The Real Goal of Israel's War on Lebanon

Olmert's Testimony to Winograd

Another Great Article
By JONATHAN COOK
CounterPunch

Nazareth.

"Israel's supposedly "defensive" assault on Hizbullah last summer, in which more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed in a massive aerial bombardment that ended with Israel littering the country's south with cluster bombs, was cast in a definitively different light last week by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

His leaked testimony to the Winograd Committee -- investigating the government's failures during the month-long attack -- suggests that he had been preparing for such a war at least four months before the official casus belli: the capture by Hizbullah of two Israeli soldiers from a border post on 12 July 2006. Lebanon's devastation was apparently designed to teach both Hizbullah and the country's wider public a lesson.

Olmert's new account clarifies the confusing series of official justifications for the war from the time.

First, we were told that the seizure of the soldiers was "an act of war" by Lebanon and that a "shock and awe" campaign was needed to secure their release. Or, as the then Chief of Staff Dan Halutz -- taking time out from disposing of his shares before market prices fell -- explained, his pilots were going to "turn the clock back 20 years" in Lebanon......

Olmert's claim, however, does not stand up to scrutiny.

The Israeli media revealed in January that for much of the past two years Syria's leader, Bashir Assad, has been all but prostrating himself before Israel in back-channel negotiations over the return of Syrian territory, the Golan, currently occupied by Israel. Although those talks offered Israel the most favourable terms it could have hoped for (including declaring the Golan a peace park open to Israelis), Sharon and then Olmert -- backed by the US -- refused to engage Damascus.....

And finally, when Hizbullah did capture the soldiers, there was a chance for Israel to negotiate over their return. Hizbullah made clear from the outset that it wanted to exchange the soldiers for a handful of Lebanese prisoners still in Israeli jails. But, of course, as Olmert's testimony implies, Israel was not interested in talks or in halting its bombing campaign. That was not part of the plan.

We can now start to piece together why.....

Rather than the impression that has been created by Olmert of a rookie prime minister and military novice "going it alone" in planning a major military offensive against a neighbouring state, a more likely scenario starts to take shape. It suggests that from the moment that Olmert took up the reins of power, he was slowly brought into the army's confidence, first tentatively in January and then more fully after his election. He was allowed to know of the senior command's secret and well-advanced plans for war -- plans, we can assume, his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, a former general, had been deeply involved in advancing......

What is the evidence that Israel's generals had already established the protocols for a war?

First, an article in the San Franscisco Chronicle, published soon after the outbreak of war, revealed that the Israeli army had been readying for a wide-ranging assault on Lebanon for years, and had a specific plan for a "Three-Week War" that they had shared with Washington think-tanks and US officials......

And second, we have an interview in the Israeli media with Meyrav Wurmser, the wife of one of the highest officials in the Bush Administration, David Wurmser, Vice-President Dick Cheney's adviser on the Middle East. Meyrav Wurmser, an Israeli citizen, is herself closely associated with MEMRI, a group translating (and mistranslating) speeches by Arab leaders and officials that is known for its ties to the Israeli secret services.

She told the website of Israel's leading newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, that the US stalled over imposing a ceasefire during Israel's assault on Lebanon because the Bush Administration was expecting the war to be expanded to Syria.....

In other words, the picture that emerges is of a long-standing plan by the Israeli army, approved by senior US officials, for a rapid war against Lebanon -- followed by possible intimidatory strikes against Syria -- using the pretext of a cross-border incident involving Hizbullah. The real purpose, we can surmise, was to weaken what are seen by Israel and the US to be Tehran's allies before an attack on Iran itself.....

Despite signs of a slight thawing in Washington's relations with Iran and Syria in the past few days, driven by the desperate US need to stop sinking deeper into the mire of Iraq, Damascus is understandably wary.

The continuing aggressive Israeli and US postures have provoked a predictable reaction from Syria: it has started building up its defences along the border with Israel. But in the Alice Through the Looking Glass world of Israeli military intelligence, that response is being interpreted -- or spun -- as a sign of an imminent attack by Syria......

What's the professor's evidence for these Syrian designs? That its military has been on an armaments shopping spree in Russia, and has been studying the lessons of the Lebanon war.

He predicts (of Syria, not Israel) the following: "Some incident will be generated and used as an excuse for opening rocket fire on the Golan Heights and the Galilee." And he concludes: "Overall the emerging Syrian plan is a good one with a reasonable chance of success."

And what can stop the Syrians? Not peace talks, argues Van Creveld. "Obviously, much will depend on what happens in Iraq and Iran. A short, successful American offensive in Iran may persuade Assad that the Israelis, much of whose hardware is either American or American-derived, cannot be countered, especially in the air. Conversely, an American withdrawal from Iraq, combined with an American-Iranian stalemate in the Persian Gulf, will go a long way toward untying Assad's hands."

It all sounds familiar. Iran wants the nuclear destruction of Israel, and Syria wants Jersualem to "throw in the towel" -- or so the neocons and the useful idiots of "the clash of civilisations" would have us believe. The fear must be that they get their way and push Israel and the US towards another pre-emptive war -- or maybe two."

Sabrine Al-Janabi Arrested by Maliki's Puppet Government

This is an outrage!

Woman arrested over police rape claims
Times Online

"The Iraqi Government has arrested a woman who alleged last month that she was raped by three Iraqi policemen, claims that provoked a spate of sectarian killing, two Iraqi officials told The Times.

Sabrine Janabi’s rape case has polarised Iraq’s Sunni and Shia communities at a moment when the country is already enmeshed in a low-level civil war. Shia officials have accused her of being a proxy for Sunni militants who want to sabotage a security plan for Baghdad, while Sunni politicians have pointed to her story as proof of the sectarian nature of Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Government.

Janabi shocked Iraq last month when she appeared on Al-Jazeera television and accused three policemen of detaining her and then raping her in their garrison.

Her story earned a fiery rebuttal from the Shia Prime Minister, who praised the policemen and promised to promote them. His office released a medical report allegedly taken from a US military combat hospital that said the woman had been beaten but showed no signs of sexual penetration.

Rape is a taboo subject in Arab culture and the news of Janabi’s rape sparked anger in the Sunni community......

Salim Abdullah, a spokesman for the Islamic Party, told The Times that the Government was trying to cover up Janabi’s rape. “An arrest warrant was issued against Sabrine al-Janabi so as to prevent her from talking anymore to the media,” Abdullah said.

“From the beginning we figured out her arrest would be aimed at seizing her confessions from the public as well as to fabricate a lie.” He denied the Islamic Party had any role in the case.

The Iraqi Government has raided the homes of eight Sunni MPs in the last week, Salim Abdullah told The Times......"

