News for 01-12-07

01-12-07 - For US troops, new duties, more danger On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, many military officers and analysts predicted that US and coalition forces would have to fight their way into Baghdad and then conduct the kind of house-to-house urban warfare against Republican Guard and Fedayeen Saddam troops that is the most dangerous and the most deadly. Speaking of urban warfare. And again.


01-12-07 - US strikes on al-Qa'ida chiefs kill nomads


01-12-07 - Detained Iranians had Iraq approval The Iraqi foreign minister said Friday that the five Iranians detained by U.S.-led forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq were working in a liaison office that had government approval and was in the process of being approved as a consulate.


01-12-07 - US under fire for swoop on Iranian office in Iraq A night-time swoop by US forces on an Iranian office in northern Iraq triggered strong criticism, with Kurdish leaders and even Moscow branding the raid unacceptable.


01-12-07 - McCain defends Bush's Iraq strategy ** "I want to address kind of a rumor and urban legend that's going around, and it comes from language in the president's Wednesday night address to the nation, that in talking about Iran and Syria that he was trying to prepare the way for war with either country and that there are war preparations under way, Snow said. "There are not." Mm k, Tony.


01-12-07 - Rice denies US 'escalating Iraq'


01-12-07 - US won't set troop withdrawal timetable


01-12-07 - Negroponte: Al-Qaida the biggest threat In his annual review of global threats, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte highlighted an increasingly worrisome assessment of Hezbollah - backed by Iran and Syria - since its 34-day war with Israel last year. Negroponte suddenly sings the neocon tune.


01-12-07 - Video: Recent US actions could signal Iran conflict, despite White House denials; GOPer's bill requires Congress OK on Iran **


01-12-07 - Iran and Syria in the Crosshairs **


01-12-07 - Cheney enters the twilight of his career while Cheney himself is in the twilight days of his political career, he's still there, with little evidence that his influence with Bush has waned. Bush is merely a front man to Cheney and his gaggle of neocons.


01-12-07 - UPI Intelligence Watch ** "President Bush is using the idea of security in Iraq to put himself in a better position to strike Iran. And this is the one thing politically that he can control in the United States to prove who's really in charge,"


01-12-07 - White House Spokesman Blasts Sen. Boxer's Exchange With Secretary Rice "I spoke the truth at the committee hearing, which is that neither Secretary Rice nor I have family members that will pay the price for this escalation. My point was to focus attention on our military families who continue to sacrifice because this Administration has not developed a political solution to the situation in Iraq."


01-12-07 - Poll: Two-thirds of Americans oppose more troops in Iraq The will of the American people is not being adequately represented in Washington.


01-12-07 - US says raid in N. Iraq, capture of Iranians, based on plans "to kill "It is important to go after people who are trying to kill Americans," Snow said during a White House briefing


01-12-07 - Eye on Iraq: An admiral to command a land war?** President George W. Bush's choice of a Navy admiral to head Central Command after Gen. John P. Abizaid has set tongues wagging. Why send an admiral to command a land battle unless you don't expect the battle to remain a land one? Because we are going to attack Iran.


01-12-07 - Escalation is Hardly the Answer By Congressman Ron Paul ** We should remember that Iran, like Iraq, is a third-world nation without a significant military. Nothing in history hints that she is likely to invade a neighboring country, let alone do anything to America or Israel. I am concerned, however, that a contrived Gulf of Tonkin- type incident may occur to gain popular support for an attack on Iran.


01-12-07 - Rice offers to meet Iranian ladership if it suspends uranium enrichment U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she was ready to meet "any time, anywhere" with Iran's leadership if it suspended its
enrichment of uranium.


01-12-07 - Iran cleric raps Bush's 'ignorance' Bush on Iraq US President George W. Bush's plan to dispatch more troops to Iraq is a sign of his ignorance and a move that he will come to regret, senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati has warned.


01-12-07 - Rice says Bush authorized raid on Iranians in Iraq: report ** Administration officials now describe Iran as the single greatest threat the United States faces in the Middle East, though some administration critics regard the talk about Iran as a diversion, one intended to shift attention away from the spiraling chaos in Iraq, the report said.


01-12-07 - Iran summons Iraqi, Swiss ambassadors after US raid


01-12-07 - Iraqi president to visit Syria on Sunday Qaradaghi would not elaborate on Talabani's goals for the visit. But the Iraqi president was expected to discuss security on the country's long desert border with Syria.


01-12-07 - Bush's ace up his sleeve by Patrick J. Buchanan ** What Bush signaled in the clear Wednesday is that air strikes on Iranian "networks" are being planned. That would produce an Iranian response. That response would trigger U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, for which Israel and the neocons are howling.


01-12-07 - Iran conservatives scold fiery Ahmadinejad "At the very moment that the nuclear issue was about to move away from the UN Security Council, the fiery speeches of the president have resulted in the adoption of two resolutions (against Iran),"


01-12-07 - The Lebanese deserve to know who is not cooperating with the Hariri probe If Syria was one of the countries not cooperating, it would surely be headlined by now.


