What Did Begging The British For 90 Years Get Us? Will We Ever Learn?

As Nuclear Deadline Passes, US and Iran Trade Accusations of Bombing Involvement

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"The White House has dismissed a suggestion from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran would close its nuclear facilities as long as Western nations did the same. His comments came as a deadline set by the UN for Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment program expires today. Meanwhile Iran has accused the US of backing a bomb attack that killed 11 Revolutionary Guards, just one week after the US accused Iran of supplying bombs targeting US troops in Iraq. We speak with retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner.A retired Air Force Colonel, he has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College and Naval War College.....

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about these latest revelations of plans?

COL. SAM GARDINER: Sure. Actually, I find the BBC article to be completely credible. Let me take the two points that they make and explain why I think they are. The first thing is they talk about the trigger of a high casualty event in Iraq. That is totally consistent with the plans that were drawn up before the invasion of Iraq. We now know from the released plans, which at that time were classified “Top Secret, Polo Step,” that there was a series of triggers, that if they were to be pulled, the United States would go ahead of its plan in the invasion of Iraq. So, having a trigger is both in the way that the Pentagon does planning, and also it makes sense in the argument that the administration is making about what needs to be done with Iran.

The second thing about identifying a nuclear program is even more concerning and probably the one we ought to worry about. We have to remember that the President has said Iran can't be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. But he has always -- or not always -- mostly adds a phrase beyond that, which says, “or the knowledge to produce nuclear weapons.” That's a very important follow-on statement, consistent with what Israel has said. The way that is generally interpreted is that if Iran can put together 3,000 centrifuges for enrichment, they then will have the capability or the knowledge to produce a nuclear weapon. That event, according to the head of the IAEA yesterday, could occur within the next six months, so that if you take the President at his word, and if you take the estimate from the International Atomic Energy Agency, we will cross the US red line within the next six months, and presumably we can't stand that. And when we say that, that means we conduct a military operation against the Iranians.....

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think the 21,000 extra troops, what the President calls the “surge,” could actually be targeted at Iran as much as Iraq?

COL. SAM GARDINER: Well, let me modify that a little bit. We learned over the weekend that there is a surge within the surge. It is not 21,000 anymore. It's gone above that. It was announced on maybe Friday evening or Saturday that an additional headquarters is going to Iraq, consisting of about a thousand additional people. Now, what's fascinating about that is it was on the same day that the commander in Baghdad said, "I don't need any more headquarters." My interpretation of that is that this provides the capability, if the United States were to put some of these new forces into the border area with Iran, to take control of that. This is not meant, I don't think, to invade Iran. I think that this is preparing for the possibility that if a strike is conducted against Iran, that these units could block any sort of an incursion into Iraq....."

Evasive Diplomacy

Bush Administration Shuns Middle East Peace Talks

A Lousy Article But I Am Posting It Anyway
By NICOLA NASSER
CounterPunch

"Instead of building a diplomatic momentum on the political breakthrough mediated by their Saudi Arabian ally who succeeded in developing an Arab and Palestinian consensus on going along with the U.S.-steered Quartet efforts to revive the deadlocked peace process, the American diplomacy has turned their sponsored Palestinian Israeli summit meeting in Jerusalem on Monday from a promising event into a missed opportunity, thus shaking off a burgeoning potential for a more coordinated regional U.S. Arab front.....

Embarrassing U.S. friends and allies as important as Riyadh, Amman and Cairo, and further antagonizing influential regional players like Syria, who all weighed in heavily to conclude the Mecca deal in order to develop a unified Arab and Palestinian stance that easily could be discerned as distancing them away from Iranian influences, which is a key U.S.-Israeli endeavor, may not harm the U.S. historically-tested strategic alliances with Arabs, but it would certainly put off indefinitely whatever is left for peace-making in the region......"

سلام فياض يقبل تولي منصب وزير المالية في حكومة الوحدة الوطنية

Celebrate! The Crook Is Back!

