News for 01-30-07

01-30-07 - Senators warn against war with Iran ** Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., a possible presidential candidate, asked Negroponte if he thinks the United States is edging toward a military confrontation with Tehran. In response, Negroponte repeated President Bush's oft-stated preference for diplomacy, although he later added, "We don't rule out other possibilities."


01-30-07 - Officials: White House Holding Back Report Detailing Iran's Meddling in Iraq ** A plan by the Bush administration to release detailed and possibly damning specific evidence linking the Iranian government to efforts to destabilize Iraq have been put on hold, U.S. officials told FOX News.


01-30-07 - Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq


01-30-07 - Bush 'spoiling for a fight' with Iran** US officials in Baghdad and Washington are expected to unveil a secret intelligence "dossier" this week detailing evidence of Iran's alleged complicity in attacks on American troops in Iraq. The move, uncomfortably echoing Downing Street's dossier debacle in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, is one more sign that the Bush administration is building a case for war.


01-30-07 - The Feingold Option - How to end the war


01-30-07 - Negroponte says Iran cannot go unchallenged in Iraq


01-30-07 - Experts: US-Iran tensions could trigger accidental war ** Neocons are giddy at the prospect, no doubt.


01-30-07 - Miller testimony contradicts Libby story


01-30-07 - FBI turns to broad new wiretap method "What they're doing is even worse than Carnivore," said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who attended the Stanford event. "What they're doing is intercepting everyone and then choosing their targets."


01-30-07 - US chief seeks new tack on Iraq Admiral William Fallon told a Senate confirmation hearing that "time is short" for the US to turn Iraq around.
Countering Iranian influence in Iraq would also be an important priority if he was confirmed in his post



01-30-07 - Sockgate featuring Paul Wolfowitz Listen, it could happen to any of us...


01-30-07 - Kucinich: Bush's actions 'could lead to impeachment' ** Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) says the White House is "up to its old tricks" as it preparess for a U.S. attack on Iran, according to a press release.


01-30-07 - Israel not likely to face sanction for breaching cluster-bomb pact A pro-Israel lobbyist said one possible repercussion is that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) may reintroduce legislation to make the sale of cluster bombs explicitly conditional on not using them in civilian areas.


01-30-07 - Bush: Iraq failure impacts Iran ** Israeli leaders have expressed concerns that controversies surrounding the Iraq war will inhibit U.S. resolve in confronting Iran?s nuclear program.


01-30-07 - Avoiding another US war in the Middle East **


01-30-07 - Pentagon halts sale of F-14 parts


01-30-07 - U.N. says 700 Palestinians stranded at Iraq border Some 700 Palestinians are stranded at the Iraq-Syria border, living in inhumane conditions in no-man's land after fleeing violence in Iraq, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.


01-30-07 - Israeli Realism on Iran Belies Threat Rhetoric Occasionally, Israeli officials do let slip indications that their fears of Iran are less extreme than the "second holocaust" rhetoric would indicate. Last November, Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh explained candidly in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that the fear was not that such weapons would be launched against Israel but that the existence of nuclear capability would interfere with Israel's recruitment of new immigrants and cause more Israelis to emigrate to other countries.


01-30-07 - Baker: Syria talks may help Israel If the Bush administration opened a dialogue with Syria it could remove a major roadblock to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking - Hamas' refusal to recognize the Jewish state - former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Tuesday.


01-30-07 - Consequences of US commitment to Iraq America's focus on Iraq is allowing Russia and China to assert themselves


01-30-07 - Judge rejects complaint in AIPAC ex-staffers case The judge in the classified information case against two former AIPAC staffers dismissed their request for a hearing on what they called violations of grand jury leak laws.


01-30-07 - Iran, Israel, and our shared security goals By Newt Gingrich The US should have as an explicit goal, regime change in Iran, as its constitution makes them a revolutionary regime.....If we are going to live with the Palestinians then we need to gain control of their urban spaces


01-30-07 - Nasrallah vows Lebanon will be graveyard for invaders Nasrallah, addressing a huge crowd gathered for the sacred Shiite day of Ashura, accused US President George W. Bush and Israel of "trying to defeat resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq by starting civil wars."


01-30-07 - Israel was skeptical of Iraq, scholar says "Israel was very aware of the fact that from its point of view, Iran was the bigger threat." Israel wants all of its enemies removed - by US.


01-30-07 - Here We Go Again - Pentagon leaks 'proof positive' against Iran


01-30-07 - Event billed as speech by ex-terrorists draws ire "Where is the FBI? Where is the (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to strip his citizenship, as they did with so many others with so fewer allegations?" These 'former terrorists' are darlings of the Israeli lobby - THAT'S why they're allowed in this country; to propagandize. Others that committed lesser crimes are in our PRISONS right now.


01-30-07 - Wolf Blitzer is a Zionist

News for 01-29-07

01-29-07 - Soldiers Against Iraq Desert To Canada "A lot of guys whose skin was melted off," he said. "A lot of guys who you couldn't recognize literally from their face to their feet. Missing arms, missing legs, couldn't breathe on their own, couldn't feed themselves. These kids, literally kids ? 17, 18, 19, 20. And this look in their eyes that ? Oh, I?m never gonna forget it. The look in their eyes when they finally come to understand that they're never gonna walk again. They're never gonna hold their wife and their children again. And having them ask me, 'Why?' Ya know ? a 'big-picture why.' And I couldn't tell them."



01-29-07 - US rejects Iran nuclear 'timeout' The US has rejected a call from the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog for a "timeout" in the showdown with Iran over its nuclear programme.


01-29-07 - Bush warns Iran, Syria, Hezbollah on Lebanon US President George W. Bush deplored recent violence in Lebanon and warned that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah must be "called to account" for trying to destabilize that country.


01-29-07 - On Iran, Bush confronts echoes of Iraq ** Washington: As President Bush and his aides calibrate how directly to confront Iran, they are discovering that both their words and their strategy are haunted by the echoes of four years ago ? when their warnings of terrorist activity and nuclear ambitions were clearly a prelude to war. It's what happens when people who stampede America to war under false pretenses are not held accountable. Read on: "It has not helped that even as the administration is making its case against Iran, the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was opening just a few blocks away." Is Fitzgerald going to be our savior? Will the Libby trial and all that comes with it deliver us from another major Middle East war?


01-29-07 - Bush Warns Iran Against Action in Iraq "If Iran escalates its military actions in Iraq to the detriment of our troops and - or innocent Iraqi people, we will respond firmly," Bush said in an interview with National Public Radio.


01-29-07 - Fleischer recalls discussion about Plame Fleischer said Libby told him about Valerie Plame's job at the CIA over a lunch in the White House mess on July 7, 2003. But Libby has told investigators he thought he first learned about Plame on July 10 from NBC reporter Tim Russert.


01-29-07 - America ?Poised to Strike at Iran's Nuclear Sites' from Bases in Bulgaria and Romania** Sofia's news of advanced war preparations along the Black Sea is backed up by some chilling details. One is the setting up of new refuelling places for US Stealth bombers, which would spearhead an attack on Iran


01-29-07 - US must abandon Iraqi cities or face nightmare scenario, say experts Everywhere looms the shadow of Iran. In a "war game" testing US options, the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution found that, as the descent into civil war gathered pace, confrontation between the US and Iran intensified, and Washington's leverage on Tehran diminished. Why the Saban Center is so named.


01-29-07 - Bush's backdoor attack: Iran via Hizbullah New policy authorizing attacks on Iranian agents in Iraq also allows for covert ops against Iran-backed terror groups all across ME, including Hizbullah Evidently, the US just isn't doing enough to take out Israel's enemies.


01-29-07 - United States: Cut Off Cluster Munition Sales to Israel "We've investigated cluster munitions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but we?ve never seen use of cluster munitions that was so extensive and dangerous to civilians," said Steve Goose, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch. "The issue is not whether Israel used the American cluster munitions lawfully, but what the US is going to do about it."


01-29-07 - Rep. John Conyers: "Congress Can Fire Bush!"