The Latest Gem From Hamas' Windbags

أبو مرزوق: الفلسطينيون يعلّقون آمالاً كبيرة على القمة العربية لتكمّل اتفاق مكة

"صنعاء - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

قال الدكتور موسى أبو مرزوق، نائب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" إن الشعب الفلسطيني وحكومة الوحدة الوطنية "تعلّق آمالاً كبيرة على النتائج التي ستخرج بها القمة العربية المزمع انعقادها في الرياض"، أملاً أن "تأتي مكملة لاتفاق مكة".

وأضاف يقول: "هناك أهمية كبيرة معقودة على مؤتمر القمة بالرياض، خاصة في انعكاسات اتفاق مكة على جدول أعمال القمة"، موضحاً أن أهم المكاسب التي حققتها حركة "حماس" في اتفاق مكة هو الاعتراف الوطني والعربي والدولي بنتيجة الانتخابات.

وأشار أبو مرزوق، خلال حلقة نقاشية في صنعاء، تحت عنوان "القضية الفلسطينية بين مكة والقمة"، إلى أربع مطالب فلسطينية من القمة العربية في الرياض؛ أولها التعهدات العربية التي التزمت بها القمم العربية السابقة تجاه الشعب الفلسطيني، "التي آن الأوان للالتزام بها والدفع بها لحكومة الوحدة الوطنية القادمة"، وثانيها "ترجمة قرار وزراء الخارجية العرب برفع الحصار عن الشعب الفلسطيني، وعدم معاقبة الشعب الفلسطيني على خياره الديمقراطي"، مشيراً إلى أن هناك موقف أوروبي جيد بحاجة إلى تدعيمه.
........."

Abu Marzouk: Palestinians attach hopes on Arab summit to bolster Makkah accord

"SANA'A, (PIC)-- Deputy-head of Hamas’ political bureau Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk has affirmed that the Palestinian people and the upcoming PA unity government were attaching big hopes on the upcoming Arab summit in endorsing the Makkah agreement.

Abu Marzouk’s remarks came during a political forum in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Monday, where he affirmed that one of Hamas’ gains out of the agreement was the Arab and international recognition of results of last year’s PA legislative elections, which Hamas won.

Unequivocally, Abu Marzouk asserted that the Palestinians want Arab countries to answer four urgent demands, first to carry out pledges they made to the Palestinians during the past Arab summits, to implement the decision taken by Arab foreign ministers in their meeting in Cairo, urging the immediate rescinding of the unjust economic embargo on the Palestinians......"

Usrael's President at the AIPAC Altar

The Goy Who Cried Wolf

By Sarah Posner

"Delegates at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference were treated to an air-brushed John Hagee last night, primed with his most innocuous talking points and stripped of his most outlandish Armageddon rhetoric. Hagee, the founder of the America's leading Christian Zionist lobby, Christians United for Israel, left his clumsy exegeses of Biblical prophecy back home in San Antonio. He is well-versed in bringing an audience of several thousand people to its feet, and he knew he didn't need his slide show of mushroom clouds and world-ending wars to work this crowd.......


But judging from the crowd's reaction, and that of delegates I spoke with afterwards, none of that mattered. Like other Jewish leaders I've talked to about Hagee, the attitude is simply that Israel has very few friends, and it needs all the friends it can get. If Hagee is willing to mobilize hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of conservative Christians to the cause, then they're willing to overlook his eagerness for the Second Coming (when we'll all become Christians), because it's just a silly fantasy that won't come to pass, anyway......

Whether Hagee is good for Israel is beside the point. The real problem is that he represents a catastrophe for the United States and its standing in the world -- not because he might love the Jews too much, or might in fact secretly hate them, but because he is leading a growing political movement completely lacking in a substantive understanding of world affairs. At a time when the Middle East faces seemingly intractable conflicts with dire geopolitical consequences, the notion that Hagee -- whose status is only elevated by invitations like AIPAC's -- is leading a political movement based on nothing more than a supposedly literal reading of his Bible only reinforces the view that the United States is being led by messianic forces at odds with world peace and stability. Young Americans should have a deeper understanding of Middle East politics in order to fully participate in civic discourse as American troops are fighting a seemingly unending war. But Hagee worries not about troop deployments, instead focusing on teaching the Bible in public schools. While religious fundamentalism is causing untold bloodshed around the world, Hagee frets about secularists who are "destroying America.".....

Hagee's speech, laced with charged comparisons of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to men like Pharaoh, Haman, and Hilter, as well as countless Churchillian references, brought the crowd to its feet. "He's A-OK," said one AIPAC delegate who had never heard of Hagee before, adding that he wanted to get one of Hagee's DVDs for his grandchildren to watch. "I love him," enthused another delegate, a woman who had already learned of CUFI through conservative talk radio and had donated money to the cause. "Who else cares about Israel?" "

Security Meeting Ends; Insecurity Does Not

by Dahr Jamail
With Ali al-Fadhily

"BAGHDAD - The security conference held last Saturday in Baghdad produced statements, drew mortar fire, and brought little hope of security.

The conference attended by representatives from 13 countries, including Syria, Iran, and the United States, was held inside the heavily fortified "green zone" in central Baghdad......

"Those who met inside the green zone are so persistent at keeping [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki and his gang in power in Iraq that they are polishing their U.S.-made shoes with international wax for a better appearance," health expert Dr. Abdul-Salam al-Janabi told IPS.

Some Iraqi leaders accused the U.S.-backed Iraqi government at the conference of exploiting sectarian and ethnic differences to the advantage of the occupation forces.

"It is the same sectarian picture given once more by the Iraqi government," a senior staff member of the Iraqi ministry of foreign affairs told IPS.

United Iraqi Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who also leads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shia group close to Iran, accused some Arab countries of supporting "terrorism."......

The ruling coalition is showing cracks. Hakim's Shia coalition members have developed serious differences in strategies. These led recently to withdrawal of the al-Fadhila Party from the prime minister's United Iraqi Alliance. Party leaders quit, citing "faulty sectarian policies."

The move destabilized Iraq's teetering government further.

Many Arab political analysts believe that this conference was yet another attempt by the U.S. administration to buy time in Iraq while it prepares to deal with Iran.

The U.S. military currently has two aircraft carrier battle groups in the region. This is the first time such a force has been positioned there since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. "

The threat of Balkanisation

US policy is fuelling the disintegration of Iraq and that threatens societies across the Middle East

Sami Khiyami (Syrian ambassador in London)
Tuesday March 13, 2007
The Guardian

"America's strategy in the Middle East, devised by Washington's hawks - the ultra nationalists, neocons and Christian Zionists - smells of oil and domination. It has been based on two objectives. First, US global dominance must shape further globalisation; while the present rules of the world economy left open opportunities for rising stars like Russia, China and India, it was clear to some Washington extremists that, in addition to technology, the US would need to control the world's oil. The second is to give paramount importance to Israel while sidelining the interests of the Arabs.

Such objectives can only be achieved if the coherence of Middle Eastern societies is undermined. So the aim is not confined to toppling regimes, but extends to questioning the foundations of nation states. A policy has been designed to encourage sectarianism, ethnic divides, regional xenophobia, and the eventual Balkanisation of the Arab Middle East. Sadly, the outcome may be the partition of several states, producing smaller entities, regarded as easier to manage and dominate......

