Archive for the 'General' Category

Iran’s rare treasures under threat

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

In his quiet office at the British Museum, among the portraits of long-dead explorers and copies of 3,000-year-old inscriptions, one of the greatest experts on the archaeology of the Middle East has a series of maps of Iranian nuclear installations spread out across his desk.

John Curtis’s maps fill him with foreboding: because they show how many of Iran’s nuclear plants are perilously close to ancient cultural sites. Natanz, home to a uranium enrichment plant, is renowned for its exquisite ceramics; Isfahan, home to a uranium conversion plant, is also a Unesco world heritage site and was regarded in the 16th century as the most beautiful city on earth.

Other nuclear installations lie close to Shiraz, dubbed ‘the city of roses and nightingales’, famous for the tombs of medieval poets; Persepolis, the great palace of King Darius, whose ruins are still magnificent; and the 6th century BC tomb of Cyrus the Great, the Persian ruler who was said to have been buried in a coffin of gold.

Four years ago Dr Curtis was warning that war in Iraq would be a disaster for some of the oldest and most important sites in the world. He has since seen his worst fears confirmed: the site of ancient Babylon became an American military base; thousands of objects are missing from the national museum at Baghdad; and looted artefacts have been illicitly excavated and smuggled out of the country.

Now Dr Curtis dreads seeing history repeated, this time through the escalating threat from the United States against Iran. ‘Any kind of military activity whatever in Iran, whether aerial bombing or land invasion, would inevitably have the gravest consequences, not only for its people but for its cultural heritage – which should be a matter of concern not just to Iranians but to the whole world,’ he said.
thenews.com.pk

Iran, Saudi alert to “enemy” plots: Ahmadinejad

Monday, March 5th, 2007

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran and Saudi Arabia agree that Muslim nations should be alert to efforts by enemies to divide their ranks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said after his first official trip to the kingdom, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

Ahmadinejad met Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday after which Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal said Sunni Muslim heavyweight Saudi Arabia and predominantly Shi’ite Iran agreed to fight the spread of sectarian strife.

A Saudi official had said the kingdom would seek Iran’s help to prevent tensions in Iraq erupting into full-blown civil war.

“Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are aware of the enemies’ conspiracies, and while condemning these conspiracies, we invite all Muslims to be aware of the enemies’ plans with wisdom,” Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran’s ISNA news agency as saying.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran are among the most influential nations of their respective branches of Islam. U.S.-allied Arab governments fear Iran is gaining influence in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.

“About the Palestinian and Iraqi issues, we had discussions in detail. In many cases, we had a common point of view. Both countries oppose the enemies’ control over the Islamic region.”
news.yahoo.com

It’s sort of amusing how much news has come out in the past week that seems designed to refute the Seymour Hersh article point for point about Saudi Arabia throwing cash around to deliberately provoke ‘sectarian strife.’ And the Pakistanis similarly encouraging al Qaeda activity in Iran with US blessing (and bucks) while being ceremoniously scolded for not doing enough to fight al Qaeda.

Afghan, US forces target Pak post

Monday, March 5th, 2007

PESHAWAR: The Afghan Army and US forces based in Afghanistan attacked a joint post of the Pakistan Army and paramilitary Frontier Corps at Lowara Mandi in North Waziristan agency on the Pak-Afghan border while US gunship helicopters were noticed violating PakistanŐs airspace during the past two days.
thenews.com

Pakistan: No entry for coalition troops

Monday, March 5th, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan vehemently denied Saturday the U.S. military’s claim that coalition forces in Afghanistan have the authority to pursue Taliban fleeing across the border into Pakistani territory.

“There is no authorization for hot pursuit of terrorists into our territory,” Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, spokesman for the Pakistan Army, told The Associated Press on Saturday. “Whatever actions are needed to fight terrorism, we are taking them.”
thestate.com

Cambodia anyone?

