Officials’ handling of the evidence of the September 11th attack has followed a clear pattern. The physical evidence most important to forensic analysis of the crime was destroyed or removed from the crime scene never to be seen again. Types of evidence not under the direct control of those officials were suppressed through a variety of means. These include photographs, video footage, and various once-public documents.{more}
The Destruction of Evidence from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center following the events of September 11, 2001, occurred, even though the criminal code requires that crime scene evidence be kept for forensic analysis. FEMA had steel recovered from the building rubble destroyed or shipped overseas before a serious investigation could take place. {more]
Ground Zero was the site of one of the largest evidence destruction operations in history. It was the scene of the mass murder of nearly 3000 people. Believing the official myth that Osama bin Laden’s cells of hijackersTwin Towers does little to diminish the importance of the remains of the towers and Building 7 as evidence, since the collapse of these three skyscrapers contradicts the entire history of engineered steel structures. Yet the remains of these buildings were systematically removed and destroyed, and their examination was rendered impossible.{more}
Part of the ‘official’ story is told below:
On September 11, 2001, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, with approval from Governor George Pataki, made the decision to reopen the Fresh Kills facility to accept the wreckage of the World Trade Center. The facility was the ideal location for this operation because it could be reached by land and water.
The Fresh Kills facility, which had closed in March 2001 after more than 50 years of operation, still had room to expand. However, the city wanted to return it to a wildlife refuge, and a park that offered high grassy hills, beautiful vistas and a clear view of the skyline of Manhattan. The World Trade Center was once at the center of the view toward the city. Of its 3,000 acres, 175 were secured on September 11, 2001, to receive the remains of the World Trade Center. Those acres became a New York Police Department crime scene while the other fields were left to return to a natural state.
The operation at Fresh Kills had three objectives: to find human remains, personal effects, and any evidence of the terrorist attack such as a highjacker’s box cutter, cell phones from the planes, and the black boxes.
For almost a year, the recovery team at the Fresh Kills facility sifted, sorted, and searched through 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center material. The staff never recovered a black box from the jets, a box cutter, or anything relating to the hijackers.
Recovered
4,257 pieces of human remains
54,000 personal effects—95% belonging to survivors, including 610 pieces of jewelry
$76,318.47 found loose in the fields
6 kilograms of narcotics
4,000 photos—found and delivered to Kodak Laboratories and NFL Films to be decontaminated and restored
1,358 destroyed vehicles processed: 102 pieces of fire apparatus, 61 police department vehicles, and 1,195 personal automobiles
Hundreds of airplane fragments
Several pieces of Auguste Rodin sculptures from the offices of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald
Thousands of rounds of unexploded ammunition
More - New York State Museum
That’s where I did Army basic training from Jan. 13 to March 8, 1969. Bliss, a misnomer for anybody who did sit-ups, push-ups and leg-lifts on its gravel parking lots when it still trained recruits and draftees, has become a crucial base for the war in Iraq.
Some 200,000 soldiers from there have deployed to Iraq the past seven years, according to The Associated Press. Fifty-one soldiers from Bliss died in Iraq, and thousands more wounded. Forty-one years ago, I left Fort Bliss sporting the black mosquito wings of a private on my sleeve and spent three months at Fort Meade, Md. Then I was shipped to Vietnam for 13 months.
Fort Bliss represents some sort of symbol for me. I did two six-week tours in Iraq for McClatchy Newspapers last year and the year before. And I entered the country, without benefit of visa, in February 1991 during the ground invasion of the Persian Gulf War.
So Bliss and Iraq ... Iraq and Bliss.
The symbol may be a spawl, a word I learned from an NCO in Baghdad last year. It refers to the metal that explodes in all directions inside a rig that’s been hit by a shaped charge. At the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, Americans may have suffered a spawl.
We know that more than 4,400 American troops have died there, including seven from our county, and tens of thousands were wounded. Several hundred thousand Iraqis were killed, and 2 million left the country.
What are we left with?
And was it worth it?
The easy answer is: too soon to tell.
Some 50,000 U.S. troops are still there until next year, supposedly to train Iraq’s military and police forces. Plus some special forces snake-eaters to hunt and kill insurgents.
But Iraq is a failing state. It’s not yet Somalia, but five months after an “election,” its people still don’t have a legitimate government. Sectarian violence is way down from 2006-2007, when Iraqis staggered to the brink of civil war, gazed into the abyss and lurched back.
