 and 2002, a crisis hidden once again from the public and most of Congress. Articles by Seymour Hersh and others have revealed that, as in both those earlier cases, the president has secretly directed the completion, though not yet execution, of military operational plans?not merely hypothetical ?contingency plans? but constantly updated plans, with movement of forces and high states of readiness, for prompt implementation on command?for attacking a country that, unless attacked itself, poses no threat to the United States: in this case, Iran.... Assuming Hersh?s so-far anonymous sources mean what they say?that this is, as one puts it, ?a juggernaut that has to be stopped??I believe it is time for one or more of them to go beyond fragmentary leaks unaccompanied by documents. That means doing what no other active official or consultant has ever done in a timely way
Speak up now before it's too late.


10-22-06 - US official retracts Iraq remarks


10-22-06 - Nuclear 'carrot and stick' approach doomed: Iran Mr Hosseini said imposing sanctions would have an impact beyond the region. "But if they choose sanctions, we will make appropriate decisions in proportion with that," he said.


10-22-06 - Rice: 'N Korea escalating crisis'


10-22-06 - Russian rebuke for Rice over N Korea


10-22-06 - Neocrazy Media Nuke Cover-up


10-22-06 - U.S. reportedly has Iraq security timetable But a White House spokeswoman disputed the account.


10-22-06 - Boy killed by Israeli cluster bomb in Lebanon


10-22-06 - Gasoline prices tumble again Gas prices continued their downward spiral across the nation, falling by an average of nearly 8 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, the publisher of the national Lundberg Survey said Sunday.


10-22-06 - Israel: Flights over Lebanon to continue French Maj. Gen. Alain Pelligrini, who leads the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, said last week that the overflights are a major concern. A day later, France's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie called the overflights "extremely dangerous" because the peacekeepers on the ground could see them as hostile acts and fire in self-defense.


10-22-06 - Sombre mood as south Lebanon gears up for Eid


10-22-06 - The post-Israel Middle East The Zionists have put all their eggs in the basket of American support, but that basket has developed two holes. One is the paradox that support for the Zionist series of wars and conflicts has so weakened the United States that it is no longer a reliable ally. Faced with a real crisis in Korea, the Americans are powerless to do anything, and have to rely on China to fix things. Some Israelis are already setting up shop in China. And then there's this. I predicted as much a couple of years ago on a message board.


10-22-06 - Israel admits phosphorus bombing Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said in late July: "According to the Geneva Convention, when they use phosphorus bombs and laser bombs, is that allowed against civilians and children?" We used phosphorous too - in Iraq. But due to the inordinate amount of civilians Israel killed in Lebanon (disproportionate to the amount of Hezbollah fighters that they killed), it's safe to say that it was likely used against the Lebanese civvies. Our army isn't perfect, but for the most part, our guys don't harbor the animosity toward Arabs that the Israelis do.


10-22-06 - Israel admits it used phosphorus weapons Unexploded cluster bombs in Lebanon have regularly killed and maimed civilians since the end of the war. Rami Ali Hussein Shibly, 12, was killed and his nine-year-old brother brother, Khodr, injured yesterday by a cluster bomb as they picked olives in Halta. He was 21st person to be killed by the bomblets since the fighting ended


10-22-06 - Israel downplays Russian's Hamas comment


10-22-06 - A call to abolish cluster bombs Cluster munitions are not banned weapons, but their use in civilian areas violates the international ban on the use of indiscriminate weapons. According to the UN, 90 percent of the cluster bombs were dropped in the last 72 hours of the war - when all parties knew a cease-fire was imminent......A congressional investigation into the munitions' use after Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon pressured the Reagan administration to ban sales of cluster weapons to Israel for six years.


10-22-06 - Radical Islam finds US 'sterile ground' In mosques in America, it's fairly common for imams to preach assimilation, says Mr. Zogby. That's not as true in Europe, particularly in poorer neighborhoods where sermons can be laced with extremism.


10-22-06 - Poll: Jewish support for Iran strike declining Thirty-eight percent of American Jews would support U.S. military action against Iran, according to the American Jewish Committee?s annual survey of U.S. Jewish opinion, down from 49 percent last year.


10-22-06 - Peace with Syria should be explored: Israeli DM However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has dismissed Assad's remarks about peace with Israel and declared that he would never give back the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights were seized by Israel during the Six Day War - a war that Syria did not start. Some say that Israel's plans to seize this prized piece of land were the reason they attacked and tried to sink the USS Liberty and all aboard - because the US would not have supported this plan if she discovered it (via the Liberty's surveillance).


