Palestinian Pundit

By Dan Plesch

American preparations for invading Iran are complete, Dan Plesch reveals. Plus Rageh Omaar's insights from Iran and Andrew Stephen on fears George Bush's administration will blunder into war


"American military operations for a major conventional war with Iran could be implemented any day. They extend far beyond targeting suspect WMD facilities and will enable President Bush to destroy Iran's military, political and economic infrastructure overnight using conventional weapons.

British military sources told the New Statesman, on condition of anonymity, that "the US military switched its whole focus to Iran" as soon as Saddam Hussein was kicked out of Baghdad. It continued this strategy, even though it had American infantry bogged down in fighting the insurgency in Iraq.

The US army, navy, air force and marines have all prepared battle plans and spent four years building bases and training for "Operation Iranian Freedom". Admiral Fallon, the new head of US Central Command, has inherited computerised plans under the name TIRANNT (Theatre Iran Near Term).

The Bush administration has made much of sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf. But it is a tiny part of the preparations. Post 9/11, the US navy can put six carriers into battle at a month's notice. Two carriers in the region, the USS John C Stennis and the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, could quickly be joined by three more now at sea: USS Ronald Reagan, USS Harry S Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt, as well as by USS Nimitz. Each carrier force includes hundreds of cruise missiles.

Then there are the marines, who are not tied down fighting in Iraq. Several marine forces are assembling, each with its own aircraft carrier. These carrier forces can each conduct a version of the D-Day landings. They come with landing craft, tanks, jump-jets, thousands of troops and, yes, hundreds more cruise missiles. Their task is to destroy Iranian forces able to attack oil tankers and to secure oilfields and installations. They have trained for this mission since the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Today, marines have the USS Boxer and USS Bataan carrier forces in the Gulf and probably also the USS Kearsarge and USS Bonhomme Richard. Three others, the USS Peleliu, USS Wasp and USS Iwo Jima, are ready to join them. Earlier this year, HQ staff to manage these forces were moved from Virginia to Bahrain.

Vice-President Dick Cheney has had something of a love affair with the US marines, and this may reach its culmination in the fishing villages along Iran's Gulf coast. Marine generals hold the top jobs at Nato, in the Pentagon and are in charge of all nuclear weapons. No marine has held any of these posts before.

Traditionally, the top nuclear job went either to a commander of the navy's Trident submarines or of the air force's bombers and missiles. Today, all these forces follow the orders of a marine, General James Cartwright, and are integrated into a "Global Strike" plan which places strategic forces on permanent 12-hour readiness.

The only public discussion of this plan has been by the American analysts Bill Arkin and Hans Kristensen, who have focused on the possible use of atomic weapons. These concerns are justified, but ignore how forces can be used in conventional war.

Any US general planning to attack Iran can now assume that at least 10,000 targets can be hit in a single raid, with warplanes flying from the US or Diego Garcia. In the past year, unlimited funding for military technology has taken "smart bombs" to a new level.

New "bunker-busting" conventional bombs weigh only 250lb. According to Boeing, the GBU-39 small-diameter bomb "quadruples" the firepower of US warplanes, compared to those in use even as recently as 2003. A single stealth or B-52 bomber can now attack between 150 and 300 individual points to within a metre of accuracy using the global positioning system.

With little military effort, the US air force can hit the last-known position of Iranian military units, political leaders and supposed sites of weapons of mass destruction. One can be sure that, if war comes, George Bush will not want to stand accused of using too little force and allowing Iran to fight back.

"Global Strike" means that, without any obvious signal, what was done to Serbia and Lebanon can be done overnight to the whole of Iran. We, and probably the Iranians, would not know about it until after the bombs fell. Forces that hide will suffer the fate of Saddam's armies, once their positions are known.

The whole of Iran is now less than an hour's flying time from some American base or carrier. Sources in the region as well as trade journals confirm that the US has built three bases in Azerbaijan that could be transit points for troops and with facilities equal to its best in Europe.

Most of the Iranian army is positioned along the border with Iraq, facing US army missiles that can reach 150km over the border. But it is in the flat, sandy oilfields east and south of Basra where the temptation will be to launch a tank attack and hope that a disaffected population will be grateful.

The regime in Tehran has already complained of US- and UK-inspired terror attacks in several Iranian regions where the population opposes the ayatollahs' fanatical policies. Such reports corroborate the American journalist Seymour Hersh's claim that the US military is already engaged in a low-level war with Iran. The fighting is most intense in the Kurdish north where Iran has been firing artillery into Iraq. The US and Iran are already engaged in a low-level proxy war across the Iran-Iraq border.

And, once again, the neo-cons at the American Enterprise Institute have a plan for a peaceful settlement: this time it is for a federal Iran. Officially, Michael Ledeen, the AEI plan's sponsor, has been ostracised by the White House. However, two years ago, the Congress of Iranian Nationalities for a Federal Iran had its inaugural meeting in London.

We should not underestimate the Bush administration's ability to convince itself that an "Iran of the regions" will emerge from a post-rubble Iran. "

Livni: PA coalition gov't fails to meet Quartet demands

"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Saturday a unity government deal between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas did not satisfy the demands of the international community.

Her comments marked a hardening of Israel's public response to the deal. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this week that Israel "neither rejects nor accepts the agreements".

"Unfortunately, before the formation of the future Palestinian government, the understandings do not meet the requirements of the international community," Livni said with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at her side......

A political source in Jerusalem said earlier Saturday that Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush "see eye to eye on the need of any future Palestinian government to meet the demands of the Quartet" of Middle East peacemakers, following a telephone conversation between the two leaders Friday.

Olmert and Bush also discussed the Mecca agreement to form a Palestinian unity government of Hamas and Fatah and the issue of Iran's nuclear development.....

Palestinian negotiatior Saeb Erekat, however, said Welch reiterated Washington's insistence that the new coalition accept the conditions laid out by the so-called Quartet of peacemakers - the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - that any Palestinian government must recognize Israel, renounce violence and honor previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

"We are going to judge this government according to its commitment to the
Quartet conditions," Erekat quoted the American envoy saying.....

But a senior Palestinian official said: "The Americans have informed us that they will be boycotting the new government headed by Hamas. The Fatah and independent ministers will be treated the same way that Hamas ministers are treated."

Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, then delivered the same message to Abbas in person Thursday, the aides said.

The aides said the U.S. officials indicated that all members of the future unity government, including independents and those belonging to Fatah, would be shunned. The U.S. government would still maintain ties with Abbas and his office, the aides added......"

The Palestinian Accords

By URI AVNERY
CounterPunch

"......The day after tomorrow, Condoleezza Rice will convene a meeting of Olmert and Abbas in Jerusalem.

The Americans now have a problem. On one side, they need the Saudi king. Not only does he sit on huge oil reservoirs, but he is also the center-piece of the "moderate Sunni bloc". If the king tells Bush that the solution of the Palestinian problem is needed in order to dam the spread of Iranian influence across the Middle East, his words will carry a lot of weight. If Bush is planning a military attack on Iran, as it seems he is, it is important for him to have the united support of the Sunnis.

On the other side, the pro-Israel lobby--both Jewish and Christian--is very important for Bush. It is vital for him to be able to count on the "Christian base" of the Republican Party, which is composed of fundamentalists who support the extreme Right in Israel, come what may.

So what is to be done? Nothing. For this nothing, Condi found an apt diplomatic slogan, taken from up-to-date American slang: "New Political Horizons".

Clearly, she did not ponder on the meaning of these words. Because the horizon is the symbol of a goal that will never be reached: the more you approach it, the more it recedes."

There Goes The "Arab Consensus"

By Tony Sayegh

The Palestinians, who are the only colonized people in the world today, have been struggling for their freedom and independence for close to 100 years, yet their actions show that they have learned very little in all these years. As a result they seem incapable of putting together and executing a national project that would deliver this freedom and independence. In the meantime the colonizers and occupiers excel in forging ahead with their plans to devour what little is left for the Palestinians and to ultimately squeeze them or , depending on regional developments, “transfer” them out. The picture could not be bleaker. If there is any hope left, it lies in the Palestinians conducting a harsh self-examination that spares no sacred cows nor tries to minimize how dire the situation is.

I hear a lot said about Palestinian democracy and the efforts (by Usrael) to end this experiment. Yet, at crucial times, there is little evidence of this democracy. Key decisions and agreements are still made by a few “leaders” with no input from ordinary Palestinians. A case in point is the Mecca agreement concluded under the auspices of his royal highness king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. I am still waiting for any debate about its merits, or lack of, in the so-called parliament, the press or any other forum. Suddenly, true to form, most Palestinians fall in line and sing the praises of “Palestinian unity.” No dissenting voices are heard within the “democratic” Hamas or among the public at large. Some Hamas leaders even went as far as accusing anyone opposed to this agreement of being an enemy of the people!

This has been the pattern for 90 years and as a result the Palestinian project can’t get off the ground. Is it any wonder that after three generations of resistance the most observed resistance to the occupation in the West Bank is the sight of kids throwing stones at Israeli tanks? There is no growth, evolution, learning or even a process. The people are leaderless and the so-called leaders are more concerned with appearing in front of cameras or flying from capital to capital. By contrast, Hizbullah did not even exist in 1982 when Israel occupied South Lebanon. By 2000 (in 18 short years) Hizbullah was able to organize a fierce and effective resistance that culminated in the only known forced Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land.

I would like to take just a few examples to illustrate that the Palestinians have learned very little in all those years.

After WWI the Palestinians, and the Arabs in general, were duped in fighting with the British and the French to get rid of the Ottomans. And what do the Palestinians get in return? British occupation and the Balfour declaration in 1917 committing the British government to dismembering Palestine and to the Zionist cause of stealing most of the country and throwing the Palestinians out. The British stayed in Palestine to empower the creation of the Zionist state and left only when the Zionist forces were strong enough to defeat the combined Arab armies. The U.N., being the imperial tool that it is to this day, voted to partition the country and bless the new Zionist state. Did the Palestinians learn anything from that? I remember my father talking about never trusting the British again. Yet, Palestinian “leaders” (including those of Hamas) are pleading with Britain and the U.S. to play a “more active role” in the “peace process!” Hamas is urging the European powers that were largely responsible for the creation of Israel to lift the blockade and to resume their charitable contributions! Palestinian “leaders” go from meeting to meeting with Rice, Blair and the Quartet pleading for a “solution.” The Quartet is made up of the EU, U.S., U.N. and Russia, the same cast of characters that created Israel in the first place.

Here is another illustration. After the treason of most Arab leaders in 1948, with the king of Jordan actively collaborating with the Zionists and the kings of Egypt and Iraq ordering their forces not to intervene to help the Palestinians, the Palestinians swore never to trust the corrupt Arab leaders and to rely on themselves. Yet at a time when the Arab world is at its rock bottom in terms of subservience to the U.S. and when Arab nationalism is virtually dead, the Palestinians are supposed to celebrate an agreement cobbled together under the financial clout and patronage of the most corrupt and reactionary American puppet, king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Ismail Haniyyah could not praise his rotten majesty enough. He even compared his sponsorship of the agreement to an action by the Prophet Mohammad! What a buffoon and a hypocrite! If the agreement is that good for the Palestinians, why do they need his rotten majesty? He is not the only U.S. stooge that the Palestinian “leaders” meet and coordinate with. Abbas is in Jordan almost weekly to “coordinate” with the other Abdullah! Can anything good come out of all this? Have the Palestinians really learned anything?

Hamas originally attacked, and rightly so, the Oslo agreement and all the structures that resulted from it, including the PA. However, Hamas now insists on being a part of this same illusion of a government which was set up to relieve Israel from the burdens of occupation and to act as Israel’s cop in the occupied areas. Yet Hamas is now lauding this “national unity” as a historic agreement. Say what? The Palestinians are being dishonest with themselves and are following mirages and illusions made possible by empty rhetoric.

The Palestinians swore for two generations that only through resistance and self-reliance they could hope to restore some of their rights. Yet their actions today belie all that. Hamas is observing a unilateral “truce” while Israel proceeds with land confiscations, more colonies, assassinations, daily abduction of scores of Palestinians and the ultimate absorption of all of Palestine. Hamas is even offering a 10-year truce! I think in 10 years there will be nothing left of Palestine.

Ismail Habila Playing Government.

The Real Authority In "Palestinian Authority" Is The U.S. Consul:
Mahmoud Abbas, right, meets with Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, left, in his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Thursday.

Israeli Rightist Warns That Bush’s Iraq Policy Could Hurt Effort To Combat Iran

"Efraim “Effi” Eitam, a leader of Israel’s right-wing Orthodox Zionist camp, is criticizing President Bush’s Iraq policy, saying it could end up undermining efforts to confront Iran.

Eitam, who sits on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and is the leader of the Renewed National Religious Zionist party, spent three days last week in Washington briefing the administration, Congress and think tanks about the Iranian threat. Eitam told the Forward that, during his trip, he criticized Bush’s decision to send more troops to Baghdad and the emphasis that his administration is putting on spreading democracy.

The main concern, Eitam said, is that the continuing presence of American troops in Iraq would make it hard to build support for an American strike against Iran. “The most important commodity we have is the U.S. support for war against Iran, so we need to build on this,” he said. “The administration is unpopular but can still take a strategic decision on Iran. Still, I’m concerned Bush is so committed to Iraq that he will lose the possibility of dealing with Iran.”

Eitam said that Bush’s message to the American public should be that although Iraq was the wrong war, the principle of depriving a rogue state from acquiring nuclear weapons is still a good one. “The wrong target has been shot,” he said. “You get a second chance to shoot the right one…. The original goal of the war in Iraq was WMDs, not democracy, and I tell them this is still true.”.....

During his trip to Washington, Eitam advised his “Iraq-obsessed” interlocutors to redeploy to pro-American countries in the region, reaffirm their commitment to stay in the Middle East and make it clear that they will prevent Tehran from going nuclear. In doing so, he effectively brushed aside the democracy-spreading agenda backed by the administration, and the recent plan to put more American troops into Baghdad to quell the sectarian violence.

Despite tepid public support in America for another military venture in the Middle East, Eitam asserted that he sensed strong bipartisan support in Washington for using all available means to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

Eitam noted that while American intelligence disagreed a year ago with Israel’s assessment that Iran was three to four years away from reaching a critical point, Washington now endorses Jerusalem’s estimates. “Everybody now agrees that we have three to four years before we reach a point where the Iranian project can’t be reversed,” he said. “We are not talking about the time when they will have the knowledge, but when they will have a bomb and the missile to deliver it.”

While he did not openly call for military action, Eitam noted that the Iranian program was currently at a stage where “it is big enough to be understood but small enough to be destroyed.”

Asked about the danger of Iran retaliating against Jerusalem and Washington in the event of a military strike by Israel or the United States, Eitam struck a confident tone. “We have the Arrows system to stop missiles, we are now better prepared to deal with Hezbollah and if the U.S. redeploys in Iraq, it will make the troops safer,” he said. “So what’s the risk of three months of systematic strikes against nuclear facilities, which will end up delaying their program?”

Eitam said that even if Israel were to carry out strikes on its own, it would need American support for refueling, as well as authorization to fly over Iraq and intelligence cooperation. “This is why I tell the Americans that they will be seen as being part of it anyway, which is why they should prepare accordingly,” he said.

The Israeli lawmaker dismissed the claims by pro-American Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan that progress on the Palestinian track would help produce a robust unified front against Tehran. “This is just propaganda,” he said. “They want us to stop the Iranian nuclear program, we don’t need progress on the Palestinian issue. The Saudis should salute us for taking care of this, so this idea that we have to give something to the Palestinians is just rubbish.”

He went on to claim that the Palestinian question was marginal in those countries, and he dismissed the notion that Israeli occupation of the West Bank was inflaming the Arab public throughout the region......

Eitam said that he expected to play a prominent role in any future government headed by Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party and is a former prime minister. During his first stint as prime minister, Netanyahu upset many settler leaders by agreeing to Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. But this time, Eitam said, “I will be nearby him.” Eitam added, “He has wounds, and he has matured.”"

