Iraqi Air Farce ...مهزلة "القوة" الجوية العراقية

""The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) plans to purchase as many as 18 Cessna 172 Skyhawk aircraft for introductory pilot training. The US Air Force (USAF) Aeronautical Systems Center released a notice on 3 August announcing a contract worth as much as USD10.5 million for the IQAF trainer aircraft, plus one year of contractor logistics support services in Iraq. Since being re-established in 2004 with just 35 pilots, the IQAF has continued to expand rapidly.."
Iraqi Air Force seeks Cessna 172s for training August 21, 2007 (Paid subscription)

And within two weeks, the first 'gift' fighter bomber arrives for the now mighty Iraqi Air Force...."

Osama’s “Trotskyite” Experiment

By Kurt Nimmo

".......In Bushzarro world, as time passes and each of us grow older, Osama gets younger and miraculously overcomes debilitating disease. Suddenly he is preaching about the evils of climate change and imperialism, same as any self-respecting and card-carrying Green party member. Osama reads Chomsky and Blum from his Afghan cave, books no doubt ordered from Amazon, as we know all cave-dwelling terrorists have Wi-Fi connections on their laptops and UPS delivers anywhere, even Jalalabad.

Meanwhile, neocon wunderkind, Walid Phares, begs to differ, if only a little. “The Trotskyite ‘experiment’ of Bin Laden of his ‘anarcho-Jihadist’ advisors may not have been the greatest idea: Because as one can see from the reactions, many of the purest Jihadists can’t absorb the Marxian theories of Global Corporations. They only seek the good old Jihad against the Kuffar. They have gotten too much Wahhabism in their madrassa ’schooling.’ Their doctrinaires are Hassan al Banna and Sayid Qutb, not Noam Chomsky… or some Harvard elitist,” the darling of Benador Associates writes. In short, let’s get back to hating Muslims for their religion, the hallmark of any neocon worth his salt, and knock off all the western ideological mumbo jumbo......."

What Would I Do Without You, Osama?

The General Lies

By Robert Scheer

"Of course, Gen. David Petraeus predicts success in the Iraq war. What wonders couldn’t generals achieve with more troops and more time? The battle is always going well until it is lost, and then they blame defeat on the politicians and the public......."

Syrian source: Israel did not target Hezbollah weapons

Al-Manar

"12/09/2007 A Syrian source refuted the US story about Israeli jets targeting Hezbollah weapon cashes on the Syrian territory last Thursday. The source told al-Manar that this claim is totally wrong, misleading and ridiculous. It aims at putting aside the goals of this aggressive act. The Syrian source added that the details of the Israeli strike and jets having to drop their fuel tanks and ammunitions because of being confronted by the air defenses, all these facts assure that this claim is baseless.

A US Defense official had earlier said that Israel carried out an air strike well inside Syria last week, apparently to send Damascus a message not to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Israelis are trying to tell the Syrians: 'Don't support a resurgence of Hezbollah in Lebanon,' he said. The Times quoted sources as saying that Israel struck at least one target in northeastern Syria, but could not provide more details. The most likely target was, according to some administration officials, "weapon caches sent by Iran to Hezbollah through Syria." The New York Times quoted a Defense Department official as saying the IAF struck at least one target in northeastern Syria, but said it was unclear what the target was and what was the extent of the damage.

The US defense official told the New York Times that recent Israeli reconnaissance flights over Syria revealed possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials estimate might have been supplied with material from North Korea.

Syrian Complaint
Meanwhile, Syria's envoy the United Nations said Wednesday that Damascus was reserving the right to respond to the air strike at the time and manner of its choosing.

"The Syrian response has not yet come," said Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari, in an interview with BBC Arabic. Syria complained to the UN about "aggression and violation of sovereignty," al-Jaafari said. According to Haaretz, it is still difficult to assess what the ultimate response of the Syrians would be. "On the one hand, the Syrians warn of the consequences and are angry that no one seems interested in condemning Israel's illegal raid. On the other hand, they are not talking about the strategic target that was bombed in their territory. If they admit it, this would be a troubling sign that they are weighing a serious response," Haaretz said. The ambassador said Damascus made its complaint in two letters to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council. The letters said the Israel Air Force action violated the 1974 disengagement agreement that was reached after the 1973 war. On, Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem confirmed that Israeli warplanes dropped live ammunition on Syrian soil, adding that Israel's decision not to comment was "appropriate." "Israel used live ammunition in a deliberate and hostile attack," Mouallem said at a news conference during an official visit to Turkey."