The initiative appears to be a last attempt to maintain exclusive control over Iraq. It is not unreasonable to think that this could lead to the tearing apart of the country. To move forward, two questions need to be addressed: is America's final goal domination, partition or an honourable exit? And why are al-Qaida terrorists and other death squads attacking innocent civilians exclusively, whereas legitimate resistance forces are restricting their operations to military targets?......"

The Arab World: the Last Part of the World Still Subservient to the U.S.

War Pimp Alert: Livni to AIPAC: U.S. can't show weakness on Iraq, Iran

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday warned the U.S. not to show weakness in Iraq, during an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, D.C.

In a region where "impressions are important," said Livni, countries must be careful not to demonstrate weakness and surrender to extremists.

The comments could be construed as expressing support for the Bush administration's policy of toughing out a war that is increasingly unpopular domestically.

"This is relevant concerning decisions on Iran, it is true regarding Iraq, and it is true throughout the Middle East," Livni said.

Livni said Iran was at the forefront of extremist threats to Israel, the greater Middle East and the world in general because of its nuclear ambitions.

"To address extremism is to address Iran," she said, urging tougher UN sanctions over its nuclear program. "It is a regime which denies the Holocaust while threatening the world with a new one."

"To those states who know the threat but still hesitate because of narrow economic or political interests, let me say this: History will remember."

Also addressing AIPAC, United States Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would lead to disaster and chaos in the Middle East, with either Al-Qaida or Iran emerging dominant from a bloody sectarian battle.

Cheney laid out a dire sequence of events - all dangerous to Israel - that could arise if critics of the war, particularly those in Congress, mandate troop withdrawals or limit funding.

"A precipitous American withdrawal from Iraq would be a disaster for the United States and the entire Middle East," he said......"

Upon Israel's Complaints Egypt Gasses Palestinians to Death

Egypt puts Gaza tunnels out of commission

The Australian

"FOR almost 36 hours from last Monday, eight Palestinian soldiers dug frantically through the soil of Gaza's southernmost border for a team of smugglers trapped underground.

When they reached the three lifeless bodies at sunset the following day, the soldiers noticed strange discolouration around their lips. They had not suffocated but been gassed.

Amid repeated complaints from Israel about the tunnels, which sneak under the border to emerge in fields or homes on the Egyptian side, the Egyptian army has resorted to a deadly deterrence. Any tunnel openings they find will be gassed.

Palestinian national security officials estimate there are at least dozens of tunnels in operation, all dug from inside bullet-scarred homes in Rafah, under the security barrier and the Philadelphia corridor that separates Gaza from Egypt. For years, they have been the gateway for smuggling weapons, drugs and other contraband into Gaza......"

And This Was Habila December 15, 2006 Sitting on a Curb Waiting for Permission to Enter Gaza Through Rafah, Which Israel Controls.
Some Power and "Authority," Mr. "Prime Minister!"


Habila Playing Government in his Office in Gaza, March 12.

Bush in South America

The fall guy in Iraq

Even as the "surge" proceeds in Baghdad, the US is quietly moving to implement "Plan B", which would be nothing less than a coup d'etat pushing the hapless Nuri al-Maliki aside and installing former CIA asset and neo-con favorite Iyad Allawi back in as a dictator. Nothing less than a return to strongman rule will restore order, Washington believes.

By Pepe Escobar

"The Bush administration has perfected the art of fall-guy selection. The more convoluted the plot, the more credible the fall guy must be. As Lewis "Scooter" Libby was the fall guy in Washington, Premier Nuri al-Maliki will be the fall guy in Baghdad.

The Baghdad conference on Saturday was a derivative talk-fest setting up three committees to prepare the way for another meeting at the foreign-minister level next month in Istanbul. The subtext, though never explicit, is more glaring: it is the absolute US impotence to guarantee security or stability in Iraq, and the desperate search for a way out, now pitting the "axis of fear" (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates) against the "axis of evil" (Iran and Syria).....

Thanks to wily, Mao Zedong-inspired, nimble muqawama tactics, the much-dreaded Battle of Baghdad is not happening - at least not yet. The muqawama has dissolved into the general population. For the moment, Arab guile is tactically defeating US firepower - as even American generals admit.

General David Petraeus, touted as the miracle worker who might save the occupation from itself, had to admit on the record that in fact the surge won't solve or stabilize anything. To "stabilize" Baghdad to a minimum, the US would have to deploy at least 120,000 combat troops.

But that's not the point. The point is that this gory chronicle of a failure foretold is inevitably slouching toward the "secret" US Plan B - which is none other than installing the new Saddam Hussein: in this case the same old "Saddam without a mustache" (as he is known in Baghdad) Iyad Allawi. Allawi's stellar record - former car-bomber, Ba'ath thug, alleged embezzler (in Yemen), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset, corrupt interim prime minister and "butcher of Fallujah" - could have been penned by a Hollywood hack.

Maliki has been the fall guy from the start. Unlike Libby in Washington, he was not following Dick Cheney's command. He may have even suggested the broad terms of the surge to Bush. But the Bush administration had no trouble trapping him in his own insecurities in one more operetta starring loads of "collateral damage".

In essence, Maliki and his helpless, corrupt government - whose only role is to enforce imperial US edicts in Iraq - will be blamed by the Bush administration for failing to help the Pentagon occupy and "pacify" the country with minimum hassle. He doesn't even control the Green Zone: the US does. Baghdad's neighborhoods are controlled either by the muqawama or by Shi'ite militias. The ministries of Defense and Interior are infested with death squads. Basra is being slowly ethnic-cleansed: Sunnis were 40% in 2003; now they are less than 14%......

Maliki, the fall guy, is already irrelevant. Any analysis of US imperial designs since the CIA-engineered coup against prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran more than half a century ago reveals the same pattern. If you want divide-and-rule and total domination, who's your man? A clever, charismatic nationalist or a ruthless CIA asset? "

End of Cowboy Diplomacy, Part II?

By Jim Lobe

"It was just nine months ago when Newsweek spoke for the conventional wisdom at that moment when it pronounced "The End of Cowboy Diplomacy."

The phrase signaled the apparent victory – at last – of the State Department-led "realist" wing over hawks led by Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld in gaining control over the foreign policy of President George W. Bush.

One month later, however, war broke out between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel, and the hawks, particularly neoconservatives around Cheney and Rumsfeld, enjoyed a strong resurgence.

Bush not only spurned the pleas of Washington's European and Arab allies to press the Jewish state for a cease-fire, but his top Middle East aide, Elliott Abrams, reportedly encouraged it to expand the war into Syria, much to the horror of both his State Department colleagues and his Israeli interlocutors.