عبد الباري عطوان

"من المقرر ان يبدأ اليوم السيد اسماعيل هنية رئيس الوزراء المكلف اتصالاته مع الفصائل الفلسطينية والشخصيات المستقلة من اجل تشكيل حكومة وحدة وطنية أولي مهامها اخراج الشعب الفلسطيني من ازمته السياسية والاقتصادية الخانقة، ولكن كل الدلائل تشير الي ولادة متعسرة لهذه الحكومة، ناهيك عن قدرتها علي تحقيق اهدافها في رفع الحصار.
الحكومة الجديدة في حال تشكيلها ستكون حكومة برأسين، تماماً مثل السلطة، اي سيكون هناك رئيس لها هو السيد هنية يمثل حركة حماس ، ونائب رئيس الوزراء يمثل حركة فتح ، ومن غير المستبعد ان تمتد حالة الاستقطاب الحالية السائدة في الاراضي المحتلة الي الحكومة نفسها، فنري حكومتين داخل الحكومة الواحدة، وزراء يتبعون رئيس الوزراء وآخرين يتبعون نائبه.
الادارة الامريكية، مدعومة بحكومة ايهود اولمرت، وبعض المسؤولين العرب، قد تعمل علي تعميق هذا الاستقطاب، من خلال حصر تعاملها في المستقبل مع وزراء فتح فقط وبعض الوزراء المستقلين، تماماً مثلما فعلت مع حكومة فؤاد السنيورة في لبنان عندما رفضت كل انواع الاتصال بالوزراء الذين يمثلون حزب الله ، والاحزاب اللبنانية الحليفة لسورية والمعادية للسياسات الخارجية الامريكية في المنطقة.
فردود فعل الإدارة الامريكية الرسمية علي اتفاق مكة الذي ادي الي اتفاق حركتي فتح و حماس علي وقف الصدامات الدموية بينهما، وتشكيل حكومة وحدة وطنية جاءت واضحة في رفضه، ونقلت وكالات الانباء تصريحات لمسؤولين امريكيين اكدوا فيها انهم لن يتعاملوا مع الحكومة الجديدة طالما انها رفضت التجاوب مع شروط اللجنة الرباعية الثلاثة الأساسية وهي الاعتراف باسرائيل، ونبذ الارهاب، والالتزام بالاتفاقات الموقعة بين اسرائيل والسلطة الفلسطينية وعلي رأسها اتفاقات اوسلو.
وهذا الرفض الامريكي يعني عملياً عدم رفع الحصار المالي المفروض علي الشعب الفلسطيني، مما سيؤدي الي انهيار الحكومة، وعودة الصدامات بين طرفيها الرئيسيين، واذا حاولت الادارة الامريكية تخفيف موقفها المتشدد هذا نتيجة ضغوط اوروبية وعربية، فانها قد تلجأ الي التعامل مع وزراء فتح فقط، واعتمادهم كقناة لارسال الاموال والمساعدات، الأمر الذي قد يثير غضب حماس ويدفعها الي التفكير في انهاء هذه الشراكة.
نحن نفترض هنا ان الحكومة ستتشكل ونتحدث عما يمكن حدوثه بعد تشكيلها، ولكن احتمالات عدم النجاح في تشكيلها تظل واردة، بسبب العقبات الكبيرة التي ما زالت قائمة في طريقها، ومن ابرزها الاتفاق علي وزير داخلية مقبول للرئيس محمود عباس، ويمكن وضع جميع الاجهزة الامنية الفلسطينية المكونة اساساً من عناصر تدين بالولاء لحركة فتح تحت امرته. وحتي في حال تذليل هذه العقبة، فإن عقبة اخطر تظل عامل تفجير، وهي مستقبل القوة التنفيذية التي أسستها حركة حماس لتكون قواتها الضاربة في مواجهة الاجهزة الامنية الرسمية، بعد رفض السيد عباس اخضاع الاخيرة لسلطة وزير الداخلية سعيد صيام. فهل ستوزع عناصر هذه القوة علي الاجهزة المختلفة، ام ستظل وحدة قائمة بذاتها مثلما تريد حركة حماس ؟ وفي حال الاتفاق علي توزيعها علي الاجهزة، هل ستتولي قياداتها مناصب رئيسية في هذه الاجهزة ام تظل تابعة للقيادات القديمة وكلها من حركة فتح ؟
الاجابة علي هذه الاسئلة الهامة والمشروعة تبدو في ذروة الصعوبة، لانها غير متوفرة في الوقت الراهن، وربما يحتاج السيد هنية الي سلسلة من الحوارات والمشاورات تستغرق اياماً وربما اسابيع قبل التوصل الي اتفاقات حول التفاصيل المتعلقة بكل عقبة من العقبات المطروحة امامه.
اتفاق مكة عكس النوايا الطيبة لدي الطرفين، مثلما عكس حرصهما علي عدم احراج المضيف السعودي، واحترام حرمة المكان، ولكن التطبيق العملي لبنوده الاساسية سيكون صعباً ويحتاج الي معجزة ونحن لسنا في زمن المعجزات للأسف.
الكلمة الفصل في نجاحه او فشله، هي مسألة رفع الحصار المالي، واستخدام الدولة الراعية لنفــــوذها الكبير لدي الولايات المتحدة لتحـــقيق هذا الهدف. ولا توجد اي دلائل تشـــــير حتي الآن الي ما يوحي بأنها تفعل ذلك، او ما يؤكد نجاحها في هذا الخصوص اذا كانت قد استخدمت نفوذها فعلاً.
القيادة السياسية الفلسطينية برأسيها التي اجتمعت في مكة اظهرت الكثير من عدم الخبرة السياسية عندما قدمت الاتفاق الي الشعب الفلسطيني كما لو أنه نهاية آلامه، وخطوة أساسية علي صعيد تحرير فلسطين، مما ادي الي رفع التوقعات والآمال في أوساطه الي معدلات كبيرة، وهي توقعات بدأت تتحول الي خيبات امل بشكل تدريجي، وربما تنقلب الي سخط علي الطرفين في المستقبل القريب اذا لم يعط هذا الاتفاق ثماره علي الارض في الايام القليلة المقبلة.
ولعل ابرز أوجه عدم الخبرة السياسية اطناب رأسي السلطة في المديح بشكل غير مسبوق للقيادة السعودية، وتشبيه العاهل السعودي بالرسول صلي الله عليه وسلم عندما فرد عباءته اثناء رعايته لصلح القبائل العربية.
لقد نسي قادة الشعب الفلسطيني الجدد، بشقيهم المعتدل والمتطرف، انهم يمثلون ثورة وشعبا مقهورا يناضل لتحرير ارضه، عندما نشروا اعلانات مدفوعة في الصحف السعودية تمتدح العاهل السعودي وجهوده في رعايتهم واتفاقهم، وكأنهم مخاتير أو رؤساء عشائر أو مدراء شركات عامة تعمل في السعودية ودول الخليج. فثقافة نشر صفحات التهاني جديدة علي الشعب الفلسطيني، والثوار بشكل عام. فاليوم تنشر صفحات مديح بالعاهل السعودي وغدا بنظيره الاردني، وبعد غد بالزعيم الليبي، والشهر الذي يليه بالرئيس الامريكي او الرئيس الروسي وهكذا، يتحول قادة الشعب الفلسطيني الي جوقة من المداحين، بدءاً من اتفاق لم يجف حبره، ولم يحقق اهدافه بعد.
الحكمة تقتضي ان لا تنحصر المشاورات بين رأسي السلطة حول كيفية تشكيل الحكومة فقط، وانما ايضاً حول كيفية التصرف في حال لم يغير هذا التشكيل، اذا تم التوصل اليه، من واقع الحال شيئاً. فهل نري وقوف حركتي حماس و فتح جنباً الي جنب في مواجهة عدم الاعتراف الامريكي والاسرائيلي، ووضـــع برنامج مشترك للمقاومة والعودة الي الثوابت الوطنية؟
وهل نري اتفاقاً بينهما علي عدم اللجوء مرة أخري الي السلاح في حال فشل المشاورات الحالية، نتيجة تدخلات خارجية وعربية، في تشكيل الحكومة العتيدة؟
نترك الاجابة علي هذه الأسئلة التي تدور حاليا في ذهن كل مواطن فلسطيني داخل الارض المحــــــتلة وخارجها للقيادة الفلسطينية وللأيام المقبلة."

The Pathetic Palestinian Response!
By Emad Hajjaj.
Long live "Palestinian unity" and (king) Abdullah.

By Kurt Nimmo

"In order to be selected to run as president here in the United States, the field of “hopefuls” must pay homage to Israel, AIPAC, and the “New York money men,” as Wesley Clark has noted. Thus senator Barack Obama recently delivered a speech designed “to remove any doubts that the Democratic Party’s donors and constituents, many of whom are Jewish, may have about his support for Israel,” according to Haaretz.

“My view is that the United States’ special relationship with Israel obligates us to be helpful to them in the search for credible partners with whom they can make peace, while also supporting Israel in defending itself against enemies sworn to its destruction,” said the Illinois Democrat......

In recent years, Israel’s “New Historians,” including Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, and Tom Segev, have systematically dissected these convenient myths, although predictably their conclusions—most notably the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, Israel’s military superiority over its Arab neighbors, and the indisputable fact it is primarily to blame for the absence of peace in the region—have endured consistent and repeated criticism from historians and corporate media scribes shucking the official mythology.

For Obama and the Democratic leadership, these criticisms are not only anathema, they are indeed almost entirely nonexistent in a political milieu dominated by AIPAC and the “New York money men.”

As Shmuel Rosner writes for Haaretz, the so-called “Israel Factor” panelists—including Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs—need “more time to trust him,” that is to say they are waiting for an unequivocal endorsement of the Israeli state from Obama. “A position paper outlining Obama’s views is in the making, and will be distributed to as many Jewish voters as possible,” writes Rosner.

Obama is not finished, not by a long stretch, Rosner tells us. “This week I was told that while the venue has yet to be selected, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs conference in Washington at the end of February is one possibility. There’s also a chance that he will make his comments on Israel at a Washington rally calling for the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers [i.e., captured on the Lebanese side of the border] or while speaking to a group of Chicago Jews. One thing is quite clear: It will happen in the next two to three weeks.” "

By Mike Whitney

"The Bush foreign policy is predicated on one simple axiom: “We will stop the world’s most dangerous men from getting their hands on the world’s most dangerous weapons”. By that standard, Bush’s dealings with North Korea have been a wretched failure. After 6 years of fruitless saber rattling and belligerence, the North detonated a nuclear bomb in early October and put region on notice that there’s a new member in the nuclear weapons club......

Additionally, Vice President Cheney delivered a blunt warning to Kim in a speech he delivered early last year. He said, “We don’t negotiate with evil; we defeat it.”

What could be clearer?

Given the administration’s blatant hostility, Kim Jung Il did what any leader would do if they were facing a similar existential threat; he developed a credible deterrent to US aggression, nuclear weapons. His research was undoubtedly hurried along by Bush’s bellicosity.

Immediately following October’s nuclear blast, the Bush administration reversed its policy and sent a messenger to the North Korean Embassy to see if they would be willing to conduct secret “bilateral” negotiations in Berlin. Bush was desperately trying to avoid the appearance that he had completely caved in on a matter of principle, but the facts are not in dispute. Bush’s sudden U-turn is just another unfortunate humiliation for the country.

The Bush public relations team is trying to spin the new agreement as a “breakthrough”. But there is no breakthrough. Bush has capitulated on all the main issues. It’s a terrible deal and that’s why so many conservatives are enraged and spewing their anger in the newspapers.

The agreement will remove the North from the State Department’s list of terrorist states and provide 50,000 tons of fuel oil just for shutting down its Yongbyon reactor. But that won’t address the north’s clandestine nuclear program or Kim’s nuclear weapons stockpile. In fact, these are not even on the table!

Just months ago Bush rejected the same deal saying, “We will never agree to blackmail”. My, how things change once a country gets nukes.

The present agreement is worse than the “Agreed Framework” which was initiated by Bill Clinton in 1994 and which was universally repudiated by Republicans and the conservative think tanks. Nicholas Eberstadt of the far-right American Enterprise Institute summarized it like this:

“This is substantially worse than the Agreed Framework… The (original) agreement attempted to freeze everything that we knew about the DPRK’s activities and probe their good faith. Now, we have agreed to a deal that only freezes part, at most, of North Korea’s nuclear activities for a much higher price then the earlier agreement, with a regime that we know operates in bad faith on nuclear deals.”

Eberstadt is right. Every part of the agreement favors the North. The United States and its allies will have to provide 50,000 tons of fuel oil just for the privilege of sitting down at the bargaining table with the DPRK diplomats. Shutting down Yongbyon is utterly meaningless; that doesn’t tell us where the secret uranium enrichment program is located and that is the fuel-source for the Kim’s nuclear weapons.

There’s no chance that the administration will persuade the North to “denuclearize” (the administration’s word du jour). Kim knows that the real objective of US policy is regime change and that guarantees that he will never give up his nukes. Instead, he plans to use the upcoming negotiations as a means of extorting more concessions from Bush and the allies. Next, he’s expected to demand electrical power from South Korea, additional food and medicine, and the light-water reactor which was promised by Clinton. All the while, his nukes will remain safely tucked away beyond reach; his only real bargaining chip.

The real danger in Bush’s policy-turnabout is the message that it sends to Iran and any other country who wants to improve its prospects vis a vis the United States. If Iran had any doubts that it needs nuclear weapons to fend off the US; those doubts have been removed.

Bush’s blundering foreign policy has dealt a withering blow to nuclear nonproliferation and paved the way for a 21st century arms race. This is a bad deal all around and only underscores one basic truism:

Blackmail works."

"JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States has warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that peace talks with Israel will go nowhere if his Fatah faction forms a unity government with Hamas, diplomats and Palestinian officials said on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was reserving judgement on the new government until it was formed, and denied in a television interview that the United States had already decided to boycott all ministers in the government.

The diplomats and officials said the warning was delivered to Abbas on Thursday, tightening diplomatic pressure on the Palestinian leader ahead of his meeting on Monday with Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"The Americans told (Abbas) they will boycott the government, sanctions will not be lifted, and peace moves will not develop as planned," one diplomat in the region said. A Palestinian official confirmed his comments......

Speaking alongside Abbas on Thursday night, Haniyeh did not say whether Hamas would drop its refusal to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept existing peace agreements as the Quartet of Middle East mediators demand.

In an interview with Al Arabiya television, Rice said the government must meet Quartet conditions, adding: "There is no government so far and we will not judge it before its formation."

But Palestinian officials say that privately Washington has been piling pressure on Abbas over the unity deal agreed a week ago in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, telling him it does not meet the Quartet's requirements.

Rice is due to hold a three-way summit with Abbas and Olmert in Jerusalem on Monday, which had been billed as the start of a renewed U.S. effort to try to broker a Middle East peace deal.

ABBAS "CRISIS"

"Abbas faces a crisis with this new U.S. position," a Palestinian official said.

He said the Palestinian leader would try to persuade Rice that his deal with Hamas was a "first positive step" to bringing the Islamist group into the mainstream, and that he -- not the government -- was responsible for the peace talks.

Speaking to Palestinian television after he asked Haniyeh to form the government, Abbas said the Palestinian Authority was "fully committed" to existing agreements with Israel. "He has reiterated his position ... as a message that he can deliver on peace moves," the official said.

Western diplomats said Washington's goal was to dissuade Fatah members and independents, including economist Salam Fayyad who had been expected to take the finance portfolio, from joining the new government.

One diplomat said the pressure could backfire, giving Fayyad and others little choice but to join the government. "There is too much internal pressure," said one diplomat familiar with the discussions.

Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo urged the United States to deal with the government, lift the sanctions, and relaunch serious peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "They want Abbas to take actions that lead to a civil war -- to protect past agreements that the Israelis have destroyed," he said. Factional warfare in Gaza in the two months leading up to the Mecca agreement had killed 90 Palestinians.

Palestinian officials said they had hoped Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally, would persuade the Americans not to reject the unity government deal out of hand. "If the Americans are serious about advancing peace moves they must give this government a chance," Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said. "This unity government enjoys support of all the Arabs, and the U.S. refusal to deal with such a government would be a challenge to the Arab consensus."

***

"the U.S. refusal to deal with such a government would be a challenge to the Arab consensus."

I am sure that Condoleezza is trembling with fear of the "Arab consensus." What about the more important (to Condoleezza) "Arab consensus" against Iran? That is the only consensus she cares about, everything else is just horse manure.

Powell, Rice and Obama

By GLENN FORD
CounterPunch

".....African Americans will pay a special, historical price if a corporate-molded Black politician becomes the titular leader of an unreconstructed U.S. imperial state - and, make no mistake about it, Barack Obama is an imperialist. No one but a deep-fried imperialist could describe U.S. behavior in Iraq as "coddling" the Iraqis, as Obama said to an establishment foreign policy gathering in Chicago, late last year. His Iraq War De-escalation Act, carefully calibrated to make him appear slightly less belligerent than Hillary Clinton, allows the U.S. to wage war until March 31, 2008, at the very least, and to maintain a military presence in the country thereafter. It is a sham measure, more helpful in buying time for Bush than in encouraging effective dissent......

It is difficult to imagine such differentiations being made on foreign shores, today. General Colin Powell emerged from Gulf War One as the personification of American military might - and threat. As George Bush's Secretary of State, Powell sacrificed his reputation - and an immeasurable portion of remaining African American planetary good will - in a lie-soaked justification of the impending invasion of Iraq before the United Nations.

Colin Powell became the Black face of international piracy, to be succeeded by Condoleezza Rice. In her first act as the Black American female face of imperial aggression, in April, 2002, then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice could not contain her disappointment at the failure of a U.S.-backed coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "We do hope that Chávez recognizes that the whole world is watching," she sneered, "and that he takes advantage of this opportunity to right his own ship, which has been moving, frankly, in the wrong direction for quite a long time."......

From Beirut to Caracas, Condoleezza Rice is the Black, snarling symbol of U.S. lawlessness - a perception of our African American "daughter" that the NAACP must not have anticipated when it bestowed on her its Image Award, in early 2002. Back then, Rice told the civil rights group's gala affair: "As I travel with President Bush around the world and as we meet with leaders from around the world, I see America through other people's eyes."

African Americans, who care so much for image - some, to the exclusion of all else - should contemplate what the ascension of a Black face to the Oval Office will mean to world perceptions of Black Americans as a group. Would Barack Obama be a worse international criminal than Hillary Clinton? My guess is, they'd function identically, as stewards of empire. But a Barack Obama presidency would leave an unindelible impression on the planet: The Blacks of the United States have arrived! They, too, are "ugly Americans." "

All You Need is a Machine Shop, Not an International Conspiracy

By ANDREW COCKBURN
CounterPunch

"President Bush has now definitively stated that bombs known as explosively formed penetrators - EFPs, which have proved especially deadly for U.S. troops in Iraq - are made in Iran and exported to Iraq. But in November, U.S. troops raiding a Baghdad machine shop came across a pile of copper disks, 5 inches in diameter, stamped out as part of what was clearly an ongoing order. This ominous discovery, unreported until now, makes it clear that Iraqi insurgents have no need to rely on Iran as the source of EFPs.

The truth is that EFPs are simple to make for anyone who knows how to do it. Far from a sophisticated assembly operation that might require state supervision, all that is required is one of those disks, some high-powered explosive (which is easy to procure in Iraq) and a container, such as a piece of pipe. I asked a Pentagon analyst specializing in such devices how much each one would cost to make. "Twenty bucks," he answered after a brief calculation. "Thirty at most."

EFPs work by using explosives to compress, melt and shoot a metal projectile - formed from those disks, molded in a concave shape - in a particular direction. They are feared above all else by troops in Iraq because not only can they punch a hole through the armor of an M-1 tank, they are small and light, and thus far easier to carry and plant undetected than the traditional Iraqi improvised explosive device, which is often made from hefty artillery shells.

"You can do as much or more damage with a 5-pound EFP, which is aimed, as with a 200-pound conventional IED, where most of the energy is dissipated away from the target," the Pentagon analyst said. The U.S. has (belatedly) responded to the IED threat by "up-armoring" Humvees and other vulnerable vehicles, but EFPs can cleave through the very thickest armor "like butter," as one Iraq veteran told me.

As of now, these weapons represent only a small fraction of the bombs used against U.S. forces. Last month, according to my Pentagon sources, out of 3,000 IEDs directed at occupation troops, only 2.5% were EFPs. But a further statistic explains why these particular weapons are so feared by soldiers encased in their armored vehicles: Despite the relatively tiny number deployed, since November they have accounted for fully 15% of U.S. bomb casualties, and that percentage is ticking up. Anyone pondering the implications of this trend need only look to the Israeli experience in Lebanon during the 1990s to see where it might end. "These bombs drove the Israelis out of Lebanon," a former Pentagon weapons-effects expert told me unequivocally.

Hezbollah's expertise with EFPs is one reason why the administration, despite minimal intelligence, has been quick to blame Hezbollah's Iranian allies for the proliferation of the devices in Iraq. But EFPs have a venerable history. The IRA used them with lethal effect against British troops in Northern Ireland, as did French resistance fighters against the Germans in World War II. It is only a question of time before someone shows the Taliban how to make them, and then NATO forces in Afghanistan will begin the same ordeal.

Despite their known lethality, these weapons weren't taken into account by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's program of military "transformation." Indeed, Rumsfeld bequeathed the Army the Future Combat Systems, a $168-billion extravaganza of computers, sensors and robots deemed by its proponents so deadly to a foe that armor on U.S. military vehicles might be dispensed with altogether.

Once it became impossible to ignore the threat of all kinds of "home-made" bombs, and EFPs in particular, Rumsfeld responded in orthodox fashion by throwing money at the problem.

A "joint IED defeat" task force was created to address the issue, and last year it was granted $3.32 billion, but with little result. True, each Humvee patrolling Iraqi roads now carries two specially designed jammers, costing $100,000 apiece, that jam radio signals detonating roadside bombs. The other side has simply switched to wire detonators or infrared systems. One hundred towers spouting remote cameras, at $12 million each, watch main roads for bomb planters, with no improvement in attack and casualty statistics.

Rumsfeld's mentor, defense intellectual Andrew Marshall, marketed the phrase "revolution in military affairs" as a justification for high-tech programs such as Future Combat Systems. But those copper disks represent the real revolution in military affairs, and it is not in our favor."

Al-Manar special report
16/02/2007

"Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah made a speech during the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of former Secretary General Sayyed Abbas Mussawi and Shiekh Ragheb Harb. His eminence said that Israel was defeated in Lebanon in the first war launched by the Zionist entity against an Arab country in collusion with some Arab countries, and the first such war on an Arab country whose people were abandoned, but despite that they triumphed.

Sayyed Nasrallah addresses martyr Sayyed Abbas and martyr Sheikh Harb saying that the resistance has preserved their will and it has survived and triumphed. He said Hezbollah will not forgive Lebanese authorities for seizing resistance weapons.

"We will not forgive anyone who confiscates a bullet from the arms of the resistance. We are ready to provide the army with all the weapons that it requires but with our consent, but we will not forgive anyone who confiscates a bullet," he said.

Sayyed Nasrallah said "we have plenty of weapons, of all kinds ... and we have the right to transport our arms to combat Israel, even if we transport them in secret to hide them from the Israeli enemy.

When we won the war against Israel, we were not fighting with wooden swords, but we were launching rockets and missiles at the enemy." "The Resistance will always stand by the Lebanese army, with our weapons, men and blood to defend Lebanon, and no will succeed in causing a rift between the resistance and the army" he said. "Resistance fighters in Maroun el-Ras were ready to interfere to support the Lebanese army in case of any further development, our blood and our youth will stand by the army," he said.

His eminence touched on the internal situation and said that every time progress is made to settle the crisis, new files are opened to cause further obstruction to the process.

"We, in the opposition, have had many clear proposals and we have been committed to the red lines which we have set for ourselves while others are ringing the bell of civil war, so this is a battle of public opinion. Let the people decide who really wants to take the country towards civil war and who benefits from this war," Sayyed Hasan said. The Secretary General stressed the opposition does not want to take the country into civil war. "When we were shot at on Tuesday and Thursday, we reacted with wisdom and patience." Sayyed Nasrallah commented on the speeches made during the annual commemoration of the assassination of former Prime Minister martyr Rafik Hariri.

