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.