10-22-06 - Report: Spy heading U.N. hostage efforts The United Nations reportedly appointed a German spy to help secure the release of two Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hezbollah.


10-22-06 - Report: Olmert Met with Saudi Officials The Prime Minister's office said earlier this month that there was no truth to reports of the meeting, but various sources have confirmed that he and two top intelligence and military officers flew to the palace of King Abdullah

News for 10-21-06

10-21-06 - United States numb to Iraq troop deaths: experts To date, none of the people responsible for cherrypicking the intel and deceiving the American people into giving support to go to war in Iraq have been brought to justice. Why?


10-21-06 - Carter says Bush partly to blame for N.Korea test


10-21-06 - Researchers defend Iraq war deaths estimate Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad estimated with 95 per cent certainty that the war and its aftermath have resulted in the deaths of between 426,000 and 794,000 Iraqis.


10-21-06 - Iran sees no reason to halt enrichment, urges talks


10-21-06 - Russia warns against Iran 'regime change' through UN Russia would oppose any effort to use the UN Security Council to promote a change of regime in Iran, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said in an interview.


10-21-06 - China says it will play "constructive role" on Iran "China is ready to continue with its constructive role in the process of peacefully resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations," Li said.


10-21-06 - Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.


10-21-06 - Hutchison: WMD info swayed vote on Iraq "If I had known then what I know now about the weapons of mass destruction, which was a key reason that I voted to go in there, I would not vote to go into Iraq the way we did," Hutchison said. "But I have to say, I don't think the president would have asked for that vote, either. We had intelligence that we relied on." The intelligence issue was addressed in "The Dark Side" a Frontline special on PBS which you still might be able to see here online.


10-21-06 - From Baghdad to Washington: How the war came to the White House The ISG has consulted 130 experts, in the military, the administration, in Congress, as well as academics, journalists and outside specialists, both American and foreign, including many senior Iraqis - in short, a far wider spectrum of opinion and knowledge than ever drawn upon by the White House in its calamitous rush to war. The group will publish its conclusions after November's mid-term elections. Just possibly, they will give Bush junior a way out of the débâcle he created. But why, oh why, didn't he listen to his father in the first place?



10-21-06 - US 'arrogant and stupid' in Iraq A senior US state department official has said that the US has shown "arrogance and stupidity" in Iraq.


10-21-06 - Iraq limits data on death toll from violence: UN Instead, the data would come from the Prime Minister's communications director, a change that could politicise the figures.


10-21-06 - Politics&Policies: Cheney - War going well Replying to a question on a radio talk show Vice President Dick Cheney said he believes the war in Iraq is going "remarkably well." Nope, oh no. Mm mm.


10-21-06 - GOP to air ad warning of terror attacks The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998. "These are the stakes," the ad concludes. "Vote November 7."


10-21-06 - An Old Bush Hand Takes on a New Role on the Iraq War For years, James A. Baker III was asked to explain why the first President Bush, whom he served as secretary of state, did not oust Saddam Hussein in 1991 at the end of the Persian Gulf war. "Guess what?" Mr. Baker says nowadays. "Nobody asks me that anymore."

10-21-06 - Rice prods Moscow on press freedom, Iran Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday delivered a symbolic rebuke to Russia over shrinking press freedoms even as she courted President Vladimir Putin for help punishing Iran over its nuclear program Hmm, let's see. Israeli officials travel to Washington this week. Then, Olmert travels to see Putin yesterday and fails to get support on Iran. One day later, Rice is in Russia to get support on Iran.


10-21-06 - ICRC concerned over new US terror law The International Committee of the Red Cross raised concerns on Thursday about recent US legislation that creates military commissions to try prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and redefines American obligations under the Geneva conventions.


10-21-06 - Iran suggests talks with West


10-21-06 - More than 750,000 Iraqis displaced since US invasion: UNHCR Iraqis were also fleeing abroad in tens of thousands every month


10-21-06 - US call over Guantanamo detainees The US State Department's chief legal adviser has challenged foreign governments to stop calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay camp.


10-21-06 - Peres: Israel has no intention of attacking Iran ** Israel has said repeatedly it wants the United States and other countries to take the lead in dealing with Iran If they can get us to do it for them. Israeli officials have in the recent past demanded that the US deal with Iran and Syria.