The same old crook (Salam Fayad) "accepts" position of "finance minister" in "unity government" "offered" to him by Habila. Who is Hamas kidding? Fayad was dictated by Washington and KSA and Hamas had to swallow hard, and it was Hamas that was forced to accept him. With the purse strings in the hands of the same old crooks, nothing will change, except the slogans. But let us not spoil the mood; let the celebrations continue!

Just wait! Save some celebrations for the other important positions which Habila will "offer" to other crooks: Foreign affairs, interior, etc. I am sure that they will "accept" since they have been dictated already. But please save the biggest celebration for.....(drum roll please)....the position of Deputy Prime Minister. I have a sneaky suspicion that Habila will "offer" that position to our "brother" Mohammad Pinochet Dahlan. Don't ask me how I knew that; I have my sources. I have a hunch that brother Pinochet will accept. Man, that will be an occasion to celebrate! Hell, that would call for torching a few buildings, perhaps including the "parliament" building! That would be a sight. Habila and Pinochet, hand-in-hand and beaming with victory signs, with the parliament building ablaze behind them, and the band playing "Celebrate!".

"غزة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

أعلن سلام فياض، رئيس كتلة الطريق الثالث في المجلس التشريعي الفلسطيني، ظهر الأربعاء (21/2)، قبوله عرضاً من رئيس الحكومة المكلف إسماعيل هنية، بتولي حقيبة وزارة المالية.

ونُقل عن فياض، عقب اجتماعه مع هنية في إطار المشاورات التي يجريها لتشكيل حكومة الوحدة الوطنية الفلسطينية: "إن رئيس الوزراء المكلف عرض عليّ تسلم حقيبة المالية في الحكومة الجديدة، وقد قبلت ذلك".

وقد وصف اللقاء الذي جمعه صباح اليوم برئيس الوزراء إسماعيل هنية في غزة بالجيد والإيجابي. وقال إنه تم بحث موضوع تشكيل الحكومة، معرباً عن أمله بتسريع تشكيل الحكومة للتعامل مع المهام التي سيتم مواجهتها الفترة المقبلة.

من جانبه؛ أكد خليل الحية، رئيس كتلة "التغيير والإصلاح" التابعة لحركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس"، وهي أكبر كتلة برلمانية، تصريحات فياض، بشأن قبول حقيبة المالية، مثمناً قبوله في هذا المنصب. "

Scooter Libby and World War III

How the Libby trial could impact US foreign policy

By Justin Raimondo

".......The Fitzgerald probe is a dagger pointed at the dark heart of the administration, the OVP (Office of the V.P.), and the climactic moment of this epic battle is fast approaching. In the early days of the investigation, left-liberal bloggers were exulting in the possibility that they would see Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House, but the trial has shown that Rove and Libby were antagonists rather than allies. Before it's all over we may yet see the vice president frog-marched out of the White House – at least metaphorically, in the form of an indictment with Dick Cheney's name on it.

What better way to distract attention away from this coming political bombshell than by dropping some real bombs on Iran?

In the midst of the regional conflagration feared by Brzezinski, prosecuting the Vice President for obstruction of justice and/or perjury would be problematic, at best. In any case, the widening of the war would drive the story off the front pages – think of this as a grand-scale version of Clinton's bombing of the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory just as the Monica Lewinsky was returning to the grand jury.

U.S. war plans against Iran have apparently been in the making for quite some time, but the ratcheting-up of both the rhetoric and the actual war preparations indicates a new level of seriousness on the part of this administration. While most reports reassure us that the decision to go to war has not yet been made, one wonders what turn of events would push the key decision-makers, Bush and Cheney, over the line. A direct threat to one – or both – of them coming out of the Libby trial may be all the impetus they need. A cornered rat is dangerous."

معاريف»: خطة سرية» لملك الأردن أحبطها «اتفاق مكة»!

