Moqtada al-Sadr visits with Ali al-Sistani (Voices of Iraq) – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr visited, on Sunday night, top Shiite cleric ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in his office in Najaf and both discussed the latest security and political developments in Iraq, a source from Sistani’s office said. “Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr visited, today at 9:30 pm, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and both leaders discussed the political and security situation in the country,”
The Guardian: Envoy’s damning verdict revealed as violence takes Gaza closer to civil war The highest ranking UN official in Israel has warned that American pressure has “pummelled into submission” the UN’s role as an impartial Middle East negotiator in a damning confidential report. The 53-page “End of Mission Report” by Alvaro de Soto, the UN’s Middle East envoy, obtained by the Guardian, presents a devastating account of failed diplomacy
Reading the tea leaves: The tune being played by Westerners and their allies in the region under the guise of preserving international justice is enflaming internal dissention in the land of the Cedar [Lebanon]. Beirut: Since last Thursday, the day that the United States, France and Great Britain filed a motion at the U.N. to ensure the setting up of an international court to judge the assassins of former Lebanese
by Alberto Cruz 06/12/07 “ICH ” — — – A time-worn adage in journalism says that redundancy enables a better understanding of language, so here we go again : the tree of Iraq stops us seeing the Middle East wood. Absorbed in our navel-gazing, we behave like children covering our ears to stave off a reality we find distasteful. That happens in Iraq when we refuse to acknowledge that there
No, this is not a joke and its not April 1st. Read this piece from the BBC or this entry to the Wikipedia: the Pentagon was really funding research into creating a “gay bomb”, which would make enemy soldiers “sexually irresistible” to each other. The BBC reports that: The plan for a so-called “love bomb” envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the
ADL Urges Orthodox Christian Churches To Excise Anti-Semitism From Liturgy New York, NY, June 6, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is urging the world’s Orthodox Christian leaders to support a Christian proposal to excise ancient anti-Semitic passages from their liturgy. ADL cited a declaration by an independent group of Orthodox Christian priests and intellectuals who are calling for their churches to reject centuries-old negative theological positions toward Jews and
By David Phinney*WASHINGTON, Jun 8 (IPS) – The U.S. Justice Department is actively investigating allegations of forced labour and other abuses by the Kuwaiti contractor now rushing to complete the sprawling 592-million-dollar U.S. embassy project in Baghdad, numerous sources have revealed. Justice Department trial attorneys Andrew Kline and Michael J. Frank with the civil rights division have been contacting former employees of First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting and other
The Turkish Incursion By PATRICK COCKBURN Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas early Wednesday. The incursion, though limited in scope, gives the crisis in Iraq a new twist. “It is not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands,” said an official in south-east Turkey where there has recently been an upsurge in activity by the
Al-Manar TV reports that the head of Iraq’s Sadr bloc, Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr, has said the US is responsible for all of Iraq’s woes, calling on Arab nations to help end Iraq’s suffering. In comments during an interview on Iraqi state television, Sadr said the US is behind the sectarian violence in Iraq, the schism between Iraqi ethnic groups and the country’s economic hardships. He called for a “cultural resistance”
Iraq New Monitor reports that a Sunni insurgent group said Wednesday it has reached a cease-fire with al-Qaida in Iraq. The claim comes as the conflict between the Islamic Army in Iraq and al-Qaida in Iraq, which is also Sunni, has intensified in recent months. Last week, the two groups were believed to have clashed in the Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah.“This agreement is based on a cease-fire between the two
By Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, AlterNetPosted on June 5, 2007,http://www.alternet.org/story/53230/ While most observers are focused on the U.S. Congress as it continues to issue new rubber stamps to legitimize Bush’s permanent designs on Iraq, nationalists in the Iraqi parliament — now representing a majority of the body — continue to make progress toward bringing an end to their country’s occupation. The parliament today passed a binding resolution that will
The Case for Bombing Iran: I hope and pray that President Bush will do it. BY NORMAN PODHORETZWednesday, May 30, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT Although many persist in denying it, I continue to believe that what Sept 11, 2001, did was to plunge us headlong into nothing less than another world war. I call this new war World War IV, because I also believe that what is generally known as
Here is an excerpt from the latest Republican Presidential debate: ——-BLITZER: If it came down to a preemptive U.S. strike against Iran’s nuclear facility if necessary, would you authorize as president the use of tactical nuclear weapons? HUNTER: I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no other way to preempt those particular centrifuges. When the Osirak reactor was hit in ’86, when the six F-18s
RAW STORY EXCLUSIVE REPORT: by Larisa Alexandrovna Published: Monday June 4, 2007 Some intelligence sources more wary of covert Pentagon operations The Central Intelligence Agency has received approval at least twice in the last several years to conduct an “information war” against several countries in the Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon and Syria, according to current and former intelligence officials. In addition, the Bush Administration has been running operations out
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and military General Staff on Wednesday denied a Web site report that 50,000 Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there. “This report is not true,” a Foreign Ministry source told Reuters. A General Staff official described the report as “disinformation”. The report, carried on the DEBKAfile Web site, sparked jitters among foreign investors who fear Turkish military action
June 6, 2007, 3:41 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile The official Turkish news agency Cihan reports the force, backed by armored vehicles and combat aircraft, is targeting rebel strongholds in 11 provinces in southeastern Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan Wednesday, June 6. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this is only the first wave of Turkish invaders, with more to come. A Turkish force of 90,000 troops has been massed at the sourthern town
US ally Kuwait said on Sunday it opposes any military strike against its Gulf neighbour Iran, and called for a negotiated settlement of the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme. “We are against any military strike against Iran,” National Security Agency chief Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah told reporters. “We hope the issue will be resolved through dialogue.” He said Iran had the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but
Did the IAEA really say that the Neocons are planning to attack Iran? Almost. The word “Neocon” was not used but was replaced by a well-known euphemism. Actually, here is what happened: IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei recently said to the BBC “I have no brief other than to make sure we don’t go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other. You do not want to
As I have written in a previous post, the “election” of an openly Fascist President in 2008 is almost certain. The USA already has an Imperial Presidency (the politically correct term for which is “unitary executive”) and this trend will only get worse no matter which Neocon puppet gets elected in 2008. Only two candidate – Ron Paul and Mike Gravel – are real democrats (small “d”), and neither of
“Keep Ron Paul in!” is the initiative of conservative bigwig Richard A. Viguerie who created a special website with a petition to demand that Ron Paul not be excluded from the Presidential debates. While this initiative originates from conservatives, the petition itself has options for being a concervative, liberal, moderate, libertarian or “other” and for various motives – including keeping a real, pluralistic, debate to sign the petition. Thus, this