"We have witnessed a couple of days ago the level of speech which evokes fear and worry. Does this language of insults and slander put an end to the crisis in this country," his eminence said.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that there are some in this country who are causing problems for Lebanon for personal ends. "There are some who are sacrificing this country for their personal interests, not for their party and not for anything else," He added.

Sayyed Nasrallah insisted that he will not be a part in any bilateral meeting nor will he negotiate, not because he does not want to, but because Hezbollah trusts its allies in the national opposition.

"They are insisting that the opposition is led by Hezbollah and they are trying to establish this equation, but this is not true. Let them negotiate with any leadership in the opposition and be sure that they represent us as much as they represent themselves."

Sayyed Hassan said that the problem is that there are foreign sides which do not want a solution in Lebanon, "and unfortunately there are internal sides who don't want this as well," his eminence added. He stressed the opposition will not despair and it still have a wide margin to move to achieve its goal of forming a national unity government and hold early elections. "As I have said before, you cannot rule this country alone. The opposition never said it is seeking to eliminate you from the country's political map, but it said that it wants a partnership."

Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted the issue of what has been known in Lebanon as the "predictions of some politicians".

"There are some who are predicting military action against the UNIFIL in south Lebanon, and in fact they are preparing for such attacks to point the finger at Hezbollah. There are some politicians who are trying to create tension between the resistance and the UNIFIL. We don't have a problem with the UN forces and we don't oppose their presence. We are in contact with the countries taking part in the UN forces and they are positively considering with our remarks. We have to work through diplomatic channels to prevent any problem to develop between the UNIFIL and the southerners," his eminence said.

Hezbollah's Secretary General concluded: "In the memory of our two dear leaders, we stress our commitment to the resistance to protect this country. Every iota of blood constitutes a drop of blood from a martyr. Hezbollah is capable of being everywhere, in the south and in Beirut, to struggle for rightness in every field. Hezbollah and its allies are capable today of saving our country and we will not despair. What is going now is a continuation of the Israeli summer war against Lebanon. They have stood since the first of November because of the foreign support, but such support cannot keep the ruling bloc in place forever. As I promised you earlier, I renew my promise that the opposition will achieve its goal and it will triumph." "

The Palestinians Deserve Much Better Than These Buffoons. On Second Thought, Do They?

Saudi Prince Walid Bin Talal is negotiating with Israelis to build a hotel on Tel Aviv Shore, according to the Israeli paper Yediot Aharanot in its Thursday edition.

Contributed by Fatima

"الناصرة ـ القدس العربي ـ من زهير اندراوس:
كشفت صحيفة يديعوت احرونوت الاسرائيلية في عددها الصادر امس الخميس النقاب عن أن الامير السعودي، الوليد بن طلال، يجري اتصالات مع جهات إسرائيلية تهدف الي إقامة فندق علي شاطئ تل ابيب.
واضاف المراسل الاقتصادي للصحيفة عوفر بيترسبورغ، أن الحديث يدور عن مشروع مشترك لعائلة أبو العافية، وهي من مدينة يافا، التي تملك مبني في شارع هربرت سموئيل علي شاطئ تل ابيب. وحسب المخطط سيقام فندق مكون من ثمانية طوابق وفيه مئة وخمسون غرفة.
واكدت الصحيفة ان مهندسين الاول عربي يواكب الامير في جميع مشاريعه ويدعي باسل البيطي، والثاني هو المهندس السابق لبلدية تل ابيب، اسرائيل غودوفيتش، قدما الي لجنة التخطيط اللوائية التابعة للبلدية جميع الخرائط المتعلقة بالمشروع المشترك بين الامير السعودي وبين العائلة الفلسطينية.
ورفضت عائلة ابو العافية الفلسطينية الحديث عن الصفقة الجديدة مع الامير السعودي، ولكن احد افرادها خميس قال في وقت لاحق، بعد ان تتم المصادقة الكاملة علي المشروع فانه سيقوم بالافصاح عن العديد من الامور الايجابية في الصفقة، علي حد تعبيره. بالاضافة الي ذلك قالت الصحيفة الاسرائيلية انها حصلت علي الاسبقية في نشر مقابلة مطولة مع نجل الامير الوحيد خالد، (28 عاما) التي ادلي بها لمجلة فوربس باللغة العربية، وقال خالد انه يقوم بتطوير العلاقات بين والده وبين الدولة العبرية، واضاف قائلا انه يريد ان يصل الي النجاح والعصامية دون استعمال اسم والده، الذي يعتبر من اغنياء العالم، حيث تبوأ المكان الثامن في قائمة الاثرياء في العالم.
وقالت الصحيفة الاسرائيلية ايضا انه علي الرغم من ان اسم الامير السعودي لا يذكر في وسائل الاعــلام، الا انه وفق المصادر الاسرائيلية شارك في بناء فندق الفصول الاربعة (فور سيزونز) في القدس الغربية."

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's departing ambassador to the United States, attended a Washington reception sponsored by American Jewish organizations. The event honored a State Department diplomat appointed to combat anti-Semitism.

The question is:

Do you support Hamas' recognition of Israel to end the crisis?

With over 1,500 responding so far, here is the breakdown:

Yes.......16%

No........84%

(Amjad Rasmi, Arab News, 2/15/07).

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)
By Tom Toles

More proof the Israelis were shadowing the 9/11 hijackers

By Justin Raimondo

".....Ketcham, utilizing the public record, news reports, and his own sources, has painted the clearest portrait yet of the "urban mover" Mossad cell, and how they shadowed the five hijackers who took over American Airlines flight 77, which struck the Pentagon to such devastating effect. Living, working, and socializing within a six-mile radius of Bergen County, these two groups circled each other until, on 9/11, as a dark pall fell over Manhattan and much of the rest of the world, one applauded the others’ handiwork.

Ketcham’s story of how the FBI investigation was scotched by high-ups ought to outrage every patriotic American citizen. He cites a source at ABC News – which covered this story on 20/20 in a treatment I consider a whitewash – as saying "They feel the higher echelons torpedoed the investigation into the Israeli New Jersey cell. Leads were not fully investigated."......

The story of how this line of investigation was suppressed, both in the law enforcement community and in the media, is a saga in itself. I know that Ketcham worked on this story long and hard, and had supposedly firm commitments from both Salon.com and The Nation to publish his work. Both projects were killed at the last minute, in one case an hour before it was scheduled to run. What’s particularly stupid, in the case of Salon, is that they ran his previous piece, on the "Israeli Art Student Mystery," years ago – and now refuse to follow up their own story.

As for why the government investigation into the Israeli connection was scotched, Ketcham cites a former CIA counter-terrorism officer: "There was no question but that [the order to close down the investigation] came from the White House."


I have to tell you that it hasn’t been easy following this story over the years. I was told in the beginning, and in no uncertain terms, that this line of investigation is forbidden, that it’s "too hot to handle," and, implicitly, that the truth and the facts have to take second place to political correctness. To even mention this story, in certain quarters, is considered prima facie evidence of anti-Semitism. Case closed.

In spite of a determined effort on the part of some to redefine anti-Semitism to constrain critics of Israeli government actions, there is an equally determined pushback – a real movement to treat Israel as a nation like any other. That is, as a nation with its own interests, which, if truth be told, it pursues aggressively, and not only in the occupied territories and Lebanon, but also right here in the U.S. The story of Israel’s underground army in America – and its foreknowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks – is based on facts, not fantasies, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with anti-Semitism – and everything to do with establishing the full context of the worst terrorist attack in our history.

9/11 was the opening shot of a battle we are still fighting to this day, as our soldiers fall in Iraq, and the hints of a new front in our endless "war on terrorism" – Iran – are hardly subtle. That signal event launched the war hysteria that has only lately begun to peter out.

One of the major reasons why the public has turned against the Iraq war has been the revelation that the "intelligence" we acquired about Iraq’s alleged "weapons of mass destruction" was manipulated, cherry-picked, and outright falsified in order to make the case for the invasion. If it turns out that the Israelis really did know – that they picked up "chatter" from the groups they were watching, and gained fairly detailed knowledge of the hijackers’ plans – it will alter how we think about 9/11, and change our perception of the perpetual war that ensued.

Go here to order the Ketcham piece, which is not yet online. You can only get it on dead-tree, but, believe me, it’s worth it......"

By Jim Lobe
Asia Times

"WASHINGTON - For several weeks now, Washington has been abuzz with rumors that US President George W Bush is preparing to attack nuclear and other sites in Iran this spring - rumors deemed sufficiently credible that lawmakers from both parties are hastily preparing legislation precisely to prevent such an eventuality.

The evidence cannot be ignored.....

Nonetheless, to the extent that neo-cons - and their allies in the right-wing "Israel Lobby" - are addressing themselves to Iran policy at the moment, expanding and enforcing sanctions, rather than imminent war, appears to be the main message.....

Similarly, television ads by the neo-conservative American Foreign Policy Council running on the major cable television networks in the Washington area warn about Iran's nuclear program, its status as "the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism", its president's alleged Holocaust denial and threats to "wipe Israel off the map", but conclude with the relatively anodyne exhortation: "Call the White House and tell them to enforce sanctions against Iran today." Not exactly what one would expect on the eve of a military attack.

This tack may simply be a ruse to lull anti-war forces into complacency. Or it may reflect a fear that, given their record on Iraq, beating the drums for war with Iran may prove counter-productive (although the AEI has not hesitated to take credit for the "surge" option). Or it may indicate that prominent neo-cons have somehow lost touch with the hawks in the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office who are now determined to attack Iran this spring.

But it may also reflect the neo-cons' assessment, based no doubt on inside information, that Bush - who spoke about US policy on Afghanistan at the AEI on Thursday - intends to let the diplomatic game play out a little longer - perhaps as long as another year - before deciding to attack. "

Gaza today after few days of palestinian fight

"It is a nice sunny warm morning. I thought it would be a good idea to let you know a little bit about the general mood here in Gaza.

Yes, it is calm in the streets of Gaza, but Israeli F-16s are back flying too low in the sky as well as some helicopters to the east of the town of Gaza.

After the tough days of the Palestinian inter-fighting in the streets of Gaza, people feel relieved but not sure of the future. We had a rough time during the clashes. I feel relieved but also really sad about the 76 people who lost their lives and the 400 more who were injured. It is awuful when you think how politics and power struggles can use people ordinary poor people. Many people and youth were part of the fight just because they are paid in the end of the month; a secure job to be in the so called "army" or Hamas forces.

And then with a political agreement all of a sudden there is no fighting in the streets. OK, it is great that the fighting has stopped. But why did it start in the first place?

Mecca is the sacred place. Where was all that one week ago when there was bloodshed in the streets of Gaza and when the HOLY ambulances, hospitals, mosques, and universities were attacked?

Life continues in Gaza and another chapter has started. The new national unity goverment has formed but with great polarization between the 2 largest factions and at the exclusion of the mainstream of different factions, the independent people, and civil society figures. So when power in the streets is the judge and when the place of negotiation is Mecca whose leaders glorify the US's agenda, especially in the Middle East, I can only expect the worst for the Palestinian national agenda. I cannot help thinking that we would not need to go to Mecca to agree if there was a real national agenda.

I shall continue my work in Gaza, my struggle against the occupation, and keep reminding myself and the world that the peacemaker of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the Right of Return and peace that is based on justice.

In solidarity and love
Mona"

Israel's encroachments upon the Al-Aqsa Mosque have not been sporadic, but, rather, a systematic endeavour

By Khaled Amayreh
Al-Ahram Weekly

"When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli army's chief rabbi, General Shlomo Goren, tried to convince a commander of the conquering forces, Uzi Narkis, to blow up Al-Aqsa Mosque "once and for all". This story was retold by Narkis shortly before his death in 1997 and quoted by Avi Shlaim in his important book, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World.

"There was an atmosphere of spiritual elation. Paratroopers were milling around in a daze. Narkis was standing for a moment on his own, deep in thought, when Goren went up to him and said 'Uzi, this is the time to put a hundred kilogrammes of explosives in the Mosque of Omar, and that's it. We'll get rid of it once and for all.' Narkis said 'Rabbi, stop it.' Goren then said to him, 'Uzi, you'll enter the history books by virtue of this deed.' Narkis replied, 'I have already recorded my name in the pages of the history of Jerusalem.' Goren walked away without saying another word."

Goren re-entered the Haram Al-Sharif esplanade on 15 August 1967, in military uniform along with two-dozen soldiers from the Israeli army, in order to take measurements of its length and width. Afterwards, Goren announced where the Jewish "Second Temple" would be positioned. Two weeks after this incident, the Israeli occupation army seized the key to the Moroccan Gate leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Four days after the seizure of East Jerusalem, Israeli army bulldozers wantonly demolished the Maghariba and Al-Sharaf neighbourhoods, levelling them to the ground. The Palestinian inhabitants of the two neighbourhoods were expelled unceremoniously at gunpoint. At least 135 houses, two mosques, and two religious schools were completely destroyed.

In April 1968, Israel confiscated the Haret Al-Maghariba for "public use" and built on the site a large plaza in front of the so-called "Wailing" or "Western Wall". The Haret Al-Maghariba and the adjacent smaller Haret Al-Sharaf, which was also obliterated, were both Islamic waqf (religious endowment) property dating back to the Kurdish Muslim warrior Salaheddin Al-Ayoubi who defeated the Crusaders and restored Jerusalem to Islam......."

It is not among the duties of resistance movements to court popularity from outside powers

By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly

"For a people either rootless or under occupation, the Palestinians have made more than their share of diplomatic initiatives. The norm, one would think, would be for an occupied people to fight for liberation until they win or else maintain resistance, compelling the international community or the occupying power to come up with solutions to situations that are no longer tenable. The norm, then, is for the resistance to either accept the proposals and throw down its arms, or to reject them and keep on fighting until it is presented with more reasonable ones. The actions of the resistance, moreover, are presumed to be guided throughout by a central aim: liberation and the realisation of self-determination.

In the Palestinian case we see the reverse: they have come up with so many initiatives and proposals that the Palestinians, themselves, find it difficult to recall the aims of their struggle; not only the original aim but the latest one too. In the process they have lost the distinction between strategies and tactics, between tactics and self-deception, and between tactical goals and pleasing others. Not that their attempts to please others have been very successful; rather, they have whetted the appetite of others, who believe such attempts that are a sign of weakness, to up their demands. Israel will never agree to Palestinian ideas because it finds them pleasing; it will agree only if implementing these ideas suits its interests or if it is forced to agree. For example, when suicide bombings reached their height during the second Intifada, Israeli capital and big business forced their government to choose between resuming the peace process until a settlement could be reached or building the separating wall. The government chose the wall.

The Palestinians and Arabs have put forward more than enough initiatives and proposals for settlements and interim phases. Israel has consistently refused to take them up; clearly, it is waiting for more, undoubtedly out of the conviction that with every new proposal the ceiling of demands will lower....."

Palestinian "Unity"; Enjoy!

By Robert Dreyfuss

"It was, President Bush must have been thinking, a heck of a lot easier five years ago. Back in 2002, the president had a smoothly running lie factory humming along in the Pentagon, producing reams of fake intelligence about Iraq, led by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith and his Office of Special Plans. Back then, he had a tightly knit cabal of neoconservatives, led by I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, based in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, to carry out a coordinated effort to distribute the lies to the media. And he had a chorus of yes-men in the Republican-controlled Congress ready to echo the party line.
In 2007, Bush stands nearly alone, and he never looked lonelier than during a bumbling, awkward news conference on the Iraq-Iran tangle Wednesday.

Feith is long gone, and last week his lie factory was exposed by the Pentagon’s own inspector general, who told Congress that Feith had pretty much made up everything that his rogue intelligence unit manufactured. Libby is long gone, apparently about to be sentenced to jail for lying about Cheney’s frantic effort to cover up the lie factory’s work. And the congressional echo chamber is gone: In six weeks, the Democrats have held more than four dozen hearings to investigate the White House’s catastrophic Middle East policy, and even Hillary Clinton is warning that Bush had better keep his hands off Iran, saying: “It would be a mistake of historical proportions if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran.”

Without his Orwellian apparatus behind him, the president spent most of his hour-long news conference yesterday shrugging and smirking, jutting his jaw out with false bravado, joshing inappropriately with reporters asking deadly serious questions and stumbling over his words. It was painful to listen to him trying to justify the nonsensical claims that Iran and its paramilitary “Quds Force” are somehow responsible for the chaos in Iraq:

What we do know is that the Quds force was instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq. We know that. And we also know that the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. That's a known. What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did.

Pressed about what the “head leaders” are doing, he went on:

Either they knew or didn't know, and what matters is, is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know? … What’s worse, them ordering it and it happening, or them not ordering it and it happening?

If that makes no sense to you, well, that’s because the whole thing makes no sense. It’s a farcical replay of Iraq 2002, when the White House demonized Saddam Hussein with fake intelligence, turning him into a menacing al-Qaida backer armed with weapons of mass destruction. This time, however, the lie factory has been dismantled. All by himself, the president is trying to turn Iran into a scary, al-Qaida-allied, nuke-wielding menace. But he’s not fooling anyone. The potent “war president” of 2002-2003 is now an incoherent, mewling Wizard of Oz-like figure, and people are paying attention to the man behind the curtain.

Unlike 2002, when the White House fired salvo after salvo of fake intelligence about Iraq, today it can’t even stage its lies properly. Like the incompetents who couldn’t organize a two-car funeral, the remaining Iran war hawks in the administration held a briefing in Baghdad on Sunday to present alleged evidence that Iran is masterminding the insurgency in Iraq. But it was a comedy of errors that convinced no one. Twice, at least, the administration had earlier postponed or canceled the much-promoted event, designed to reveal the supposed secrets behind Iran’s actions in Iraq. When it was finally held, it was not in Washington, but in Baghdad, with not a single White House official, no U.S. diplomat, no State Department official, no CIA official and no one from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Instead, a couple of anonymous military officers held a background-only briefing, barring cameras and tape recorders, to present some blurry photographs of bomb-looking things—and not a shred of evidence of Iranian government involvement......"

Guards Of Israel's Palestinian Prisons

UN Peacekeeping Paramilitarism

By STEPHEN LENDMAN
CounterPunch

"......UNIFIL Blue Helmets in Lebanon

Israel attacked and invaded Lebanon last July 12 following Hezbollah's cross-border incursion that was used as a pretext to ignite pre-planned aggression against the country and its people. The result was mass killing, crippling destruction, and a huge refugee problem all without Israel achieving its planned aim - to destroy Hezbollah resistance in South Lebanon. It proved too much for the world's fifth most powerful military equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry courtesy of the most powerful Washington-based one.

UNIFIL was established to restore and maintain peace in South Lebanon one week after Israel's invasion of the country in March, 1978. It's been there since including throughout the period from 1982 when Israel again invaded and remained until withdrawing its forces in May, 2000. Despite its mandate, UNIFIL never established peace and security and did little more than take up space allowing the IDF free reign to control everything on the ground along with its proxy Christian South Lebanon Army acting as paramilitary enforcer thugs of a largely Shia Muslim population.

"Proxy" describes UNIFIL's current role in Lebanon that has little to do with keeping peace and everything to do with being NATO's Israel enforcer. In that role, it can engage Hezbollah in confrontation if it chooses and do Israel's fighting and dying for it. It also represents a continuation of nearly three decades of "peacekeeping" failure in South Lebanon. The current one won't work any better than all efforts preceding it because UNIFIL is beholden to Israel, the US and NATO and will follow their mandate having nothing to do with peace and stability and everything to do with imperial control and dominance. The people of South Lebanon know all about UNIFIL's "benefits," but you won't hear them say thank you....."

HAARETZ

"Yitzhak Rabin would probably have called the three-way summit that will convene on Monday in Jerusalem by a term he favored, "bablat" (roughly "hot air"). Because nothing will come of this summit. Not peace negotiations, not a diplomatic agreement, and if Condoleezza Rice does not bang on the table, no easing of restrictions for the Palestinians either.