01-29-07 - No Substitute for Free and Unfettered News Gathering by Phil Donahue


01-29-07 - US studies Israel's cluster bomb use in Lebanon Opinion among US officials was divided, the New York Times reported at the weekend. The paper said some middle-ranking officials at the Pentagon and the state department were arguing that Israel had violated prohibitions on using cluster munitions against civilian areas......"What is shocking and completely immoral is 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," the UN humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, said soon after the war ended.


01-29-07 - Murdoch: Big media has less sway on Internet Big media conglomerates have less influence amid the continued explosion of news sites, blogs and podcasts, News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in the session moderated by Charlie Rose and available via Webcast. "It's so pluralistic," Murdoch said. "We all have less power, much less...(we) the big companies." And that's a good thing. The power belongs in the hands of the people.


01-29-07 - Saudis to Keep Oil at $50 Barrel It's about time.


01-29-07 - Cluster bomb wounds two Belgian soldiers in Lebanon A cluster bomb explosion has wounded two Belgian soldiers on demining operations in southern Lebanon following last summer's war between Hezbollah and Israel, a UN spokesman said.


01-29-07 - Beirut family struggles with war's legacy echoing the views of Hizbullah leaders, this family's anger is aimed at Israel and the US, which many Lebanese and Arabs blame for not stopping Israel from systematically destroying Lebanon's infrastructure.


01-29-07 - Exclusive: IAF to buy US smart bombs According to defense sources, the funds for the deal will come from the IAF's procurement fund. The deal will not require congressional approval since Israel is exercising a previously approved option to purchase the system.


01-29-07 - Israel is the real winner of America's War on Iraq and Iran (If attacked)


01-29-07 - Former CIA chief: Let Pollard go "My view is that a 20-year sentence is enough," James Woolsey, who directed the spy agency from 1993-1995, told Arutz Sheva, an Israeli radio station. They're both traitors.


01-29-07 - Israel's existence is in peril, expert tells crowd at temple ''The goal is getting the Palestinians to give up,'' scholar and columnist Daniel Pipes told the crowd Sunday night. Pipes is a neocon.

News for 01-28-07

01-28-07 - White House defies Congress, public to push Iraq surge


01-28-07 - Russia vows to keep schedule for Iran nuclear plant Russia's security chief Igor Ivanov vowed to launch Iran's nuclear plant on schedule in September after talks in Tehran with leaders of the Islamic republic.


01-28-07 - Iraq's deputy PM chides U.S. and Iran


01-28-07 - 11th-hour bid to halt Iraq war revelations The foreign office has made a last-ditch attempt to stop one of its former senior diplomats from publishing a book claiming that the government knew that Iraq did not represent a significant threat to the West in the run-up to the Iraq war.


01-28-07 - Iraq: UN Agency Raises Third Alarm in Week at ?Unrelenting Violence? Against Palestinians


01-28-07 - U.S. Army Probes War Contractor Fraud It's about time.


01-28-07 - Cheney Nearly Breaks Reagan's 11th Commandment "Let's say I believe firmly in Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican," Cheney said. "But it's very hard sometimes to adhere to that where Chuck Hagel is involved."


01-28-07 - Nuclear plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders ** The detailed descriptions of Iran's problems in enriching more than a few grams of uranium using high-speed centrifuges - 50kg is required for two nuclear devices - comes in stark contrast to the apocalyptic picture being painted of Iran's imminent acquisition of a nuclear weapon with which to attack Israel.


01-28-07 - Mysterious death of Iran's top scientist


01-28-07 - A warning for West: Pressure aids hard-liners He and other young Iranians warned at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that the growing U.S.-Iranian standoff and fears of U.S. military strikes could strengthen the hard-liners who now control their government.


01-28-07 - Expanding the War to Iran: Another 'Urban Legend'? **


01-28-07 - US attacks Israel's cluster bomb use A congressional investigation found Israel improperly used US-made cluster bombs during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. President Ronald Reagan's administration imposed a six-year ban on sales of the weapons to Israel. However, the country also makes its own cluster munitions.


01-28-07 - Kerry Blasts Foreign Policy, Says U.S. Has Become 'International Pariah' That's because we've taken up the policies and orders from that OTHER international pariah (strange that nobody else has).


01-28-07 - Lebanon faces prospect of civil war


01-28-07 - US Mideast policies ?radicalise? moderates


01-28-07 - UN Changes Mission of Korean Troops in Lebanon


01-28-07 - German-Israeli movie invited to Tehran film festival Avital was very surprised by this, and said in an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that "the movie is not pro-Palestinian, and it is clear that it was made by an Israeli. It?s a very balanced movie."


01-28-07 - US official cautions of ME states'' acquiring nuclear weapons Allowing certain countries in the Middle East to acquire nuclear weapons will throw the region into a spiraling arms race, Deputy Chairman of US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Gary Seymour said Sunday. No kidding?


01-28-07 - Hezbollah leader condemns Bush attack "What we did wrong is that we do not succumb to the United States of America, what we did wrong is that we stand and still stand by the Palestinian people ...That is what we did wrong,"


01-28-07 - Olmert: Israel won't let the world be indifferent to calls for Israel's destruction

News for 01-27-07

01-27-07 - Iran nuclear installation denied Iran's nuclear body has denied claims by a senior MP that it has begun installing 3,000 nuclear centrifuges to boost its uranium enrichment.


01-27-07 - Stop the Iran War Before It Starts By Scott Ritter ** Summon the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), or any other lobby promoting confrontation with Iran, to the forefront, so that the warnings they offer in whispers from a back room can be articulated before the American public. Hold these conjurers of doom accountable for their positions by demanding they back them up with hard fact.


01-27-07 - Russia queries US presence in Mideast: agencies


01-27-07 - N. Korea denies sharing nuke secrets with Iran


01-27-07 - Khatami says door remains open for Iran-U.S. negotiations He said he made proposals for talks with Washington when he was president, but to no avail.


01-27-07 - Think tank launches Iran-nuclear ads A conservative think-tank launched a TV ad campaign on the Iranian nuclear threat.


01-27-07 - Russia warns US against further unilateral sanctions against Iran In the row over Iran's controversial nuclear programme, Russia warned the United States Saturday against additional unilateral sanctions against Tehran now that a compromise resolution has been passed by the United Nations Security Council.


01-27-07 - Rumsfeld's transition raises questions Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has left the Pentagon, but not the Defense Department. On Jan. 4, Mr. Rumsfeld opened a government-provided transition office in Arlington and has seven Pentagon-paid staffers working for him, a Pentagon official said.



01-27-07 - Lawyers probe Fleischer's immunity deal "I didn't want to give him immunity. I did so reluctantly," Fitzgerald said in court Thursday. "I was buying a pig in a poke." I'll say.


01-27-07 - UN nuclear chief calls for 'timeout' over Iran


01-27-07 - Fonda, Sarandon among Iraq war protesters


01-27-07 - US plea to Britain: 'Don't abandon main Iraq base'


01-27-07 - Saudi king says Iran putting region in danger: paper Saudi Arabia told an Iranian envoy this month that Shi'ite power Iran was putting the Gulf region in danger, in a reference to Iran's conflict with Washington over Iraq and nuclear policy, a newspaper said.


01-27-07 - Bush Is About to Attack Iran **


01-27-07 - Israel to assist the U.S. in efforts to boycott Iranian banking The American government has asked for help from Israeli sources to comprehend the internal developments in Iran and elements that affect the stability of the regime. The intelligence community in the U.S. has hired Farsi speakers and experts on Iran, but U.S. officials believe that Israeli intelligence has more experience with the subject and has great advantages in this field.



01-27-07 - U.S. may cite Israel for use of cluster arms - report Several U.S. officials said they expected little further action on the matter, the Times said.


01-27-07 - U.S. opposes Iranian, Saudi meddling in crisis


01-27-07 - Rattling the Cage: Against a preemptive Holocaust ** The Iranians have weapons of mass destruction - chemical and possibly biological, too. They also have missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel. If they are so bent on wiping us out, even if it means their own extermination, why haven't they showered tiny little Israel with WMD-armed missiles? The answer, again, is that while the Iranians are crazy, they're not that crazy. Some excellent points made towards the end there.