The heralded “surge” helped. But after two tours, and two embeds—with the 10th Mountain Division in Kirkuk and with the 1st Infantry Division in Baghdad—I believe domestic forces played the pivotal role in reducing violence.
Especially if you count as “domestic” the payoff of hundreds of millions of U.S. government (taxpayer) dollars to Sunni insurgents to “awaken” and stop most of their ethnic cleansing of Shiites, Kurds and Christians.
Though Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence has dropped dramatically, killing continues—295 civilian deaths in August, according to Reuters, down from 396 in July. And the clan and tribal loyalties and rivalries, once brutally controlled by Saddam Hussein, have flared again.
If the definition of a government is a system that protects borders and provides an environment for its citizens to conduct the daily deals of living and working, Iraq is further from that now than before the 2003 invasion. Take just two staples: gasoline and electricity. Iraqis must queue for hours to fill their cars’ tanks when petrol is available; and electricity works for only a few hours a day countrywide, even in 130-degree heat.
Cui bono? The Latin legal phrase means “who benefits?”
Seven years after the invasion, it’s not the Iraqi people who have benefited. “I want them to leave but without lies,” says Jinan, a former reporter in the McClatchy Baghdad Bureau. “Just face the reality that says Americans do not care about Iraq. They (U.S. troops) just want to run away and leave the ruins behind them.”
It may be the dozens of mercenary private contractors who prowled, lawless, around the country for years on multimillion-dollar U.S. government (taxpayer) contracts. It may be those who stole the unaccounted-for $9 billion in U.S. government (taxpayer) funds, shipped in vacuum-sealed stacks of $100 bills in garage-sized containers. It may be those few lucky Iraqis who have helped put their nation fourth from the bottom on Transparency International’s annual list of corrupt countries.
But the biggest beneficiary from our spawl of blood and treasure has been, and will be, Iran. We need not go into detail about how Iraq’s Shiite neighbor influences so much that happens inside Iraq. It does. And as our military dwindles there, Iranian influence will only grow. And why not? They share a 900-mile-long border, just over half as long as ours with Mexico.
But was that the purpose of America’s first preemptive war of choice? Does that mean all those soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen laid down their lives so Tehran could cast its black burqa over a once-secular nation?
You tell me.
Basic at Bliss had its moments. One drill sergeant, a big surfer from SoCal, broke every rule in the book when, halfway through basic, he took another trainee and me in his VW over to Juarez. First time I ever drank tequila.
My dad, a special agent for the Santa Fe Railway, said he happened to be “in the neighborhood” (he was in Fort Worth, 540 miles from El Paso) and came to Bliss. A week before basic ended, we walked over the International Bridge and hit some Mexican night spots. He later tried to convince Mama that the Polaroids of the chiquitas he was dancing with onstage were cardboard cutouts.
That dog didn’t hunt.
But another memory intrudes on the good ones. On our last day of bivouac, a week camping rough in the White Sands Missile Range where we learned to fire our M-14s, we ran a three-mile course. Rifles were held at port arms, half an X across your chest, four inches from your waist.
My job on the run was to keep our column tight. After seven weeks of physical training, I was fit. I sprinted up and down the column, trying to make sure each soldier kept a five-meter interval. At the end of the line was Gomez, a short, still paunchy Texan.
Even after weeks of PT he was out of shape. He lagged behind—seven meters, 10 meters, 15. I kept my rifle diagonal and ran next to him, cussing like a drill sergeant.
Back in the barracks I’d helped him learn to tie his tie. I wrote a love letter for him in English. But on that freezing afternoon in the desert, all I thought about was the Army and the rest of the 275 men in the company.
As he gasped and sweated, I slowed and let him get ahead of me. Then with my sand-scarred right boot, I kicked him hard in the butt. “Move it!” I yelled. He stumbled in the dunes, cried out and then caught up.
As I ran up and down the column again, a spawl blew up inside me. I wondered what I had just lost.
And that’s what I wonder about Iraq today.
What have we lost?
Executive Editor Mike Tharp can be reached at (209) 385-2456 or mtharp@mercedsun-star.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/05/100162/america-is-leaving-the-ruins-behind.html?#ixzz0ymk8vjEp
What passes for business reporting in the United States is too often a series of breathless reports about the stock market. When the Dow rises precipitously, as it did today (Wednesday), the business press predicts an end to the Great Recession. When the stock market plummets, as it did last week, the Great Recession is said to be worsening.