Ehud Olmert can enjoy the innovative aspect of a meeting with Rice and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), or of staying at a hotel in Jerusalem instead of on the shores of the Red Sea, as in the days of his predecessors. But what about Abu Mazen, who for years has been dragging from summit to summit and repeatedly hearing those same declarations about "beginning the negotiations" and about a better future? In May 1996, Abu Mazen headed the Palestinian delegation to the opening ceremony of the final status talks in Taba. At the time, he called for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for a "just" solution to the refugee problem. Uri Savir, the head of the Israeli delegation, responded with a vague proposal about "separation between the nations, with the aim of achieving cooperation." Without borders, without refugees, without Jerusalem.

Exactly the same talk was heard prior to the present summit. As though nothing had happened in the 11 years that have since passed: neither Camp David nor the intifada and the suicide attacks, neither the disengagement nor the rise of Hamas. Abu Mazen continues to talk about a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, and the changing Israeli leaders respond with vague slogans about a "diplomatic horizon."....

And then came the "Mecca agreement" to form a national unity government between Fatah and Hamas, saving Olmert from great embarrassment. Abu Mazen embraced Khaled Meshal and proved, as Olmert has been claiming since the beginning of his term, that there is no partner on the Palestinian side. Rice insisted on coming to Jerusalem, and Olmert declared that he would turn the summit into a field trial. Ariel Sharon used to preach to Abbas that he should fight terror, and Olmert will demand fulfillment of the "Quartet conditions" and the release of Gilad Shalit, as well as the cessation of the firing of Qassams and the smuggling of arms into Gaza. As a partner of Hamas, Abu Mazen will find it difficult to claim political weakness as an excuse for inaction.....

Olmert is the great successor of Sharon, and he is even more successful than his predecessor at presenting inflexible positions behind a mask of moderation and openness. He is sensitive to the nuances of the international community, woos its leaders and enlists them in imposing his conditions on the Palestinians. The Jerusalem summit will go down as another tactical victory for Olmert's "yes, but" policy, but will in no way bring us closer to a solution to the conflict. The only consolation is that Rice will come to the region this time in a small plane, thus cutting down on fuel and air pollution on her way to another unnecessary journey. "

· Shia fighters to return 'once Sunnis are pacified'
· Sadr strategy is to retain militia's infrastructure

Michael Howard in Baghdad
Thursday February 15, 2007
The Guardian

"Senior commanders of the Mahdi army, the militia loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have been spirited away to Iran to avoid being targeted in the new security push in Baghdad, a high-level Iraqi official told the Guardian yesterday.

On the day the Iraqi government formally launched its crackdown on insurgents and amid disputed claims about the whereabouts of Mr Sadr, the official said the Mahdi army leadership had withdrawn across the border into Iran to regroup and retrain.

"Over the last three weeks, they [Iran] have taken away from Baghdad the first and second-tier military leaders of the Mahdi army," he said. The aim of the Iranians was to "prevent the dismantling of the infrastructure of the Shia militias" in the Iraqi capital - one of the chief aims of the US-backed security drive.
"The strategy is to lie low until the storm passes, and then let them return and fill the vacuum," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Tehran authorities were "playing a waiting game" until the commanders could return to Baghdad and resume their activities. "All indications are that Moqtada is in Iran, but that is not really the point," he added....."

"Al-Manar special report – Ahmad Ammar – Translated/

Will the United Nations Interim Forces in south Lebanon (UNIFIL) become a spying force on the resistance for Israel? It is a question that will be legitimate to ask in case what Israeli daily Maariv proved right. The daily has quoted Israeli military sources as saying that the French contingent in the UNIFIL are making reconnaissance flights to gather information about Hezbollah in south Lebanon. The Israeli sources further told Maariv that despite the low profile maintained by Hezbollah members while moving in the south, the French planes are succeeding in forming a more general picture about the situation than the Israelis. Worth mentioning that previous Israeli information underscored a UNIFIL intention to gather information about Hezbollah's activity in south Lebanon, through reconnaissance flights, and supply Israel with them. Maariv pointed that the Israeli security institution has expressed satisfaction as to the UNIFIL's activity in south Lebanon. Even though Israeli military sources said that Israel has reduced its reconnaissance flights over Lebanon due to what the UNIFIL is doing to stop what it called terrorism, Israel said it will not entirely cut down its overflights. "What the UNIFIL is doing is good but we have to depend on ourselves," a military source told Maariv."

"The United States will boycott all Palestinian unity government ministers, including non-Hamas members, unless international demands on policy towards Israel are met, a Palestinian official and diplomats said on Thursday.

Some U.S. officials had been advocating a shift in Washington's position that would allow limited diplomatic contacts with cabinet ministers from moderate President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and other parties.

But a senior Palestinian official said: "The Americans have informed us that they will be boycotting the new government headed by Hamas. The Fatah and independent ministers will be treated the same way that Hamas ministers are treated."

Diplomats familiar with discussions on the issue confirmed Washington's intention to shun members of the unity government unless it satisfied international calls for Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace accords.

U.S. contacts with Abbas would not be affected although diplomatic sources said relations have been strained by his power-sharing deal with Hamas Islamists, a pact that fell short of meeting the demands for the policy changes.

U.S. officials declined to comment and said Washington was waiting to see how a new government would shape up......"

***

What Condoleezza and Livni say is the final word; got that Haniyyah, Abbas and (king) Abdullah?

"It is a disaster....catastrophe....our team has lost the game and is out of the series!" While the headline reads,"Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger due to Israeli excavations."
By Hamid Najeeb.

A Good Article
By Mike Whitney

"The bombing of the Golden Dome Mosque in Samarra is the cornerstone of Bush’s psychological operations (psy-ops) in Iraq. That’s why it is critical to have an independent investigation and discover who is really responsible. The bombing has been used as a "Pearl Harbor-type" event which has deflected responsibility for the 650,000 Iraqi casualties and more than 3 million refugees. These are the victims of American occupation not civil war.

The bombing was concocted by men who believe that they can control the public through perception management. In practical terms, this means that they create events which can be used to support their far-right doctrine. In this case, the destruction of the mosque has been used to confuse the public about the real origins of the rising sectarian tensions and hostilities. The fighting between Sunni and Shiite is the predictable upshot of random bombings and violence which bears the signature of covert operations carried out by intelligence organizations. Most of the pandemonium in Iraq is the result of counterinsurgency operations (black-ops) on a massive scale not civil war.

The Pentagon’s bold new approach to psychological operations (psy-ops) appears to have derived from the theories of former State Dept official, Philip Zelikow (who also served on the 9-11 Commission) Zelikow is an expert on "the creation and maintenance of 'public myths’ or 'public presumptions’. His theory analyzes how consciousness is shaped by "searing events" which take on "transcendent importance" and, therefore, move the public in the direction chosen by the policymakers......

In fact, the bombing of the Golden Mosque is a reenactment of September 11. In both cases an independent investigation was intentionally quashed and carefully-prepared narrative was immediately provided. The government’s version of events has been critical in supporting the extremist policies of the Bush administration.

Just as 9-11 has been used to justify the enhanced powers of the "unitary" president, the evisceration of civil liberties, and a permanent state of war; so too, the bombing of the Golden Mosque, has been used to create a fictional narrative of deeply ingrained sectarian animosity that has no historical precedent. Both events need to be exposed by thorough and independent investigations.

The Bush administration has consistently abandoned the limitations of "reality-based" politics. They govern through demagoguery, force and deception. This is no different.

9-11 and the Golden Mosque are the foundation blocks in the Pentagon’s "Strategic Information" program. It is a war that is directed at the American people and it relies heavily on the power of myth.

Forewarned is forearmed. "

By Robert Fisk

"So the Lebanese survived. The civil war did not begin. The second anniversary of the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri was more a festival than a vow of revenge......

But the speeches made it clear that the battle between Lebanon's elected government and the largely Shia opposition - the Shia are the largest but not the majority community in Lebanon - continues. A UN international tribunal is supposed to be held into the murder of Hariri. The government has asked the UN to proceed but the Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud, a creature of Syria, says that Prime Minister Faoud Sinioura cannot sign on to it on the grounds that five Shia ministers resigned from his administration last year.

"We are today in the hour of truth and the last leg for the setting up of the international tribunal, which will happen soon, very soon," Hariri's son Saad told up to a million Lebanese in the square.

But the brutality of the conflict between Lebanon and Syria - and needless to say, the Christians are holding Syrian agents responsible for Tuesday's bombs - was all too evident in a speech made by Lebanon's Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt. He described the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad as "a monkey, a snake and a butcher" (comparing humans to animals is a particularly cruel insult in the Arab world) and added "we will not surrender to terrorism, to explosive charges, to totalitarian parties, Syrian and non-Syrian. This year the tribunal will come and with it retribution and the death sentence".

Samir Geagea, the Phalangist - a convicted murderer whose party now supports the elected government - was self-assured enough to tell his audience that "we will pursue the criminals across the world and to the end of time".

Perhaps. The reality, however, is that Lebanon continues to live on borrowed time. Its economy - more than $30bn in public debt - is bankrupt. "There is not a businessman, not an architect, not an investor who wants to put money into this country," a young American-trained urban planner said among the crowd yesterday. "Sure, we won't have a civil war. But what is our country worth in financial terms?" "

By Iason Athanasiadis
Asia Times

"TEHRAN - The growing US military buildup in the Persian Gulf appears to be making Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad tone down his rhetoric while also forcing the country's leadership to adopt a more circumspect approach to dealing with Washington. But another terrorist spectacular rocked Iran's wild southeastern region on Wednesday, targeting the country's elite Revolutionary Guard and souring the newly positive atmosphere......

But regional analysts warn that Washington and Tehran are currently negotiating the most treacherous diplomatic stretch, with "accidental" war a distinct possibility. This period ahead of the UN deadline could well simply be the calm before the storm.

"My major concern at this point is the US, because we have identified Iran as our enemy and we have increased our military posture in the region, the combination of the rhetoric and the military forces could lead to an accidental escalation," said Gary Sick, a former National Security Council adviser in the Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan administrations.

US President George W Bush continues to point an accusing finger at Iran. In his latest attack, he insisted on Wednesday that Iranian special operations forces are providing the sophisticated roadside bombs being used to kill US troops in Iraq and declared: "I intend to do something about it."......

This week, Iran's first president, Abolhassan Bani Sadr, spoke to the Saudi-owed Al-Arabiyyah news portal from his Paris exile, saying it is very likely that the United States will conduct a military strike against his country soon.......

"I worry about an accidental explosion rather than a planned attack that we can see coming," said Sick. "Every key person in the US administration says they are not planning an attack on Iran, but a lot of people in the administration seem to think they wouldn't mind if such a thing happened. Under such circumstances, it is always possible for accidents to take place, even engineered accidents."......"

***

Is Olmert's current 2-day visit to Turkey a part of last minute preparations for the attack on Iran? Will Israeli jets use Turkish air bases? Olmert has undertaken a series of high-level visits to several countries (including China) related to Iran.

By Kurt Nimmo

"How soon we forget, that is if we noticed in the first place.

It was January 14, 2005, when Michael Hirsh and John Barry, writing for Newsweek, told us about the possibility of the Pentagon implementing the so-called “Salvador Option” in Iraq. Following the “model” of the “Salvador Option,” dispatching death squads “to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers,” as was prosecuted under Reagan in El Salvador, “one Pentagon proposal would send Special Forces teams to advise, support and possibly train Iraqi squads, most likely hand-picked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen, to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers, even across the border into Syria, according to military insiders familiar with the discussions.”.....

If you read USA Today this morning, you would come away with the impression Iraq’s Shi’ites—most notably the politically expedient and oft-demonized Muqtada al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army—came up with the idea to hunt down and slaughter Sunni insurgents, supporters, and obviously no small number of innocent bystanders all on their lonesome.

In addition, we are told, al-Sadr’s Shi’a followers are attacking U.S. forces in Iraq with IEDs manufactured from Iranian parts. “The new Iraqi-U.S. security plan launched this month focuses on disarming the radical Shiite cleric’s Mahdi Army, which the U.S. military accuses of setting roadside bombs, infiltrating government ministries and conducting mass kidnappings and murders. Several Mahdi Army leaders have been arrested in recent weeks,” reports USA Today, a rather daffy declaration, as Iraqi Shi’ites “infiltrating” a puppet government consisting primarily of fellow Shi’ites is sort of like Texan farmers infiltrating the Texas Farm Bureau......

Counting on our persistent amnesia, or lack of attention altogether, the Pentagon expects us to believe, as the miscreant Krauthammer expects us to believe, that Iraq’s death squads are a homegrown phenomenon, when in fact there is plenty of evidence they are trained and coordinated by the Pentagon. It is not merely happenstance or “ancient animosities” driving the current wave of sectarian slaughter in Iraq. As Max Fuller reported last November, al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army has worked closely with Interior Ministry commandos, mostly notably in Balad in October.

Silverstein would have us believe the rise of Shi’a death squads reveals “American blindness, incompetence, and cynicism,” when in fact it reveals a concerted effort to destroy the country, with the help of Shi’a militias, apparently including on occasion al-Sadr’s faithful, myopically following their own anti-Sunni (or rather anti-Ba’athists) agenda."

"Condoleezza Ordered Me Not To Talk To Him; I Don't Want My Life To End Like Arafat"

A Great Cartoon By Bendib, Contributed By Fatima.

U.S. Congress freezes transfer of $86 million in aid to Abbas

"The United States Congress last week decided to freeze the transfer of $86 million in aid that was to be allocated to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. It is unclear when and if the aid will be transferred.

The Bush administration had publicly promised to ask Congress to transfer the funds in order to bolster Abbas and his forces. Due to the uncertainty of a few legislators, the transfer has been postponed indefinitely.

The State Department was informed of the decision ten days ago by Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who also chairs the House of Representative's Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Agencies.

According to Lowey, the funds will not be transferred until the cabinet has elaborated on the designation of the aid. Lowey said Congress was not given sufficient information regarding where and why the funds were being transferred.

Bush had said that the money would be used to fund training for Abbas's security forces, and to supply them with uniforms and other equipment.

The transfer of funds was frozen before the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a unity government agreement in Mecca. Lowey's office told Haaretz Tuesday that following the agreement, legislators have expressed even greater doubt over transferring the money. Observers in Washington told Haaretz that Lowey is one of Congress' most staunch supporters of Israel.

At this stage, the money will not be transferred to Palestinian leaders until Congress is convinced such a move should be implemented."

Contributed by Lucia

"The Palestinian Authority has fired hundreds of security officers who refused to participate in the recent fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas announced that it was "premature" to talk about the resignation of his government. Haniyeh was expected to submit his resignation on Tuesday to pave the way for the formation of a Palestinian unity government. Haniyeh did not offer any reason for his decision to delay the resignation, sparking speculation of renewed tensions with Fatah.

Fatah officials admitted on Tuesday that they were facing "certain difficulties" in persuading the US and EU to accept the agreement that was reached with Hamas in Mecca last week.

PA security officials told The Jerusalem Post that the officers were dismissed for "failing to fulfill their duties" during the armed clashes with Hamas militiamen. The officials described the behavior of the security officers as a "form of mutiny." They said most of the officers were fired after they refused to defend senior PA and Fatah officials who came under attack from Hamas.

In one incident, scores of officers refused to confront Hamas gunmen who besieged the home of Gen. Muhammad Ghraib of the Preventative Security Service in the northern Gaza Strip for eight hours before killing him.

The fired officers belonged to the Preventative Security Service, Military Intelligence and Force 17.

According to the officials, the officers are suspected of sympathizing with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

"If they want to work with Hamas and other groups, they should not stay in the Palestinian security forces," the officials added. "Some officers from the West Bank who also refused to obey orders have been fired."

Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel strongly condemned the decision to dismiss the officers, saying it was "politically motivated." He said the decision was also a "blow" to the unity government agreement.

At least 150 officers belonged to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard, while another 320 worked for various PA security services, Bardaweel said.

"Many of them were fired for just sympathizing with Hamas," he claimed. "We will bring their case to the attention of the Palestinian Legislative Council and we will do our utmost to end this injustice."

Dozens of the dismissed officers staged a sit-in strike outside the PLC compound in Gaza City, calling on the PA leadership to rescind the decision.

Sources close to Hamas told the Post that the movement was now considering recruiting the officers to its paramilitary "Executive Force." They said representatives of the officers met earlier this week with Interior Minister Said Siam of Hamas, who is formally in charge of the PA security forces, and received a promise from him that they would be merged into the Hamas force.

In a related development, Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Executive Force, announced that Hamas was opposed to any attempt to incorporate the force into the PA security services. Fatah representatives who participated in the Mecca summit claimed over the weekend that Hamas had agreed to merge its force into the PA security forces.

"The status of the Executive Force will remain unchanged," Shahwan said. "We belong to the Ministry of Interior and we are part of the police force in the Gaza Strip although we work independently." "

***

Well, "Palestinian unity" was nice while it lasted; what a two-headed monstrosity!

By Daryl Cagle

New Chairman, Old Rules

By MICHAEL F. BROWN
CounterPunch

"Hubris leads directly to disrespect. Back in power for just a handful of weeks, Rep. Gary Ackerman, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, is already displaying his disregard for the Peace Movement, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, the unfairly maligned progressive Jewish community, and, well, generally anyone who favors a fair debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No such debate will occur on Valentine's Day when Ackerman's Subcommittee hosts a stacked and biased witness list. There to present will be David Makovsky, Director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), Martin S. Indyk, Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and the infamous Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum. The latter is akin to a modern-day McCarthy with his close ties to Campus Watch and its classroom monitoring work.

None of the three witnesses can be described as a vigorous advocate on behalf of Palestinian rights and freedom. They have taken a go-slow approach on peacemaking, contributing to a cruel delaying of the day of freedom for millions of men, women, and children in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Richard Cohen in the Washington Post of 13 February notes how he was convinced for the case for war with Iraq by the "usual experts in and out of government." This is precisely what we have here with Makovsky and Indyk. Pipes, meanwhile, is so far to the right that some Democrats will come away thinking Makovsky and Indyk are moderates on the hearing's topic of "Next steps in Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "

They are not. Makovsky defended the illegal separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank when he testified on the Hill in 2004 alongside his WINEP colleague, Amb. Dennis Ross. Indyk recently hosted Israel's leading racist, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who was a featured speaker at a Saban conference in Washington, DC. While an invitation does not necessarily constitute endorsement, it did much in this instance to bolster Lieberman as a legitimate politician.

Perhaps the most curious aspect of the speaker selection is that the biased list comes at a time when debate is opening up on Israel-Palestine in the rest of the nation thanks to the work of Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt as well as the efforts of President Jimmy Carter. Congress ought not be the last place to have meaningful discussions about Israel and Palestine. Yet members of Congress will not be able to take informed decisions related to issues of life and death in the Middle East if they shut out the voices of a whole segment of the debate. This is poor form and it is dangerous both to American national security interests and the prospects for a just regional peace.

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a national coalition of more than 200 organizations, sent a letter to Rep. Ackerman on 8 February recommending several witnesses for the hearing. As of this writing, all have been ignored. Indeed, something of a rejoinder was received the very next day when Pipes was added to the list, albeit at the request of the Republican minority and not the Democrats. The bottom line is that the Democrats continue to ignore the growing Peace Movement on both Iraq and on ending the Israeli occupation.

The Subcommittee has made a real mistake in distancing itself from recommended witnesses Naseer Aruri, Phyllis Bennis, Nadia Hijab, Rashid Khalidi, Saree Makdisi, and Joseph Massad. Instead, the Subcommittee prefers the failed wisdom of an old guard that has contributed mightily to setting the region on fire. Further setbacks lie ahead when new voices clamoring at the door to be let in are not added to the debate. Hubris led us into the Iraq conflagration and is quite capable of helping to steer the wrong course on Israel/Palestine as well."

Is the Military the Last Hope?

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch

"Is the high command of the US military breaking ranks with the Bush Regime?