Al-Manar

Contributed by Anonymous

"ذكرت صحيفة «معاريف» الإسرائيلية أمس أن الملك الأردني عبد الله الثاني كان يعمل على خطة سرية للتوصل الى اتفاق نهائي بين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين، كان يُفترض أن تؤدي الى استقرار الوضع في المنطقة وكبح «الثورة» الشيعية التي تخيف وتقلق الأردن ومصر أكثر مما تقلق الدولة العبرية، غير أن اتفاق مكة بين حركتي «فتح» و»حماس» بعثر كل الأوراق وأثار غضب ملك الأردن.
وأشارت «معاريف» إلى أنه كان يفترض، وفقاً للخطة، عقد سلسلة من الاجتماعات السرية بين ممثلين إسرائيليين وعن رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس، مع استبعاد حكومة «حماس» عنها، للتوصل الى تسوية دائمة برعايته، مع إمكان عقد هذه الاجتماعات على الأراضي الأردنية.
لكنّ ما حصل، بحسب الصحيفة، هو أن اتفاق مكة عرقل مبادرة الملك الأردني التي طرحها في الاشهر الماضية. وتقضي الخطة بأن يعلن أبو مازن، بعد التفاهم على المسودة المشتركة للتسوية الدائمة، عن اجراء انتخابات عامة في السلطة الفلسطينية على قاعدة التسوية الدائمة، ويتم بذلك إسقاط حكومة «حماس» والقبول بالاتفاق ومن ثم توقيعها.
وتعهد الملك الأردني، في موازاة هذا المسار، العمل على «حث الدول العربية المعتدلة، وتحديداً الأعضاء في الرباعية العربية، السعودية والامارات ومصر والأردن، على الاعتراف بإسرائيل وإقامة علاقات دبلوماسية معها». وينبغي أن يؤدي تنفيذ الخطة، التي تم عرضها على الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل، الى «استقرار الوضع في الشرق الأوسط وخفض مستوى الإرهاب والتوتر، وتحديداً كبح الثورة الشيعية التي تخيف وتقلق الأردن ومصر أكثر مما تقلق إسرائيل»، بحسب «معاريف». وتشير الصحيفة إلى أن «الملك الأردني غاضب جداً من أبو مازن، الذي بعثر له كل أوراق خطته، لكبح حماس وحل الأزمة بين اسرائيل والفلسطينيين»، بعدما توصل الى اتفاق مع حركة «حماس» يقضي بتأليف حكومة وحدة وطنية من دون ان تعترف الأخيرة بإسرائيل أو بالاتفاقات الموقعة معها.
وتابعت «معاريف» أن «الملك الأردني يدرس خطواته الحالية بعد هذه التطورات: هل يواصل خطته كالمعتاد، أو يتم إلغاء الخطة والتراجع عنها، بانتظار التطورات السياسية؟».
وأضافت إن «الرباعية العربية تحاول الآن بلورة خطة بديلة، تُمكِّن من تقليل تأثير حماس»، مشيرة إلى أن «مخاوف هذه الدول، ومن بينها مصر والأردن والإمارات وجهات عربية معتدلة أخرى، هي من الثورة الشيعية والإيرانية، التي تحولت أخيراً الى رعب حقيقي».
ونفى مستشار عباس، صائب عريقات، لإذاعة فلسطين، وجود مبادرة أردنية كهذه، قائلاً «إن هذا الخبر لا أساس له من الصحة تماماً».
ترجمة صحيفة الأخبار

Lebanon will be first victim of Iran crisis

By Robert Fisk

"How easily the sparks from the American-Israeli fire fall across the Middle East. Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. It is not by chance that the UN forces in the south of the country now face growing suspicion among the Shia Muslims who live there. It is no coincidence that Israel thunders that the Hizbollah are now more powerful than they were before last year's July war. It is not an accident that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, says he has brought more missiles into Lebanon.

Why, the Lebanese ask, did President Bashar al-Assad of Syria visit President Ahmadinejad of Iran last weekend? To further seal their "brotherly" relations? Or to plan a new war with Israel in Lebanon?

The images of Iran's new missile launches during three days of military manoeuvres - apparently long-range rockets which could be fired at US warships in the Gulf - were splashed across the Beirut papers yesterday morning, along with Washington's latest threats of air strikes against Iran's military. Be certain that the Lebanese will be the first to suffer.