01-27-07 - Israeli warplanes intrude on Beirut airspace


01-27-07 - Khatami to Haaretz: No chance of talks between Iran, Israel


01-27-07 - Ex-Cheney aide details media tactics


01-27-07 - Israel planes dump "suspicious green balloons" on southern Lebanon


01-27-07 - Wyden wants F-14 parts sale banned A Jewish U.S. senator introduced legislation banning the sale of parts for F-14 aircraft, saying the sales are end-runs around bans on arms sales to Iran.


01-27-07 - Jewish sect ostracized over Iran meeting When Cohen returned from Iran, he needed police protection. His house was barraged by hundreds of eggs, his window smashed by a brick and a billiard ball and he continues to be pelted with pebbles, eggs and insults in the street, he said. Last week, two tires on his Volvo were slashed, he said, and his synagogue has closed its doors to him



01-27-07 - Barack and Hillary: Can Israel rely on either? Hillary Clinton also voted for the war in Iraq and, as of yet, has not called for a timetable for troop withdrawal despite the pressure to do so. One must conclude that there is little basis on which to doubt Hillary Clinton?s sincere support for and dedication to Israel?s safety and security and her determination and strength when it comes to national security and defense. So voting for the war in Iraq is seen as 'dedication to Israel's safety and security'? Read on. "the next US President will have to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, which will impact Israel first and then the entire world. At this point we simply cannot afford to allow a person with incoherent, weak and inconsistent views on national security and foreign policy to become the presidential nominee of a major political party in the United States." Who's 'we'???


01-27-07 - Homage to Herzliya - The Lobby wants war with Iran **


01-27-07 - Report: Russia tracking IDF movements


01-27-07 - World War III has already begun, says former Israeli spy chief A third World War is already underway between Islamic militancy and the West but most people do not realize it, the former head of Israel's intelligence service Mossad said in an interview published in Portugal.


01-27-07 - Lawmakers to launch captive Israelis appeal Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Middle East subcommittee; Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the ranking member of the subcommittee; and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will join Karnit Goldwasser, whose husband Ehud is among the captives, in launching the appeal on Tuesday.

News for 01-26-07

01-26-07 - Report: US adopts new lethal strategy against Iranian agents in Iraq **


01-26-07 - Iran former president warns against US threats Influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has called on Iranian officials to act with caution against US threats aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.


01-26-07 - US warns Iran of global wrath if it cranks up nuclear capacity ** "And if they think that they can get away with 3,000 centrifuges without another Security Council resolution and additional international pressure then they're very badly mistaken," Burns said.


01-26-07 - US unveils tougher line on Iranians in Iraq ** Bush's comments came as US and Iraqi officials confirmed a report in The Washington Post that US forces were now authorized to kill or capture Iranian spies or members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.


01-26-07 - Rockefeller: Cheney applied 'constant' pressure to stall investigation on flawed Iraq intelligence In the 45-minute interview, Rockefeller said that it was "not hearsay" that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the probe of the administration's use of prewar intelligence.


01-26-07 - Iran rejects UN's chief inspector The move follows a ban on 38 inspectors from four countries that Tehran imposed on Monday. The inspectors are from key Western nations that had pushed for UN sanctions against Iran for refusing to stop enriching uranium.



01-26-07 - US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq ** The Los Angeles Times said the US government lacks any proof of Iranian involvement in Iraq and that some observers fear there is a US plot under foot for a military operation against Iran. Before attacking Iraq in March 2003, the administration of President George W. Bush said it had irrefutable evidence dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but no such weapons have been found since in the country.



01-26-07 - Iran condemns Bush's capture or kill order ** Iran says United States President George W Bush's order to his military to capture or kill Iranian agents in Iraq is a terrorist act that shows he has lost control of his senses.


01-26-07 - The Ideologue by Patrick J. Buchanan Churchillian it was not. Yet the State of the Union seemed a success if Bush's purpose was to buy time from Congress to wait and see if his surge of US forces into Iraq might yet succeed.


01-26-07 - Iran Attack **


01-26-07 - Iran gas price formula 'agreed' Iran, Pakistan and India have agreed on a pricing formula for the delivery of Iranian gas via a $7bn pipeline, a top Iranian energy official has said.


01-26-07 - US missile system to counter Iranian threat ** America's proposed missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic are designed to counter the potential missile threat from Iran and will not affect Russian security, a senior US defence official said.




01-26-07 - Jordan's king gives US Iraq plan six months to work


01-26-07 - Ex-CIA Official Testifies About Libby's Calls


01-26-07 - U.S. slams Canada for complaining about Arar case


01-26-07 - Bolton: U.S. following flawed Iran plan In an interview with Fox News airing Wednesday night, Bolton said that contrary to administration claims, the U.N. Security Council U.N. Security Council resolution against Iran that was approved last month is "very weak."


01-26-07 - Canada to pay Arar $10.5 million for Syria ordeal In Washington, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) issued a statement saying he was seeking answers as chairman of the Senate judiciary committee as to why Arar was sent to Syria.


01-26-07 - Russia will not extradite Lugovoy to Britain: Ifax Russia would not extradite Andrei Lugovoy if Britain asked for him to be handed over to stand trial for poisoning ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, a source in the prosecutor-general's office told Interfax news agency on Friday.


01-26-07 - Israeli army blows up two Hezbollah bunkers The Israeli army says it has blown up two Hezbollah bunkers discovered near the Jewish state's border with Lebanon.


01-26-07 - Gordon R. England, then Navy Secretary, was honored with JINSA?s Henry M. "Scoop"Jackson Distinguished Service Award in 2001 England is currently OUR Deputy Secretary of Defense.


01-26-07 - Candidates court Israel, cite Iran risks


01-26-07 - Al-Qaida No. 2: PA Chair Abbas is a 'traitor,' sold Palestinian land


01-26-07 - Israel hails UN condemnation of Holocaust denial Diplomats in New York have said the resolution, which does not name any country, was inspired by the behaviour of Iran, where certain leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have described the Holocaust as a "myth."


01-26-07 - Khatami slams controversial Holocaust conference Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami has criticised a controversial conference on the Holocaust -- held in Tehran late last year -- in an interview published in Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot.


01-26-07 - Iran's Khatemi denies criticising Holocaust conference "I never gave any interview to any Israeli newspaper and the comments attributed to me have been made up,"


01-26-07 - Lebanon clashes fuel civil war fears


01-26-07 - Hillary the Favorite in Race for Jewish Donations Clinton, he said, "has personally proved herself to the Jewish community on Israel, on which she was once questioned." Read on.


01-26-07 - Netanyahu urges pension to quit Iran Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly urged Massachusetts pension fund officials to pull money out of businesses that deal with Iran.


01-26-07 - Fear of a Shia full moon "If the Americans succeed, we will be able to regain Iraq. The extremists want to defeat the Americans at the expense of losing Iraq. If Iraq is divided into two sectarian states, they will be magnets for sectarian war across the Muslim world."


01-26-07 - Beirut lifts curfew after clashes A civil war for every state in the region. Iran and Syria are the next candidates for 'democratization'- neocon-style.


01-26-07 - Fearing Iran Israel fears an Iranian bomb will only enhance Iran's confidence to shape the future of the region as it likes. Israel's nukes have pretty much guaranteed Israel's confidence to shape the future of the region as IT likes.


01-26-07 - Saudi ambassador says U.S., Iraq should agree before troop withdrawal Prince Turki called for the revival of the Middle East "road map for peace", first outlined by Bush, that aims to establish an independent Palestinian state.


01-26-07 - Palestinian cleric denies ties to militants that got him deported


01-26-07 - Hezbollah buries dead, urges Lebanese unity


01-26-07 - Jewish Shoah conference participants banned from Israel Neturei Karta members who attended Iran's Holocaust denial conference to be denied entrance to Israel by Interior Minister Bar-On, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper


01-26-07 - U.N. condemns Holocaust denial The resolution was passed by consensus, without a vote; Iran dismissed it as a political ploy.