Now, one Democratic election landslide later – not to mention Rumsfeld's departure, and the longest-running record of sustained low public approval ratings for any U.S. president in more than 50 years – conventional wisdom has again concluded that the realists have finally taken the reins of power.....

But while the realists are clearly ascendant, they are not yet dominant, particularly with respect to Middle East policy where they remain hostage to events in Iraq, Iran, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and the occupied territories – and to potential provocateurs – that in many ways are increasingly beyond their control.

Cheney, whose office remains a neoconservative stronghold, retains considerable influence, particularly in its coordination with like-minded colleagues in the White House on the National Security Council staff, notably Abrams and others in the Middle East bureau, and deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch.

And a big question lingers over Rice's own willingness to take risks in pursuing the realist agenda, and the ISG recommendations, in particular. Some observers note that she has been very careful to permit other actors – Saudi Arabia and the Europeans in the case of both the Palestinians and Syria, the Iraqi government in the case of Iran – to take the diplomatic lead, leaving her less vulnerable to attacks by the hawks.

"She understands that she has a very short leash," said Joshua Landis, a Levant expert at Oklahoma University. "She knows she can't get too far off the reservation.".....

An even bigger question looms over Bush himself. While he has clearly given Rice a lot more room to maneuver than her predecessor Colin Powell could ever have imagined, particularly with respect to North Korea, his own views, especially on the Middle East, remain a subject of unceasing speculation among the capital's cognoscenti, hawks and realists alike.

Just last week, for example, he hosted a "literary luncheon" in honor of Andrew Roberts, author of History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900. In a recent interview, Roberts called on Bush to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan "for as long as it takes to achieve complete and final victory over Radical Islam … [and] not be afraid of threatening to widen the struggle to include foreign countries that aid and abet the insurgents [there]."

Other guests in attendance included some of the country's most hawkish neoconservatives, such as Norman Podhoretz; Paul Gigot, the editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page; and AEI fellow Michael Novak.

"Roberts said that history would judge the president on whether he had prevented the nuclearization of the Middle East," wrote Irwin Stelzer, another prominent neoconservative, in the Weekly Standard.

As noted by the Financial Times in an article entitled "Four Years of Turmoil Put Pragmatists in Driving Seat" this week, the Eurasia Group, a consultancy firm, has advised its clients that it rates the chances of a U.S. and/or Israeli military attack on Iran before September 2008 at 60 percent."

Mercenaries For Hire, This is What is Left of Palestinian Resistance
Palestinian Fatah gunmen march during a rally asking for jobs in the Palestinian security forces, at a Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip, March 12, 2007. (REUTERS)

Livni: We expect Shalit freed before new PA gov't

"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that Israel expects captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit released before Hamas and Fatah form a new unity government.

She spoke after officials in Hamas were quoted as saying that the creation of the new Palestinian unity government and Shalit's release were in no way connected to one another.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their meeting Sunday that he would make an effort to secure the release of Shalit as soon as possible, and perhaps before the formation of the unity government.

Livni said Abbas now had more influence on Hamas, which is keen to form a coalition with Abbas' Fatah movement.

"Abu Mazen has stated that before establishing a new Palestinian government, he wants Gilad released," Livni told Army Radio, referring to Abbas by his nickname.

"If in the past he could say that he was separate from Hamas and had no power to influence them, today his situation has changed. Today, with Hamas wishing to form a government, and, with Abu Mazen moving toward an agreement with Hamas, we expect that the release of Gilad Shalit will be part of this process."

According to Livni, "This is an Israeli demand, and I believe it should be an international demand as well. Now we must see if [Abbas} is capable of keeping this [promise]."....."

***

Hamas is expected not to embarrass Brothers Abu Mazen and Dahlan (guests of honor at Brother Olmert's dinner table) nor disappoint Sister Livni, by releasing Brother Shalit. This is the new and improved Hamas, after all, and what a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate political skill and pragmatism. Besides, Saudi Arabia demands it; what could be more important?

Celebrate the early release of Brother Shalit!

Palestinian Refugees of Iraq

Rafeef Ziadah, The Electronic Intifada, 11 March 2007

"On the border between Iraq/Jordan and Iraq/Syria today live hundreds of Palestinian families who fled the US war to find themselves stranded in no-mans land. These families live in tents, in squalor, with little certainty or hope for the future, like their parents and grandparents did after their expulsion from their own homeland in the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) by the Israelis. The Al-Hol, Al-Tanaf, Al-Ruweished and Al-Walid refugee camps in the Iraqi desert are examples of the on-going Nakba that Palestinian refugees face. The fate of the 34,000 Palestinian refugees who once lived in Iraq can be added to the many tragic stories of the US invasion and occupation of that country.

There are Palestinian refugees all over the world, and every one of them is being denied their right to return to their homes and villages from which they were expelled. This is a right that cannot be canceled and a right that doesn't have a statute of limitations. And while Palestinians continue to demand their right of return, other rights - to safety, to freedom of movement, to work and shelter and food - are violated as a matter of routine. The names of Palestinian refugee camps have become references to massacres and crimes committed against the Palestinian people: Sabra and Shatila (Lebanon), Jenin (West Bank), Rafah (Gaza) and today we add Al-Tanaf, Al-Hol, Al-Walid and Al-Ruweished.......

Palestinian refugees that fled Iraq report arbitrary arrests, disappearances and torture. Sometimes they would be picked up by uniformed Iraqi secret service, other times people in civilian clothing would just knock down their doors and kidnap them. Those kidnapped would be found dead, thrown away on the streets after being tortured with electric drills, many times their limbs amputated. Those not murdered were held for ransom, forcing their families to sell all they owned to get them out. Armed men hand-delivered death threats to several Palestinians in Baghdad, setting off widespread panic among the Palestinian population......"

The last thing we need

The new US command for Africa will militarise the continent and inflame a string of regional conflicts

Salim Lone
Monday March 12, 2007
The Guardian

"For decades, Africa has pleaded in vain for a comprehensive engagement from the west on the basis of shared interests, particularly in the economic arena. But the new engagement the continent has been offered, in the form of a military US command, is the last thing the world's most impoverished continent needs.

The decision to establish Africom, as the command will be known, reflects the Bush administration's primary reliance on the use of force to pursue its strategic interests. Among the key goals for the new command, for example, is the assurance of oil imports from Africa, which have assumed much greater importance given the hostility to the US presence in the Middle East.

China has similar energy needs, but how differently it is pursuing them. When George Bush announced Africom's creation last month, the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, was touring eight African countries to negotiate oil-related deals and announcing multibillion-dollar aid agreements. Many commentators voiced legitimate concerns about China's intentions; none have been voiced about Africom in the major western media....."

Why does The Times recognize Israel's 'right to exist'?

The paper consistency adopts Israel's language, giving credence to an inaccurate, simplistic and dangerous cliche.