10-21-06 - Inside the Hero Factory "When people ask me if this movie is applicable to today," Eastwood told NEWSWEEK, "I say, 'Well, you know, everything is ... Everyone's distorting things, just as they distorted them then'."


10-21-06 - Russia calls for one-step-at-a-time approach in talks with Hamas Lavrov said it was unrealistic for Hamas to fulfill all of the Quartet's requirements immediately and that the Islamist group should be given more time.


10-21-06 - The War Party, Then and Now


10-21-06 - South Lebanon gets first state reconstruction aid Owners of entirely destroyed houses receive 40,000 dollars, with compensation for lesser damage awarded according to an official assessment.


10-21-06 - Hezbollah again calls for 'national unity cabinet' The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah repeated its call for a national unity cabinet for the country, calling it a "serious option it is useless to try to avoid."


10-21-06 - Exclusive: Feds Probe a Top Democrat's Relationship with AIPAC Did a Democratic member of Congress improperly enlist the support of a major pro-Israel lobbying group to try to win a top committee assignment? That's the question at the heart of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors, who are examining whether Rep. Jane Harman of California and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) may have violated the law in a scheme to get Harman reappointed as the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, according to knowledgeable sources in and out of the U.S. government.


10-21-06 - A US soldier distributes candies to Shiite Iraqi children at a camp for displaced people, north of Baghdad


10-21-06 - Essential ally - Pro-Israel lobby gathering here will examine some of the most troubling challenges to U.S. foreign policy AIPAC's mission is almost as essential for the United States as it is for Israel. BS.

News for 10-20-06

10-20-06 - Troops With Stress Disorders Being Redeployed Under pressure to maintain troop levels, military doctors tell CBS News it's become a "common practice" to recycle soldiers with mental disorders back into combat. This is outright BS.


10-20-06 - Report: N. Korea 'Sorry' for Nuke Test North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Pyongyang didn't plan to carry out any more nuclear tests and expressed regret about the country's first-ever atomic detonation last week, a South Korean news agency reported Friday.


10-20-06 - Millions Stolen From Iraq's Treasury More than half a billion dollars earmarked to fight the insurgency in Iraq was stolen by people the U.S. had entrusted to run the country's Ministry of Defense before the 2005 elections, according to Iraqi investigators.


10-20-06 - Security officials: Britain now Al Qaeda's #1 target


10-20-06 - Iran asserts atom work is unaffected by N. Korea


10-20-06 - Ahmadinejad says to sell nuclear fuel to west in five years "We promise to produce (nuclear fuel) in the next five years and will sell it (to the West) at a 50 percent discount," Ahmadinejad told a rally in support of the Palestinian people in Tehran.


10-20-06 - Four Palestinian refugees killed in Iraq, eight injured An unknown armed group in Iraq fired, on Thursday night, mortar shells and rounds of live ammunition at a Palestinian neighbourhood of Al Baladiya an area in Baghdad, killing four Palestinian refugees and injuring at least eight others.


10-20-06 - Syrian Opposition To Open Washington Office The umbrella group, known as the National Salvation Front, already has the tacit approval of the National Security Council


10-20-06 - Judge orders Cheney visitor logs opened While researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, The Washington Post asked in June for two years of White House visitor logs. The Secret Service refused to process the request, which government attorneys called "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."


10-20-06 - Oil price falls after Opec deal Oil prices have fallen despite Opec's announcement that it will curb crude output by 1.2 million barrels per day. Let's get 'er back down to 40/ barrel!


10-20-06 - UNHCR decries Palestinian plight in Iraq Shelling of a Palestinian neighborhood in Baghdad has left four dead, prompting the U.N. refugee agency to renew appeals for local and regional responsibility.


10-20-06 - Iraqis protest against Israel on 'Jerusalem Day' More than a thousand Iraqi Shiite protesters have taken to the streets of Baghdad, Basra and Najaf to condemn Israel and demand that Jerusalem be handed over to Palestinian control.


10-20-06 - The week the war unravelled: Bush to 'refocus' Iraq strategy The ranks of influential Republican senators and congressmen who proclaim that the present state of affairs cannot long continue are growing by the day.


10-20-06 - Glasgow rally to protest against 'unacceptable anti-Muslim rhetoric'


10-20-06 - Protest in Syria to mark 'Jerusalem Day'


10-20-06 - Israeli planes steering clear of Lebanon: France The French cabinet minister told a news conference at U.N. headquarters that the Israeli air incursions were "extremely dangerous" and should stop permanently.