For the West, the crisis in Lebanon - where Hizbollah and its allies are still demanding the resignation of Fouad Siniora's government - is getting more serious by the hour. Up to 20,000 UN troops - including Nato battalions of Spanish, French and Italian forces - are now billeted across the hillsides of southern Lebanon, in the very battleground upon which the Israelis and the Hizbollah are threatening to fight each other again......"

Deja Vu In Iran

By Bendib.
(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Israel Threatens to Ignore Abbas

Contributed by Lucia

"AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Israel said Tuesday it would stop dealing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if he goes ahead with plans to join Hamas in a new government, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Arab allies sought a way to break the Hamas logjam and push forward the stalled peace process......

Abbas said Israel may have "misunderstood" the agreement reached in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between his moderate Fatah faction and the militant Hamas group, according to Jordan's official Petra news agency.

"We told Israel that this agreement was made to protect the unity of the Palestinian people and its national interests," Abbas was quoted as saying. "The agreement is an expression of support for Palestinian interests, but Israel may have misunderstood it."

But in Israel, Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for Olmert, ruled out any talks on a final peace deal with Abbas if he went ahead with plans to form a new Cabinet including Hamas. Israeli talks with Abbas would be limited to matters such as improving living conditions for the Palestinians and ending Palestinian attacks against Israel. "We're not talking about negotiations on final status issues," Eisin said.....

Rice invited security and intelligence chiefs from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to Amman for the talks to ask their advice on what, if anything, can be done further to persuade Hamas to back down.

Tuesday's session at the government security headquarters in Amman included some of the region's wiliest and best-connected heavies, fixers and go-betweens, including Saudi national security adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman.

Suleiman has deep ties across Palestinian politics, including with Hamas. Rice has been meeting with him regularly since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections 13 months ago.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Emirates have all, in turn, tried their hand in recent months at convincing Hamas to moderate enough to meet Western conditions, with little success....."

New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq's Oil Reserves to Western Companies

The Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar has obtained a copy of the proposed oil law and has just translated it into English. He discusses the new law with Antonia Juhasz, author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time.”

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"What would this new law mean for Iraq? With me now from Washington DC is Raed Jarrar - He is the Iraq Project Director for Global Exchange. He has obtained a copy of the proposed oil law which he translated from Arabic and posted on his website. And Antonia Juhasz is on the phone with us -- She has written extensively about the economic side of the US occupation of Iraq and is the author of the book, “The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time.” Antonia is a Tarbell Fellow at Oil Change International. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!......

AMY GOODMAN: And explain what it says, now that you’ve finished translating it.

RAED JARRAR: It said so many things. I don’t think we can summarize it this short, because it’s a very long document, around thirty pages. But majorly, there are three major points that I think we should talk about. Financially, it legalizes very unfair types of contracts that will put Iraq in very long-term contracts that can go up to thirty-five years and cause the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars from Iraqis for no cause.

And the second point is concerning Iraq's sovereignty. Iraq will not be capable of controlling the levels -- the limits of production, which means that Iraq cannot be a part of OPEC anymore. And Iraq will have this very complicated institution called the Federal Oil and Gas Council, that will have representatives from the foreign oil companies on the board of it, so representatives from, let’s say, ExxonMobil and Shell and British Petroleum will be on the federal board of Iraq approving their own contracts.

And the third point is the point about keeping Iraq’s unity. The law is seen by many Iraqi analysts as a separation for Iraq fund. The law will authorize all of the regional and small provinces’ authorities. It will give them the final say to deal with the oil, instead of giving this final say to central federal government, so it will open the doors for splitting Iraq into three regions or even maybe three states in the very near future......

AMY GOODMAN: Raed Jarrar, what is the response of Iraqis, of people in Iraq?