01-26-07 - June 4 date set for AIPAC staffers case The judge in the classified information case against two former AIPAC staffers set a June 4 trial date Oh sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee....OHHHH....


01-26-07 - Hezbollah blames clashes on Israel Hezbollah?s leader said Israel was to blame for internecine violence in Beirut.


01-26-07 - Bush commemorates Auschwitz liberation President Bush commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz with a call to reject Holocaust denial, particularly from Iran.


01-26-07 - Holocaust-denial law for Europe? The European Commission on Friday backed the criminalization of Holocaust denial in the 27-member European Union.


01-26-07 - U.N. adopts Holocaust denial resolution Venezuela, while supporting the resolution, said Israel's "excesses under the pretext of legitimate defense has led to a new holocaust against the Palestinian people."

News for 01-25-07

01-25-07 - Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq ** The White House has authorized a widening of what is known inside the intelligence community as the "Blue Game Matrix" -- a list of approved operations that can be carried out against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.....Officials said Hayden counseled the president and his advisers to consider a list of potential consequences, including the possibility that the Iranians might seek to retaliate by kidnapping or killing U.S. personnel in Iraq. It's beginning to appear that there will be an escalation in the Middle East that will include Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and possibly others - being instigated by Israel and the US. As to the last statement of the above excerpt - it seems that this administration is looking to get a response from Iran so that it can get the pretext it needs to attack. "The decision to use lethal force against Iranians inside Iraq began taking shape last summer, when Israel was at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Officials said a group of senior Bush administration officials who regularly attend the highest-level counterterrorism meetings agreed that the conflict provided an opening to portray Iran as a nuclear-ambitious link between al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the death squads in Iraq.Among those involved in the discussions, beginning in August, were deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams, " Say no more.


01-25-07 - Iran ready to launch satellite, raising arms alarm: report


01-25-07 - UN nuclear agency asks Iran to back off on rejection of 38 inspectors


01-25-07 - Iranian sees border danger A ranking Iranian diplomat on Monday said the chaos of Iraq was spilling over into his country, spreading a destabilizing influence to its Arab population.


01-25-07 - IAEA chief says attack on Iran would be catastrophe


01-25-07 - Iran takes possession of Russian air defense missiles MosNews also reports that Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has repeatedly said the arms deal did not violate any international treaties or UN resolutions because the Tor-M1 system is defensive only and cannot be used to attack


01-25-07 - US seeks change in Iran ties with Iraq -ambassador


01-25-07 - Ex-spokeswoman contradicts Libby account Fitzgerald got Martin to testify that Cheney personally wrote out statements and talking points for Libby and other aides to give to reporters to deny he was behind Wilson's trip or ever learned Wilson's conclusions.


01-25-07 - US soldier jailed for Iraq deaths During his trial, Hunsaker testified that Sgt Girouard gave an order to kill the victims and make it look as if they had been fleeing.


01-25-07 - International Mobilization To Stop U.S. Attack on Iran **


01-25-07 - Escalation of US Iran military planning part of six-year Administration push


01-25-07 - US military power seen at risk by China's satellite-busting ability If the Chinese pursued the satellites during hostilities, it could cause Washington to have second thoughts about getting involved.


01-25-07 - Belarus, Iran sign memorandum of understanding on defense


01-25-07 - Litvinenko killer 'will die of poisoning within three years'


01-25-07 - EU committee slams Irish complicity in CIA "torture flights"


01-25-07 - Huge majority say civil liberty curbs a 'price worth paying' to fight terror An overwhelming majority of people in Britain are willing to surrender civil liberties to help tackle the threat of terrorism, the nation's leading social research institute will disclose today. Then the terrorists have in fact won.


01-25-07 - Canada still demanding U.S. take Canadian off its terror watchlist


01-25-07 - Netanyahu urges trial for Iran leader, fearing new Holocaust He added he was also trying to drum up support within the United States for a trial. "Wolf. WOLF!!!"


01-25-07 - Timeline of Events in CIA Leak Case


01-25-07 - Jury for CIA leak trial includes some critics of Bush Iraq policies


01-25-07 - Antiwar protesters target Congress Organizers of the Washington event are anticipating between 300,000 and 500,000 people. Among Americans, 70 percent opposed a troop surge, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll


01-25-07 - Gov't offers aid to Palestinian refugees at Lebanon donors meet Beckett said Thursday that in addition to the 58 million pounds London has pledged for Lebanon over the next four years, "Today I am announcing an extra 48 million dollars (24.3 million pounds) to go to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees)."


01-25-07 - US, Iranian Publics Not So Different


01-25-07 - Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers Not neocon-related, but a story of import and one from a well-respected science news outfit. Don't want to see any CORPORATE interests quash this drug (if indeed it cures cancer).


01-25-07 - The hidden cost of free congressional trips to Israel These trips are defended as "educational." In reality, as I know from my many colleagues in the House and Senate who participated in them, they offer Israeli propagandists an opportunity to expose members of Congress to only their side of the story. The Israeli narrative of how the nation was created, and Israeli justifications for its brutal policies omit important truths about the Israeli takeover and occupation of the Palestinian territories. The CSM gets one right.


01-25-07 - The Trial of Dick Cheney


01-25-07 - Israel tries to cut off Tehran from world markets Pressure will be applied to major US pension funds to stop investment in about 70 companies that trade directly with Iran, and to international banks that trade with its oil sector, cutting off the country's access to hard currency. The aim is to isolate Tehran from the world markets in a campaign similar to that against South Africa at the height of apartheid.


01-25-07 - Allies rally behind Lebanon with aid


01-25-07 - Anti-War Groups Plan Surge on Washington


01-25-07 - More Deception from the War Criminal The Bush Regime is the first neoconservative regime in US history. Bush hides the neoconservative agenda behind "the war on terror," which essentially is a hoax. The main purpose of the neoconservatives' "war on terror" it to eliminate any effective Muslim opposition to Israel's theft of Palestine and the Golan Heights.


01-25-07 - Small steps, not giant leaps However close Iran is to getting the bomb (and US military analysts are noticeably cooler about the imminence of armageddon than their Israeli counterparts) a convenient conclusion emerges from the current Israeli military consensus: yet again Israel faces an "existential threat".


01-25-07 - Beirut under curfew after clashes Four people were killed and more than 150 injured, police said.


01-25-07 - U.S. Picks an Inauspicious Time to Restart Mideast Talks David Makovsky, a Middle East expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said for the United States the Israeli-Palestinian issue was not central. "The issue is a derivative of getting Arab support for Iraq and Iran policy," he said. "They want a broad front, and this is part of helping those Arab leaders they see as important on these other issues."

Bingo.


01-25-07 - Guilford president urges patience with investigation as students plan walkout Prompted by the Muslim advocacy group's involvement, a conservative California news website that monitors radical Islamic groups and advances a counterterrorism agenda, PipeLineNews.org, launched an inquiry into the incident the following day. Looks like the neocons are going to look for an excuse to justify this attack. Any old excuse will do.


01-25-07 - Hollywood Is Accused Of 'Islamophobia' Hollywood has for years portrayed Arabs/Muslims in a negative light. It may coincide with the foundation of Israel.


01-25-07 - Russia bans dual citizens from gov't Hmm, say I wonder - where is Douglas Feith?

News for 01-24-07

01-24-07 - Al Qaeda deputy warns US of reprisal if policies remain Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri has warned Americans of a reprisal "far worse than anything they have seen", if Washington did not change its policies towards Muslim states.


01-24-07 - U.S. generals - Iraq hurt ability to fight elsewhere


01-24-07 - US Senate panel rejects Iraq plan A US Senate committee has rejected President Bush's plan to send extra troops to Iraq, passing the measure to a full Senate vote likely next week.


01-24-07 - Iran vows to crush any threat as US steps up rhetoric ** Iran vowed it was ready to crush any military strike or threat as the United States and its allies turned up the rhetoric over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and its growing clout in the region.