10-20-06 - Iran 'should stop student bans' Human Rights Watch says according to documents it has obtained, Iran's Ministry of Information - which performs intelligence functions - is orchestrating what it describes as a campaign to deny student activists their right to education Speaking of HRW and student bans, where is HRW's condemnation of Israel's ban of the Palestinian student (from today's news), mm? Israel is doing the same exact thing.


10-20-06 - UN: UNIFIL won?t shoot IAF planes UNIFIL forces have no intention of firing at Israeli planes patrolling Beirut?s skies, United Nations spokesperson Stefan Dujarric said Thursday. Furthermore, the UN has no plans to change the rules of engagement to permit the targeting of IAF planes.


10-20-06 - Judith Miller Agrees To Testify in Chicago Hamas Trial She also said a former New York Times reporter, Judith Miller, would testify that she witnessed part of the interrogation of Mr. Salah and saw no torture or mistreatment Judy Miller - she's everywhere the neocons need her to be... Or so it would seem.


10-20-06 - Report: FBI Investigating SoCal Boeing Scientist Court papers show that Lesnik works in the development of anti-missile systems for aircraft and holds Pentagon security clearances for top-secret information.


10-20-06 - Putin jokes about Israeli sex scandal


10-20-06 - Ahmadinejad predicts Israel's collapse, warns of 'boiling wrath' "You (the Western powers) should know that any government that stands by the Zionist regime from now on will not see any result but the hatred of the people," he added. "The wrath of the region's people is boiling."


10-20-06 - Iranian leader threatens Israel's allies ** President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad branded Israeli leaders "a group of terrorists" Friday, after Israel's prime minister warned Tehran would have "a price to pay" if it does not roll back its nuclear program.


10-20-06 - Russia says Hizbullah used US arms


10-20-06 - Livni: Lebanon's calls for peace talks prove war has left its mark Speaking to Kadima party members in Dimona, Livni said Berri's statement is "the best proof that the war has changed the rules of conduct in Lebanon, and now different voices are heard."


10-20-06 - Israel, U.S. agree: Not the time for Syria talks


10-20-06 - NCC president finds fear, frustration in Lebanon In the town of Cana, just below a home that had been so recently bombed, there were pictures of the several families that were killed lining the walls of the makeshift cemetery where the bodies were buried. Many of the pictures were of children, one after another. I got about half way through, walking alongside the mayor of Cana, and was overwhelmed with grief


10-20-06 - Russia welcomes Fatah-Hamas vow to end internal violence


10-20-06 - Menendez backs Lieberman, for a few hours U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) withdrew an endorsement of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) hours after he made it to a Jewish audience.


10-20-06 - Air Force dilutes 'pluralism' Evangelicals supported legislation that would have allowed chaplains to name Jesus in multifaith prayers but Jewish groups, spurred by reports of coercive evangelism in the military, led lobbying that killed the legislation.



10-20-06 - Carter Book Slaps Israel With 'Apartheid' Tag, Provides Ammo to GOP Israel's current policy in the territories, Carter writes in the book's summary, is "a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights." In a separate passage in the advance draft, the former president stated that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." You can pre-order this book at Amazon.


10-20-06 - Lebanon receives 300 mln USD from Kuwait for rebuilding Lebanon has received a grant of 300 million U.S. dollars from Kuwait for helping its post-war rebuilding, Lebanon's newspaper Daily Star reported Wednesday


10-20-06 - LEBANON: Fishermen survive on handouts The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in August that the Ouzai Harbour was "the most polluted and damaged harbour in Lebanon, after nearly 320 boats were destroyed and sank after Israeli air raids on the harbour, fish market and cafeteria".



10-20-06 - Lebanon's Hezbollah Marks Jerusalem Day


10-20-06 - N. Korea, Mideast states, refuse chemical arms ban


10-20-06 - Four detained in Saudi Arabia for supporting Hezbollah Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, fears the rising influence of Shi'ite power in Iran and in the Arab world. It has criticized Israeli military action in Lebanon but has also blamed the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for provoking the crisis.



10-20-06 - Israelis coming to D.C. Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter met this week with Stephen Hadley, the White House?s national security adviser. Stephen Hadley is a neocon.


10-20-06 - Pollard to PM: Your silence costing me my life


10-20-06 - Turkish troops arrive in Lebanon Turkey is the first contributor with a majority Muslim population.


10-20-06 - Terror suspect says CIA recruited him