By Saree Makdisi, SAREE MAKDISI, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, writes frequently about the Middle East.
L.A. Times

"......Actually, it asks even more. Israel wants the Palestinians, half of whom were driven from their homeland so that a Jewish state could be created in 1948, to recognize not merely that it exists (which is undeniable) but that it is "right" that it exists — that it was right for them to have been dispossessed of their homes, their property and their livelihoods so that a Jewish state could be created on their land. The Palestinians are not the world's first dispossessed people, but they are the first to be asked to legitimize what happened to them.

A just peace will require Israelis and Palestinians to reconcile and recognize each other's rights. It will not require that Palestinians give their moral seal of approval to the catastrophe that befell them. Meaningless at best, cynical and manipulative at worst, such a demand may suit Israel's purposes, but it does not serve The Times or its readers.

And yet The Times consistently adopts Israel's language and, hence, its point of view. For example, a recent article on Israel's Palestinian minority referred to that minority not as "Palestinian" but as generically "Arab," Israel's official term for a population whose full political and human rights it refuses to recognize. To fail to acknowledge the living Palestinian presence inside Israel (and its enduring continuity with the rest of the Palestinian people) is to elide the history at the heart of the conflict — and to deny the legitimacy of Palestinian claims and rights.

This is exactly what Israel wants. Indeed, its demand that its "right to exist" be recognized reflects its own anxiety, not about its existence but about its failure to successfully eliminate the Palestinians' presence inside their homeland — a failure for which verbal recognition would serve merely a palliative and therapeutic function....."

Kiss the Right of Return Goodbye

U.S. in talks with Saudis, Israel ahead of Arab meet.
The Hebrew Version of the "Saudi Plan" is ready for translation to Arabic.
Celebrate, Now!

"The U.S. administration is holding separate talks with Israel and Saudi Arabia before the Arab League summit in Riyadh late this month that will deliberate renewed approval of the overall Arab peace plan known as the Saudi initiative.

The initiative won the support of the Arab League during a summit in Beirut five years ago, calling for an Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines, the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, and a "just and negotiated" agreement to the problem of the refugees.

In return, the members of the Arab League offer Israel full normalization of relations and an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

As reported in Haaretz 10 days ago, Israel wants to see some changes to the Saudi initiative so that it can serve as an agreed basis for the renewal of the diplomatic process.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday at a cabinet meeting that the initiative should be taken very seriously.

"We hope very much that during the meeting of the heads of Arab states that will be held in Riyadh, the positive elements expressed in the Saudi initiative will be validated and perhaps will enable the strengthening of the chances for negotiations between us and the Palestinians," Olmert added.

Olmert made the statement at the start of the cabinet meeting, in front of television cameras. It was both more positive and detailed than his previous comments on this issue. Previously he only referred to the "positive elements" in the Saudi initiative.

Political sources in Jerusalem confirmed Sunday that diplomatic talks are being held concerning the Saudi initiative, but refused to give details.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas raised the issue during talks with Olmert in Jerusalem, the sources said.

Saudi National Security Adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the main interlocutor of the kingdom with Israel, is visiting Washington. At the same time, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is visiting the U.S. capital.

Aides to Olmert, visiting Washington last week, apparently held talks with their American counterparts on the Saudi initiative.

Rice to return

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to visit the region late next week for a series of meetings ahead of the Arab League summit in Riyadh.

It is believed that Prince Bandar has been in contact with his Israeli interlocutors, although there has been no confirmation of this.

Six months ago Bandar met with Olmert in Jordan and their meeting sparked the process for the adoption of the Saudi initiative as the basis for a diplomatic process.

The main amendment to the Saudi initiative required by Israel deals with the refugees. The plan's current version refers to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, and the Palestinians interpret this non-binding resolution as calling for the resettlement of refugees inside Israeli territory.

In a meeting held two weeks ago with a senior European diplomat, Olmert said that "Israel will never accept Resolution 194, and this constitutes a red line for us. But anything over this red line, including creative solutions to the refugees [problem], which does not include their settlement in Israel, is open for discussion."

This view was echoed by Foreign Minister Livni two weeks ago.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres has responded positively to the growing Saudi Arabian involvement in the diplomatic process.

Peres discussed this development with Olmert in recent days following consultation with experts, and noted the positive results that a Saudi-Israeli rapprochement will have."

Secret talks under way with Israel: Palestinian sources

Contributed by Lucia

"RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli and Palestinian officials have been holding talks through a "secret channel" with the aim of jumpstarting the stalled peace process, Palestinian sources told AFP on Sunday.



The officials involved have been Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and Salam Fayyad, a former Palestinian finance minister, they said.

The trio have met twice in recent weeks, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

"They discussed issues related to the final status agreement and the Arab initiative," one source said.

He was referring to a Saudi peace plan adopted by the Arab League in 2002 and the thorniest issues of the Middle East conflict which both sides have always accepted will be left to a final peace agreement.

A senior aide to Livni rejected the report.

"There has been no meeting between Minister Livni and Yasser Abed Rabbo recently, certainly not on issues of final status... The last time they met was several months ago," the aide said.

The Palestinian sources made their remarks as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Jerusalem, with their third encounter in as many months failing to produce any major breakthroughs.

Abbas has on several occasions said that he favoured a "parallel channel" in talks with Israel, like the secret talks that resulted in the 1993 Oslo accords.

The secret discussions have touched on the most sensitive issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians, including the final borders of the Palestinians' promised state and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, the sources said.

The Arab peace plan of 2002 calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, in return for a full normalization of relations with the Arab world.

Livni said earlier this month that the Jewish state could not accept the initiative as it stands.

Earlier on Sunday, Olmert said Israel was "ready to take seriously" the Arab initiative.

"We sincerely hope that at the summit of the Arab leaders in Riyadh, the positive element in the Saudi initiative will be emphasised and would maybe allow an opportunity to strengthen the chances for negotiations with the Palestinians on its basis," Olmert said.
"

Iran and the Congo's Vanishing Uranium Bars

by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, March 11, 2007

"A mysterious Congo vanishing uranium bars incident has emerged, coinciding with a decisive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of governors meeting in Vienna on March 5-8, regarding Iran's nuclear program.

According to Kinshasa's Le Phare newspaper (March 7), "more than 100 bars of uranium as well as an unknown quantity of uranium contained in helmet-shaped cases, had disappeared from the nuclear centre in Kinshasa as part of a vast trafficking [operation]" (Le Phare, 8 March 2007, Le Phare, 7 March 2007)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Commissioner for atomic energy Professor Fortunat Lumu and his associate were arrested over allegations of uranium smuggling. The Congo's state prosecutor, Tshimanga Mukeba said that Lumu is being "questioned regarding the alleged disappearance of unspecified quantities of uranium in recent years." He is accused of "orchestrating illicit contracts to produce and sell uranium". (BBC, 8 March 2007)

The IAEA is also said to be "investigating the situation". While the names of the alleged buyers were not revealed, the evolving consensus within the Western media, based on an "authoritative" August 2006 Sunday Times report, which is quoted profusely in syndicated press reports, is that Tehran might be behind the uranium smuggling operation.