01-24-07 - Arab League's Moussa warns U.S. on Iran attack ** There is a 50/50 chance the United States will attack Iran and any such strike would risk spreading sectarian violence through the Middle East, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Wednesday.


01-24-07 - Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack **


01-24-07 - GOP Opposition to Troop Increase Grows


01-24-07 - Baker warns al-Qaida still poses threat


01-24-07 - McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy "The president listened too much to the Vice President . . . Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the Secretary of Defense."


01-24-07 - Senior British prosecutor says fight against terror not a 'war'


01-24-07 - Britain accuses Iran, Syria of spitting in West's eye


01-24-07 - U.S. Military Spied on Hundreds of Antiwar Demos At least 186 antiwar protests in the United States have been monitored by the Pentagon's domestic surveillance program, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which also found that the Defense Department collected more than 2,800 reports involving Americans in a single anti-terrorism database.


01-24-07 - The American hostility towards Iran ** The mood in the administration coincides with some strong talk in Israel about the dangers from Iran. No sh#t?


01-24-07 - Oil rebounds despite stock rises On Tuesday, oil prices jumped by almost 5% because of colder weather and US plans to keep more oil for emergencies


01-24-07 - Russia warns US - 'use of force in ME unacceptable'


01-24-07 - Canadian to Remain on U.S. Terrorist Watch List Despite a Canadian inquiry that cleared a Syrian-born Canadian citizen of any terrorist ties, the Bush administration has formally refused a Canadian government request that it remove the man, Maher Arar, from the terrorist watch list, saying that the United States has secret information justifying his inclusion. Unreal.


01-24-07 - Israel raises nuclear stakes with Iran ** A senior British military source said yesterday that the Israelis were serious about the use of military force to stop Iran, and were now engaged in preparing public opinion for such a prospect. "They're watering the turf. The Iranians are not under enough pressure," the source said.


01-24-07 - Bush: Hezbollah a threat


01-24-07 - Demise of US, Israel Imminent According to a statement released by the Presidential Press Office, Ahmadinejad further noted the frequent failure of the plots of the hegemonic system in the Middle-East region, and said that the demise of the US and Zionist regime is imminent.


01-24-07 - IRAQ: PALESTINIAN ENVOY DENIES REPORTS OF THREATS BY SHIITE MILITANTS


01-24-07 - Peres grateful to Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad


01-24-07 - Police to present Litvinenko evidence to prosecutors The police file provides evidence against two Russian businessmen, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, both former KGB officers. The two men are in Russia and have denied being involved in the murder plot.


01-24-07 - Military Builds Robotic Insects British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The $3,000 WASP is operated with a Gameboy-style controller and is nearly silent, so it can get very close without being detected.


01-24-07 - Funds pledged for Lebanon summit Why should the world be expected to pay for the destruction that Israel has continued to rain down upon Lebanon (and Palestine)?


01-24-07 - Saudi, Iran working on deal to end Lebanon crisis Saudi Arabia and Iran, backers of the main rivals in Lebanon's political crisis, are negotiating a deal to end the standoff, Lebanese political sources said.


01-24-07 - Hezbollah says opposition holding back from ousting cabinet


01-24-07 - Lebanon conflict oil 'contained' the report indicates that the conflict has left other significant environment problems, some of which pose a threat to human health and welfare. A number of bombed sites, including Jiyyeh, are contaminated with toxic substances which may compromise water supplies



01-24-07 - Israel faces nuclear Holocaust warns Gingrich The Israeli people are facing the threat of a nuclear Holocaust, former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich warned the Herzliya Conference held by the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya on Tuesday afternoon.


01-24-07 - Israeli PM warns of 'severe steps' against Iran he also reassured the Israeli public that "as serious as the Iranian threat is, the threat of a nuclear attack on Israel is in no way imminent."


01-24-07 - The new cold war in Lebanon and Palestine


01-24-07 - Conference of Presidents postpones Dubai trip


01-24-07 - Edwards Veers Hard Right During a lamentable speech he made in Tel Aviv, Edwards sanctioned a US war against Iran; denied the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) and bashed the Palestinian people.


01-24-07 - American Jews should change their stance


01-24-07 - Academic begins hunger strike to protest 'government harassment' Sami Al-Arian stopped eating after being held in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. That's according to a news release from the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace.


01-24-07 - US politicians rip Iran in Herzliya US politicians grovel at the altar of Israel.


01-24-07 - Out to check Iran n-work, Israel lobby in US meets PM Seeking to build a bridge with New Delhi, a delegation of the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group at the Capitol Hill met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last evening. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee's current agenda is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, isolate the Hamas-led Palestinian government and seek greater security for Israel.


01-24-07 - Smears for Fears Everything Clark said, in short, is true. What's more, everybody knows it's true. The worst that can truthfully be said about Clark is that he expressed himself in a slightly odd way.

News for 01-23-07

01-23-07 - Iran says still heeding IAEA despite curbs


01-23-07 - US cannot hurt Iran: Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad spoke after coming under increasing criticism from both conservatives and reformists for his handling of foreign and domestic policy, including Tehran's disputed nuclear drive.


01-23-07 - Criticism of Ahmadinejad mounts


01-23-07 - U.S. warns Iran to back down


01-23-07 - Russia fulfils Iran missile deal Russia has completed a contract to sell some 30 air defence missile systems to Iran, a senior official has said.


01-23-07 - Seized Palestinians freed in Iraq Some 30 Palestinians seized by armed men in Baghdad have been freed, the UN refugee agency says.


01-23-07 - Al-Qaeda deputy 'mocks Bush plan'


01-23-07 - INTERVIEW-Arab states urged to let in Palestinians from Iraq A U.N. refugee agency appealed to Arab governments on Tuesday to take in 600 Palestinians who have been stranded for months at the Iraqi-Syrian border after fleeing persecution in Baghdad.


01-23-07 - Webb Offers Blunt Challenge to Bush "Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary, that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war on terrorism and that invading Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable," Webb said


01-23-07 - Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link **


01-23-07 - Libby's Attorneys Say He Was Being Set Up To Take Fall for Rove in CIA Leak Case Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told a far different story from Wells. He described for jurors a Bush administration effort to beat back early criticism of the Iraq war and accused Libby of lying to investigators about his role in that campaign. Using a computerized calendar during opening statement, Fitzgerald described a tumultuous week in 2003 when he said the White House was under "direct attack" from Wilson.



01-23-07 - The Unthinkable: The US- Israeli Nuclear War on Iran **


01-23-07 - Russia not delivering arms to Palestine - defense ministry


01-23-07 - Ministers 'knew about rendition flights' There is more outrage in Britain over the CIA rendition flights than there is in America. Why is that?


01-23-07 - Prosecutors must prove Libby's guilt Though Fitzgerald says the trial isn't about the war, the case will be set to the tumultuous backdrop of the war's early months. He is expected to tell jurors that the White House was preoccupied with discrediting Wilson's criticisms, so it's unlikely Libby forgot that effort. Go get 'em, Bulldog.


01-23-07 - Neoconservative Kristol wishes Democrats would 'be quiet' about Iraq for six or nine months


01-23-07 - Musharraf, Assad vow to combine efforts to fight terror


01-23-07 - Twice Displaced: The Plight of Palestinians in Iraq


01-23-07 - Vision of Rebuilding Lebanon Wanes


01-23-07 - Israeli minister advises that Nasrallah 'not try to put Israel to the test again'


01-23-07 - In pictures: Lebanese intifada


01-23-07 - As candidates enter 2008 race, they begin courting Jewish support Bowing down at the altar of Israel is an essential part of political campaigning in America.


01-23-07 - Palestinian problem key to closing West-Muslim divide: Malaysian PM Speaking to a London think tank, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the "single most powerful factor" dividing Islam and the west, with the US-led conflict in Iraq a close second.


01-23-07 - Muslims see no conflict between Islamic law and democracy: poll


01-23-07 - Musharraf calls for new Mideast initative Talks focused on "the unresolved Palestinian issue" as well as violence and political tensions in Iraq and Lebanon, he said before leaving Jordan for Syria ahead of a wrapping up a regional tour in the United Arab Emirates.