With the "mainstream media," that is, the government's propaganda ministry, bombarding the American public with "news reports" from unidentified sources that the US government has proof that "the highest reaches of the Iranian government" is supplying weapons to the Iraqi insurgency, Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, demurred. General Pace told the Voice of America on February 12 that he has no information indicating that Iran's government is supplying weapons to the Iraqi insurgency.

General Pace said that "Iranians are involved," but "what I would not say is that the Iranian government, per se, knows about this . . . I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."

Unlike the New York Times, Fox "news," CNN, and the TV networks, General Pace refused to lie for the Bush Regime.

Perhaps America could regain its reputation if General Pace would send a division of US Marines to arrest Bush, Cheney, the entire civilian contingent in the Pentagon, the neoconservative nazis, and the complicit members of Congress and send them off to the Hague to be tried for war crimes.

But he did the best he could and refused to lie for warmongers.

There is absolutely no doubt that Bush-Cheney and the neoconservative nazis are planning revenge against General Pace. We can only hope the general does not have a wife who works for the CIA......

Iranian president 'says he wants to die a martyr so he should be sent to heaven,' Meir Amit says

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should "be made to disappear from the arena," Meir Amit, a former director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, advocated in an exclusive interview with WND.

Amit, one of the most esteemed figures in the Israeli intelligence establishment, said while he was director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968 he regularly argued against the assassination of world leaders. But he said the case of Ahmadinejad is different.

"Ahmadinejad is the pusher of all the Muslim world toward fanaticism and extremism. In his case, he should be made to disappear from the arena. He has said he wants to become a shahid, a martyr, so I think he should get his wish and be sent to heaven," Amit said.

Amit, now in his mid-80's, directed some of the most notorious Mossad operations while he was the organization's chief, including the running of Israeli spy Eli Cohen who penetrated top levels of the Syrian government, and the hijacking of an advance fighter plane from Iraq. The subject of multiple books and movies, Amit serves as chairman of Israel's Center for Special Studies.

Amit says he is intimately familiar with the political structure of Iran , having gone on special missions to the country during the 1960's while Israel had a relationship with Iranian leaders......"

By Amira Hass

"Now it is official: The Gaza Strip is "abroad." As of February 1, the few Israelis whose entry into the Strip is approved by the army have had to present a passport at the Erez crossing, and they are listed on the Interior Ministry's computer as having crossed the country's borders......

There is reason for concern. A move such as erasing the Gazans from the registry fits the thought process that has characterized Israeli policy toward the Strip since 1991. Over the past 16 years, residents of the crowded, 360-square-kilometer Strip have been ordered to get used to its transformation into a kind of isolated autarkic economy and make do with the little it produces: increasingly little (and increasingly polluted) water; diminishing land; declining sources of income; industry and agriculture with no markets; and inferior educational and health institutions, due to their isolation from the world and the West Bank.

The peak of this policy, so far, was the disengagement in 2005. This is a policy that contradicts what is written in the Oslo Accords, which call the Strip and the West Bank a single territorial unit, as well as international resolutions about the solution for peace. But evacuating a few thousand settlers from the Strip was successfully marketed as Israeli moderation, even as Israel strengthened all its methods of control over the West Bank. Israel is also liable to market the deletion of Gazan names from the population registry as some kind of goodwill gesture. But such a move would only intensify the human distress of Gaza's 1.4 million residents, as well as their separation from the world. And that is a proven recipe for keeping a reasonable peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians at a distance. "

According to the Instructions of Rice, The CIA Asset Is To Be Selected
Abbas wants Mohammed Dahlan as deputy PM

"A senior figure in Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority Chairman wants party strongman Mohammed Dahlan to serve as deputy prime minister in a new unity government headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Dahlan, an advisor to late PA chairman Yasser Arafat, is viewed as Fatah's most senior figure in the generally Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh said Tuesday that it was "too early to talk about the resignation of the [Hamas-run] Palestinian government" in the context of the Mecca agreement on a Palestinian unity government.

The prime minister was speaking as he arrived at the PLO office in the Gaza Strip, where he was meeting with representatives of other Palestinian factions.

Haniyeh had been slated to submit his resignation on Wednesday, according to a statement made Monday by his political adviser, Ahmed Yusuf.

But Palestinian sources said Haniyeh is worried that Abbas will try to prevent him from being appointed head of the unity government, due to heavy Israeli and American pressure to get the new government to recognize Israel.

It appears that Haniyeh is waiting for Abbas to make an official announcement assigning Haniyeh the task of forming a new government. Abbas is expected to make the announcement Thursday....."

***

Let The Palestinian Celebrations Continue! The Dahlan Gang May Burn Another University, Just For This Occasion! Long Live King Abdullah!

By Juan Cole

".....The press record I assembled, below, does not support Muqtada's disappearance to Iran. It is possible but not likely that Muqtada would go to Iran. He and his family have endlessly made fun of the al-Hakim clerical leaders for fleeing to Iran to escape persecution by Saddam Hussein, when the al-Sadrs insisted on staying in Iraq. Muqtada's father was killed in 1999 by Saddam's agents because he stayed and gave defiant sermons. So it would be a lot of crow to eat for Muqtada to go to Iran to escape the Americans. Plus, there is nothing in the Iranian press about him showing up in Qom, and an Iranian diplomat denied the story. Without more and better evidence, this account strikes me as suspect, and I would guess that if Muqtada disappeared, it is inside Iraq.

It might be useful to construct a timeline for Muqtada's recent activities.......

Muqtada admitted that he had moved his family to a safe place, and also said that he was in hiding and was varying his place of residence......

This report suggests that the most notorious death squad leaders among the Sadrists and the Mahdi Army have fled to Iran. But it doesn't give evidence that Muqtada has.

The press record shows that Muqtada is in hiding inside Iraq, not in Iran. It also suggests that he has ordered his Mahdi Army to keep a low profile during the present security operation."

A Great Interview

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"....a new article in Vanity Fair magazine says the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the Iraq war is being repeated today. The article says: “Once again, neocon ideologues have been flogging questionable intelligence about W.M.D. Once again, dubious Middle East exile groups are making the rounds in Washington—this time urging regime change in Syria and Iran. Once again, heroic new exile leaders are promising freedom."
The article is called "From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq." Craig Unger is the author of the piece. He joins me here in the firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!.....

AMY GOODMAN: So, lay out who is pushing for this, the history of this, Craig.

CRAIG UNGER: Well, you can certainly trace it back at least ten years to 1996, when Benjamin Netanyahu had just been elected prime minister of Israel, came to the United States. He met with an Israeli American think tank with Richard Perle and some of his colleagues, and then he put together a paper called “A Clean Break,” which outlined a radical new vision of democracy for the Middle East. And this called for war with Iraq, for overturning Saddam, regime change with Saddam Hussein. Two days later, Netanyahu made a speech before a joint session of the United States Congress, and he added another country to the list, which was Iran.

AMY GOODMAN: And where did it go from there? That’s 1996.

CRAIG UNGER: Well, in 1999, actually, Richard Perle started meeting with then-candidate George Bush, and this has really not been reported much at all, but he came away with that meeting saying that Bush had agreed that if he were to be president, he would help overthrow Saddam. So, that, to me, is the first time I know that Bush seemed to have signed off on that. If you talk to the neocons today, a lot of them will say, “Well, yes, it’s a mess in Iraq, but that’s because we’ve just begun. We haven’t really started. This should be a regional war, that Iran is the real focus.”

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the meetings between neoconservatives and Iranian exile groups?

CRAIG UNGER: Well, you have two important people who have shown up. One is Farid Ghadry, who is a Syrian. He may be -- so far as I know, he’s the only Syrian exile who’s a member of AIPAC, the rightwing Israeli lobby. He actually sent out mass emails -- he’s been compared to Ahmed Chalabi so often that he actually sent out a mass email that was headlined “I Am Not the New Ahmed Chalabi.” And Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah of Iran, has also been put forth as a potential leader of Iran.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the people then who were pushing for Iran, then going on to push for Iraq, now, much discredited, how they have the power today?

CRAIG UNGER: Right. Well, I think if you go back to November, it looked like President Bush was really on the ropes in terms of this policy. The Democrats had just won both sections of Congress. Just after the election, Rumsfeld was sort of thrown overboard. And in the meantime, you also had the Iraq Study Group with James Baker, who is a very close friend of the President's family, and he was putting forth a bipartisan solution that really acknowledged that Bush's Iraq policy was a failure and that it was time to start cutting our losses.

In the meantime, however, Vice President Cheney seemed to be keeping a very, very low profile, and it’s useful to remember that his wife Lynne is at the American Enterprise Institute, and they suddenly came up with a new policy paper called “Choosing Victory,” written by Frederick Kagan, and General Jack Keane contributed to it, as well. And this was the policy for a surge. So, it ended up becoming a rival policy to the Iraq Study Group, and that's what Bush chose.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the Institute for Advanced Strategic Political Studies?

CRAIG UNGER: Well, this is where Richard Perle and Meyrav Wurmser, who I interviewed, and her husband David, who is now head of Middle East policy for Dick Cheney, and they put together this policy, “A Clean Break.” The term, “A Clean Break,” meant a clean break from the land-for-peace formula that was being used to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and this was a real radical departure. If you go all the way back to the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel and the Middle East, Israel had won enormous amounts of territory. Their policy then was to start trading it for peace, a land-for-peace formula, and President Carter in 1978 managed to get Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel to sign the Camp David Accords, which has lasted for nearly thirty years now. The rest of that formula, though, has been much, much more difficult to implement, and the neoconservatives decided to discard that in favor of a completely new vision that was far more radical and meant a sweeping overhaul of the Middle East.

AMY GOODMAN: Craig Unger, can you talk about MEK and the neocon links to this group? What is it?

CRAIG UNGER: Well, it does seem like a horrible replay of the events leading up to Iraq in many ways. The MEK is Mujahidin-e-Khalq, and it’s a terrorist group, really, that worked for Saddam Hussein. When the United States invaded Iraq, we captured many of these people and started using them to do covert operations inside Iran, and we have gotten intelligence from them. Once again, it seems a replay, in the sense that -- in the way that the neoconservatives used Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress with the Iraq war. It looks like they’re trying to do the same thing all over again. And, once again, the intelligence seems to be rather dubious.

AMY GOODMAN: You talked about how Richard Perle was the guest speaker at a fundraiser sponsored by the MEK, though he later claimed he had not been aware of the connection.

CRAIG UNGER: That's what he says, at least, yes. You know, I’m not so sure I believe him on that.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain how that happens.

CRAIG UNGER: Well, there was a front group backing it, and I guess he’s making the case -- he did not respond to my calls, but he had made the case that he was unaware that the money for this event was going to the MEK. Other members of the -- other neoconservative policymakers, such as Raymond Tanter, have come out very much in favor of using the MEK.

AMY GOODMAN: And explain who Raymond Tanter is.

CRAIG UNGER: He is a neocon policymaker, who has suggested using actually tactical nuclear weapons in bombing Iran.

AMY GOODMAN: He’s with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy?

CRAIG UNGER: Right. So, here, again, I mean, you see potential extraordinary escalation of events, when -- the bottom line is, if you listen to the International Atomic Energy Agency, they have -- we just saw a clip of ElBaradei saying that there’s no real evidence that Iran's nuclear program is actually a nuclear weapons program. And, once again, I think you see Iran, like Iraq, trying to have it both ways, bluffing, trying to present themselves as a great regional power by putting forth the notion that they have weapons of mass destruction, but also saying, “Well, gee, there's no real evidence that we have it,” when it comes to the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: Greg Unger, explain how Zalmay Khalilzad fits into this picture -- was at the White House, becomes ambassador to Afghanistan, then ambassador to Iraq, and now ambassador to the United Nations.

CRAIG UNGER: Right. Well, he goes way back, and if you go to 1991 or ’92, I believe, he was in the Defense Department with Dick Cheney, remember, who was Secretary of Defense right during and right after the Gulf War of 1991. Even before the 1996 “A Clean Break” policy, in 1991 Cheney was charged with coming up with a new policy for American supremacy, and he had -- Khalilzad and Paul Wolfowitz were in the Defense Department back then. So this is really the first time you see neocon policymakers come up with a policy, and their paper was known as the “Defense Policy Guidance” paper, even before “A Clean Break,” came up with this vision of radically overhauling the Middle East.

AMY GOODMAN: And how central is Khalilzad in all of this?

CRAIG UNGER: Well, he is very important. Now, of course, he’s up for being ambassador to the United Nations. He has been ambassador to Iraq, and he was in Afghanistan, as well. So he has been a key player all along.

AMY GOODMAN: We now know about the Iranian peace offer in May of 2003 that was rejected by the Bush administration. Can you talk about this?

CRAIG UNGER: Well, it was sort of known as the grand bargain, because it put almost all of the issues of the Middle East on the table. That included the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it included Iran's nuclear program, and it included Iran's security issues. Back then, we were in an extraordinarily strong position vis-à-vis Iran. That is, we went into first to Afghanistan and took care of Iran's number two enemy, the Taliban. Then we were just going into Iraq and taking care of their number one enemy. The Bush administration, it seems to me, could have gotten something out of this. This was a point at which the United States had extraordinary leverage over Iran, and in many ways we had shared interests vis-à-vis both Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran had enormous security issues. They’re surrounded by nuclear powers, if you think about it; Israel and Pakistan are very close to them. So they had very real security concerns, and there are -- it’s very tough to trust them, but this was an opening, and we did not even respond to it. In fact, the administration rebuked the Swiss ambassador, Timothy Guldimann, for even bringing up the subject with us?......"

Click Here to Watch, Listen or Read Transcript

Zionist Thought Police, By Bendib
(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Al Sadr Fled Iraq, Fearing U.S. Bombs
Insurgent Leader Reportedly Moved to Iran With Members of Mahdi Army

"Feb. 13, 2007 — - While members of the U.S. House of Representatives take turns weighing in on President Bush's planned troop surge in Iraq, the focus in Iraq is not on the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country's most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army.

According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.

Al Sadr commands the Mahdi army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.

Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz, "He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house."

Sources say some of the Mahdi army leadership went with al Sadr.

Though he is gone for now, many believe al Sadr is not gone for good. In Tehran he is trying to keep the Mahdi militia together.

In recent months, al Sadr has come to the political table to force change rather than use military force to have an impact. Sources say an even more extreme faction within his militia isn't pleased with this turn of events and is trying to force the cleric to respond to recent Sunni attacks with more violence.

U.S. officials say they are going to watch those members of the Mahdi army left behind in Baghdad. Sources say two scenarios are possible: Either al Sadr will be driven further into extremist mode or he will continue going forward with the political process."

***

Notice that ABC now refers to him as "insurgent leader."

A Good Piece
By Chris Floyd
t r u t h o u t | UK Correspondent

"Imagine a city torn by sectarian strife. Competing death squads roam the streets; terrorists stage horrific attacks. Local authority is distrusted and weak; local populations protect the extremists in their midst, out of loyalty or fear. A bristling military occupation exacerbates tensions at every turn, while offering prime targets for bombs and snipers. And behind the scenes, in a shadow world of double-cross and double-bluff, covert units of the occupying power run agents on both sides of the civil war, countenancing - and sometimes directing - assassinations, terrorist strikes, torture sessions, and ethnic cleansing.

Is this a portrait of Belfast during "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland? Or a picture of Baghdad today? It is both; and in both cases, one of Britain's most secret - and most criminally compromised - military units has plied its trade in the darkness, "turning" and controlling terrorist killers in a dangerous bid to wring actionable intelligence from blood and betrayal. And America's covert soldiers are right there with them, working side-by-side with their British comrades in the aptly named "Task Force Black," the UK's Sunday Telegraph reports.

Last week, the right-wing, pro-war paper published an early valentine to the "Joint Support Group," the covert unit whose bland name belies its dramatic role at the center of the Anglo-American "dirty war" in Iraq. In gushing, lavish, uncritical prose that could have been (and perhaps was) scripted by the unit itself, the Telegraph lauded the team of secret warriors as "one of the Coalition's most effective and deadly weapons in the fight against terror," running "dozens of Iraqi double-agents," including "members of terrorist groups."

What the story fails to mention is the fact that in its Ulster incarnation, the JSG - then known as the Force Research Unit (FRU) - actively colluded in the murder of at least 15 civilians by Loyalist deaths squads, and an untold number of victims were killed, maimed, and tortured by the many Irish Republican Army double-agents controlled by the unit. What's more, the man who commanded the FRU during the height of its depredations - Lt. Col. Gordon Kerr - is in Baghdad now, heading the hugger-mugger Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), a large counter-terrorism force made up of unnamed "existing assets" from the glory days in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.......

But the "Lightning" fizzled in a matter of weeks, and the death squads grew even bolder. Brazen daylight raids by "men dressed in uniforms" of Iraqi police or Iraqi commandos or other Iraqi security agencies swept up dozens of victims at a time. For months, U.S. "advisers" to Iraqi security agencies - including veterans of the original "Salvador Option" - insisted that these were Sunni insurgents in stolen threads, although many of the victims were Sunni civilians. Later, the line was changed: the chief culprits were now "rogue elements" of the various sectarian militias that had "infiltrated" Iraq's institutions.

But as investigative reporter Max Fuller has pointed out in his detailed examination of information buried in reams of mainstream news stories and public Pentagon documents, the vast majority of atrocities then attributed to "rogue" Shiite and Sunni militias were in fact the work of government-controlled commandos and "special forces," trained by Americans, "advised" by Americans and run largely by former CIA agents. As Fuller puts it: "If there are militias in the Ministry of Interior, you can be sure that they are militias that stand to attention whenever a U.S. colonel enters the room." And perhaps a British lieutenant colonel as well

With the Anglo-American coalition so deeply embedded in dirty war - infiltrating terrorist groups, "stimulating" them into action," protecting "crown jewel" double-agents no matter what the cost, "riding with the bad boys," greenlighting the "Salvador Option" - it is simply impossible to determine the genuine origin of almost any particular terrorist outrage or death squad atrocity in Iraq. All of these operations take place in the shadow world, where terrorists are sometimes government operatives and vice versa, and where security agencies and terrorist groups interpenetrate in murky thickets of collusion and duplicity. This moral chaos leaves "a kind of blot/to mark the full-fraught man and best indued/With some suspicion," as Shakespeare's Henry V says.

What's more, the "intelligence" churned out by this system is inevitably tainted by the self-interest, mixed motives, fear and criminality of those who provide it. The ineffectiveness of this approach can be seen in the ever-increasing, many-sided civil war that is tearing Iraq apart. If these covert operations really are intended to quell the violence, they clearly have had the opposite effect. If they have some other intention, the pious defenders of civilization - who approve these activities with promotions, green lights and unlimited budgets - aren't telling."

"While the world focuses on Baghdad's security, a series of bombings here may be the long-feared start of a second deadly war in Iraq — this one between Kurds and Arabs, both with claims on a territory atop one of the world's largest oil reserves.

If the escalating violence in Kirkuk erupts into all-out fighting between heavily armed Kurdish and Arab groups, it could spark a wider conflict involving Turkey or Iran. That risk puts the United States in a bind, caught between ally Turkey, which is on the side of Arabs and ethnic Turkomen here, and the Kurds, another strong U.S. ally.

The issue is coming to a head because of a provision in the Iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum by year's end on Kirkuk's future. Arabs and Turkomen, backed by Turkey, want to put the vote off — worried about Kurdish dominance and more violence if the referendum is held and Kurds win.

But Kurds are determined to press ahead. They deny it's because of the black gold in the ground......"

By Eric Margolis

"“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money,” famously quipped US Senator Everett Dirksen back in the 1960’s.

The US government has just estimated that President George Bush’s occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and his so-called war on terror, will cost at least $690 billion by the end of next year. That’s more than the total cost to America of World War I, the Korean War, or Vietnam, and second only to the $2 trillion cost of World War II (in current dollars).

This means that by 2008, Bush’s wars in the Muslim world will have cost each American man, woman, and child $2,300.