Iraq, Iran, Niger, The Congo, yellow cake, missing uranium 238 bars.

A feeling of déjà vu.

Remember the Niger uranium yellow cake, which was used as a pretext to wage war on Iraq.

Ironically, while Professor Lumu was arrested on March 6 for alleged smuggling of uranium 238 (natural uranium) in Kinshasa, back in the US, on the same day, former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to the Niger "yellow cake" operation.

According to US media reports, Bush's adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were also involved.

As confirmed in the trial proceedings, the yellow cake story was a fabrication triggered by forged documents which described Saddam Hussein as buying "yellow cake" from Niger allegedly for the production of a nuclear bomb. Libby was acting on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney, who is widely believed to have instigated the "yellow cake" psyop.

Déjà Vu?

Are we dealing with a similar fabricated Psyop in the case of the alleged missing Congo uranium bars, which could at some later date be used as a pretext directed against Iran? ......"

Shalit may be released within days, Abbas says

Abbas tells Olmert kidnapped soldier could be released before unity gov't is established this week
Celebrate, now!

"The Palestinians are exerting every effort to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit as soon as possible, and the release may take place before the Palestinian unity government is established this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday evening.

Olmert demanded that the kidnapped soldier would be released immediately and without any conditions. He also demanded that the Palestinians stop firing Qassam rockets at Israel and smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip.....

The two leaders agreed to continue holding summits on a regular basis. The meetings will deal with defense issues, the war on terror and the Palestinians' humanitarian needs......

Aides to Abbas said that they understood from Olmert that even if a unity government was established with Hamas, the talks between Olmert and Abbas would continue. Abbas stressed during the meeting that any government founded in the Palestinian Authority would be committed to past agreements......"

Meeting the Butcher of Beit Hanoun, Again and Again.


Brother Abu Mazen and Brother Dahlan Having Dinner With Brother Olmert; Where is Brother Habila?

Open Letter to General Petraeus

Contributed by Datta

A Very Good Article
By James Petras

"You are nearly my namesake – having a Romanized version of my Hellenized name (Petraeus/Petras). You are dubbed a ‘warrior’ or ‘counter-insurgency intellectual’. I hold credentials as an ‘insurgency intellectual’ or as Alex Cockburn calls it ‘a fifty-year membership in the class struggle’. You publicists have billed you as ‘America’s last best hope for salvation (of the empire) in Iraq.’ Predictably the Democrats in Congress led by Senator Clinton went down to their knees in praise and support of your professionalism and war record in Northern Iraq. So let it be recognized that you enjoy an advantage: the support of both parties, the White House, Congress and the mass media, but still being an insurgent intellectual, I am not convinced that you will or should succeed in saving Iraq for the empire. Better still; I think you undoubtedly will fail, because your military assumptions and strategies are based on fundamentally flawed political analyses, which have profound military consequences.......

By ‘honest talk’, about troop numbers in the present tense for your war, you prepare the ground for a greater escalation in the proximate future. “Right now we do not see other requests (for troops) looming out there. That’s not to say that some emerging mission or emerging task will not require that, and if it does then we will ask for that (my emphasis)” (AlJazeera, 3/8/2006). First there’s a ‘surge’ then there is an ‘emerging mission’ and before we know it, there are another fifty thousand troops on the ground and in the meat-grinder that is Iraq. Yes, General, you are a fine master of ‘double speak’ – but beyond that you are, with your colleagues in the White House and Congress, doomed to go down the same road of political-military defeat as your predecessors in Indo-China. Your military police will jail thousands of civilians and perhaps many more. They will be interrogated, tortured and perhaps some will be ‘broken’. But many more will take their place. Your policy of security through intimidation will ‘hold’ only as long as the armored cars in each neighborhood point their cannons at every building. But how long can you sustain it? As soon as you move, the insurgents will return: they can continue for months and years because they live and work there. You can’t. You run a costly colonial army, which suffers endless casualties. Sooner or later, the folks back home will force you to leave.

Your ambitions, General Petraeus, exceed your abilities. Best start preparing your farewell to arms and look toward a higher post in Washington. Remember your chances are slim: Only winning generals or draft dodgers are elected President. There is always a professorship at the Kennedy School at Harvard for the ‘warrior intellectual’ who is good at the books but a failure in the field."

Red Carpet Reception in South America

Netanyahu and Meshal forever

By Gideon Levy

"A great surprise: The overwhelming majority of Israelis support a one-state solution. After years in which the binational solution was anathema, it has suddenly become apparent that this is the preferred solution. You don't believe it? Look at the opinion polls. Benjamin Netanyahu is again leading them. You don't believe Netanyahu advocates this solution? Listen to his words. Once again, Netanyahu "does not find" a Palestinian partner. The conclusion: Wait and do nothing.

Netanyahu is not alone. Judging by their inaction, the prime minister and the foreign minister are also unable to find a partner; it is furthermore doubtful whether the Labor Party will find one. There are heaps and heaps of preconditions - one time it is the democratization of the Palestinians and another time it is their recognition of Israel; one time it is a halt to terror and another time it is a revision of their covenant; one time it is "no" to Arafat, then "no" to Mahmoud Abbas (the "fledgling") and now it is "no" to the unity government.

And the result is plain to see. One state, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is coalescing before our very eyes. Because what are Netanyahu and his ilk offering? To sit and do nothing, which simply translates into a binational state. Most Israelis declare that they are in favor of two states? This is a hollow statement - after all, they prefer Netanyahu.

In fact, this is the real "big bang": The political map of Israel has been upended. There is no longer right and left, no more hawks and doves. The center, the right and the margins of the left are united. From now on, one should say: Israel is divided between supporters of one state, the overwhelming majority, and supporters of two states, a negligible minority.

Whoever does not work immediately for the formation of two states is pushing for one state. There is no other solution, no third way. Anyone who supports the settlement enterprise is a devotee of the greater Land of Israel.

"Tibi or Bibi?" It is more correct to say: "Netanyahu and Khaled Meshal forever." Both are proponents of a one-state solution and their dispute is only over the nature of this state - one favors an apartheid state and the other an Islamic state. Only the extreme left advocates a single democratic state.

All of the talk about the questions concerning the future of Israel is misleading. While Netanyahu is running on his favorite ticket, the danger of a holocaust emanating from Iran, a more acute question mark hovers over the declared character of Israel: Has it not already become a binational state? It will soon be divided into two equal halves, and later there will be an Arab majority. What is Israel if not a binational state? And what are 3.5 million Palestinians, who have already lived under Israeli occupation for 40 years, if not subjects of a state that has existed with the occupation for twice as many years as it has existed without it?

No, the occupation is not temporary, nor is the current nature of the state.

Enough empty talk about "a Jewish state." There is no such thing. The fact that the Palestinians live under unequal conditions does not make them subjects of another entity. On the contrary, the state's control of their lives is immeasurably greater than its control over its Jewish citizens.