RAED JARRAR: No one in Iraq knows about the law. The law has been kept in a very low profile, and there is a huge propaganda campaign by the government trying to portray the law as straight and good for Iraq, a law that will turn Iraq into heaven on earth, because it will bring all of the foreign investments. Even parliamentarians in the Iraqi government, the ones who will have the final say to pass this law, haven’t received a copy of this law yet. I sent them the copy three or four days ago, and I sent a copy to many of the other Iraqi bloggers and journalists, because I think it’s very important to raise awareness about this and make it an issue. The Iraqi government and the Bush administration are trying to keep a very low profile in Iraq on this law. I think they’re planning just to, you know, surprise the parliamentarians one morning and have them vote on it without any knowledge of what the law actually causes.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk, Raed Jarrar, about the control, the dispute over federal or regional control of oil in Iraq?

RAED JARRAR: Most of the control will be under the regional and provincial authorities. They have all of the authority of monitoring and even dealing with small disputes. Now, there is this bigger council that is very complicated, very bureaucratic. This council just has the authority to veto what the regional and provincial authorities decide. So in case the council just stayed silent, everything can go without any interruption. So, you can see that this council is kind of controlled by foreign companies, as well, so the possibilities of the council vetoing what’s happening on the regional level will be very small. So we end up having a situation where Iraqis in different provinces will start signing contracts directly with foreign companies and competing between themselves, among themselves, among different Iraqi provinces, to get the oil companies to go to there without any centralized way in controlling this and thinking of the Iraqi interest and protecting Iraq as a country......."

Click Here to Watch, Listen or Read Transcript

Abbas: Meeting with Rice and Olmert tense and difficult, but not a failure (AP)
Do you trust anything this political whore says?

PFLP hails end to infighting but won't join PA unity government

"DAMASCUS - The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Tuesday hailed the halt of infighting in the Gaza Strip between rival Fatah and Hamas, but stopped short of expressing a wish to partake of the soon-to-be formed unity government.

In a statement published Tuesday the group said that the formula reached a week earlier in Mecca "is not binding for us."

In addition to bringing an end to the violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah, the Saudi-brokered Mecca Accord calls for respecting political, security and economic agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

"This means recognizing Israel's right to exist and halting resistance against occupation, and this what we have repeatedly rejected," the PFLP statement said.

The PFLP called for a serious and responsible dialogue among all Palestinian factions.

Maher Taher, PFLP's overseas spokesman, told reporters at a press conference that the Islamic Jihad movement would not participate in the forthcoming government, raising the possibility that other Palestinian factions would also not participate.

Taher said also that the Palestinians should stop making concessions "as the U.S. and Israel would never change their stands but would rather ask for more concessions."

He stressed that the road to peace was clear and could be reached through the implementation of UN resolutions that call for the full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab lands to the borders of 1967."

***

The Famas "unity government" is being exposed, more and more, for the fraud that it is.

Fabricating the case against Iran

by Larry Chin
Global Research, February 20, 2007

"The Bush administration will attack Iran as early as spring 2007. The administration is on total war footing.

Over the next few months, the administration and its allies and functionaries will create and provoke a pretext that forces a political consensus behind an attack on Iran. Any or all of the following may occur:

* Violent resistance to US occupation within Iraq is blamed on Iran. As previously noted, the idea that Iran is arming Iraqi attacks against US forces is a central theme of new Bush administration propaganda. Paul Pillar, former CIA officer and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is among many critics arguing that Iran is not behind the attacks. This will not stop the Bush-Cheney apparatus from spewing lies to the contrary.

* A major terror attack against US interests is blamed on Iran. In recent testimony before the US Senate, Zbigniew Brzezinski warned that the Bush administration is headed on a “downhill track towards a head-on conflict with Iran and much of the world of Islam” -- and that the conflict may begin with a major terror attack, either domestically or overseas, against Americans by Iran. (See also here, and here.)
In Brzezinski’s words, the Bush administration’s mismanagement of Iraq is an “historic, strategic and moral calamity,” “driven by Manichean impulses and imperial hubris” that “intensifies regional instability” and (of primary, if not sole concern to Brzezinski) “undermines America’s global legitimacy.” Brzezinski, a chief architect of the US “Grand Chessboard” geostrategy, which laid the foundation for the 9/11 attacks, has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s “mishandling” of the war. The Bush administration has longed for the right moment to set off “the next 9/11.”