The $690 billion poured into the bottomless hole of the faux war on terrorism does not include the estimated $100 billion direct cost of the 9/11 attacks, the urgent need to replace $66 billion of US military equipment worn out or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions in lifetime care for seriously injured soldiers, $125 billion in backlogged veteran’s claims, and untold billions spent in secret CIA programs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ironically, half of the money spent on these wars is being borrowed from former American enemies, Communist China and Japan. Half the current American deficit is being tied directly to the war on terrorism. After six years, the Bush/Cheney Administration cannot even define what it means by victory in its wars in the Muslim World.

Defeat looms large in Iraq; Afghanistan is headed that way; and the US National intelligence Estimate just reported that al-Qaida is actually stronger than ever. The still elusive Osama bin Laden, who said the only way to expel US influence from the Muslim World was to bleed the US financially, must be beaming over the success of his grand strategy.

As all kings have found since the dawn of time, in war, money is as important as armies. Wars always cost far more than originally projected. A primary architect of the 2003 Iraq War, former US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, assured Americans the Iraq war would only cost $40 billion. The cost of occupying Iraq would be fully covered, he claimed, by plundering its oil. Wolfowitz now heads the World Bank.....

But Bremer’s missing $12.8 billion was just the tip of the corruption iceberg. US corporations in bed with the Republican Party’s rightwing, like Halliburton, and mercenary-supplier, Blackwater, made billions out of Iraq. Halliburton, whose former CEO was VP Cheney, was awarded $16 billion in questionable Iraq contracts.

Last week, House Democrats opened hearings that finally began to expose the tsunami of corruption that accompanied the occupation and plundering of Iraq. Billions more of fraud and thievery concealed by the Administration will likely be uncovered.

The whole sordid story of the 100,000 “private contractors” employed by the US in Iraq has only begun to emerge. According to the US Government Accountability Office, at least 48,000 of these – let’s use the correct term, mercenaries – are private gunmen working for hundreds of shadowy US military corporations like Blackwater and Vinnell. These heavily-armed desperados are a law unto themselves and under no supervision.

Some of these mercenaries make US $1,000 daily in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the US locks up Muslims it brands “illegal combatants” in Guantanamo, it has deployed an army of armed thugs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even interrogation and torture of Iraqis and Afghans has been farmed out to US private enterprise.

Blackwater reputedly has the world’s biggest private military base and a fleet of aircraft. Such huge numbers of uncontrolled mercenaries are a menace. They could also pose a serious internal danger to America. Under the Bush/Cheney Administration, we saw the neoconservatives create their own private intelligence organizations within the Pentagon and a top-secret military outfit to spy on Americans. It is hardly a great leap of imagination to picture the same neocons creating their own corporate-run army in the heart of the United States.

While the Washington, DC. police no longer dare patrol crime-infested southern parts of America’s capital, President Bush and VP Cheney are sending the 82nd Airborne Division to try to pacify Baghdad. If this isn’t the extreme theater of the absurd, I don’t know what is."

Arrogance and Desecration

By NICOLA NASSER
CounterPunch

"The Israeli arrogance of being the regional military super power, unequivocally backed by the U.S. world super power, is dictating a kind of politics that deals trivially with the national and religious grievances of Israel's geopolitical neighbors, whom the Jewish state is supposedly aspiring to live with in peace and as a regional integral part, while at the same time she is pursuing policies that antagonize those same neighbors to preclude altogether whatever potential is left for peace......

However the Israeli arrogance of power, from previous experience, is betting on the Arab, Islamic and peace-loving roaring protests being without teeth and that they would as in past similar cases subsidize, of course after the usual falling of Palestinian "martyrs!".....

Whatever name you give to it -- being "construction," "modernization," "renovation," "Judaization" or "archeological excavations" -- a process of cultural cleansing of Jerusalem has been going on in the Holy City since Israel occupied it in 1967.

Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem is the heart and soul of the Arab and Palestinian national, religious, historical and cultural heritage and the symbol of their more than 5.000-year uninterrupted existence on the land, long before the Hebrews swept into Palestine through the blood of butchered men, women and children of the completely destructed Jericho, according to the Old Testament. Destruction of Al Aqsa Mosque would, God forbids, crown the Israeli cleansing of the Palestinian cultural structure after obliterating their existential infrastructure.

Robert Bevan, author of "The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War," should have visited Jerusalem or at least should have got access to the Holy City to update his book with the latest example of cultural cleansing in modern history: "The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then you have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was," he wrote in an opening for the second chapter of his book, quoting from Milan Kundera's The Book Of Laughter and Forgetting.

A reviewer of Bevan's book, Abe Hayeem, (an architect and member of Architects & Planners for Justice) wrote on 3 February 2006: "Israel's otherisation' of the Palestinians by the building of the Separation Barrier, while destroying thousands of houses, trees and farms, and creating what are in effect vast prison enclaves, has ironic echoes of the ghettos that European Jews experienced." Hayeem missed upgrading his review by how the Israeli occupation has changed Jerusalem's landscape, including renaming its historical sites and even streets......."

BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM

Contributed by Abed

".....In the midst of it all, disoriented Palestinian Arabs keep hoping for a leadership that is courageous and purposeful enough to chart its own course.

It won't happen.

What kind of leadership can be expected from a prime minister who says, "We are not seekers of office but seekers of martyrdom?" This is what the so-called Hamas government prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, is fond of repeating. And what sort of president goes around promising new elections and threatening resignation from one week to the next? This is just about all, the so-called head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has been doing.

Going down the line, the only common denominators between all figures of authority among Palestinian Arabs have been mediocrity and dishonesty.

As a result, an estimated 5 million Palestinian Arabs have for nearly six decades walked the battlefields like pigeons whose heads jerk in every direction depending on where the next bullet pops.

But are they blameless?

Back in the heyday of the major leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, Palestinian Arabs were fervent Arab nationalists. This was true until the early '70s, when ascendant Saudi Islam took over from the defeated Nasser. Then they surfed styles modeling themselves after Eastern bloc socialists and flamboyant Che Guevaras. During the golden years of the Oslo accords, between 1993 and 1996, they were peacemongers in love with Jews. Today, the Palestinian Arabs has split into the revolutionary Islamic models of the mad mullahs of Iran and the reactionary oil princes of the Gulf. Apologists say that, as they are dependent on the kindness of others to exist, Palestinian Arabs have little choice but to be chameleons.

For those reasons and more, the latest agreement to calm Palestinian Arab internecine conflict in the city of Mecca under the auspices of King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz of Saudi Arabia will not end the Palestinian Arab conundrum.

It is only a matter of time before Iran stirs its operatives in Hamas to disrupt the accord — if only to upset Saudi Arabia, as Tehran views Riyadh as an archrival in its influence among Arabs. Egypt, vexed by being deprived of much influence over Palestinian Arab affairs — a fig leaf for its actual impotence in Arab politics — will push its operatives in Fatah to agitate so that it can mediate.

Syria, never one to stay out of mayhem-making, will join in via Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has demonstrated its ability to meddle in the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict through Hamas and other Islamic groups in Gaza.

Palestinian Arabs cannot hope that Europe, America, or Israel will talk to a government dominated by Hamas, which says it shall never renounce armed struggle against Israel but will accept a "truce." That sort of juvenile reasoning may work out in Gaza but not in world politics.

Nor can Fatah, the other partner in this Saudi-brokered agreement, accept a minority status, having grown fat and rich by dominating the Palestinian Arab scene and treasury.

In the end, the essential Palestinian Arab problem is not that the Palestinian Arabs are dependent on the kindness of others but that they lack two of the essential ingredients of nation-building: unified purpose and vision."

***

Needless to say, I disagree with most of this article. I posted it since I have been accused of posting only articles that support my point of view. The author of this article is an Egyptian-American writer and consultant who lives and works in the Gulf area. This is an excerpt from his resume, "an Egyptian-born American reporter serving for twenty-four years as a senior Middle East regional correspondent for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, mainly covering political, economic, energy and military issues. Mr. Ibrahim has been based throughout the world, filing hundreds of reports detailing the conflicts and issues between the Middle East and the West."

By Mike Whitney

".....The Bush administration seems less and less concerned that their “divide and rule” strategy remains hidden from the public. There’ve been a number of articles in the mainstream press about Bush’s $86 million gift to Mahmoud Abbas’ to train and equip special shock-troops to crush the democratically-elected Hamas government. And, there’s been ample coverage of the CIA’s covert operations in Lebanon that are directed against Hezbollah. The only conclusion we can draw from this, is that Bush really doesn’t care anymore if the world knows that the US is purposely fueling the anarchy which is quickly spreading across the entire Middle East. (The latest accusation that Iran is supplying roadside bombs to the Iraqi resistance just shows how sloppy the administration has gotten in managing its propaganda. Iran, of course, is Shiite, whereas, the Iraqi resistance is predominantly Sunni. The likelihood that Iran is providing roadside bombs to the former members of Saddam’s army is remote to say the least.)

Bush’s “dirty war” in Iraq has become increasingly violent and confused. The neocon trust in “creative destruction” has succeeded in fragmenting Iraqi society, but the long-term prospects for normalization (or resource extraction) appear bleak. At this point, it seems irrelevant whether the bombing of the Golden-dome Mosque was the work of Sunni extremists or the US intelligence agencies. After all, propaganda may be useful for shaping public opinion but it cannot win wars. And that is the dilemma that Bush now faces.

It has been exactly one year since the Askariya Mosque was flattened. Most Americans now believe that we are mired in an "unwinnable" war. Public support is eroding, the violence is escalating, the administration is drifting sideways, and the end is nowhere in sight. The inability of the administration to think politically or change course has thrust America to the brink of its worst defeat in history. "

By Uri Avnery

"WHEN A Prime Minister has just lost a war, is dogged by corruption allegations and sees his popularity ratings in free fall - what can he do?

Why, he can initiate provocations.

A provocation diverts attention, generates headlines, creates the illusion of power, radiates a sense of leadership.

But a provocation is a dangerous instrument. It can cause irreversible damage.

PROVOCATION NO. 1: The northern frontier......

PROVOCATION NO. 2: The Temple Mount.

Islam has three holy cities: Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. In Mecca this week, the chiefs of Fateh and Hamas assembled in order to put an end to the mutual killing and set up a unity government. While the attention of the concerned Palestinian public was riveted there, Olmert struck in Jerusalem......

WHAT DO the three have in common? First of all: their unilateral character. Forty years of occupation have created an occupation mentality that destroys all desire and all ability to solve problems by mutual understanding, dialogue and compromise.

Both in foreign and domestic relations, Mafia methods reign: violence, sudden blows, targeted eliminations.

When these methods are applied by a politician haunted by corruption affairs, an uninhibited war-monger who is fighting for survival by all means available - this is indeed a very dangerous situation."

By Tom Toles

By Naser Jafari

By Gabriel Kolko
Asia Times

"......Rivals are much more equal, and wars more protracted and expensive for those who persist in fighting them. America's ambitions for hegemony throughout the globe can now be more and more successfully challenged. Nowhere is this truer than the Middle East, where the United States' long-standing alliance with Israel, which shares its fascination with military power, has produced colossal political failures for both nations.

The ultra-modern Israel Defense Forces finally learned this in Lebanon last July, when Hezbollah rockets destroyed or seriously damaged at least 20 of its best tanks and the IDF was fought to a draw - abandoning the field of battle and losing their precious myth of invincibility. Growing demoralization well before the Lebanon war plagued Israel, and the percentage of Jews with higher academic degrees that migrated grew steadily after 2002.

Israel exports brain power to a high extent by world standards. The Lebanon war and talk - by both Israeli and by Iranian leaders - of "existential" threats to the state's very existence only gravely aggravated this defeatism and the desire to leave. At the end of January, 78% of the Israeli public were "unhappy" with their leaders for a variety of reasons......

Ha'aretz' Akiva Eldar then published a series of extremely detailed accounts, including the draft accord, confirming that Syria "offered a far-reaching and equitable peace treaty" that would provide for Israel's security and which would divorce Syria from Iran and even create a crucial distance between Damascus and Hezbollah and Hamas.

The Bush administration's role in scuttling any peace accord was decisive. C David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, sat in at the final meeting and two former senior Central Intelligence Agency officials were present in all of these meetings and sent regular reports to Vice President Dick Cheney's office. The press has been full of details on how the US role was decisive, because it has war, not peace, at the top of its agenda......

Israel's power after 1947 was based on its military supremacy over its weaker neighbors. It is in the process of losing it - if it has not already. Lesser problems, mainly demographic, will only be aggravated if tension persists. It simply cannot survive allied with the United States, because the Americans will either leave the region or embark on a war that risks Israel's very existence. It is time for it to become "normal" and make peace with its neighbors, and that will require it to make major concessions. It can do that if it embarks on an independent foreign policy, and it can start immediately to do so with Syria. "

Even Mash'al Is Doing P.R. Now; What a Pathetic Piece. It Is Embarrassing To See A "Revolutionary" Leader Descend To This Level. This is Part of His Political Rehabilitation In Return for $ 1 Billion from King Abdullah.

Khalid Mish'al
Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Guardian

"A historic new phase in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence has begun. Last week's Mecca agreement between Hamas and Fatah will pave the way for the first ever truly Palestinian national unity government. Hamas and Fatah, joined by all the other Palestinian factions, will now seek to rebuild Palestinian society following the destruction brought upon it by Israeli occupation and resume the campaign for our national rights.

We are determined to make sure that the recent internal fighting, which appalled our people and dismayed their supporters around the world, becomes history. We firmly believe that it would never have happened had it not been for foreign intervention and the brutal sanctions imposed on our people by Israel and its allies. The crisis would not have existed had international and regional powers respected the results of last year's democratic elections in Palestine.....

The Mecca agreement has laid the foundations for a power-sharing process that will produce a functioning government capable of attending to our people's needs......."

By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News Analyst

"WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- "One war at a time," U.S. President Abraham Lincoln famously said when dismissing a proposal to risk war with the British Empire, the most powerful nation on earth, when he already had his hands full waging the U.S. Civil War. But as the United States heads for a full-scale confrontation with Iran, it risks fighting three separate wars simultaneously in the same theater of operations.....

However, even while U.S. policymakers await hopefully but uncertainly to see the results of Petraeus' new strategy, they're also hunkering down for a looming confrontation with Iran over its refusal to heed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 of Dec. 23 and abandon its nuclear development program......

The Iranians would have other forms of retaliation available too. In the event of a U.S. air strike on their new nuclear centrifuges and other faculties, they would almost certainly unleash the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr, the highly popular Iraqi Shiite leader, which is particularly strong across southern Iraq and in the Sadr City Shiite poor neighborhoods of Baghdad, where 2 million people live.

But if the U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft strike Iranian nuclear facilities, then Washington policymakers could end up directing three separate but overlapping wars at the same time.....

Historically, even the finest armies have often been unbalanced, caught by surprise and even annihilated when they were forced to fight very different kinds of enemies simultaneously or in quick succession......

Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the greatest British combat commander of World War II, always emphasized the importance of balance in full-scale army formations deployed to fight major land battles. But if an army's operational and planning energies are focused on defending their lines of communication, maintaining control of large cities, or in fighting and suppressing large irregular forces, then they may be disastrously distracted from the main axis of conventional attack against them.

If U.S. forces in the Iraq-Iran region are forced to fight two or three major but very different campaigns simultaneously within a small geographical area, they will run the risk of confusion and dispersal of effort that could generate this kind of dangerous distraction."

قبل فترة ليست بالبعيدة وبالتحديد يوم الخميس الموافق 7/12/2006 وصل إلى العاصمة البريطانية فريق تحقيق إسرائيلي على أعلى مستوى لمساعدة أجهزة الأمن البريطانية في الكشف عن ملابسات تسمم ضابط المخابرات الروسية الأسبق ألكسندر ليتفينينكو وفي حقيقة الأمر للتغطية على تورط إسرائيل و سفيرها في غزة في تسميم عرفات.

كان هذا الأمر ليكون طبيعياً لولا ظهور أحد أسماء الإسرائيليين في محاضر التحقيق وهو الملياردير اليهودي ليونيد نيفزلين وهو معروف كواحد من أكبر تجار السلاح في العالم وكأحد أكبر المساهمين في شركة النفط يوكوس و التي تم سجن مديرها اليهودي خودوركوفسكي على قضية إختلاس وتهرب من الضرائب و آخرون من إدارة تلك الشركة لكونهم مارسوا التصفية الجسدية لمنافسيهم.

إن جميع تلك الشخصيات التي ذكرت والتي هي على علاقة وطيدة مع المخابرات البريطانية والمليونير اليهودي الفار من العدالة الروسية بيريزوفسكي يتخذون من لندن غرفة عمليات خاصة لممارسة تشويه صورة روسيا بشكل عام و رئيسها بوتين بشكل خاص... و الغريب في الأمر أن هؤلاء جميعا يدعمون القيادة الشيشانية في الخارج و يتحالفون معها و على رأسهم أحمد زاكاييف القائد الشيشاني والذي حصل على اللجوء السياسي أيضا يعتبر أحد الأصدقاء المقربين لبيريزوفسكي وحاشيته.

وننتقل هنا إلى المشهد الفلسطيني في تلك الحلقة و هو أن ليونيد نيفزلين هو شخصية مقربة لشاؤول موفاز صديق محمد دحلان الوفي.

قبل إغتيال عرفات بفترة كان محمد دحلان قد غادر إلى بريطانيا كما علمنا للدراسة أو ما شابه و لكن في حقيقة الأمر كان دحلان قد غادر في مهمة من نوع خاص وهي التحضير لعملية إغتيال عرفات و لكي يحصل على مادة البولونيوم و التي كانت بحوزة ليتفينينكو في لندن بتنسيق وتدبير من قبل تاجر السلاح ليونيد نيفزلين.

المشكلة في مادة البولونيوم أن العمر النصفي لها كمادة مشعة و سامة قصير جدا و هو حوالي 134 يوما تقريبا و الجرعة السامة الكافية لقتل أي إنسان هي واحد على مليون من الجرام بمعني لو قمنا بتقسيم حبة الإسبرين لخمسمائة ألف مرة فيكون هذا الجزء كافي لقتل أي إنسان و تظهر أعراض التسمم بعد أسبوع تقريبا أما في حالة تسمم ليتفينينكو فقد تجرع واحد على عشرة من الجرام .

لذلك إستخدام هذا السم في عمليات الإغتيال يحتاج لتدريب كي لا يصاب منفذ المهمة ولئلا تظهر عليه أعراض الإشعاع و يتم كشف أمره من جهة و لوجوي إتباع القواعد التقنية في حفظ و إستخدام تلك المادة من جهة أخرى يتطلب كل هذا الوقت من الدراسة للسيد دحلان في لندن.

كانت تلك النقطة الأولى و أما النقطة الثانية فهي ظهور أعراض التسمم على الرئيس عرفات قبل إنتهاء العمر النصفي لمادة البولونيوم في حال لو أن دحلان تسلمها أثناء مهمته في لندن ،وتكمن خطورة البولونيوم تكمن في صعوبة كشفه على الحواجز الأمنية في المطارات والمراكز الحدودية لأن مصدر الإشعاع يجب أن يكون على مسافة لا تزيد عن 2سنتيمتر من جهاز كشف المواد المشعة لتتمكن من التقاط إشعاعاته .

النقطة الثالثة وهي تلك العلاقة التي تربط ليتفينينكو وبيريزوفسكي ونيفزلين وشاؤول موفاز ومحمد دحلان وغرف العمليات المطلوبة في لندن وتل أبيب وحقيقة لماذا تحسب الحكومة المصرية لدحلان ألف حساب دون مبالغة ولماذا يمتلك كل هذا الحب والود له من قبل الثلاثي الإسرائيلي الأمريكي البريطاني.

وهنا أود أن أعرض ملاحظة للقارئ...

أولا أعراض التسمم بمادة البولونيوم لا تكاد معروفة إلا في روسيا ، أمريكا، وبريطانيا.

إذ أنه لم يتسمم أحد بتلك المادة سوى مدام كوري الحائزة على جائزة نوبل لدراسة المواد المشعة و زوجها و كذلك تسمم إبنتيها بتلك المادة وهذا حصل منذ أكثر من قرن .. إذا أن أعراض التسمم بمادة البولونيوم لا تكاد معروفة إلا لنطاق ضيق جداً.