01-23-07 - Lebanese villagers spend winter in ruins All but two rooms of Chaitou's apartment in this southern Lebanese town were destroyed by Israeli shelling. Even in those rooms, where her family sleeps, the winter rain drips through cracks, leaving big puddles.


01-23-07 - Lebanese sovereignty, Israeli obstacles Israel, on the other hand, has not been fully cooperative with the UN forces in implementing Resolution 1701; the Israeli withdrawal on the ground was slow and incomplete in the Ghajar sector, and its violations of Lebanon's airspace have not ceased.


01-23-07 - Lebanon opposition halts strike Three people died and 100 were injured as protesters, who blocked many roads, clashed with government supporters.

News for 01-22-07

01-22-07 - Pentagon struggles to get safest vehicles for troops In congressional testimony and interviews last week, senior Army and Marine Corps officers acknowledged that they are struggling just to meet the needs of service members already in Iraq. Even if the Pentagon can find millions of dollars not currently budgeted, and even if it can find factories to produce the armored vehicles, most U.S. troops in Iraq will not have access to the best equipment available, as President Bush has often promised.



01-22-07 - Ahmadinejad: U.S. Claims 'Ridiculous' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described U.S. accusations against his country of meddling in Iraq as the "most ridiculous" of Washington's charges against Iran, state media reported Monday.


01-22-07 - Iran to block 38 UN nuclear watchdog inspectors In December 2006, parliament adopted a bill requiring the government to revise its cooperation with the IAEA after the UN Security Council passed a resolution to impose sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment work.


01-22-07 - Iran launches missile tests amid fresh nuclear defiance ** Short-range missiles were to be tested in the four-day exercise southeast of Tehran, which came as the US military was sending a second warship to Gulf waters amid growing international tension over Iran's atomic programme.


01-22-07 - Iran's strongman loses grip as ayatollah offers nuclear deal ** Under proposals now being debated, an international group made up of the permanent five members of the UN security council, plus Germany or a nuclear power such as India, would oversee and monitor Iran?s nuclear programme. Good idea.


01-22-07 - Is this bad reporting or propaganda? Update Earlier this morning, Reuters (and AP too) news service ran a piece citing one UK government official and an anonymous Iranian source alleging that the IAEA inspectors were thrown barred out of Iran. Now just to make clear why this is important, Saddam Hussein had allegedly done the same thing according to reports, which was not true.


01-22-07 - After query, AP says nuke watchdog didn't respond to after hour calls on Iran nuke claim


01-22-07 - Iranian cleric attacks president Iran's senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, has attacked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over nuclear issues and the economy.


01-22-07 - China tries to reassure the world on space missile 'aimed at peace' China signalled yesterday that its first missile strike against an orbiting satellite was intended to force the US into talks aimed at abolishing weapons in space.


01-22-07 - U.S. image around world sharply worsens: BBC poll Sixty-five percent disapproved of U.S. policy on last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, 60 percent of its handling of Iran's nuclear program, 56 percent of its stance on global warming and 54 percent of its policy on North Korea's nuclear program.....Fifty-three percent of Americans said the U.S. military presence in the Middle East "provokes more conflict than it prevents," the survey said.


01-22-07 - Intelligence vs. Evidence ** Forget the Iraqi civil war: the consequences of a U.S. military confrontation with Iran could prove particularly deadly to our troops in Iraq, where they are sitting ducks for Iranian attacks.


01-22-07 - Syria Considers Itself Possible Target of U.S. Military Attack ''They want to secure the Iraqi border?'' said Nasser Eddin Kharallah, a Parliament member from the ruling Baath party. ''Let the Americans do it from the Iraqi side.''


01-22-07 - The X Factor in 2008 -- Iran By Patrick J. Buchanan ** Democrats failed to stop this war. Can they stop the next one? Or do they suspect and support what they think is coming?


01-22-07 - Conservatives slam Bush policies


01-22-07 - ACLU and CNSS Seek Records on Warrantless Mail Surveillance The groups say there are major facts that need to be made public, including whether and how often this asserted power has been used, whether people whose mail is searched are notified after the fact, and what policies have been put in place to conduct the searches.


01-22-07 - Saudis Pressing Oil Prices Down ** We believe an Israeli attack is pending. It is just a question of when.


01-22-07 - Palestinian state won't solve conflict, says Israeli ex-army chief And grabbing more of their land will?


01-22-07 - Verbal blows at Shia-Sunni forum Washington's purported plan to forge a Sunni front to contain the growing influence of Iran's radical politics has sent alarm bells ringing in many Arab states, fearing that Israel will be the greatest beneficiary of such policy.



01-22-07 - Israel Readies Nuclear Bunker The maze of tunnels and underground rooms is scheduled to be completed in the next year or two as fears of an attack from Iran intensify, the Baltimore Sun reported.


01-22-07 - Jordan urges Iraq to protect Palestinian refugees


01-22-07 - Israel: 2007 'decisive' on Iran ** Burns said the United States and Israel have the right to self-defense if Iran presses ahead toward attaining nuclear capability


01-22-07 - Exclusive: NSC drafting strategy to make Israel a member of NATO The problem lies more with the military contributions that Israel would have to make to NATO actions elsewhere in the world, such as in Afghanistan and Somalia. "Would Israel want to send troops to other countries and perhaps give up lives for those missions?" he asked. Exactly. That's for the troops of those OTHER nations of the world.


01-22-07 - Can U.S. Achieve Peace in the Middle East? by Rep. Ron Paul Everyone assumes America must play the leading role in crafting some settlement or compromise between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But Jefferson, Madison, and Washington explicitly warned against involving ourselves in foreign conflicts. Sorry, Ron. Your attempt at 'balance' by mentioning 'billions of foreign aid' going to Muslim countries doesn't address the inherent problem in the Israel-Palestinian conflict: that Americans taxpayers are funding Israel's colonial project - to the detriment of Palestinians. Are we giving the Palestinians the same amount of military/financial aid and political support? NO. Therefore, we have chosen sides. THAT is what Washington was referring to in his famous farewell address.


01-22-07 - Woolsey at the Herzliya Conference The whole hee haw (neocon) gang attended. Or so it would seem.


01-22-07 - A no-brainer for American Jews Hillary Clinton told Israeli and Palestinian youth via a video broadcast that "it will be in the long-term interests of the Middle East for Palestine to be a state, and for it to be a state that is responsible for its citizens' well-being, a state that has responsibility for providing education and health care and economic opportunity to its citizens." The remarks immediately upset the Jewish establishment and prompted the White House spokesman to explain that they do not represent the president's position.....During the 2000 Senate campaign, the Skverer Rebbe, Rabbi David Twersky, who lives in New Square, New York, visited the White House. The American press reported that Hillary Clinton promised the revered Hassidic leader that she would lighten the punishment of four of his followers convicted of fraud. Clinton won a solid majority in New Square.


01-22-07 - U.S. Drafts Holocaust Denial Resolution The draft resolution "condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust," but doesn't single out any specific country for criticism. The U.S. said it planned to circulate the draft to General Assembly members on Monday.

Not a matter for Capitol Hill.


01-22-07 - U.S. will make new contribution to Lebanon reconstruction at coming donors' conference Just take it right out of the slated 2007 aid money to Israel.


01-22-07 - Israel says it enjoys 'peak' relations with Harper government in Canada And it has its influential Israeli lobby in Canada to thank for it.


01-22-07 - GOP presidential hopeful in Israel Mitt Romney, a candidate for the Republication nomination for the U.S. presidency, is in Israel. Our politicians must also campaign in Israel.


01-22-07 - Swiss admit Israel-Syria mediation the disclosure appeared to confirm a Ha?aretz report earlier this month that a European country had mediated two years of unofficial talks between a retired Israeli diplomat and a Syrian-American businessman about how the two countries could resume peace talks that were cut off in 2000.



01-22-07 - Sea still spitting oil six months after Lebanon war The coast was polluted by around 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil after the Israeli military bombed Lebanon's southern Jiyeh power plant in mid-July during its 34-day offensive against the Shiite militia Hezbollah.