Pay no attention. The stock market has as much to do with the real economy as the weather has to do with geology. Day by day there’s no relationship at all. Over time, weather and geology interact but the results aren’t evident for many years. The biggest impact of the weather is on peoples’ moods, as are the daily ups and downs of the market.
The real economy is jobs and paychecks, what people buy and what they sell. And the real economy—even viewed from a worldwide perspective—is as precarious as ever, perhaps more so.
Today’s rally was triggered by news that one of China’s official measures of its growth—its Purchasing Managers Index—rose. The index had been in decline for three straight months.
Why should an obscure measurement on the other side of the world cause stock markets in New York, London, and Frankfurt to rally? Because China is so large and its needs seemingly limitless that its growth has been about the only reliable source of global demand.
Many big American companies have been showing profits because they’re doing ever more business in China while cutting payrolls at home. American consumers aren’t buying much of anything because they’ve lost their jobs or are worried about losing them, and are still trying to get out from under a huge debt load (the latest figures show more consumer debt delinquent now than last year and a surge in personal bankruptcies). The U.S. housing market is growing worse, auto and retail sales are dropping, and the ranks of the jobless continue to swell.
Europe is in almost as much a mess. The problem there isn’t just or even mainly that Greece and other nations on the “periphery” have too much public debt. A bigger problem is European consumers aren’t buying nearly enough to generate more jobs. Unemployment remains high, and the trend is bad. Manufacturing growth there has slowed to its weakest pace in six months. Yet bizarrely, Europe’s large economies—Britain, Germany, and France—are paring back their public budgets. It’s exactly the wrong time, and a recipe for disaster.
Germany’s so-called “job miracle” (as Chancellor Angela Merkel calls it) is more mirage than miracle. Most of the gains in employment there have come from part-time jobs, often at low pay. Average annual net income per German employee continues to drop. This explains why domestic demand there is so sluggish and why Germany is desperately dependent on its exports of machinery and manufacturing components to Asia, especially China.
Meanwhile, Japan, now the world’s third-largest economy, is a basket case. Japanese consumers aren’t buying much of anything, and why would they? The country is still in the grip of a deflationary cycle that shows no end. Japanese consumers reason if they can buy it cheaper next week there’s no reason to buy now. Basically the only thing keeping Japan’s economy going are its exports of cars and electronic components to China.
Australia is booming, but look closely and you see the same buyer. Australia is making a boatload of money selling its minerals and raw materials to China (Australia is fast becoming one big Chinese mine shaft). The Brazilian economy is soaring. Why? Exports of wheat and cattle to China. Middle East oil producers are getting richer. Why? China’s insatiable thirst for oil.
Elsewhere around the globe the picture is as uncertain. Much of Pakistan is under water. Much of the rest of the Middle East is under tyrannical or corrupt regimes. Russia has suffered such a dry spell it’s hoarding wheat. Despite its wealthy few, India’s masses are still terribly poor.
The stock market could plunge tomorrow or the next day because the world’s economic fundamentals are so precarious.
The global economy cannot be sustained by one big, voracious nation—especially one that’s suffering bouts of civil unrest, actively repressing dissent, suffocating under a blanket of pollution and coping with other environmental hazards, and whose biggest companies are run by the state.
Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President Obama’s transition advisory board. His latest book is Supercapitalism.
© 2010 Robert Reich’s Blog All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/148060/
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\31\story_31-8-2010_pg4_9
]]>But Graber, a sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard, is now facing 16 years in prison, not for dangerous driving, but for a Youtube video he posted after receiving a speeding ticket.
The video, filmed with a camera mounted on Graber’s motorcycle helmet designed to record biking stunts rather than police abuse, shows a plain clothes officer jumping out of an unmarked car and pointing a pistol at the motorcyclist.
It does not portray the policeman in a positive light.
After he posted the video on Youtube, police raided Graber’s home, seized computers and put him in jail.
“The case is critical to the protection of democracy because I don’t think you can have a free country in which public officials are able to criminally prosecute people who film what they are doing,” David Rocah, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland who is representing Graber, said.
Wiretapping
Even though he had never been arrested before, Graber is being charged with illegal wiretapping and could face 16 years in jail.