"What good will it do - the time that is slipping like sand between the fingers, without taking any action," Netanyahu asked in an interview with Haaretz, published on Friday, in which he was described as someone who has "shifted to the center." But of course the "moderate" Netanyahu was referring to Iran, defiantly ignoring the really crucial hourglass. In another moment, the Palestinians will be a majority here, and then what? A minority that continues to abuse a majority? Non-citizens forever? South Africa has already taught us how this culminates.

This grown child must now be called by its name - Netanyahu, Yisrael Beiteinu, the National Religious Party, the settlers, Kadima and all those who reject negotiation should now be called "fans of the binational state." If it becomes a just state, perhaps this is good news. But is this really what the majority wants?"

PM to caution Abbas on cabinet appointments

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will try to persuade Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas not to appoint ministers to the unity government who have ties with Israel. The two are scheduled to meet today.

Olmert is expected to tell Abbas that Israel will not talk with the Palestinian unity government until it accepts the principles of the Quartet: recognizing Israel, abandoning terror and recognizing previous agreements. "If Abbas wants figures like Salam Fayad and Mohammed Dahlan to continue their contacts with us, he should not make them ministers in the unity government," a government source in Jerusalem said.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority had a great interest in keeping the lines of communication open with the prime minister. He said the meeting was an important one, but that expectations should not be raised since there are disputes on both sides.

Washington intends to continue talks "on a personal basis" with moderates like Fayad if they join the unity government......

Former PA minister Ghassan Khatib told Haaretz the two leaders would be discussing a prisoner swap and the expansion of the cease-fire in the West Bank......"

'Smart' rebels outstrip US

Top American generals make shock admission as Iraq leader pleads with neighbouring countries to seal off their borders

Paul Beaver in Fort Lauderdale and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 11, 2007
The Observer

"The US army is lagging behind Iraq's insurgents tactically in a war that senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago.

The gloomy assessment at a conference in America last week came as senior US and Iraqi officials sat down yesterday with officials from Iran, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad to persuade Iraq's neighbours to help seal its borders against fighters, arms and money flowing in......

In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan 'as smart, agile and cunning'.
In Vietnam, the US was eventually defeated by a well-armed, closely directed and highly militarised society that had tanks, armoured vehicles and sources of both military production and outside procurement. What is more devastating now is that the world's only superpower is in danger of being driven back by a few tens of thousands of lightly armed irregulars, who have developed tactics capable of destroying multimillion-dollar vehicles and aircraft.

By contrast, the US military is said to have been slow to respond to the challenges of fighting an insurgency. The senior officers described the insurgents as being able to adapt rapidly to exploit American rules of engagement and turn them against US forces, and quickly disseminate ways of destroying or disabling armoured vehicles.

The military is also hampered in its attempts to break up insurgent groups because of their 'flat' command structure within collaborative networks of small groups, making it difficult to target any hierarchy within the insurgency.

The remarks were made by senior US generals speaking at the Association of the US Army meeting at Fort Lauderdale in Florida and in conversations with The Observer. The generals view the 'war on terror' as the most important test of America's soldiers in 50 years.

'Iraq and Afghanistan are sucking up resources at a faster rate than we planned for,' one three-star general said. 'America's warriors need the latest technology to defeat an enemy who is smart, agile and cunning - things we did not expect of the Soviets.'

Other officers said coalition rules of engagement were being used against the forces fighting the insurgency. 'They know when we can and cannot shoot, and use that against us,' said one officer, reflecting the comments of US soldiers in the field. Another said recent video footage of an ambush on a convoy, posted on the internet, was evidence that insurgents were filming incidents to teach other groups about American counter-measures......"

The Wizards of Hamas Have Finally Figured it Out!

Barhoum: The USA lacks clear vision on the Palestinian issue

"GAZA, (PIC)-- Spokesman of Hamas Movement in Gaza Strip Fawzi Barhoum has scathingly lashed out at the US policy towards the Palestinian people and accused Washington of lack of clear vision on the Palestinian question.

“The failure of the successive US administrations in finding a just solution to the Palestinian question proves that the USA lacks clear vision on the Palestinian question”, Barhoum charged in an exclusive interview with the PIC on Saturday.

He explained that the Palestinian issue is very clear; adding that the Palestinian people simply want to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital......"

***

Such vision......such insight....
It took the Palestinians only 90 years to develop such a revolutionary theory, give them just 100 more years and Jericho will be liberated.

You Would Think That He is Always Posing for a Toothpaste Commercial.
That is Because His Handler (Ahmad Yousef) is an Advertising Man.
Yousef Says, "Keep Grinning, Habila."

The Little King Brought the Instructions from Washington to the Stooge "Brother Abu Mazen."
Jordan's King Abdullah (R) welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on his arrival at the Royal Palace in Amman March 10, 2007.

Demonstrators burn home-made American Flags during a protest against the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to Uruguay in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, March 9, 2007. (AP photo)




Demonstrators protest against US President George W. Bush's visit to Uruguay. Bush will hold trade talks with his Uruguayan counterpart Tebare Vazquez as mass protests continued to dog his five-nation tour of Latin America.(AFP)

Iran Attack: Neocons Find New Curveball

By Kurt Nimmo

"If anything can be said about the neocons and the Israelis, it is that they are tenacious, they are completely dedicated to the “creative destruction” plan in the Middle East, and short of arrest, conviction, and imprisonment they will not rest. It can be said that the deception game launched in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq by these dedicated traitors was at best sloppy, as it was easy to pick apart the “facts” spoon-fed to the corporate media by the neocon lie factory known as the Office of Special Plans. Of course, at the end of the day, the fact this effort was at best slipshod was of little concern because the neocons understand well the intellectual lassitude, the habitual indifference of the average American, unable or unwilling to give a whit about the future of the country or, for that matter, the future that will be suffered by his own family.

Once again, the corporate media is feeding us a main course of half-truth and fabrication as the neocons and Israelis prepare to invade Iran, the next target on their total destruction roster. “A high-ranking Iranian general who may have defected is in Northern Europe, where he is being questioned about Iran’s role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and other terrorist acts,” the neocon New York Sun tells us. “Ali Reza Asghari, 63, whose grim face was displayed on Israeli TV last night, was spilling valuable secrets to an American intelligence team as a prelude to defecting to the United States,” the CIA’s favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, reports. “Asghari was Iran’s deputy minister of defense and former top official of the notorious Revolutionary Guards. Experts said his secrets, should they fall into American or Israeli hands, could have devastating consequences for the Iranian regime.”......

“In a scene straight out of a John le Carré spy novel, Asghari disappeared Feb. 7 from an Istanbul hotel where he was staying on a private trip —possibly with his family—and has vanished without a trace.” According to the Australian, taking its reportage leads in Jerusalem, Asghari “defected and sought asylum in the US,” taking along his family, although this is not confirmed.

