TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior member of Iran’s negotiating team with the United States on Iraqi security demanded a halt to US attacks in Iraq before any new round of talks with Washington. “If US savage attacks against the Iraqi people are stopped, we will examine the US request for a fourth round of talks,” an Iranian official told FNA. “The Iraqi government and the United States have officially invited Iran
Press TV reports: US President George W. Bush has reportedly authorized a covert operation to set the stage for a military offensive against Iran. According to Counterpunch magazine, President Bush signed a secret finding in March authorizing a covert offensive against Iran, which those familiar with its contents believe to be ‘unprecedented in its scope’. Actions permitted under the secret directive include ‘the assassination of targeted officials’ along with operations
It will be two years this June since the daring capture of the Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit by the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in the course of an attack on an IDF position near Gaza. Following this embarrassing incident, the Israelis tried everything they could, including the mass murder of civilians in Gaza, to force Hamas to release Shalit, but to no avail. Numerous diplomatic
A Press TV exclusive interview with Sheikh Salah Obeidi, Sadr’s official spokesman The following is the transcript of an Interview with Sheikh Salih al-Obaidi, Moqtada al-Sadr’s spokesman: Q. A meeting was held on Monday between the Sadr Party and President Talabani to discuss the ongoing violence in Baghdad’s Sadr city. Clashes have been ensuing between Iraqi and US-led forces and armed groups including members of the Mahdi Army for a
Five Ways to Think about Iran under the Gun By Pepe Escobar for Tom Dispatch More than two years ago, Seymour Hersh disclosed in the New Yorker how George W. Bush was considering strategic nuclear strikes against Iran. Ever since, a campaign to demonize that country has proceeded in a relentless, Terminator-like way, applying the same techniques and semantic contortions that were so familiar in the period before the Bush
It is often forgotten that besides the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the USraelian Empire has also triggered a war by proxy in Somalia when it ordered its Ethiopian stooges to attack and invade Somalia under the pretext that 3 (three!) Al-Qaeda terrorists were hiding there. Soon thereafter the relative stability provided by the Islamic Courts Union was replaced with chaos and warfare. To paraphrase Madelene Albright’s words, “this was
By M. Shahid Alam for Dawn.com On January 31, 2008, when the Winograd Commission submitted its final report on the Second Lebanese War of July 2006, this was a first in Israeli history: a report on why the Israeli military had failed in a war. The Winograd Commission offers a quite honest appraisal of some aspects of the July 2006 War. It acknowledges that it was “a serious missed opportunity.”
I often get very interesting emails from my readers and friends. This morning, I got this from ‘G’ (emphasis in red added): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24246275/ I just cannot believe how outrageous statements like these go unquestioned. Instead of being questioned regarding her sanity–she is after all committing America’s nuclear forces to the defense of a country with which we have no treaty obligations to and is of absolutely no strategic importance in
Al-Manar reports: At least eight people have been killed and 22 others injured, including women and children, in renewed fighting between joint US-Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City east of Baghdad. A security source said that the fighting that erupted Sunday predawn included US airstrikes on the City. Loudspeakers at mosques in Baghdad’s Sadr City blared out a call to arms soon after Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr warned
Aijaz Ahmad: Wall meant to partition Sadr City’s residents is population control ahead of elections As violence continued in Baghdad’s Sadr City district on Friday, attention turned to the wall US forces are building through the neighborhood–a wall that is reminiscent of the one Israel built around the Palestinian territories, as well as US military tactics used during the Vietnam War. The Real News analyst Aijaz Ahmad says that the
source: Lenin’s Tomb (an excellent blog, check it out!) As Israel continues to build new colonies in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers stationed in the West Bank city of Hebron have confessed to numerous atrocities against Palestinian civilians. The full testimonies can be read here. Sometimes, what is striking is the pettiness of the causes that leads Israeli soldiers to behave like this. For example, one IDF soldier tried to
By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute. The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush ‘s projections of a U.S.
The Agenda Behind The Anti-Sadr Agenda by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach for GlobalResearch.ca When Gen. David Petraeus along with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker gave their testimony to the Senate on April 9, they did nothing more than to confirm in spades what had been being mooted and duly leaked by the Washington-based press: that the Bush-Cheney Administration had officially endorsed the line that Iran should be set up for attack,
by Jim Meyers for Newsmax Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America’s Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table – but likely. (note: does anyone else wonder why this “leading member of America’s Jewish community” would have such advanced warning, or is it just me? VS) “Israel is
We all now that Gaza was, until now, the biggest open air prison in the world, a Gulag for Palestinians, so to speak. Now the Empire is in the process of “Gazatizing” (as in “Gitmoize Abu Ghraib”) and creating an even bigger (3’000’000+ people!) Gulag for Iraqis. Check out Pepe Escobar’s report for Real News Network: One needs to remember that the Empire just suffered a rather humiliating defeat in
By Amir Arfa, Press TV, Tehran In a CNN interview after two days of Iran bashing before Congress and less than a month after “presumptive” Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain made himself butt of all media jokes by suggesting that [Shia] Iran was “taking [Sunni] al-Qaeda” into its soil “training them and sending them back.” US top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus put his boot in it and suggested
(many thanks to datta for this submission) Note: It turns out that this article comes from the blog of Layla Anwar. The original link is this: http://arabwomannews.blogspot.com/I had not been made aware of this since I had received this text by email. I apologize to Layla for not linking to her piece. I am removing this article, but I will leave the comments. Anyone interested in reading the original article
The Dalai Lama has been on the CIA payroll since the late 1950s. He is an instrument of US intelligence. by Michael Backman (Mathaba News) An understanding of this longstanding relationship to the CIA is essential, particuarly in the light of recent events. In all likelihood US intelligence was behind the protest movement, organized to occur a few months prior to the Beijing Olympic games. Rarely do journalists challenge the
(re-printed by kind permission from the Prisoner of Starvation’s excellent blog) A couple months ago, I looked at 20/20’s exposé of the Bodies exhibits that are popping up all over the country. I didn’t think that the sordid alliance of corrupt officials of a repressive government and the greedy corporations buying bodies of tortured/executed political prisoners and putting on display could be topped in terms of macabre, but I was