“This is about shielding the policeman, a public servant, from journalistic scrutiny,” Steve Rendall, a media analyst with Freedom and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), told Al Jazeera.
The arrest happened in April and the trial is expected to begin later this year.
Rocah said his client “was charged under the wiretapping statute which prohibits taping oral communications without consent”.
The statute, which does not mention video recording, is not supposed to apply to “conversations in a colloquial context, but in a private context” Rocah told Al Jazeera.
The encounter happened on a public street and, according to Rocah, police officers - public officials tasked with protecting the public interest - should not be able to hide behind such rules to avoid scrutiny.
“The value of documenting what is happening cannot be over-stated,” he said.
Threat to privacy?
Supporters of the crack-down on filming police argue that citizen journalists pose a threat to privacy.
That is the logic Joseph Cassily, the prosecutor handling Graber’s case, is likely to make at the trial.
In media interviews, Cassily presented a scenario where police stopped someone on suspicion of drinking and driving, asking for a breath test, and a random passerby filmed the encounter, putting it on the internet without consent from the driver or the officer.
“Is there some interest in protecting private individuals who may be having a conversation with the police? Yes,” Rendall said.
“But in the end, I think that is out-weighed by the public’s right to know.”
“[Furthermore] you can’t walk through Washington Square [a public space in New York] without being in the view of dozens of video cameras run by the police.”
Recording ban
The wiretapping statute which bans “secret” recording of private conversations is legislated by the state of Maryland, not the US federal government.
Other US states, including Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts, have used similar laws against citizen journalists.
In 2007, police in Florida arrested Carlos Miller, after the journalist photographed the arrest of a woman.
Security forces around the world use video evidence [Reuters]
“They [police] told me to leave the area, saying it was a ‘private matter’ and I said ‘this is a public road’. They escorted me across the street and told me to keep moving. I had the right to be there and kept taking photos. They arrested me,” Miller said.
He was charged with a series of misdemeanors and like many Americans arrested for filming police, Miller was eventually acquitted in court.
The arrest prompted the reporter to start the blog Photography is Not a Crimewhere he has documented more than eight similar incidents.
But the idea of winning court battles against journalists may not be the reason security forces prosecute journalists with wiretapping laws and other methods.
Intimidating journalists
“The whole reason for these laws is to intimidate people from filming,” Rendall said.
And attempts to intimidate journalists into putting down their cameras reach far beyond the US.
In February the UK’s Guardian newspaper ran the headline “Photographer films his own ‘anti-terror’ arrest"for a story and video about a man who was held by police for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in the small town of Accrington.
Rocah points to the example of the post-election protests in Iran. “The regime completely shut down the traditional media,” he said.
“It was citizens’ video posted on the web that allowed the world to see what was happening.”
Barack Obama, the US president, went so far as to ask Twitter to hold-off on a maintenance operation because the social networking site was playing an important role in the protests.
Police assault
The most prominent US example of a citizen journalist filming police was arguably the case of Rodney King, a black man in Los Angeles who was assaulted by several police officers. His beating was filmed by a citizen standing at a nearby gas station.
Without video evidence, King, a convicted felon, may have stood little chance testifying against police officers in court.
The Rodney King case compounded anger at police who were perceived as racist [AFP]
But the video of King’s beating flashed across news screens and helped spark the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which left more than 50 people dead and caused about $1bn in property damage.
The dynamics of video-tapping have fundamentally changed since then.
“I think that technology is making the issue [of arrests] arise with increasing frequency because the ability to record is more widely distributed than it ever has been,” Rocah said.
The civil liberties lawyer, who believes the wiretapping law is unconstitutional and will eventually be struck down, says he is confident his client will be found not guilty.
Broader trends
But even if he is, this case is indicative of broader trends in media, and consequently, the exercise of power.
As technology outpaces the abilities of states to control the flow of information, governments in the US and beyond are cracking down on independent journalists.
“In the past, freedom of the press only really belonged to those who owned newspapers, TV stations or other major outlets,” Miller said.
Now information is more diffuse; history easier to record and technology easier to afford.
Direct evidence, including video of police abuses, is the easiest way to hold the powerful to account. And that may be exactly why security forces do not want to be caught on tape.
]]>The combined toll from the blast was 20 people killed, with at least four women and three children among the slain. At least 13 other civilians were also reported wounded, including a number of other children.