Sects slice up Iraq as US troops ‘surge’ misfires

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

guardian.co.uk

au contraire. The surge is right on target because the purpose IS to slice up Iraq…

The Golden Dome Revisited

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

Who Benefits?
Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
February 24, 2006

The most important question to ask regarding the bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on the 22nd is: who benefits?

Prior to asking this question, let us note the timing of the bombing. The last weeks in Iraq have been a PR disaster for the occupiers.

First, the negative publicity of the video of British soldiers beating and abusing young Iraqis has generated a backlash for British occupation forces they’ve yet to face in Iraq.

Indicative of this, Abdul Jabbar Waheed, the head of the Misan provincial council in southern Iraq, announced his councils’ decision to lift the immunity British forces have enjoyed, so that the soldiers who beat the young Iraqis can be tried in Iraqi courts. Former U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer had issued an order granting all occupation soldiers and western contractors immunity to Iraqi law when he was head of the CPA. but this province has now decided to lift that so the British soldiers can be investigated and tried under Iraqi law.

This deeply meaningful event, if replicated around Iraq, will generate a huge rift between the occupiers and local governments. A rift which, of course, the puppet government in Baghdad will be unable to mend.

The other huge event which drew Iraqis into greater solidarity with one another was more photos and video aired depicting atrocities within Abu Ghraib at the hands of U.S. occupation forces.

The inherent desecration of Islam and shaming of the Iraqi people shown in these images enrages all Iraqis.

In a recent press conference, the aforementioned Waheed urged the Brits to allow members of the provincial committee to visit a local jail to check on detainees; perhaps Waheed is alarmed as to what their condition may be after seeing more photos and videos from Abu Ghraib.

Waheed also warned British forces that if they didn’t not comply with the demands of the council, all British political, security and reconstruction initiatives will be boycotted.

Basra province has already taken similar steps, and similar machinations are occurring in Kerbala.

Basra and Misan provinces, for example, refused to raise the cost of petrol when the puppet government in Baghdad, following orders from the IMF, decided to recently raise the cost of Iraqi petrol at the pumps several times last December.

The horrific attack which destroyed much of the Golden Mosque generated sectarian outrage which led to attacks on over 50 Sunni mosques. Many Sunni mosques in Baghdad were shot, burnt, or taken over. Three Imans were killed, along with scores of others in widespread violence.

This is what was shown by western corporate media.

As quickly as these horrible events began, they were called to an end and replaced by acts of solidarity between Sunni and Shia across Iraq.

This, however, was not shown by western corporate media.

The Sunnis where the first to go to demonstrations of solidarity with Shia in Samarra, as well as to condemn the mosque bombings. Demonstrations of solidarity between Sunni and Shia went off over all of Iraq: in Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Kut, and Salah al-Din.

Thousands of Shia marched shouting anti-American slogans through Sadr City, the huge Shia slum area of Baghdad, which is home to nearly half the population of the capital city. Meanwhile, in the primarily Shia city of Kut, south of Baghdad, thousands marched while shouting slogans against America and Israel and burning U.S. and Israeli flags.

Baghdad had huge demonstrations of solidarity, following announcements by several Shia religious leaders not to attack Sunni mosques.

Attacks stopped after these announcements, coupled with those from Sadr, which IÍll discuss shortly.

Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, shortly after the Golden Mosque was attacked, called for “easing things down and not attacking any Sunni mosques and shrines,” as Sunni religious authorities called for a truce and invited everyone to block the way of those trying to generate a sectarian war.

Sistani’s office issued this statement: “We call upon believers to express their protest … through peaceful means. The extent of their sorrow and shock should not drag them into taking actions that serve the enemies who have been working to lead Iraq into sectarian strife.”

Shiite religious authority Ayatollah Hussein Ismail al-Sadr warned of the emergence of a sectarian strife “that terrorists want to ignite between the Iraqis” by the bombings and said, “The Iraqi Shiite authority strenuously denied that Sunnis could have done this work.”