01-12-07 - Beyond the Call to Surge, the Need to Purge Our Media There was no analysis of likely consequences especially the threats to attack Syria and Iran. In short, there was no reporting. How is this possible on an event that had been hyped for a week and whose key tenets were well known BEFORE it was delivered? Who wants America to stay in Iraq? Who wants America to attack Iran and Syria (same culprit for both)? And why is the media still beholden to this group?


01-12-07 - The "Surge" Is A Red Herring ** Near the end of his "surge" speech, Bush adopts the neoconservative program as US policy. The struggle, Bush says, echoing the neoconservatives and the Israeli right-wing, goes far beyond Iraq.


01-12-07 - Baghdad Crackdown ** Bush knows that if Iran was seriously involved in arming the Iraqi resistance, we?d be seeing the Russian-made, armor-piercing rocket launchers that were used so effectively by Hezbollah during their 34 day war with Israel. That hasn?t been the case.


01-12-07 - From Mar. 2006: Top U.S. Military Official: No Evidence of Iran Involvement in Iraq ** Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said today he has no evidence the Iranian government has been sending military equipment and personnel into neighboring Iraq.


01-12-07 - From Oct 2006: British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran **


01-12-07 - Libby perjury and obstruction trial set to begin


01-12-07 - Jimmy Carter Speaks Truth to Propaganda We must not let the Israel Lobby get away with demonizing an American president who dares to stand up to their lies. It's a good book.


01-12-07 - Iranian Jews Reject Outside Calls To Leave ** In recent months, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Israeli officials and some American Jewish communal leaders have urged Iranian Jews to leave. But so far, despite generally being allowed to travel to Israel and emigrate abroad, Iranian Jews have stayed put. Why are they encouraging Iranian Jews to leave Iran, know something we don't?


01-12-07 - Oil edges up on Opec speculation


01-12-07 - Sharon advised Bush: You need Iraq exit plan The former Israeli prime minister, who has been in a coma for a year, met with Bush in early 2003, prior to the U.S. invasion. According to a report in the Forward this week, Sharon said he believed, as Bush did, that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the region. No sh#t?


01-12-07 - Uranium 'killing Italian troops' The US says it fired around 40,000 depleted uranium rounds during the Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts.


01-12-07 - Advocate Criticizes Govt Data Mining


01-12-07 - Action against Iran, Syria could escalate conflict: Rudd **


01-12-07 - Iranian bank denies U.S. charge it is a weapons proliferator Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah on Wednesday denied U.S. charges it was helping the country to acquire nuclear weapons and threatened unspecified legal action, an Iranian news agency said.


01-12-07 - Blair says UK must continue fighting wars


01-12-07 - Hezbollah weapons and supplies found hidden along northern border The patrol found the supplies within Israeli territory, but on the Lebanese side of the Israeli-constructed border fence. The action represents the first time Israeli soldiers have crossed the border fence since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in the wake of the second Lebanon war.



01-12-07 - US churches chief resists Bush's urge to surge


01-12-07 - Did We Just Declare War on Iran? ** Biden looked sternly at the secretary and made one last point: "If the president concluded he had to invade Iran ? or Syria in pursuit of these networks, I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that and he does need congressional authority to do that. ? I just want to set that marker."


01-12-07 - U.S. delivers Hummers to Lebanon The delivery was part of a U.S. effort to bolster Lebanon?s western-leaning government against Syria and Hezbollah


01-12-07 - U.S. policies have made Israel less safe, experts say The conclusion that the United States has made Israel less safe and the growing criticism of Bush administration policy are ironic, to put it mildly. Securing Israel, America's closest ally in the region, was one of the Bush administration's justifications for toppling Saddam and for promoting democracy throughout the region
America invaded Iraq at the behest of Israel and its minions in the US - the neocons. In fact, it's safe to say that Bush's entire Middle East agenda is crafted by Cheney and the neocons. He sure as hell isn't listening to the ISG, now is he? Bush relied heavily on Natan Sharansky's book about Middle Eastern democracy as well. All of these policies are now backfiring, and it's all being blamed on Bush. Half of the blame rests with Israel and the neocons. None of these policies have made the US any safer. To the contrary. The US (again at the behest of Israel) has run roughshod over moderates in the region and has refused to engage in diplomacy in the region - thereby encouraging extremism. Diplomacy at the barrel of a gun will continue to bite us in the ass (as it has done with Israel) over time.


01-12-07 - Syria: No preconditions to Israeli talks


01-12-07 - What Israel Can Do for America The rejection of the L-word is often prompted by denial of the tragic, obvious fact that U.S. support of Israel is one the main reasons why Muslims throughout the world despise Americans.


01-12-07 - Anti-Zionist Jew excommunicated in Vienna The community said in a statement that Israel?s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, asked in December for a cherem, or excommunication, against all Jews who participated in the Tehran conference