ففي حالة الرئيس عرفات يعتقد أنه تم تسميمه بجرعة الواحد على المليون من البولونيوم و أجهزة الكشف عن الإشعاع لا تستطيع كشف النشاط الإشعاعي لتلك الكمية إلا في حالة الإقتراب الشديد من تلك المادة .. وقبل أن ينتهي العمر النصفي للمادة.

و أما عملية وضع تابوت عرفات في قالب من الباطون وذلك لتسهيل عملية نقل ضريحه إلى القدس ودفنه فيها حسبما أوصى.. فتلك حيلة لا تنطلي على الخبراء في علم الجريمة و النشاط الإشعاعي... وإنما جاء ذلك تخوفا أن يشك أحد بأمر تسميم عرفات بمواد مشعة وحال إقتراب أحد من جثمانه بكاشف النشاط الإشعاعي يكتشف الحقيقة.. و كما هو معروف للجميع بأن الباطون يعزل لدرجة النشاط الإشعاعي كما تبنى المفاعلات النووية بعوازل خرسانية ضخمة.

وحول تلك النقطة سوف أعرض في نهاية الموضوع معلومات علمية بحتة لتكون الصورة أكثر وضوحاً للقارئ.

المدعو نيفزيلين هو مطلوب لروسيا و متهم بمحاولة إغتيال لبوتين وكذلك إعترف نفزلين في مقابلة مع صحيفة ألمانية بأنه إلتقى مع ليتفينينكو في بريطانيا و الأعجب من ذلك أنه في شهر سبتمبر 2004 و هي فترة تسمم عرفات توفي أقرب الأصدقاء للرئيس االروسي بوتين رجل الأعمال المعروف و مدير مؤسسة بالتيك -إسكورت رامان تسيبوف نتيجة تسمم لم يتم معرفة أسبابه آنذاك و أعراض تسممه شبيهة بتلك التي ظهرت على ليتفينينكو وعرفات.

وهنا أود أن نستذكر معاً بيان وزارة الخارجية الإسرائيلية الذي صدر بعد إجتماع المجلس الأمني المصغر بتاريخ 14/07/ 2004 وتم الإعلان فيه عن أن إسرائيل تستعد لوفاة عرفات ويشارك في هذا الإستعداد عدة وزارات إسرائيلية وصدر هذا البيان قبل شهرين من تسمم عرفات تقريبا و في الوقت الذي تم إعطاء الضوء الأخضر لعملية التسميم.

إن لفت الأنظار إلى تلك الزاوية و موضوع البولونيوم هي بحد ذاته و حتى بدون عرض الإثباتات هي حقيقة يستطيع كل قارئ لو اجتهد أن يربط التواريخ و المقابلات و الأحداث و يصل إلى تلك التفاصيل ولكن لم يبحث أحد من قبل في هذا الإتجاه.

ونعود لشخصية نفزلين لنستوضح مفتاح هذا اللغز أكثر.

نفزيلين وكما هو معروف مطلوب للعدالة الروسية، ولم يكن قد حصل على الجنسية الإسرائيلية بعد، وكانت إسرائيل ستسلمه للسلطات الروسية، لولا حصوله على الجنسية الإسرائيلية قبل الفترة القانونية المطلوبة.

وشب خلاف في الكنيست الإسرائيلي على التجاوز القانوني في منح نفزلين الجنسية الإسرائيلية. وتم إخراس النائبة في الكنيست من حزب العمل كوليت آفيتال.. التي طالبت في إحدى جلسات الكنيست إيضاحات حول ملابسات تسريع حصول ليونيد نفزيلين على جواز السفر الإسرائيلي - داركون.

وحسب معلومات من مقرب للمحامي الإسرائيلي الشهير أرنون بيريلمان بأن شارانسكي قدم مساعدة لنفزلين وقام بتقديمه إلى شارون بأنه هو من سيساعدنا في التخلص من عرفات ولكن يجب أن نساعده بألا يقع في قبضة الروس ونمنحه الجنسية وفي ليلة وضحاها إنقلب رأي شارون حول نفزلين من شخص مشبوه إلى سياسي ووطنى وبعد تسميم عرفات أصبح أقرب الأصدقاء لعمري شارون..

وكان في تلك الإتفاقية أن تتم إدارة موضوع تسميم عرفات من خارج إسرائيل و بمشاركة أطراف فلسطينية .

وهنا في إحدى إجتماعات شاؤول موفاز مع محمد دحلان تم تغيير مكان اللقاء إلى هرتسيليا بيتواخ..

في هرتسيليا بيتواخ يمتلك نفزلين فيلا ثمنها 4 مليون دولار وكان هذا اللقاء بمثابة الخطوة الأولى لتحقيق حلم شارون في التخلص من الرئيس الشهيد ياسر عرفات.

سيقول بعض القراء وما علاقة دحلان بالموضوع فهو كان بعيداً عن عرفات نظراً لتأزم العلاقة بينهما وهنا أود أن ألفت إنتباه القارئ إلى أن الرئيس ياسر عرفات التقى مع دحلان للمصالحة ، منذ يوم الإثنين 07-07-1425هـ الموافق 23-08-2004م لغاية يوم الأربعاء الموافق 25-08-2004 م ثلاث مرات وتم تسميمه على الأرجح في يوم الثلاثاء وفي اليوم الذي تلاه تبنى المجلس التشريعي الفلسطيني توصية بالدعوة إلى تشكيل حكومة فلسطينية قادرة على تحقيق برامج الإصلاح التي اقرها المجلس التشريعي وتحدث بشأنها الرئيس ياسر عرفات حيث بدأت فيما بعد ظهور أعراض التسمم على الرئيس.

بعد وصول فريق تحقيق إسكوتلانديارد إلى موسكو للبحث في ملابسات ضابط المخابرات الروسية الأسبق ليتفينينكو ولإستجواب بعض الشخصيات الروسية التي إلتقت معه قبل تسممه.. بدأت ـ تتكشف خيوط كثيرة ولجريمتي قتل منها تسميم رومان تسيبوف صديق الرئيس الروسي فلاديمير بوتين وتسميم عرفات وذلك بعد التأكد من ضلوع نفزلين بشكل أو بآخر في تلك الجرائم .. ما أن علمت أجهزة الأمن الإسرائيلية بتغير مسار التحقيق حتى سارع فريق إسرائيلي بالسفر إلى لندن يوم الخميس الموافق 7/12/2006 ليتباحث مع الإستخبارات البريطانية والمعروفة بــ (إم آي 6) والتي كانت بدورها قد وجهت الدعوة لدحلان لتلقي الدورة في بريطانيا وإستجاب لها وأعلن أنه سافر للدراسة .. وعندما أحست إسرائلل بأن الروس و البريطانيين كشفوا حقيقة تسميم عرفات وأن هناك أدلة تشير لضلوعها في قتل عرفات من خلال نفزلين ودحلان.. سارعت بعقد صفقة مع الروس من خلال البريطانيين وتم التوصل لإتفاق مبدئي وهو تسليم نفزلين للسلطات الروسية وبالقابل السماح لأربعة مواطنين إسرائيليين يقبعون في السجون الروسية بأن يمضوا محكوميتهم في السجون الإسرائيلية والمعروف بأن بوتين مستعد لعمل أي شيء للقبض على نفزلين .

من هنا نصل إلى عدة حقائق :

الحقيقة الأولى : تسميم عرفات تم بأمر من شارون شخصياً والتواطيء الأمريكي (و كما أكده الكاتب الفرنسي اوري دان في كتابه شارون).

الحقيقة الثانية: وهي أن تسميم عرفات تم بمادة البولونيوم نظراً للأعراض والحقائق التي عرضناها أعلاه.

الحقيقة الثالثة : وهي أن التنفيذ تم من قبل الحالم بالسلطة المدعو محمد دحلان.

أضيف إليكم هنا بعض المعلومات عن المواد المشعة لأن البعض سوف يجد الإجابة عن إستفسارات قد تكون مهمة:

كي نخفض أشعة غاما إلى العشر (طاقتها 2 مليون اليكترون فولت)، فإنه يلزم سُمْك 48 سم من الماء أو 25 سم من الباطون المسلح، او 6.7 سم من الحديد، أو 4.3 سم من الرصاص.

بينما يمكن 1سم من الالومنيوم إيقاف جمع البروتونات والالكترونات المنطلقة من العناصر المشعة.إن ضرر أشعة غاما هو أقل ضرراً من النيوترونات بـ 50 مرة.

وعندما نتحدث عن البلوتونيوم وهو الأقل إشعاعاً من اليورانيوم وعن كمية من المادة (التي تسمم بها الرئيس) وقدرها لا يتجاوز واحد على مليون من الجرام فأعتقد أننا نفهم ماذا يعني ذلك.

أما عن الإصابة بالإشعاع:

فان تأثير الإشعاعات يرتبط كثيراً بالعمر وبصحة المريض. تكون الأشعة أكثر خطورة على الخلايا حديثة التكوين، وتشكل خطورة أكبر على المرأة في فترة المراهقة، كما ان بعض أجزاء الجسم أكثر حساسية تجاه الأشعة من غيرها مثل: الخلايا العصبية، خلال الأمعاء، الكلية، الدم، الأعضاء التناسلية، الكبد، المورثات...الخ.

إن خطورة الإشعاعات تكمن بأنها تدخل إلى داخل نواة الخلية الحية فتدمر كامل محتوياتها ولاسيما السجل الوراثي (DNA) وبالتالي تصبح الخلية مخبولة ولا تستطيع أن تنقسم إلى خلايا جديدة يمكن أن تقوم بوظائفها، والخطورة الكبرى على خلايا الدم الحمراء التي لا تحتوي على نواة وبالتالي عندما تموت لا يمكن أن تتجدد، والأخطر من ذلك إذا أصابت الأشعة مراكز توليد الكريات الحمراء في الطحال أو النخاع العظمي. كما أن خلايا الأعصاب ليست بطبيعتها قادرة على الانقسام، مما تسبب خطورة كبيرة عليها، أما الخلايا البيضاء فإنها عندما تُصاب تفقد الإنسان المناعة ويصبح الإنسان أشبه بمريض الايدز لا يستطيع أن يقاوم الجراثيم.

يصعب اكتشاف الأشعة فهي بلا لون ولا رائحة ولا طعم ولا يستطيع الإنسان أن يتعرف عليها باللمس، برغم ذلك فإن بعض الناس يشعرون بوخز عندما يصل مستوى الأشعة إلى 10 راد فوق الجلد.

تدخل أغلب الأشعة إلى جسم الإنسان عن طريق الفم والتنفس وصعب عليها الدخول عبر الجلد.

إن من أهم عوارض الأشعة العالية المستوى على الإنسان هي : الغثيان - القيء - النزيف الدموي - الإسهال - فقر الدم - فقدان الذاكرة - نقص الوزن - فقدان الشهية على الطعام - خوار القوى - ابيضاض الشعر - ضعف البصر - الشيخوخة المبكرة - ضعف القدرات الجنسية - احمرار الجلد .. الخ.

جرت دراسات واختبارات عديدة في العالم على تأثير الجرعات الإشعاعية على مختلف الكائنات ووضع لذلك معايير ومصطلحات مثل (LD-50) تعني الجرعة من الأشعة التي تؤدي إلى موت 50% من الموضوعين تحت الاختبار والمعرضين للأشعة، كما وضع المصطلح (LD_50/30) الذي يعني الجرعة الإشعاعية اللازمة التي تؤدي إلى موت 50% من الكائنات الموضوعة تحت الاختبار خلال 30 يوما.

AFP

"White House officials are taunting Iran into an action the United States could use as an excuse for an attack, a former security official told Newsweek, the magazine reported.

"They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something (the United States) would be forced to retaliate for," Hillary Mann, former director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, which reports to the White House, told the New York newsweekly.

US relations with Iran have chilled since President George W. Bush placed Iran on an "Axis of Evil," alongside North Korea and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, in a January 2002 speech.

Earlier on Sunday, Bush administration officials in Baghdad claimed that Iranian-built bombs smuggled into Iraq had killed at least 170 US and allied soldiers since June 2004.

US officials also claim Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear bombs, while the Islamic Republic claims the nuclear fuel will make electricity.

The New York Times reported Friday that administration officials were concerned about especially lethal roadside bombs built in Iran, which borders Iraq."

The escalation of war rhetoric against Iran from the Bush White House and the neocons is just the latest installment of a long-term plan for another preemptive war.

By Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story. Posted February 12, 2007

"The escalation of US military planning on Iran is only the latest chess move in a six-year push within the Bush Administration to attack that country. While Iran was named a part of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" in 2002, efforts to ignite a confrontation with Iran date back long before the post-9/11 war on terror.

Presently, the Administration is trumpeting claims that Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than the CIA's own analysis shows and positing Iranian influence in Iraq's insurgency, but efforts to destabilize Iran have been conducted covertly for years, often using members of Congress or non-government actors in a way reminiscent of the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

The motivations for an Iran strike were laid out as far back as 1992. In classified defense planning guidance -- written for then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney by then-Pentagon staffers I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz, and ambassador-nominee to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad -- Cheney's aides called for the United States to assume the position of lone superpower and act preemptively to prevent the emergence of even regional competitors. The draft document was leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post and caused an uproar among Democrats and many in George H. W. Bush's Administration.....

Almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Iran became a focal point of discussion among senior Administration officials. As early as December 2001, then-Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and the leadership of the Defense Department, including Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, allegedly authorized a series of meetings between Defense Department officials and Iranian agents abroad.

The first of these meetings took place in Rome with Pentagon Iran analyst, Larry Franklin, Middle East expert Harold Rhode, and prominent neoconservative Michael Ledeen. Ledeen, who held no official government position, introduced the US officials to Iran-Contra arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar. According to both Ghorbanifar and Ledeen, the topic on the table was Iran. Ledeen said last year the discussion concerned allegations that Iranian forces were killing US soldiers in Afghanistan, but Ghorbanifar has claimed the conversation focused on regime change......

By setting up the Iranian Directorate within the Pentagon and running covert operations through the military rather than the CIA, the administration was able to avoid both Congressional oversight and interference from then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who has been vocally skeptical about using force against Iran. The White House also successfully stalled the release of a fresh National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, which could reflect the CIA's conclusion that there is no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program......"

Clowning Around And Playing "Government."
He Is Allowed In And Out Through The Rafah Crossing (VIP status?), To Board Private Royal Saudi Jets, But Sick And Dying Palestinians Are Not Allowed To Cross. How Is He Any Different From Other PA VIPs?
Leave It To The Palestinians; They Will Make This Buffoon A Hero.

By Ali Farzat

Editor’s note: Despite spending an estimated $80 million, the government was unable to prove that Dr. Sami Al-Arian was a terrorist, yet he remains in prison and his sentence will likely be extended. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges warns that the abusive imprisonment of this nonviolent Palestinian dissenter does not bode well for the rest of us.

By Chris Hedges

"Professor Sami Al-Arian, whose persecution and show trial are parts of a long string of egregious acts of injustice perpetrated by the Bush administration, has been on a hunger strike since Jan. 22 to protest the prolongation of his imprisonment.

Al-Arian’s travels through the halls of American justice, and now the subterranean corridors of the nation’s Stygian prison system, reads like a bad rip-off of Kafka. Al-Arian was acquitted on eight of the 17 counts against him by a Florida jury, which deadlocked on the rest. He agreed to plead guilty to one of the remaining charges four months later in exchange for being released and deported. The judge gave Al-Arian as much prison time as possible under a plea deal—57 months at his sentencing. He was set to be released this April, something that now appears unlikely.

The trial was a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration’s drive to turn the American judicial system into kangaroo courts. Over the six-month trial a parade of 80 witnesses, including 21 from Israel, attempted to brand the Florida professor as a terrorist. The government submitted thousands of documents, phone interceptions and physical surveillance culled from 12 years of investigations. The trial cost taxpayers an estimated $80 million. The 94 charges against Al-Arian and his co-defendants resulted in no convictions. But because Al-Arian has twice refused to testify before a grand jury in Virginia in a case involving a Muslim think tank, he has now been charged with contempt of court. The date of his release could be extended by as much as 18 months.

Al-Arian, who is a diabetic, began a hunger strike in response.

“I believe that freedom and human dignity are more precious than life itself,” he said in a telephone interview from Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va. “In, essence I am taking a principled stand that I am willing to endure whatever it takes to win my freedom.

“I am still OK,” he said. “I have lost 26 pounds by today. It’s definitely not easy, but I am determined to continue. It’s not a decision you make haphazardly or something that you take lightly. In the end, you have to make difficult decisions because of the larger cause. I drink four large cups of water a day, about 12 ounces each.”

Dr. Al-Arian said he will remain on a hunger strike until the government ends its campaign against him and allows him to return to his wife and children.

The case and continued harassment sets a dangerous precedent for American Muslims, who since 9/11 have been monitored, detained and deported in large numbers. But it bodes ill for the rest of us as well. The new legislation suspending habeas corpus and creating the possibility of legally stripping U.S. citizens of their right to a fair and timely trial is a taste of what awaits us all should we enter a period of instability or national crisis. In many ways the assault against Al-Arian is an assault against the judicial system that lies like a barrier between us and despotism.

“Much of the government’s evidence against me were speeches I gave, lectures I presented, articles I wrote, magazines I edited, books I owned, conferences I convened, rallies I attended, interviews I conducted, news I heard and websites no one accessed,” he said. “It was reminiscent of the thought crime of Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ The scary part was not that these were offered into evidence, but that a federal judge admitted them. That’s why I am so proud of the jury, who acted as the free people that they were and saw through Big Brother’s tactics.

“I’ve been to nine prisons in nine months,” he explained. “I spent the first 23 months in Coleman Federal Penitentiary, where the conditions were Guantanamo-plus, that is they were like those of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay ‘plus’ one phone call a month and visits with my family behind glass. I was in a nine-foot-by-eight-foot cell, where I was held under 23-hour lockdown. During the first few months, they wouldn’t even allow me to exercise unless I was strip-searched, which I refused to submit to, so I was inside 24 hours. During the first month, I was allowed only one 15-minute phone call, and for six months after that I was not allowed to make any calls.

“I was shackled and handcuffed every single time I left my cell for any reason,” he said. “When I needed to take my legal papers for meetings with my attorney, the guards would not carry them for me, even though they did for other prisoners. Though I was shackled, they forced me to carry them on my back, as I was bent over. I had to walk like that for half a mile. I should also mention the use of fire alarms in trying to disrupt life. In the Special Housing Unit [SHU], a punitive section of the prison where I was the only pretrial detainee, alarms and emergency sirens would go off 15 to 20 times every single day, at 12 a.m., 2 p.m., any time of the day. It was a deafening noise that would continue for five to 10 minutes. It was clearly deliberate. In the SHU, commissary was almost nonexistent. All they offered was potato chips, whereas in the general compound everything was available. The SHU was designed for disciplinary purposes, not for housing a pretrial detainee.

“Not only did they place me in the SHU, but they imposed additional restrictions on me,” he went on. “For instance, everybody else was granted contact visits, while I had to see my family behind glass. They also insisted on strip-searching me before and after these behind-the-glass visits. In May 2003, my wife drove two hours to see me, but they denied her the visit when I would not submit to a strip search.”

Al-Arian is a Palestinian. The injustice meted out to him in America is writ large in the Middle East. He has no passport, no home, no country. He must live on the charity of others, stateless, as most Palestinians are, and without the rights of the citizens around him. He once thought America would be his home. He was, before this charade, in the process of gaining citizenship. All this is over. In George Bush’s America there is no place for activists or dissidents. And when they finish with those on the margins of our society they will turn, if we let them, on the rest of us."

USA Today says Saudi Arabia is leading outreach campaign to Israel in bid to dent Iranian influence in Middle East

"WASHINGTON — Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, are making some of their most public overtures ever to Israel and American Jews in an effort to undercut Iran's growing influence, contain violence in Iraq and Lebanon and push for a Palestinian solution. The high-profile gestures coincide with Saudi Arabia's lead role last week in brokering a deal for a coalition Palestinian government.