He also said, “Of course it is not Sunnis who did this work; it is the terrorists who are the enemies of the Shiites and Sunni, Muslims and non Muslims. They are the enemies of all religions; terrorism does not have a religion.”

He warned against touching any Sunni Mosque, saying, “our Sunni brothers’ mosques must be protected and we must all stand against terrorism and sabotage.” He added: ‘The two shrines are located in the Samarra region, which [is] predominantly Sunni. They have been protecting, using and guarding the mosques for years, it is not them but terrorism that targeted the mosques.”

He ruled out the possibility of a civil war while telling a reporter, “I don’t believe there will a civil or religious war in Iraq; thank God that our Sunni and Shiite references are urging everyone to not respond to these terrorist and sabotage acts. We are aware of their attempts as are our people; Sistani had issued many statements [regarding this issue] just as we did.”

The other, and more prominent Sadr, Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has already lead two uprisings against occupation forces, held Takfiris [those who regard other Muslims as infidels], Baathists, and especially the foreign occupation responsible for the bombing attack on the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

Sadr, who suspended his visit to Lebanon and cancelled his meeting with the president there, promptly returned to Iraq in order to call on the Iraqi parliament to vote on the request for the departure of the occupation forces from Iraq.

“It was not the Sunnis who attacked the shrine of Imam Al-Hadi, God’s peace be upon him, but rather the occupation [forces] and Baathists, God damn them. We should not attack Sunni mosques. I ordered Al-Mahdi Army to protect the Shi’i and Sunni shrines.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, urged Iraqi Shia not to seek revenge against Sunni Muslims, saying there were definite plots “to force the Shia to attack the mosques and other properties respected by the Sunni. Any measure to contribute to that direction is helping the enemies of Islam and is forbidden by sharia.”

Instead, he blamed the intelligence services of the U.S. and Israel for being behind the bombs at the Golden Mosque.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that those who committed the attack on the Golden Mosque “have only one motive: to create a violent sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites in order to derail the Iraqi rising democracy from its path.”

Well said Mr. Blair, particularly when we keep in mind the fact that less than a year ago in Basra, two undercover British SAS soldiers were detained by Iraqi security forces whilst traveling in a car full of bombs and remote detonators.
uruknet.info

Pakistan tests nuke-capable missile

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday successfully test-fired a short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the military said, two weeks ahead of peace talks with arch rival neighboring India.

The launch of the Haft-II Abdali missile, which has a range of 120 miles, was conducted from an unspecified location inside Pakistan, the military said.

The Abdali is considered capable of being fitted with a nuclear warhead.
cnn.com

Well Iran and Afghanistan are right next-door too.

Settlers launch first drive in U.S. to sell homes

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

A campaign launched this week to convince American Jews to buy homes in the West Bank is the first organized sales effort of its kind, activists from both sides of the political spectrum said.

Amana, the settlement arm of Gush Emunim, hosted housing fairs in New York and New Jersey this week and plans are underway for similar events in Miami and Chicago.

Never before have Diaspora Jews been asked to directly underwrite settlement expansion by either buying or financing the building of West Bank homes. But spurred by what they have termed a successful start, Amana has set its sights on Jewish communities throughout the U.S., with hopes of expanding the new and somewhat surprising trend.

About eight homes in settlements, including Kiryat Arba and Karnei Shomron, were sold this week and dozens of American buyers are “seriously considering” purchasing in the coming weeks, representatives of Amana told AngloFile.

Ranging in price from $93,000 to $165,000, the homes are to be rented to settlers for $250 to $400 a month and are as being marketed as a way to “leave your thumbprint on the destiny of Israel.” The campaign essentially allows Israeli settlers, who will pay the American owners monthly rent, the opportunity to live in homes they would not have been able to afford to buy.
haaretz.com

Iran to Build Fence Along Pakistan Border: Iran-Pakistan Border Dispute

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

Iran has started building a 700 kilometre-long concrete wall along its border with Pakistan. Pakistan’s neighbour to the west has also increased patrols along the border with Pakistan and has stepped up checks on pilgrims crossing the international border.