Pakistani intelligence officials say most of the “suspects” killed in the attacks were Afghans, but it is unclear how much evidence they had of wrongdoing. Large numbers of Afghan civilians have been living as refugees in the tribal areas since the 2001 US invasion.
The large numbers of civilians (700 in 2009 alone) killed in the US drone strikes has fueled considerable anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. When pressed during a previous visit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shrugged off concerns about the civilians, saying only “there’s a war going on.”
]]>The survey presented to Israeli leaders last week was conducted by pollster and strategist Stanley Greenberg and sponsored by America’s pro-Israeli organization, the Israel Project, Ha’aretz reported on Thursday.
The opinion poll revealed the number of Americans who think the US needs to support Israel dropped to 51 percent in July from 58 percent in June and 63 percent in August 2009.
On Tel Aviv’s commitment to peace, only 45 percent of Americans surveyed in July said they felt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was committed to the Middle East peace process.
Meanwhile, 39 percent responded that Netanyahu and his administration are not committed to seeking peace with the Palestinians.
The finding is a serious challenge for the rightist Netanyahu as a late 2007 poll indicated that 66 percent of American respondents believed the Israeli administration, then led by his predecessor Ehud Olmert, was committed to peace.
Conducting similar surveys in European countries, Greenberg said the data reflects the worst time for Israel with regard to German public opinion since 2008.
In Germany, 50 percent of the respondents said they had “very cold” or unfavorable feelings toward Israel, compared with 39 percent who said they experienced “cold” or “very cold” feelings toward Palestinians.
In Sweden, the situation was similar to that in Germany, with 49 percent saying their feelings toward Israel were “cold” or “very cold.”
In France, those sympathizing with Israel did not go beyond 24 percent and the number, though narrowly, was outweighed by 31 percent who said that felt “cold” or “very cold” feelings toward it.
MRS/MRS
http://www.presstv.com/detail/139300.html
2 - A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
3 - There are 9.2 million Americans that are unemployed who are not receiving an unemployment insurance check.
4 - In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
5 - According to one analysis, the United States has lost 10.5 million jobs since 2007.
6 - China’s trade surplus (much of it with the United States) climbed 140 percent in June compared to a year earlier.
7 - This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
8 - According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
9 - According to a recent poll conducted by Bloomberg, 71% of Americans say that it still feels like the economy is in a recession.
10 - Banks repossessed 269,962 U.S. homes during the second quarter of 2010, which was a new all-time record.
11 - Banks repossessed an average of 4,000 South Florida properties a month in the first half of 2010, up 83 percent from the first half of 2009.
12 - According to RealtyTrac, a total of 1.65 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the first half of 2010.
13 - The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes has sunk to a 13-year low.
14 - Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
15 - 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
16 - Back in 1950 each retiree’s Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree’s Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projectedthat there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.
17 - According to a new poll, six of 10 non-retirees believe that Social Security won’t be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.
18 - 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
19 - According to one survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.
20 - According to one recent survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
21 - The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index declined sharply to 52.9 in June. Most economists had expected that the figure for June would be somewhere around 62.
22 - Retail sales in the U.S. fell in June for a second month in a row.
23 - Vacancies and lease rates at U.S. shopping centers continued to get worse during the second quarter of 2010.
24 - Consumer credit in the United States has contracted during 15 of the past 16 months.
25 - During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.
26 - Things are now so bad in California that in the region around the state capital, Sacramento, there is now one closed business for every six that are still open.
27 - The state of Illinois now ranks eighth in the world in possible bond-holder default. The state of California is ninth.
28 - More than 25 percent of Americans now have a credit score below 599, which means that they are a very bad credit risk.
29 - On Friday, U.S. regulators closed down three banks in Florida, two in South Carolina and one in Michigan, bringing to 96 the number of U.S. banks to be shut down so far in 2010.
30 - The FDIC’s deposit insurance fund now has negative 20.7 billion dollars in it, which represents a slight improvement from the end of 2009.
31 - The U.S. federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year.
32 - According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.
33 - The M3 money supply plunged at a 9.6 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2010.
34 - According to a new poll of Americans between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.
35 - One study found that as of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
36 - The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
37 - The number of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line rose by about 15%between 2000 and 2006, and by 2008 over 30 million U.S. workers were earning less than $10 per hour.