* Iraq-Iran diplomacy characterized as terrorist interference by Iran.

* Real and imaginary Iranian responses to Bush administration rhetoric or provocations will be characterized as war provocation by Tehran.

* New evidence of Iranian nuclear “intentions” will be “found,” and presented to the “international community,” in order to sanction punishment.....Continue

Greasing The Skids For The "Transfer" of Palestinians

New proposal: Transfer-for-cash plan

"A new proposal designed to solve Israel's Arab demographic concerns suggests offering a million Palestinian residents of refugee camps in Judea and Samaria incentives totaling as much as $50 billion to convince them to leave the area.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Kohanim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and MK Benny Elon (National Union-National Religious Party) have joined forces to promote the proposed program, which they said would be funded by the state. The two men, who are next door neighbors in Beit El, propose paying the refugee camp residents $50,000 to $100,000 each if they agree to emigrate.

"Those poor people have been suffering for six decades," said Elon. "I believe that if we give them the option of leaving they will grab it."

Elon said that he was astounded to discover that Palestinians who want to leave had difficulty getting to Ben-Gurion Airport, for security reasons.

Elon said many western countries, including Canada as well as some in South America, were open to immigrants, especially if they brought cash with them. He said he hoped to gain the cooperation of western countries for the program by emphasizing its humanitarian dimension.

Aviner, a respected halachic authority, has written an article advocating the transfer-for-payment idea, which appeared this weekend in Be'ahava U'Be'emuna, a pamphlet that is distributed in thousands of synagogues across the nation every Shabbat.

"Arabs are busy killing Jews or providing aid, cover and legitimacy to terrorists," Aviner said in a telephone interview.

"There is no end in sight. I do not want to keep killing them to protect myself. So the best solution is to encourage them to leave," he said. "As soon as the word gets around that Israel is paying compensation to anyone who leaves, it will have a snowball effect."

Aviner quoted the Koran as well as the Bible to demonstrate that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people.

Arabs who agreed to stop all terrorism against Israel and to accept second class citizenship, without voting rights, would be allowed to stay, Aviner said.

MK Ibrahim Sarsour (United Arab List-Ta'al) called the proposal "satanic," "fascist," and "nearly Nazi."

"Palestine is an integral part of Waqf-administered sacred Islamic land," said Sarsour, who is also the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel. "It belongs to the Muslim people. Benny Elon and others like him will have to trample over our dead bodies to remove us from this place."

Sarsour said "Islam" was willing to normalize relations with a sovereign Israel within the Green Line. He said all Jews living in the West Bank or eastern Jerusalem must leave their homes or renounce Zionism and agree to second-class citizenship, without voting rights.

"But Elon is trying to push for the option of conflict and extinction of both peoples," he said.

Sarsour said "zealots" like Elon and Aviner had caused the destruction of the Second Temple, and that history could repeat itself.

"The weak do not stay weak forever, nor do the strong," Sarsour said."

Riverbend Outraged by Maliki's Actions

Maliki could at least pretend the rape of a young Iraqi woman is still an outrage in todays Iraq...

"As expected, Al Maliki is claiming the rape allegations are all lies. Apparently, his people simply asked the officers if they raped Sabrine Al Janabi and they said no. I'm so glad that's been cleared up.

"Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Makiki moved quickly to try to defuse a scandal after a Sunni woman said she was raped by three officers of the Shiite-dominated police.

The government's response — siding with the officers and trying to discredit the allegations — threatened to bring even more backlash.

A statement by al-Makiki's office accused "certain parties" — presumably Sunni politicians — of fabricating the claims in an attempt to undermine security forces during the ongoing Baghdad security operation, which began last week.
The statement was issued only hours after al-Maliki ordered an investigation into the case Monday night.