01-22-07 - Rap mogul addresses WJC He called on the Beastie Boys and other Jewish entertainers to create another public service announcement with him, this one focusing on Islamophobia.

News for 01-21-07

01-21-07 - Paralympic summit held for wounded vets "Right now they're having to ask themselves some difficult questions," said John Register, himself a former world-class athlete, a veteran of Desert Storm, and an amputee, who helped run the summit. "They're asking, 'Who am I now? Am I still a father? Am I still a husband or wife?' Sports help put answers to some of those questions."


01-21-07 - A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees


01-21-07 - Iran president defies U.N. sanction resolutions "The (U.N.) resolution was born dead and even if they issue 10 more of such resolutions it will not affect Iran's economy and policies," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to parliament broadcast live on state television.


01-21-07 - Pentagon sees U.S. war cost in Iraq rising The steadily rising Iraq war price tag will reach about $8.4 billion a month this year, Pentagon spokesmen said on Thursday, as heavy replacement costs for lost, destroyed and aging equipment mount


01-21-07 - Troop Escalation Could Delay US Departure From Iraq, Official Says


01-21-07 - Germany proposes wider Iran sanctions The European Union could expand the range of sanctions against Iran beyond United Nations-mandated measures, according to a document seen by the Financial Times.


01-21-07 - US plans to foment strife in Iran: Rezai ** "America will exploit (sanctions) against Iran to incite people to rise up against the (Islamic) revolution, provide aid to movements hostile to Iran, carry out operations inside Iran and promote a sectarian war," said Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards commander. "An Iranian-US confrontation is inevitable," he said, adding that he would not rule out US missile strikes against Iran's nuclear installations.



01-21-07 - How Congress Can Stop the Iran Attack **


01-21-07 - Iraq war may intrude on Libby trial Libby's lawyers, Theodore Wells and William Jeffress, have labored to keep opponents of the war and the administration off the jury.


01-21-07 - Show Me The Intelligence


01-21-07 - Request for NBC reporter's notes withdrawn Defense in Libby trial had demanded to see notes related to CIA leak


01-21-07 - U.S., Iran and Venezuelan battling for influence in Ortega's new Nicaragua Ortega has avoided openly criticizing Washington, but his focus so far has been strengthening ties with Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both of whom have agreed to spend billions of dollars around the globe on projects to counterbalance U.S. influence, especially in Latin America and Africa.


01-21-07 - US prison is 'threat' to Geneva treaties THE United States is undermining international law by unilaterally rejecting demands to grant detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp protection against mistreatment and torture, an influential committee of British MPs has warned.


01-21-07 - Ex-US official: Bush would approve Iran attack ** If all options were exhausted in the attempt to stop the Iranian nuclear project, and US military involvement was needed for a successful strike on Tehran, US President George Bush would give the green light for the operation, former director of the US Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, Richard Perle, told the Herzliya Conference on Sunday evening. Note who he is speaking to.


01-21-07 - US under secretary of state: We won't allow nuclear Iran' ** (VIDEO) Nicholas Burns says ?There is no doubt Iran seeking nuclear military weapons; stationing of two battle groups in Persian Gulf is part of our response?; adds: We are committed to being Israel's strongest security partner Note who he is speaking to.


01-21-07 - Pa. man's letter brings Secret Service Tilli said the statement was not a threat. "I didn't say who - I could've meant (Osama) bin Laden," he said Friday.


01-21-07 - Action Alert! Google did it again! (updated) Google seems to dislike critics of the neocons.


01-21-07 - Israel, U.S. discuss Iran ** Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz hosted visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Sunday for the first in a series of bilateral consultations on international efforts to ensure Iran does not acquire atomic weapons.


01-21-07 - Is Bush planning war against Iran? ** Bush appears to have been influenced by pro-Israeli advisers such as Eliott Abrams, the man in charge of the Middle East at the National Security Council, and by arm-chair strategists at neoconservative think-tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute, who have long clamoured for "regime change" in Tehran.


01-21-07 - Inquiry into Lebanon war will decide the future of Olmert


01-21-07 - Gulf states to hold nuclear talks with UN watchdog At a summit in Riyadh last month, leaders of the oil-rich Arab monarchies in the Gulf outlined plans for a joint programme for the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.


01-21-07 - Gen. Clark's Controversy "While we know (Clark) is a good friend of Israel and is not an anti-Semite, he still engaged in inappropriate language by talking about how Israel and Jewish money will move this country to war on Iran," Foxman said. Oh dear.


01-21-07 - Netanyahu: West must stop Iran from executing new Holocaust ** "When we are talking about rallying public opinion on genocide, who will lead the charge if not us?" he said. "No one will come defend the Jews if they no not defend themselves. This is the lesson of history." 2002, Netanyahu on Iraq: "Wolf! Wolf!". 2007, Netanyahu on Iran: "Wolf! Wolf!".


01-21-07 - From 2004: Agents of Influence Did Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, run a covert program with operatives in high-level US government positions to influence the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq?


01-21-07 - Strategic talks with U.S. focus on Iranian threat Washington intends to pledge about $1 billion to rebuild Lebanon following last summer's war with Israel, they said, and it expects the Europeans and Saudi Arabia to make hefty pledges as well.
Thus does America get stuck with cleaning up after Israel. If there were any justice, that money would be deducted from the 2007 US aid to Israel.

News for 01-20-07

01-20-07 - Iran says forces ready for any threat


01-20-07 - U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran: analyst ** "You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years


01-20-07 - Iraq Signals Changes in Protocols With Iran


01-20-07 - U.S. 'knew damn well' Arar would be tortured: senator


01-20-07 - Senators blast Bush security policies Influential senators on Thursday demanded that the Bush administration provide more details about its move to place its controversial National Security Agency domestic spying programme under supervision by a special court.


01-20-07 - "Cheney Has Stepped Way Over the Line" Prior to the March, 2003, invasion of Iraq, Cheney repeatedly visited the CIA headquarters and demanded that briefers confirm his personal theories about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and about supposed links between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.


01-20-07 - See the Superpower Run by Patrick J. Buchanan What we need to face now are the consequence of the folly of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice in launching this unnecessary and unprovoked war, the folly of the neocon snake oil salesmen who bamboozled the media into believing in this insane crusade to bring democracy to Baghdad in the belly of Bradley fighting vehicles and the folly of the Democratic establishment in handing Bush a blank check for war out of political fear of being called unpatriotic.


01-20-07 - Iraqi president urges US to talk to Syria Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is urging the United States to talk with Syria, claiming in an interview that Damascus "supports" Iraq in fighting the insurgency.


01-20-07 - Iranian lawmakers feared 'social upheaval' from sanctions An Iranian parliamentary report several months ago warned the powers in Tehran that heavy international sanctions could trigger internal instability and a social upheaval, it was reported.


01-20-07 - Bush briefed on Middle East trips Ms Rice rejected an appeal from the Emir of Kuwait to engage directly with both Iran and Syria to prevent the Iraq conflict spreading beyond its borders.


01-20-07 - Iran masses troops along borders with Iraq -- source


01-20-07 - NY Times: Parallels to Iraq in US strategy on Iran anger senator


01-20-07 - Lebanon opposition to stage national protest strike The Lebanese opposition has called for a one-day general strike, stepping up a protest campaign to bring down the Western-backed government that has paralysed the nation's leadership for weeks.


01-20-07 - PM: U.S. wants base in Czech Republic The United States has asked the Czech Republic to host a radar base that would be part of a global missile defense system, the prime minister announced Saturday, drawing a warning from Russia of retaliatory actions.


01-20-07 - Hezbollah threatens to block key roads across Lebanon Lebanese Hezbollah has threatened to block key roads across Lebanon as part of campaign to topple Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's government, the local Naharnet news website reported on Thursday.


01-20-07 - Official: U.S. Culture Dampens Extremism The country's history as an immigrant nation and its "experience with bringing in various groups and giving them, frankly, more opportunity than they might have elsewhere has helped us immeasurably" in dampening extremism, Hayden said Maybe the Europeans could take the cue...