The Fall Meeting & the Trend to Focus on Aid Rather than Rights

by Nadia Hijab
and Diana Buttu

Institute for Palestine Studies

"The timing and substance of the international meeting called by US President George Bush in his 16 July 2007 speech on the Middle East may end up focusing on aid at the expense of a political solution. This moves further away from the 1991 Madrid international conference and the bilateral Oslo 1993-2000 negotiations and reinforces the trend that was so visible at the 2005 London meeting. This approach has not worked before and is unlikely to work today....."

Imperial Autism

by Tom Engelhardt

"The former Cockney flower-girl-turned-elegant- English-speaker Eliza Doolittle caught something of our moment in these lyrics from My Fair Lady: "Oh, words, words, words, I'm so sick of words…. Is that all you blighters can do?" Of course, all she had to do was be Pygmalion to a self-involved language teacher. We've had to bear with the bloviating of almost every member of Congress, the full-blast PR apparatus of the White House, and two endless days of congressional testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, not to speak of the flood of newspaper, radio, and TV stories about all of the above and the bevy of experts who are hustled out to do the horse-race assessments of how the general and ambassador performed, whether they "bought" time for the president, and the like.

And – count on it – that's just the beginning.......

To grasp the Petraeus moment, you really have to re-imagine official Washington as a set of drunks behind the wheels of so many SUVs tearing down a well-populated city avenue – and all of them are on their cell phones. They hardly notice the bodies bouncing off the fenders. For them, the world is Washington-centered; all interests that matter are American ones. Nothing else exists, not really. Think of this as a form of imperial autism and the Petraeus moment as the way in which the White House and official Washington have, for a brief time, blotted out the world. "

Surging Toward Iran

The surge is buying time – for what?

By Justin Raimondo

"Amid all the back-and-forth between the administration and its critics about how to measure "progress" in Iraq, what gets lost is the question asked by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) at the Petraeus-Crocker hearings the other day:

"I have to ask this question: where is this going? … Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we are doing now. For what? The president said let's buy time. Buy time? For what?"

Petraeus is surely cooking the books, as the MoveOn.org folks aver in their great New York Times ad – nice to see they're (finally!) growing a pair – but this avoids the larger question: what is the administration really up to in Iraq? They're hanging on, "buying time," as the pundits ceaselessly report – but what do they hope to accomplish?

If you go through the Petraeus report, the key passages are those that deal with Iran......."

Manufacturing Consent for Attacking Syria: Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria

Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows possible Syrian nuclear installation stocked by North Korea, Israeli Arab newspaper claims target of alleged raid last week was Syrian missile base financed by Iran

"Israel believes that North Korea has been supplying Syria and Iran with nuclear materials, a Washington defense official told the New York Times. “The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” he said......."

Manufacturing Consent for Attacking Iran: The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border

British soldiers return to action as tensions between US and Iran grow

"British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war".

In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.

The UK operation, in which up to 350 troops are involved, has come at the request of the Americans, who say that elements close to the Iranian regime have stepped up supplies of weapons to Shia militias in recent weeks in preparation for attacks inside Iraq.

The deployment came within a week of British forces leaving Basra Palace, their last remaining base inside Basra city, and withdrawing to the airport for a widely expected final departure from Iraq. Brigadier James Bashall, commander of 1 Mechanised Brigade, based at Basra said: "We have been asked to help at the Iranian border to stop the flow of weapons and I am willing to do so. We know the points of entry and I am sure we can do what needs to be done. The US forces are, as we know, engaged in the 'surge' and the border is of particular concern to them."......."

The gains of Petraeus only delay hopes of peace for Iraq

Simon Jenkins
Wednesday September 12, 2007
The Guardian

".......The Iraqi government is now propped up by corruption and US protection, and has no interest in another supposed reconciliation with de facto separatist Sunnis. Nor have the implications of Kurdish autonomy been addressed. Does the US really want to police the competing claims to Kirkuk's oilfields and Kurdistan's border with Turkey? Does it want to sponsor another Israel? Does it really intend to stay indefinitely in the hope of "doing" some undefined "job"?

Iraq is not a military war. It is anarchy, order suspended through a hamfisted intervention in another country's affairs. The country needs help, but cannot possibly use it as long as the landscape is one of bombs, bullets, militias, refugees, gangsters, thieves and assassins, today's accompaniments of what is cynically called "liberal intervention". Any fool can create a wilderness and call it peace.

Petraeus's gains do not hasten peace, they only postpone it."

Hizbullah delivers

In contrast to Lebanon's floundering government, Hizbullah maintains its support in the areas it controls with impressive, if ruthless efficiency

By Ramsay Short
The Guardian

".......I was in Beirut's southern suburb, Dahieh, meeting a woman who had lost her home to an Israeli missile during the war in Lebanon last summer.

For her, the presidential elections would come and go with few if any effects on her daily life. What was important to her was when and how she would be able to move back in to her house.