Last month, Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's departing ambassador to the United States, attended a Washington reception sponsored by American Jewish organizations. The event honored a State Department diplomat appointed to combat anti-Semitism.

The appearance of a Saudi diplomat is "unprecedented," said William Daroff, Washington office director for the United Jewish Communities, which organized the reception.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have stepped up contacts with Israel and pro-Israel Jewish groups in the USA. The outreach has the Bush administration's blessing: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Israel are a new alignment of moderates to oppose extremists backed by Iran and Syria. She has said an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal would weaken militants such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Contacts have intensified as part of a strategy meant to undercut extremists and build momentum for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, said Jamal Kashoggi, an aide to Saudi Prince Turki.

Judith Kipper, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "What really concerns pro-U.S. Arab states is that Iran is setting the political agenda in the region."

Saudi and Gulf Arab contacts with Israelis and American Jews go back more than a decade but have never been so public. Arab countries have treated Israel as a pariah since it gained independence in 1948. Most Arab countries ban travel to Israel, investment there and other commercial ties with the Jewish state and routinely refer to it as the "Zionist entity."

Only three of 21 Arab nations recognize Israel: Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania. A 2002 peace plan put forward by Saudi Arabia offers diplomatic relations with the other 18 Arab states if Israel withdraws to the borders it had in 1967 — meaning giving up the West Bank and the Golan Heights — and cedes land for a new Palestinian state.

Among the other recent Arab-Jewish contacts:

•Saudi national security adviser Bandar bin Sultan met privately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jordan in September, said Daniel Ayalon, Israel's former ambassador to Washington. He said it was the highest-level Saudi-Israeli meeting he'd ever heard of.

•The United Arab Emirates has invited a delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The conference, a 51-member umbrella group, is a strong supporter of Israel.

•Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres met the emir of Qatar in late January after taking part in a debate with Arab students there. It was the highest-level Israeli meeting with the Gulf nation since 1996, when Peres visited as prime minister."

***

Long Live King Abdullah bin Olmert, Father Of "Palestinian Unity"!

A big part of the crisis confronting the United States in the Middle East can be traced back to what is now more than a quarter-century-old competition among American politicians over who can best pander to Israeli hardliners.

By Robert Parry

"Rather than furthering Israel’s long-term interests – or those of the American people – these politicians seek short-term electoral gains by appealing to blocs of right-wing Christian and Jewish voters who reject any criticism of Israeli policies.

But this calculated positioning – from the likes of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards on the Democratic side to George W. Bush and the neoconservatives on the Republican side – has thrown the diplomatic calculus in the Middle East out of whack.....

So, Bush’s Middle East policies now neatly dove-tail with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s. In both Washington and Tel Aviv, military force against Islamic militancy is seen as the only acceptable answer, with only periodic lip service paid to the cause of peace.

Though on one level Israel is getting what it wants, the neocon strategy also guarantees eventual catastrophe, the prospect of casting one of the world’s most strategic and volatile regions into a cauldron of violence that, in the end, could jeopardize Israel’s very survival.

Just as Bush’s invasion of Iraq predictably turned that country into a larger version of the Gaza Strip, an expansion of the neocon regional wars will transform the entire Middle East into a giant facsimile of Iraq. Rather than quell Muslim radicalism, the neocons only will exacerbate and spread the extremism......"

By Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily


"NAJAF, Iraq, Feb 12 (IPS) - New evidence is emerging on the ground of an Iranian hand in growing violence within Iraq.

As the United States heads for a confrontation with Iran over allegations of Iranian involvement in bombings, the massacre in Najaf last month indicates that Iran could be working also through the Iraqi government, local leaders in Najaf say.

The slaughter of 263 people in Najaf by Iraqi and U.S. forces Jan. 29 provoked outrage and vows of revenge among residents in and around the sacred Shia city in the south. The killings have deepened a split among Shias.......

Many Shias in the southern parts of the country and in Baghdad now say they had been fooled earlier by U.S. promises to help them, but that the Najaf massacre has dramatically changed their views.

Significantly, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a group of Sunni Muslims headed by Dr. Harith al-Dhari, issued a statement condemning the Iraqi-U.S. military attack in Najaf against the Hawatim tribe. The statement, which seeks to bridge a Shia-Sunni divide, denounced the killing of dozens of women and children and added, "It was an act of vengeance and political termination."

"They (the United States) were misled, and their last move in Najaf shows how the smart Iranians are leading the Americans deeper into Iraqi sands," Jaafar al-Jawadi, a political analyst from Baghdad told IPS.

"I really admire the way Iranians are dealing with the situation in a professional way while the Americans are walking with their eyes closed. They are losing the last Iraqi fort they were hiding behind, and that was the peaceful way Arab Shias were dealing with occupation."

Jawadi who is also a former Shia politician says he once believed in U.S. promises of liberation for Iraqis, particularly the Shia population. Like many other Iraqis, he now believes that the United States has been used by the pro-Iranian government in Baghdad to carry out attacks against Shia tribes in southern Iraq who have recently become more and more anti-occupation.

"I do not really understand what those Americans are doing because now they are just like an elephant in a china shop, and everything they do is terribly wrong as if they are committing suicide," Talib Ahmad, a lawyer and human rights activist in Najaf told IPS.

"Iran is benefiting from that for sure. Americans are simply fighting for Iran who appears to be the winner in Iraq after all."

Many Iraqis are amazed at the unlimited support the U.S. administration has been presenting to what many now call an Iranian-Iraqi government. The new U.S. condemnation of Iran could be a first sign that the United States is getting wise to the fact that it is being fooled by Iran.

The U.S. administration is, however, pointing the finger at Iran, and not at the government in Baghdad that it props up. "

By Kurt Nimmo

"“America today blamed Iran for the deaths of 170 US troops inside Iraq, accusing Teheran of supplying insurgents with increasingly sophisticated bombs,” reports the neocon-infested UK Telegraph, a trusty propaganda tool.

“Senior defense officials in Baghdad said that Iranian-supplied “explosively formed projectiles” were frequently being used against coalition forces” and “the ‘highest levels’ of Iran’s regime were responsible for giving them to Shia militias in Iraq.”

Although the Telegraph does not mention what particular Shi’a group would use the purported Iranian “explosively formed projectiles” against American troops, we must assume they are making reference to Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army. In general, Shi’a militias are too busy killing Sunnis, and vice versa, although late last month the killing of five American soldiers at a supposedly secure U.S. facility in Karbala was blamed on “Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with Iraq’s Shiite Mahdi Army militia,” according to the Examiner. For some unexplained reason these militant Shi’ites decided to dump the bodies of their victims in the town of Mahawil, a predominantly Sunni area.

But never mind. As the photo above supposedly demonstrates, the Pentagon has seized a number of 81mm mortar rounds, used as roadside bombs. “These bombs are specially designed to penetrate heavily armored military vehicles and are capable of crippling the US army’s main battle tank, the Abrams M1,” the Telegraph ominously reports, or rather reads from a Pentagon script. “They have killed 170 US troops since June 2004, according to the American officials. They added that some weapons have been captured and they bore the hallmarks of having been manufactured in Iran…. Many were made as recently as last year—ruling out the possibility that they could have been left over from the many arms caches scattered across Iraq by Saddam Hussein’s regime.”

Of course, as this is a sloppy neocon ruse, as per usual, there is a problem here. Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed the date, you win a Cupie doll. For some reason the geniuses at the Pentagon have failed to explain why the Iranians used a date from the Christian Gregorian calendar and not one from the Islamic Persian calendar. According to the Muslim calendar, the date stenciled on this mortar shell should read 1427, not 2006. And why did Iran, a country speaking and writing in Persian, a language written in a version of the Arabic script, decide to label their shells in English? Maybe they thought it would fool the infidels?

I’m not taking the bait. As usual, this attempt to frame Muslims stinks of neocon sloppiness. Once again, the neocons blow it. Not that it particularly matters, as most Americans are oblivious and, besides, millions of them still think Osama and Saddam are twin brothers."

By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 12 February 2007

"The United States is moving closer to war with Iran by accusing the "highest levels" of the Iranian government of supplying sophisticated roadside bombs that have killed 170 US troops and wounded 620.

The allegations against Iran are similar in tone and credibility to those made four years ago by the US government about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the invasion of 2003.

Senior US defence officials in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they believed the bombs were manufactured in Iran and smuggled across the border to Shia militants in Iraq. The weapons, identified as "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs) are said to be capable of destroying an Abrams tank......

The US stance on the military capabilities of Iraqis today is the exact opposite of its position in four years ago. Then President Bush and Tony Blair claimed that Iraqis were technically advanced enough to produce long-range missiles and to be close to producing a nuclear device. Washington is now saying that Iraqis are too backward to produce an effective roadside bomb and must seek Iranian help.

The White House may have decided that, in the run up to the 2008 presidential election, it would be much to its political advantage in the US to divert attention from its failure in Iraq by blaming Iran for being the hidden hand supporting its opponents......"

Haaretz

Contributed by Lucia

".....The Israeli official was quite skeptical of the proposal by Rice and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to present a "diplomatic horizon" that would strengthen Abbas and the Palestinian moderates. If the idea is to clarify to Abu Mazen what the contents of a final-status accord might be, so that he can go and present it to his people, that would be risky, said the official. Abbas is not going to obtain the right of return and the 1967 borders, and the discussion of Jerusalem will be postponed until a later date. If Abu Mazen brings this to his public, Hamas can claim he sold out the Palestinians and, rather than strengthen Abbas, this would only hasten his fall......

And now for the analysis. From what the official said, it appears Olmert is going for a diplomatic process with the Palestinians primarily for the sake of the international support it will bring him. The newspaper headlines may say, "They're talking about a final status accord," but there won't be much content behind them. The parties' positions are very far apart, maybe too far. Abbas is insisting on "all or nothing," that is, a final-status accord without interim steps, but Olmert will not risk overly bold moves that could bring down his government......

Israelis who have spoken with U.S. officials recently came away with a similar impression. They talk about a lot, but expect little. Rice's visit at the end of next week, and the summit with Olmert and Abbas, will revive the diplomatic buzz. No more than that......

He (Eitam) asked his American interlocutors to consider the following: Look at Gaza, and then look at the West Bank. There, in Gaza, where the occupation ended, there is only chaos, gunfire, bloodshed and war. But in the West Bank, it is relatively quiet. Not that Eitam is happy about the withdrawal from Gaza, but, he told the Americans, a lesson can be drawn from it. The occupation may not sound very nice, but it turns out that "for the Palestinians, it's preferable to what's happening now in Gaza." Eitam suggested that the best scheme to follow is this: In the coming years, the goal should be to preserve the status quo. No initiatives, no withdrawals, no promises, no deals. "Until when?," a dubious Congressman asked him. "Until there's someone to give the key to," Eitam replied. And he thinks this will take a very, very long time....."

As The Stomach Turns:
Given Authority By The FAMAS "Government" To "Negotiate" Away What Is Left Of Palestinian Rights, The Usraeli/Saudi Puppet Will Hold The Next Staged Meeting With Olmert Next Monday. Only 129 More Meetings Remain, Before All Of Palestine Will Be Greater Israel. Let Us Do More Celebration Of "Palestinian Unity." Long Live King Abdullah!

By Kurt Nimmo

".....In fact, the Bush administration is not “haunted by the history of intelligence blunders,” as there was no blundering, or for that matter intelligence, but simply a series of calculated lies and fabrications, designed to pave the way for the invasion of Iraq. As should be obvious, the “Bush administration,” or rather the unelected neocons, are plotting for a repeat in Iran.

“After weeks of preparation and revisions, U.S. officials are preparing to detail evidence supporting administration’s claims of Iran’s meddlesome and deadly activities. A briefing was scheduled Sunday in Baghdad.”

Translation: the neocons jumped the gun, they need more time to tweak their fairy tale about Iran providing assistance to their enemies, the Sunni resistance, comprised in large part of former Ba’athists, who invaded Iran and fought a bloody war (over a million people killed)—admittedly a large pill to swallow, but then the American people, and even most members of Congress, are accustomed to swallowing large pills. Soon enough, we will see this latest neocon scam in all its putrid glory, plastered all over newspapers, the internet, and on Fox News. Millions will mindlessly parrot the official line and demand Iran be reduced to a glass parking lot......."

U.S.: Top Iran officials ordering bombs to Iraq

Instructions to send weapons parts came from 'highest levels', officer says

From AP

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military has detected a significant increase in the number of sophisticated roadside bombs appearing in Iraq and believes that orders to send components for them came from the "highest levels" of the Iranian government, a senior defense analyst said Sunday.

The analyst, briefing reporters on condition that he not be further identified, said that between June 2004 and last week, more than 170 Americans had been killed by the sophisticated bombs, referred to by the military as "explosively formed projectiles."

Those weapons are capable of destroying an Abrams tank......"

Reinforcements
(Art: Chaumaz / Le Monde)

Complete Transcript of Presentation to Munich Security Conference

by President Vladimir Putin

Global Research, February 11, 2007

".......The history of humanity certainly has gone through unipolar periods and seen aspirations to world supremacy. And what hasn’t happened in world history?

However, what is a unipolar world? However one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making.

It is world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.

And this certainly has nothing in common with democracy. Because, as you know, democracy is the power of the majority in light of the interests and opinions of the minority.

Incidentally, Russia – we – are constantly being taught about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to learn themselves.

I consider that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world. And this is not only because if there was individual leadership in today’s – and precisely in today’s – world, then the military, political and economic resources would not suffice. What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilisation.

Along with this, what is happening in today’s world – and we just started to discuss this – is a tentative to introduce precisely this concept into international affairs, the concept of a unipolar world.

And with which results?

Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions have not resolved any problems. Moreover, they have caused new human tragedies and created new centres of tension. Judge for yourselves: wars as well as local and regional conflicts have not diminished. Mr Teltschik mentioned this very gently. And no less people perish in these conflicts – even more are dying than before. Significantly more, significantly more!

Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible......."

An Important Analysis

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
(As suspicious as I am of Debka, this analysis explains many things and should be considered)

"....The Damascus-based hard-line Khaled Meshaal, who had signed a pact with Tehran, was demoted, as was the second signatory of the Palestinian reconciliation package, the moderate, pro-Western Mahmoud Abbas. Raised in their place was prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas’ political wing. Abbas’ ally, Gaza Strip Fatah commander Muhammad Dahlan, can expect a senior post in the Hamas-led government. Another winner is his business partner, the Palestinian-Kurdish tycoon Muhammad Rashid, who has turned his coat at least twice in two weeks while jostling to regain the influence he enjoyed behind the shoulder of the late Yasser Arafat who died in 2004.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources disclose that Ismail Haniya’s rise to the top of the Hamas tree was plotted during his visit to Riyadh in the second half of January. His audience with the king went on then for three hours, an unusual length for Abdullah’s conversations with foreign leaders. It sufficed for a secret deal to be concluded laying down the elements of cooperation between the Saudi government and Hamas political leaders in Gaza and effacing the effects of the US-led international boycott of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian government. Whereas Washington has so far not commented on this process, Abdullah has used it as a fulcrum for a fresh Saudi Middle East policy initiative.

The Saudi king and the Hamas prime minister agreed on a six-point plan for subsequent incorporation as the core of the Mecca accord:

1. A shared interest in weakening Israel and active collaboration to achieve this goal;

2. This collaboration is based on personal trust between Abdullah and Haniyeh. As middlemen, they appointed Saudi intelligence chief Prince Moqrin bin Abdulaziz and the Palestinian Muhammed Rashid;

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report the Saudi monarch sent his private plane to Libya Tuesday, Feb. 7, to fly Rashid first to Medina then to Mecca as his unofficial royal envoy to the Palestinian summit. Rashid’s role in obtaining the signed accord was crucial, elevating to him to a high albeit unofficial position of influence in the Saudi royal court and in Palestinian affairs;

3. The Saudi throne endorsed Ismail Hanya as Palestinian prime minister on condition that he introduced members of the Fatah young guard, led by Dahlan, to key government positions. This group of factions, which includes the suicidal al Aqsa Suicide Brigades, aspires to take Fatah over from the veteran leaders including Mahmoud Abbas;

4. King Abdullah personally guaranteed full Saudi diplomatic, military and financial support for the Hamas-led Palestinian government;

5. Hamas government members would not be required to recognize Israel or previous peace agreements. No mention was made of violence against Israel or the renunciation thereof;

6. The most pressing goal in Riyadh’s sights was Haniyeh’s personal guarantee to scale down in stages the Iranian and Hizballah presence in Hamas ranks with a view to banishing both from the Gaza Strip. Prince Moqrin is in charge of the quiet understandings accompanying this point of agreement, which also contains a Saudi pledge to take the place of Shiite Tehran and Hizballah by paying for all the weapons and military instructors the Palestinian group needs.

Riyadh thus reverted to its original role as the founder and banker of Hamas, which the Saudis created in the 80s as a Sunni counterweight to the Shiite Hizballah.

It is not at all sure that Haniyeh will be capable of living up to his six-point deal with the Saudi king or whether Meshaal will let him. Haniyeh leads Hamas’ political wing, but Meshaal, who was shunted aside in Mecca, is the master of the military wing. He is capable of ordering Hamas gunmen to challenge Haniyeh and thwart the deal’s execution. This would set off a fresh round of Palestinian factional warfare, which Meshaal and Abbas solemnly vowed in Mecca to halt.

Over the weekend, a delegation of Hamas military chiefs arrived in Gaza from Damascus - presumably to arrest the decline of Meshaal’s standing in Gaza as a result of the newly-reshuffled Palestinian leadership, although this is not confirmed......"

****

I personally believe that this analysis is accurate; but let me not spoil the "unity" celebrations. Long live King Abdullah and his Palestinian stooges!

They are not building a palatial embassy with the intention of going

By Noam Chomsky
The Independent

".....On the US motives for staying in Iraq, I can only repeat what I've been saying for years. A sovereign Iraq, partially democratic, could well be a disaster for US planners. With a Shia majority, it is likely to continue improving relations with Iran. There is a Shia population right across the border in Saudi Arabia, bitterly oppressed by the US-backed tyranny. Any step towards sovereignty in Iraq encourages activism there for human rights and a degree of autonomy - and that happens to be where most of Saudi oil is.

Sovereignty in Iraq might well lead to a loose Shia alliance controlling most of the world's petroleum resources and independent of the US, undermining a primary goal of US foreign policy since it became the world-dominant power after the Second World War. Worse yet, though the US can intimidate Europe, it cannot intimidate China, which blithely goes its own way, even in Saudi Arabia, the jewel in the crown - the primary reason why China is considered a leading threat. An independent energy bloc in the Gulf area is likely to link up with the China-based Asian Energy Security Grid and Shanghai Cooperation Council, with Russia (which has its own huge resources) as an integral part, and with the Central Asian states (already members), possibly India. Iran is already associated with them, and a Shia-dominated bloc in the Arab states might well go along. All of that would be a nightmare for US planners and their Western allies......

There is another issue: even the most dedicated scholar/advocates of "democracy promotion" recognise that there is a "strong line of continuity" in US efforts to promote democracy going back as far as you like and reaching the present: democracy is supported if and only if it conforms to strategic and economic objectives. For example, supporting the brutal punishment of people who committed the crime of voting "the wrong way" in a free election, as in Palestine right now, with pretexts that would inspire ridicule in a free society. As for democracy in the US, élite opinion has generally considered it a dangerous threat which must be resisted. But some Iraqis agreed with Bush's mission to bring democracy to the world: 1 per cent in a poll in Baghdad just as the noble vision was declared in Washington.

On withdrawal proposals from élite circles, however, I think one should be cautious. Some may be so deeply indoctrinated that they cannot allow themselves to think about the reasons for the invasion or the insistence on maintaining the occupation, in one or another form. Others may have in mind more effective techniques of control by redeploying US military forces in bases in Iraq and in the region, making sure to control logistics and support for client forces in Iraq, air power in the style of the destruction of much of Indochina after the business community turned against the war, and so on......."

Arab Support And Solidarity
By Ali Farzat