Naturally, for suspicious types as your humble blogger, well-steeped in history and possessing a honed skill of reading between corporate media lines, the obvious conclusion here is that Asghari was abducted while on vacation with his family in Turkey—likely by the Mossad, CIA, a combination of both, or by way of freelance contracted by the aforementioned. “It is likely Asghari has been abducted by Western intelligence services,” said Iran’s top police officer, General Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam.......

However, this does not explain the initial report, carried in the Washington Post and Israel’s Yedioth Ahranot (as announced in the Hebrew headline at the left), more or less bragging about the abduction of Asghari......

Selling the Iranian nuclear program scare tactic is a long term project, as even the most hysterical Israeli shill—usually billed as an “expert,” as Walid Phares above, same as I am expert on quantum physics—tells us the Iranians are a few years away from patching together a nuke, thus admitting Israel can breath a sigh of relief as it will not be nuked anytime soon, that is if you buy the poorly spun Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Iran’s feverish scramble to build nukes (in addition, we are expected to believe the leadership of Iran consists of Jim Jones knock-offs, happily courting suicide).

In order to spike the punch, we are now told a general—at first reported abducted by the Mossad, subsequently revised to be a harmless defection, complete with family and “vital documents” detailing Iranian mischief—will spill the beans “on Iran’s links to groups in Iraq. These include the Mehdi Army of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr organization,” according to the Belfast Telegraph, a quite remarkable turn of events, as “US and Iranian officials are to sit down at the same negotiating table today at an international conference in Baghdad to attempt to curb sectarian violence in Iraq. The conference will also include delegates from Syria, Saudi Arabia and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.”

Finally, as if to satisfy the Israelis, who reportedly encouraged this “defection”—sort of like the defection of diplomats earlier this year at the Iranian Consulate in Iraq—the good general will apparently tell-all on Hezbollah, the perennial Israeli enemy, never mind Hezbollah did not exist prior to Israel invading Lebanon and killing, imprisoning, and torturing thousands of people. Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad and a member of the Knesset, “described the missing general as very important and said that he would be able to shed light on one of the murkiest chapters in recent Middle East history. From the early 1980s Iran funded, trained and armed members of the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, which began as a small Shia Muslim militia but is today the most powerful paramilitary force in the Levant,” the Times Online reports, or rather reads from the official history. Again, no mention of the fact there would be no Hezbollah, or for that matter Hamas, if not for the predacious behavior of the small, albeit armed to the teeth—thanks to clueless Americans—Israeli state........

But never mind. Asghari’s information, arriving in the nick of time, as the neocons face off against the Iranians at a conference in Baghdad, will provide a momentary boost for the all-murder, all-the-time agenda of the neocons. It is but another ingredient added to the toxic brew sold to the clueless out here in Bushzarro world, a distillation of hatred, lies, and murderousness that will ultimately end up in World War Four, as the neocons fondly call it. "

Journalists hit by Israeli stun grenades, tear-gassed

Report, Committee to Protect Journalists, 10 March 2007

"New York, March 8, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that two journalists were bruised by Israeli stun grenades at an Israeli military checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah today.

Rami al-Faqih, a correspondent for the local Al-Quds Educational Television, and Iyad Hamad, a cameraman for The Associated Press, were each hit this morning as Israeli border police fired at journalists covering a peaceful protest marking International Women's Day at the Qalandia checkpoint, the journalists told CPJ.

"We are troubled by these reports that Israeli border police deliberately fired at journalists," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "We call on Israeli authorities to thoroughly investigate this incident immediately and to instruct its forces to allow journalists to do their job unhindered."

Al-Faqih, who said he was holding a microphone with the station's logo, told CPJ he was hit in the foot and fell to the ground. Iyad Hamad, a cameraman for AP, was similarly injured when he was hit in the legs by a stun grenade, AP photojournalist Nasser Shiyoukhi told CPJ.

The journalists alleged that Israeli border police fired deliberately at them, and noted that none of the protestors were hit by the grenades, which they said emits plastic shrapnel. Video footage, they said, showed that the journalists weren't among the demonstrators.

Israeli National Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CPJ that border police used minimum force -- only three stun grenades -- to disperse protestors when they forcefully tried to enter an area that was "out of bounds." Rosenfeld said that after the Israeli border police asked demonstrators to disperse from the closed area, "the press should have left the area quietly and dispersed with the ladies who were present at the scene" to maintain their safety and prevent injury.

Rosenfeld added that no official reports were filed with the border police by the media organizations regarding the journalists' injuries.

Israeli soldiers and border police have previously used stun grenades against journalists. Most recently, on February 26, Israeli soldiers fired several stun grenades at a group of around 12 photographers and cameramen, including Nasser Ishtayeh and Emilio Morenatti of the AP and Jaffar Ishtayeh of Agence France-Presse, to prevent them from covering its search and seizure operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, the journalists told CPJ.

On February 16, Israeli soldiers fired teargas at several cameramen and photojournalists covering clashes between the soldiers and Palestinian stone-throwers near the West Bank city of Hebron, according to AP's Shiyoukhi and journalists at the scene. When the journalists got within 30 meters of the Palestinian youths, Israeli soldiers fired teargas canisters at their feet. Shiyoukhi told CPJ he was overcome by the gas and his colleagues brought him to a hospital in Hebron. Shiyoukhi alleged that the Israeli soldiers fired deliberately at the journalists since they were a clear distance from the Palestinian stone-throwers."

Report: Palestinian child prisoners in 2006

Report, DCI/PS, 10 March 2007

"In 2006, Israel continued its policy of arresting and imprisoning Palestinian children. Some 700 Palestinian children (under 18) were arrested by Israeli soldiers over the course of the year. Of these, around 25 children were held on administrative detention orders, imprisonment without charge or trial. The overwhelming majority of those arrested in 2006 were boys; there were eight girl child prisoners who served sentences at different points during the year. Of these, four had been arrested in 2006.

At any given point during the year, there were between 340 and 420 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons and detention centers in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), with around 380 held at the end of the year. Of these, around 300 were being held in central prisons, either pending trial or after having been sentenced. The remaining 80 were being held in interrogation and detention centers. The number of children arrested in 2006 brings the total number of Palestinian children arrested by Israel since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000 to approximately 5,200.

Palestinian child political prisoners routinely face violations of their human rights during the arrest through imprisonment process. They are exposed to physical and psychological abuse, often amounting to torture. They are denied prompt access to an attorney and often denied contact with their families and the outside world. Many are held without charge or trial. They face substandard, often inhumane, conditions of detention, both in the facilities where they are initially held and interrogated and in those where they await trial and serve their sentence.

Moreover, they are frequently denied access to proper medical care. In many cases, the arrest, interrogation and imprisonment experience has psycho-social effects that extend far beyond the period of detention.

To download the Palestinian Child Political Prisoners 2006 Report (PDF) click here.

By Amjad Rasmi, Arab News.