Abir is a mother of four, and an enthusiastic supporter of Hizbullah - like almost everyone from Dahieh. Sipping coffee in her mother's house in the neighbourhood of Mouawad, she is extremely positive:

"If I supported Hizbullah before 20,000 times, now I support them 100,000 times. These are my people, they are me, they are my family."......"

Dead in the Water
By Steve Bell, The Guardian

Bipartisan consensus pushes for Iran attack

by Larry Chin

Global Research, September 12, 2007

"The 2008 US presidential dance has already been decided: the winner will be a corrupt elite warmonger who will intensify and expand Bush-Cheney’s criminal "war on terrorism" into Iran and beyond, and with the full support of an acquiescent US populace. The latest rhetoric from Bush, and the candidates, spells this out in black and white.

"First Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Iran".......

What is clear is that the next US president will not only continue but also expand the "war on terrorism" and the "war against radical extremists" into Iran, and beyond. If Bush-Cheney engineer a "next 9/11," crushing political and popular resistance, the war will come even sooner. Both Republican and Democratic Party factions are hell-bent on pushing the same post-Peak Oil geostrategic control agenda, the same false flag terror, and the same propaganda.

With an empire and its survival at stake, the most "unthinkable," apocalyptic and criminal options are "on the table." And the table is getting smaller."

Partners in Crime Against the Palestinians

Sending Messages

A Comment by Tony Sayegh

It has now been confirmed that Israeli bombers penetrated deep into northern Syria, close to the Turkish border, and bombed some "target." The bombing left a "big hole in the desert" as CNN put it.

There was speculation that weapons from Iran and destined for Hizbullah "may have been targeted."

The U.S. military is "happy to have Israel carry the message to both Syria and Iran that they can get in and out and strike when necessary."

Obviously USrael has sent a message to Syria. A part of the message is that USraeli jets have the capability to jam the Russian air defense system recently sold to Syria. How else were the jets able to enter from the Mediterranean and reach all the way to eastern Syria? Why was this new, sophisticated, system unable to shoot down any of the jets?

Another message to Syria is to abandon Iran and to join the rest of the Arab puppet regimes in their surrender conference in New York this fall. This was the explicit message from the Arab League to Syria.

In the war of messages, was the rocket attack by Islamic Jihad on an Israeli army base north of Gaza, which left some 60 Israeli soldiers wounded, also a message? Considering that Islamic Jihad has strong ties to Syria and keeping in mind that this was by far the highest toll inflicted by the Palestinian resistance in a single rocket attack, was this a reply message from Syria? Coming only a few days after the Israeli attack on Syria, the timing might not be coincidental.

Syria in the past chose others (such as Hizbullah) in delivering reply messages to Israel rather than reply directly. Is part of the reply message that the Palestinians now have more effective rockets with more accuracy, payload and longer range? After all the base hit is near Ashkelon (contrary to the IOF report) which is not that close to the Gaza border.

I have the feeling that the two events are interconnected. Stay tuned, because we are in the early stages of provocation which will likely culminate in an all-out war in the months ahead.

Sources confirm Israeli airstrike on Syria

"(CNN) -- Israeli aircraft carried out an airstrike inside Syria last week, possibly targeting weapons that were destined for Hezbollah militants, according to sources in the region and in the United States.....

But the sources told CNN the military operation, which happened Wednesday into Thursday, may have also involved Israeli ground forces who directed the airstrike which "left a big hole in the desert" in Syria.

The strike may have targeted Hezbollah weapons coming into Syria or transiting through the country from Iran -- a pattern over the past three or four years which has occurred without any retaliation or action taken against it -- the sources said.

The Israeli government is very happy with the success of the operation, the sources said.

Sources in the U.S. government and military confirmed to CNN's Barbara Starr that the airstrike did happen, and that they are happy to have Israel carry the message to both Syria and Iran that they can get in and out and strike when necessary......."

EXCLUSIVE Report From Iraq: U.S. Fueling Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

Contributed by Datta

"When General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke of success stories in Iraq during their congressional testimony, they largely focused on the situation in Anbar province where former Sunni insurgents are now fighting Al Qaeda alongside U.S. troops. Critics of the military's policy in Anbar have accused the U.S. of fueling the sectarian civil war in Iraq by funding former Sunni insurgents. It is widely known the U.S. is paying the former insurgent forces but General Petreaus denied the U.S. was directly arming them.

In a U.S. broadcast exclusive, we air a report from Anbar by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise films. This piece is excerpted from an expose that aired on Al Jazeera English [ Watch full report: Part I || Part II ] It was produced by Rick Rowley, David Enders and Hiba Dawood, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting......"

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

By Naser Jafari