The 20-year-old married woman said she was assaulted after police commandos took her into custody Sunday in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amil, accusing her of helping insurgents. She said she was taken to a police garrison and raped.

"It has been shown after medical examinations that the woman had not been subjected to any sexual attack whatsoever and that there are three outstanding arrest warrants against her issued by security agencies," the government statement said, without giving details.

"After the allegations have been proven to be false, the prime minister has ordered that the officers accused be rewarded," it said without elaborating."

I hate the media and I hate the Iraqi government for turning this atrocity into another Sunni-Shia debacle- like it matters whether Sabrine is Sunni or Shia or Arab or Kurd (the Al Janabi tribe is composed of both Sunnis and Shia). Maliki did not only turn the woman into a liar, he is rewarding the officers she accused. It's outrageous and maddening.

No Iraqi woman under the circumstances- under any circumstances- would publicly, falsely claim she was raped. There are just too many risks. There is the risk of being shunned socially. There is the risk of beginning an endless chain of retaliations and revenge killings between tribes. There is the shame of coming out publicly and talking about a subject so taboo, she and her husband are not only risking their reputations by telling this story, they are risking their lives.

No one would lie about something like this simply to undermine the Baghdad security operation. That can be done simply by calculating the dozens of dead this last week. Or by writing about the mass detentions of innocents, or how people are once again burying their valuables so that Iraqi and American troops don't steal them.

It was less than 14 hours between Sabrine's claims and Maliki's rewarding the people she accused. In 14 hours, Maliki not only established their innocence, but turned them into his own personal heroes. I wonder if Maliki would entrust the safety his own wife and daughter to these men.

This is meant to discourage other prisoners, especially women, from coming forward and making claims against Iraqi and American forces. Maliki is the stupidest man alive (well, after Bush of course…) if he believes his arrogance and callous handling of the situation will work to dismiss it from the minds of Iraqis. By doing what he is doing, he's making it more clear than ever that under his rule, under his government, vigilante justice is the only way to go. Why leave it to the security forces and police? Simply hire a militia or gang to get revenge. If he doesn't get some justice for her, her tribe will be forced to... And the Janabat (the Al Janabis) are a force to be reckoned with.
Maliki could at least pretend the rape of a young Iraqi woman is still an outrage in todays Iraq... "

Exclusive: The Official Draft of the Oil and Gas Law of The Iraq Republic, 15 Jan 2007 (Full text)

Translated by Raed Jarrar.

US 'Iran attack plans' revealed

US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.

"US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned. It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.

The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.

But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran. That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.

Two triggers

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies. Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.


Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.

The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians. Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says......"

***

"a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign."

Notice the constant lowering of the threshold (excuse) that will be used to start the war. This second alternative to "justify" a bombing campaign could be as predictable as the shooting down of another U.S. helicopter in Iraq, killing a dozen U.S. troops. The public is also being conditioned and prepared; this is one of the objectives of these constant "leaks."

Folks, the attack on Iran is a certainty and it will happen soon.

ANALYSIS: The summit - a slap in the face to the Palestinians

HAARETZ

"One of the senior Palestinian Authority officials at Monday's summit sounded upbeat. "The Americans did not raise a white flag and the political horizon is still there. Olmert may reject the unity government but does not reject negotiations with the PLO chairman, Mahmoud Abbas," the senior official told Haaretz.

However, it's hard to tell on what concrete facts the Palestinian official is basing his assessment. Several hours after the meeting, Al-Ayam, a Palestinian daily, published an interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she said that there is no certainty that a Palestinian state would emerge during the tenure of President George W. Bush.

For many in the Palestinian camp this statement was regarded as a slap in the face for Abbas, and raised much concern about the future of negotiations. This was proof to them that the American administration was giving up on the two-state vision and on efforts to reach a final status agreement.

The summit also appeared to have been forced. On the eve of the summit, Rice tried to downplay expectations. S., a Palestinian journalist from Ramallah, commented on the Secretary's visit with an Arab idiom - "you left the same way you came over," or in other words, Rice's visit was unnecessary.