38 - According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
39 - For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
40 - A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey has found that just 23% of American voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.
]]>Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is demonized in the western media. He is called an anti-Semite and the “new Hitler”. But if those claims are true, then why did the majority of Iran’s Jews vote for Ahmadinejad in recent presidential elections? Could it be that most of what we know about Ahmadinejad is just baseless rumor and propaganda? This excerpt appeared in an article by the BBC:
“(Ahmadinejad’s) office recently donated money for Tehran’s Jewish hospital. It is one of only four Jewish charity hospitals worldwide and is funded with money from the Jewish diaspora - something remarkable in Iran where even local aid organizations have difficulty receiving funds from abroad for fear of being accused of being foreign agents.”
When did Hitler ever donate money to Jewish hospitals? The Hitler analogy is a desperate attempt to brainwash Americans. It tells us nothing about what Ahmadinejad is really like.
The lies about Ahmadinejad are no different than the lies about Saddam Hussein or Hugo Chavez. The US and Israel are trying to create the justification for another war. That’s why the media credits Ahmadinejad with saying things that he never really said. He never said that he wanted to “wipe Israel off the map”. That’s another fiction. Author Jonathan Cook explains what the Iranian president really said:
“This myth has been endlessly recycled since a translating error was made of a speech Ahmadinejad delivered nearly two years ago. Farsi experts have verified that the Iranian president, far from threatening to destroy Israel, was quoting from an earlier speech by the late Ayatollah Khomeini in which he reassured supporters of the Palestinians that “the Zionist regime in Jerusalem” would “vanish from the page of time.”
He was not threatening to exterminate Jews or even Israel. He was comparing Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians with other illegitimate systems of rule whose time had passed, including the Shahs who once ruled Iran, apartheid South Africa and the Soviet empire. Nonetheless, this erroneous translation has survived and prospered because Israel and its supporters have exploited it for their own crude propaganda purposes.” ("Israel’s Jewish problem in Tehran”, Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada)
Ahmadinejad poses no threat to Israel or the United States. Like everyone else in the Middle East, he just wants a breather from US and Israeli aggression.
This is from Wikipedia:
“The U.S. State Department has made claims of discrimination in Iran against Jews. According to its study, Jews may not occupy senior positions in government and are prevented from serving in the judiciary and security services and from becoming public school heads. The study says that Jewish citizens are permitted to obtain passports and to travel outside the country, but they often are denied the multiple-exit permits normally issued to other citizens. Allegations made by the U.S. State Department have been condemned by Iranian Jews. The Association of Tehrani Jews said in a statement, “We Iranian Jews condemn claims of the US State Department on Iranian religious minorities, announced that we are fully free to perform our religious duties and we feel no restriction on performing our religious rituals.”
Who should we believe; the Jews who actually live Iran or the troublemaking US State Department?
There are 6 kosher butcher shops, 11 synagogues and numerous Hebrew schools in Tehran. Neither Ahmadinejad nor any other Iranian government official has made any attempt to close any these facilities down. Never. Iranian Jews are free to travel (or move) to Israel if they chose. They are not imprisoned by an occupying army. They are not deprived of food and medicine. Their children do not grow up with mental disorders brought on by the trauma of sporadic violence. Their families are not blown up by gunships lobbing rounds on the beaches. Their supporters are not crushed by bulldozers or shot in the head with rubber bullets. They are not gassed and beaten when they peacefully demonstrate for their civil liberties. Their leaders are not hunted down and killed in targeted assassinations.
Roger Cohen wrote a very thoughtful essay on the topic for the New York Times. He said:
“Perhaps I have a bias toward facts over words, but I say the reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran — its sophistication and culture — than all the inflammatory rhetoric. That may be because I’m a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran. Or perhaps I was impressed that the fury over Gaza, trumpeted on posters and Iranian TV, never spilled over into insults or violence toward Jews. Or perhaps it’s because I’m convinced the “Mad Mullah” caricature of Iran and likening of any compromise with it to Munich 1938 — a position popular in some American Jewish circles — is misleading and dangerous.” ("What Iran’s Jews Say”, Roger Cohen, New York Times)
Things aren’t perfect for Jews living in Iran, but they’re better than they are for Palestinians living in Gaza. Much better.
]]>It’s a military relationship that goes back two decades and, in light of Russia’s reluctance to provide the Iranians with advanced air-defense missile system to counter possible U.S. or Israeli airstrikes, is set to expand.
Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, reported that the factory for assembling and producing Iran’s Nasr-1 — Victory 1 — anti-ship missile was opened March 7.
The Nasr is identical to China’s C-704 anti-ship missile, Hewson says. Iran’s burgeoning defense industry, much of it controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been producing Chinese-designed anti-ship missiles such as the C-801 since the early 1990s.
The C-704, developed by China Aerospace Group, targets ships of 1,000-4,000 tons displacement and is the equivalent of the U.S. AGM-119 anti-ship missile. With a range of 106 miles and a 240-pound warhead, the C-704 has a kill probability of 95.7 percent.
The Iranians, possibly with Chinese assistance, have even developed improved versions such as the Noor, an upgraded version of China’s C-802, with a longer range than the original and over-the-horizon capabilities.
Indeed, Hewson observed that “Iran has gone further than China in fielding the C-802, taking what was previously a land- and ship-launched weapon and producing an air-launched version that can be carried by Mi-17 helicopters and fast-jet types.”
Over the years Iran has developed a range of anti-ship missile systems from the Chinese weapons that gives the Islamic Republic’s regular navy and the IRGC’s naval arm the capability to exert a considerable degree of control over waters in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
This is the area from which U.S. naval forces would strike if hostilities erupt.
On Saturday, the IRGC concluded its annual three-day Great Prophet exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point gateway to the Gulf and a key energy artery, in a show of defiance against the United States.
The Nasr is a medium-range weapon that can be launched from warships or shore batteries and its development and planned mass production has been trumpeted by Tehran at a time when Iran’s military forces are making preparations to counter possible attacks.
“In a methodical and deceptively modest manner China has helped Iran take charge of all its surrounding waters and this work between the two nations continues,” Hewson reported.
“Follow-on versions of the Nasr are being developed to include an air-launched variant.
“There are other cooperative tactical missile programs under way and China’s design bureaus have displayed several ‘export only’ weapons (such as the C-705 lightweight cruise missile) that would seem set to follow the established route into Iran,” Hewson added.
“With such a solid relationship established between the two countries it is not difficult to see why China has been reluctant to commit to the Western push for sanctions against Iran.”
China, ever hungry for energy sources to fuel its expanding economy, imports around 12 percent of its oil from Iran and seeks to secure Iranian natural gas through overland pipelines — another reason it has shown little enthusiasm for new U.N. sanctions on Iran.
Hewson said no Chinese envoys were seen at the opening of the Nasr factory conducted by Iran’s hard-line defense minister, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, but the event marked “another milestone in the continuing military/industrial bond between the two countries.”
Hewson observed that unlike Russia, China “has been very successful in offering Iran technology and capabilities that are actually wanted, as opposed to those that might be ‘nice to have.’
“A path has been found through the factions within Iranian officialdom (and its armed forces) to deliver products that build trust in Beijing. In return, China gains influence with Tehran that can be parlayed into access to Iran’s natural resources.”
While these Chinese-origin systems have provided Iran with invaluable missile technology, this has had little or no impact on the development of its ballistic missile capabilities.
“Iran’s strategic weapons can only (ultimately) involve it in a losing battle with the United States,’ Hewson concluded, “but its tactical weapons have already altered the regional balance of power in a much more practical way.”
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=134573
]]>It would have been modeled on a deal last year in which the United Arab Emirates pledged, in return for U.S. nuclear equipment and reactors, not to enrich uranium or extract plutonium from used reactor fuel—procedures that would provide material that could be used in a nuclear weapon.
The Obama administration has been eager to send a strong nonproliferation message, especially to Iran, which the United States and others accuse of covertly seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, but it has resisted international pressure to stop enriching uranium.
A UAE-style deal with Vietnam could have been used by the United States to push other countries for similar commitments not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel. Many countries, however, balk at what they consider an infringement on sovereignty. Countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have the right to enrich uranium for civilian use on their own soil under safeguards.
Two congressional aides familiar with the discussions said the Obama administration has concluded that it is unlikely to persuade Vietnam to agree to a UAE-style no-enrichment pledge. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. Another congressional aide, briefed by the administration, said the talks with Vietnam are in their final stages.
The Vietnam development was reported first by The Wall Street Journal.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley would not talk about specifics of the deal with Vietnam. He called the UAE nuclear accord the “gold standard” and noted that the UAE had decided “that it would forgo the right of enrichment that every country in the world has.”