01-20-07 - DoD procurement laws routinely broken, IG says


01-20-07 - Leak Lawyer Wants Bush Critics on Jury Fitzgerald told Walton that that defense attorneys had crossed the line when they told jurors the case was political and about war policies.


01-20-07 - Hostile Intent Just what is the Bush administration up to regarding Iran?


01-20-07 - Jewish groups to visit UAE, discuss Iran "The UAE is a critically important place on the issue of terrorism, the fight against extremism and Iran," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Presidents Conference, a 51-member umbrella organization that serves as the Jewish community's main collective voice on Middle East affairs. "We want to see improved relations with the U.S., of course, but also hope that this can foster relations with Israel."


01-20-07 - French politician fined for Holocaust denial A French court fined Gollnisch, deputy head of Jean-Marie LePen?s National Front Party in France and a member of the European Parliament, $6,450 and gave him a three-month suspended sentence for questioning in 2004 how many Jews died in the Holocaust and whether the Nazis had gas chambers in concentration camps. Where are the cries for freedom of speech in Europe now?....


01-20-07 - Senate bans lobbyist travel The Senate bill allows non-profit affiliates of lobbies to run tours for lawmakers, a provision that the pro-Israel lobby aggressively sought. That compromise preserves trips run by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has a non-profit spin-off, as well as those run by local Jewish federations that do not employ lobbyists.
AIPAC wins (America loses).


01-20-07 - US homeland security market beckons Outsourcing our homeland security to a nation that routinely violates international and humanitarian law. ~Swell~.

News for 01-19-07

01-19-07 - Dems seek to bar U.S. attack on Iran ** Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.


01-19-07 - US alarmed by Chinese 'missile strike' on satellite


01-19-07 - Iran reportedly set for talks with U.S. President Jalal Talabani said in remarks published Friday that the Iranians were ready to meet with the U.S. for talks about security issues - part of an apparent effort by Talabani to encourage a dialogue between two nations that are increasingly at odds, and vital to Iraq.


01-19-07 - Iran complains about U.S. detentions Iran charged in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that the United States illegally attacked its consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil last week and demanded the immediate release of five detained Iranians.


01-19-07 - The battle to save Iraq's children The desperate plight of children who are dying in Iraqi hospitals for the lack of simple equipment that in some cases can cost as little as 95p is revealed today in a letter signed by nearly 100 eminent doctors.


01-19-07 - Iran accuses US of fanning tensions with Iraq The war of words between Iran and the United States has intensified, with a senior official pointedly accusing Washington of trying to drive a wedge between Tehran and Baghdad and of fanning tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.


01-19-07 - EU to move on imposing UN sanctions against Iran The European Union will call next week for the full and rapid implementation of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear programme. Because Condi won some concessions from Israel?....


01-19-07 - Retired Generals Criticize Bush?s Plan for Iraq


01-19-07 - Democracy Languishes, but Neo-Con Strategy Lives Thus, just as ousting the Taliban and capturing or killing bin Laden and his associates were depicted by the neo-cons five years ago as a mere prelude to the main business of decisively defeating Israel's regional foes, so the administration appears to have once again relegated both Afghanistan and al Qaeda to the margins in its war on terrorism, despite the Taliban's unexpected resurgence of the past year.


01-19-07 - U.S. Marine admits to shooting defenseless Iraqi A U.S. Marine pleaded guilty on Thursday to shooting a defenseless Iraqi grandfather dragged from his house in the middle of the night in what his squad informally called "Operation Vigilante."


01-19-07 - Moscow, Beijing eye space weapons


01-19-07 - Five Reasons Why I'll March on Jan. 27 (and You Should Too)


01-19-07 - Hume again declared Libby did not commit the "actual leak" in Plame case


01-19-07 - NY Times quoted Libby supporters, failed to ID them as officials of his legal defense fund NY Times - another part of the Israeli lobby.


01-19-07 - Stop the Next War Before it starts. Support H. J. Resolution 14.** Madam Speaker, after all, co-sponsored a bill during the last session of Congress, introduced by Rick Santorum and Ileana Ross-Lehtinen, both Republicans, that not only tightened sanctions on Iran, but also made "regime change" in Tehran official U.S. policy Pelosi is loyal to Israel.


01-19-07 - Perhaps Thinking of Legacy, Bush Has Rice on the Move ?I tend to place a lot of emphasis on the fact that people see their interests differently now than they did 5 years ago or 10 years ago," she said. "They see their interests less as continuing or having maximalist positions about this conflict and are more concerned about the kind of broad strategic picture." She said that the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon "was a major contributor to that shift in alignment" and that it made a Middle East peace deal more promising, and that toppling Saddam Hussein, despite the current violence within Iraq, removed what she called an "eastern front" against the Israelis.
By removing regional threats to Israel in the region, 'peace is more promising' because Israel then does not feel the need to make any 'concessions' (giving stolen land back).


01-19-07 - Activists condemn Iran Holocaust meeting In a statement to be published next week, more than 100 Iranian activists outside that country have condemned its recent conference questioning the Holocaust.


01-19-07 - Bloggers Who Criticize Government May Face Prison


01-19-07 - Iraq Surge: Dilemma For Congress, Worries For Israel ** "Israelis and the American Jewish community are very concerned about Washington's total ineptitude in coming up with a strategy on Iran,"...But Jewish leaders are also wary of being seen as cheerleading for war with Iran. Too late. It is abundantly clear just who is pushing for this war. It is also clear that the US is being blamed for failure in Iraq - a war that was based on the Clean Break Strategy (crafted in Israel) and then foisted on this administration via the neocons. Read the entire article and note the unbridled chutzpah.


01-19-07 - Fox and Friends Finally Covers Libby Case For co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy, the story of the Libby trial is that he's on trial and Sandy Berger isn't. Fox News - friends of the neocons.


01-19-07 - Bush's Plan: Resolve Without Prudence In this volatile part of the world, there's just one area where I wish President Bush would take more risks - and that's in diplomatic efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. If you want to strike a blow at Iran, Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads all at once, that's the way to do it


01-19-07 - Iran's President Did Not Say "Israel must be wiped off the map"


01-19-07 - Israel calls for harsher Iran sanctions


01-19-07 - Paper: Jordan King wants nuclear program Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons of its own, but has never officially confirmed that it does. Actually, yes Israel did confirm that it has nuclear weapons. A mere oversight on the part of the Associated Press, I'm sure. Mmm k.


01-19-07 - As Bush's War Strategy Shifts to Iran, Christian Zionists Gear Up for the Apocalypse


01-19-07 - Report on Reuters actions after publishing altered photographs Experienced photo editors and other senior editorial staff went through thousands of images published during the Lebanon conflict. We are satisfied no other images were digitally altered.


01-19-07 - Rice's Mideast Trip; Obama And The Jews "The idea is that winning Arab support for what they?re doing in Iraq and what they are contemplating for Iran requires having something called a peace process. They?ve heard that from so many people that they can?t ignore it." As I have noted before, this whole new emphasis on the 'peace process' is, like with the case just prior to and after the runup to the Iraq war, a move to get other countries on board for their support for new military action - this time Iran.


01-19-07 - Michael Savage - part of the Israeli lobby?


01-19-07 - The Israel Lobby Trips and Tilts As in so many things, conventional elite opinion lives in a bubble, believing mere assertion and ranting about anti-Semitism will carry the day. The New York Times featured a spectacularly disingenuous hatchet job by its deputy foreign editor, Ethan Bronner, and another assault by former Clinton-era Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross. The New York Times = Israel Lobby


01-19-07 - McCain Lines Up N.Y. Money Men, Raising Pressure on Rudy Giuliani For years, McCain, who has been calling for more American troops to be sent to Iraq, has developed strong ties with neoconservatives in Washington, sharing their hawkish voices on several key fronts.



01-19-07 - Why did The Israel Factor panelists downgrade Rice? The panelists who are worried by the possibility of American pressure on the Palestinian issue lowered her grade because they believe that some of her statements show she is over-committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.