Rice promised to return and that the American efforts to renew the negotiations would continue, but for most in the Palestinian leadership this was merely keeping up appearances. In their view, the Americans were going through the motions to appease the Arab world in order to receive support in Iraq, and to appease the European Union so that the Quartet's unity would continue.

And yet, the prevalent approach in Abbas' circle is that the unity government must be formed. Abbas has a new ally - Ismail Haniyeh. Immediately after Monday's summit Abbas even bothered to update Haniyeh on its outcome.

Olmert's statements and Rice's insinuations that there would be no cooperation with the new Palestinian government is less critical than the need to avoid a civil war. The chairman's men insist that once the government is formed, Salam Fayad would be Finance Minister, Ziyad abu-Amar foreign minister, and Hamas would not have a majority - leaving Israel and the U.S. in a much more difficult position in their attempts to persuade the European Union to uphold its economic boycott against the Palestinians.

In Abbas' view, the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit and observing the cease fire would also bring Israel to agree to renew negotiations. "What's your alternative?" asks the senior Palestinian official.

"Let's say Olmert refused to talk to the Rais (chairman Abbas) because he formed a unity government. Then what? Will the Palestinians turn Zionist? A unity government is also your preferable option, because a Palestinian civil war will not generate peace and security for the Israelis." "[You see, Abbas' main concern is peace and security for the Israelis.]

Latest From Riverbend

The Rape of Sabrine...

"It takes a lot to get the energy and resolution to blog lately. I guess it’s mainly because just thinking about the state of Iraq leaves me drained and depressed. But I had to write tonight.

As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat), showing Americans how to get out of debt. Her guest speaker is telling a studio full of American women who seem to have over-shopped that they could probably do with fewer designer products. As they talk about increasing incomes and fortunes, Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman, is on Al Jazeera telling how Iraqi security forces abducted her from her home and raped her. You can only see her eyes, her voice is hoarse and it keeps breaking as she speaks. In the end she tells the reporter that she can’t talk about it anymore and she covers her eyes with shame.

She might just be the bravest Iraqi woman ever. Everyone knows American forces and Iraqi security forces are raping women (and men), but this is possibly the first woman who publicly comes out and tells about it using her actual name. Hearing her tell her story physically makes my heart ache. Some people will call her a liar. Others (including pro-war Iraqis) will call her a prostitute- shame on you in advance......

They abducted her from her house in an area in southern Baghdad called Hai Al Amil. No- it wasn’t a gang. It was Iraqi peace keeping or security forces- the ones trained by Americans? You know them. She was brutally gang-raped and is now telling the story. Half her face is covered for security reasons or reasons of privacy. I translated what she said below.

“I told him, ‘I don’t have anything [I did not do anything].’ He said, 'You don’t have anything?’ One of them threw me on the ground and my head hit the tiles. He did what he did- I mean he raped me. The second one came and raped me. The third one also raped me. [Pause- sobbing] I begged them and cried, and one of them covered my mouth. [Unclear, crying] Another one of them came and said, 'Are you finished? We also want our turn.' So they answered, ‘No, an American committee came.’ They took me to the judge......

I look at this woman and I can’t feel anything but rage. What did we gain? I know that looking at her, foreigners will never be able to relate. They’ll feel pity and maybe some anger, but she’s one of us. She’s not a girl in jeans and a t-shirt so there will only be a vague sort of sympathy. Poor third-world countries- that is what their womenfolk tolerate. Just know that we never had to tolerate this before. There was a time when Iraqis were safe in the streets. That time is long gone. We consoled ourselves after the war with the fact that we at least had a modicum of safety in our homes. Homes are sacred, aren’t they? That is gone too......

Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost. You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys. You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated. You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out and verified your atrocities behind prison walls as well as the ones we see in our streets. You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power and hailed them as Iraq’s first democratic government. You lost when a gruesome execution was dubbed your biggest accomplishment. You lost the respect and reputation you once had. You lost more than 3000 troops. That is what you lost America. I hope the oil, at least, made it worthwhile."