In addition, the border’s zero point had not been opened for 17 hours causing a severe shortage of food and other essential items in the colonies alongside the border.

This stringent security comes in the wake of a bomb blast in Zahidan on February 17, which killed thirteen people, including nine Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials, and another incident in which four people were killed, and two kidnapped from along the Pak-Iran border. The construction of the 3-foot thick and 10-foot high wall entails the use of extra strength steel rods.

Iran Asks Pakistan to Vacate Border Town

Iranian border security forces have given an ultimatum to the residents of a Pakistani border town to vacate the town within 10 days, Daily Times has learnt.

Residents of the Sorap locality in the Mand area of western Mekran region in Balochistan province told a group of journalists visiting the area that they did not know why the Iranian border forces were asking them to leave their homes.

The people of Mand, which falls in the constituency of Federal Minister Zobaida Jalal, depend on edible goods illegally coming from Iran.

‘Our livelihood hugely depends on goods from Iran, but that does not mean that Iran should be dictating us to leave our homes,’,said Qaim Khan, a local elder.

Balochistan government spokesman Raziq Bugti said he did not know about any such warning from the Iranian side.
india-defence.com

US Forces Pursue Taliban Into Pakistan”
WASHINGTON (AP) – American forces on Afghanistan’s eastern border routinely fire upon and pursue Taliban enemies into Pakistan, defense officials told Congress on Thursday, offering the most detailed description to date of U.S. action in that region.

They said the Taliban threat is greater now than it was a year ago, and they agreed that the Pakistan government can and must do more to get at the large, ungoverned sectors along the remote Pakistan border that are safe havens for Taliban insurgents.

‘We have all the authorities we need to pursue, either with (artillery) fire or on the ground, across the border,’ said Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Lute, who is chief operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said soldiers can respond if there is an imminent threat. But he said they would have to seek the Pakistan government’s permission to go after a munitions factory further inside the Pakistani border.

The discussion came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in an effort to urge a more aggressive Pakistani effort to hunt al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who are expected to increase attacks into Afghanistan this spring.

The Pakistani military has been more aggressive in going after al-Qaida than the Taliban, who are more protected by tribal leaders in some of the border regions.

I’d say the fence is to keep the US out as well…

Obama calls Iranian regime a threat

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday blamed Bush administration failings in Iraq for strengthening the strategic position of Iran, which he says must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Illinois senator said that means “direct engagement” with Iran similar to the meetings with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

“One of the most profound consequences of the administration’s failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran’s strategic position; reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region; and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril,” Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group.

The Bush administration recently altered its position, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying this week that the U.S. is willing to talk to Iran on security in Iraq.

Obama also emphasized in his speech his commitment to protecting the security of Israel, which he called “our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy.”

“Our job is to renew the United States’ efforts to … help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share that vision,” Obama said.

The speech was the second time in recent months that Obama has formally addressed foreign policy in his hometown of Chicago. In November, Obama called for a reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

But Obama focused on Iran Friday, calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime “a threat to all of us.”

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama said the world ‘not just the United States’ must stop Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

“While we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons,” Obama said.

Obama said Iranian nuclear weapons would destabilize the region and could set off a new arms race.
sfgate.com

At least 10 anti-fence activists wounded in Bil’in demonstration
At least 10 activists were wounded on Friday in clashes with security forces at the weekly protest against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Bil’in.

Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired rubber-tipped bullets at protesters who hurled stones at them. Protesters said soldiers also targeted youths who did not take part in the violent exchange.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian youths clashed with IDF soldiers near the Qalandiyah Refugee Camp roadblock just north of Jerusalem.

Two protesters were shot in their legs and were rushed to hospital to receive treatment.

Since they are called ‘actvists’ and ‘protestors’ I assume they are israeli.