“We certainly want to see other countries make that same kind of decision,” Crowley said.
Asked if the United States would agree to a deal that would allow Hanoi to keep its right to enrich, Crowley said: “If a country decides to pursue nuclear energy, and a country decides that it chooses to enrich on its own soil, then we would prospectively work with that country” to make sure its program would meet all international safeguards and work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Vuong Huu Tan, director of Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, said that “Vietnam does not plan to enrich uranium, which is a very sensitive issue.”
The United States and Vietnam signed an agreement in March meant to pave the way for U.S. companies to help build nuclear power plants. The countries are now negotiating a broader deal that would allow U.S. companies to enter Vietnam’s nuclear power sector.
Vietnamese officials say they also have signed nuclear energy cooperation agreements with Russia, China, France, South Korea, India and Argentina.
Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center think tank and a former Pentagon official, urged the White House to “step back and ask, ‘Does it make sense to be peddling nuclear cooperation as a way to make and influence friends there?’”
“This deal gives double standards a bad name. They need to slow down,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, then don’t lower your standards. What does that buy you? Nothing but trouble.”
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Department of State
Washington, DC 20001
Dear Secretary Clinton,
I am a retired US Army reserve colonel and a former US diplomat (deputy chief of mission at U.S. Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia) who resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.
I was one of twelve US citizens that were on the Gaza Flotilla. I have just returned to the United States from having been kidnapped and imprisoned by the Israeli government.
I appeal to you to institute a US investigation into the murder by Israeli military forces of American citizen Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old high school student on the Mavi Marmara ship.
I also ask that the United States demand the return of one US-flagged vessels that were seized in international waters in an act of international piracy by the Israeli military.
I ask that the State Department assist in the location of the personal possessions that were stolen from American citizens in international waters by the Israeli military including computers, cameras, cell phones, identification, credit cards (one credit card has been used in Israel for over $20,000 in purchases), clothing, miscellaneous items such as notebooks, diaries and other personal papers.
I also ask that the United States demand that the Israeli government cooperate with the offer of the European Union to inspect ships and cargo destined for Gaza, which would allow the siege to end and commerce to begin.
I ask that an investigation into whether US made military equipment or equipment purchased with/through US funding was used in the attacks on the six civilian, unarmed vessels, and if so, that sanctions against Israel available through the U.S. Arms and Export Control Act be implemented.
I am attaching a list of 80 questions that an inquiry should answer. The list of questions comes from Uri Averny, who heads the Israeli human rights organization Gush Shalom.
I also ask that US funding for the reconstruction of Gaza be disbursed immediately. There are many non-governmental organizations in Gaza that can assist in the reconstruction activities if they have funding.
Sincerely,
Ann Wright
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826
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Shalala, 69, was born in the US to Lebanese immigrant parents. She is considered a true friend of Israel and has visited the country many times in the past.
She recently arrived in Israel as a guest of the American Jewish Congress with the objective of increasing collaboration among universities in Israel, the US, and the Palestinian Authority. During their visit, members of the delegation met with President Shimon Peres, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The official visit ended on July 12, but Shalala stayed on for another two days for a private visit.
The AJC claims that it notified the Israel Airports Authority of Shalala’s VIP status as is customary prior to her departure. However, the IAA claims that it has no record on file for Shalala prior to her arrival.
When Shalala arrived at the airport, she was not recognized as a VIP and was even afforded what she claims to be “special” treatment because of her Arab last name. She claims she was held for two-and-a-half hours during which she was asked invasive and humiliating personal questions. Despite the delay, she managed to board the flight to the US. Officials who spoke with her said she was deeply offended by the treatment she received.
An IAA spokesperson reported in response: “This incident is unknown to us. We performed a thorough check. There was no contact made with us or any other body. No unusual events were registered at Ben Gurion Airport, and we have no idea about this incident, which, from our perspective, never happened.”
IAA officials said that root of the problem is that the host organizations don’t bother accompanying their guests to the airport.
The incident was raised Wednesday during a discussion convened by Deputy Foreign Ministry Ayalon to discuss treatment of VIPs at Ben Gurion Airport. During the discussion, it was agreed that a new protocol will be drafted that will keep incidents to a minimum.
Shalala preferred not to comment on the article.