Militants in Iraq Come From Allies; 41% From Saudi Arabia

As if you needed any more proof that you shouldn't believe much of anything the U.S. government says about Iran, there now appears to be evidence that the suspected insurgents in Iraq actually come from 'strategic' allies in the region, and not from Iran. As the pro-war establishment here continues to spread lies in their rhetoric for a strike on Iran, the American media chooses to ignore these kind of findings, because in this case the findings make Iran look quite good compared to what they would like you to think.

Around 60% of all foreign militants who entered Iraq to fight over the past year came from Saudi Arabia and Libya, according to files seized by American forces at a desert camp.

The files listed the nationalities and biographical details of more than 700 fighters who crossed into Iraq from August last year, around half of whom came to the country to be suicide bombers, the New York Times reported today.

In all, 305, or 41%, of the fighters listed were from Saudi Arabia. Another 137, or 18%, came from Libya. Both countries are officially US allies in anti-terrorism efforts.

In contrast, 56 Syrians were listed and no Lebanese. Previously, US officials estimated that around a fifth of all foreign fighters in Iraq came from these two countries.

US officials have also long complained about Iranian interference in the affairs of its neighbour, accusing Tehran of shipping weapons for militants over the border. However, any assistance does not appear to extend to people, the paper said, reporting that, of around 25,000 suspected militants in US custody in Iraq, 11 were Iranian. No Iranians were listed among the fighters whose details were found.

Bush Admin Pushes Towards Saudi Arms Sales

In a rather obvious attempt to destabilize the region and benefit U.S. arms dealers, it appears the Bush administration is finally ready to move ahead with the long since planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other smaller, even more unstable states in the gulf region. That plan also involved Israel, which are getting well over a billion in missiles, fighter jets, and aid. Israel was even convinced into agreeing with the Saudi deal, or at least pretended to believe in the reason of building a force against Iran and Syria by aiding such an unstable and questionable ally. Of course they're only thinking of their own national interests, while our government is thinking of anyone but ours. Americans get the big screw as usual. The $10+ billion package for the Saudis includes everything from ships to special smart bombs. The argument that the selling of arms will somehow more stabilize the Middle East is completely bogus. Since when has the region stopped their racing for the biggest and best weaponry possible? This is of complete disregard and contradiction to our current national security and will only create even more hostility for the U.S. in the region. The neocons and their supporters are certainly at a race against time, and the Democrats undoubtedly won't do anything about it. It is just one dictatorship of suppression rewarding another.

The deals could be worth a combined total of $20 billion over the years, Pentagon officials have told Congress, which has 30 days to vote to block a proposed sale from the formal notification date, but rarely does so.

The pre-notification clock that started on Tuesday lasts 20 days, meaning the formal process could start as soon as December 4 or so -- leaving Congress little time to debate the issues before it recesses for the year.

The State Department and the Defense Department jointly laid out the rationale for the build-up at the end of July. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the package would help "bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran."

Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, said some 150 Democratic and Republican members of Congress out of 535 had signed a letter he wrote voicing concern about JDAMs for Saudi Arabia, which remains in a formal state of war with Israel.

"The administration would be wise to listen to the voices of several prominent committee chairs, as well as ranking Republicans," Kirk said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Israel and the Bush administration have agreed to disagree on the wisdom of selling JDAMs to Saudi Arabia, said Peter Rodman, who worked on the issue before retiring as an assistant secretary of defense earlier this year.

"But they're not going to fight against the administration" over the JDAMs, Rodman, now at the private Brookings Institution, said in a telephone interview.

"All of us are conscious of the growing strategic threat from Iran," he said of Israel, the United States and the Gulf Arab states.

Iranian Political Expert Says Iran's Enemies Don't Want a Legal Investigation of Nuclear Information

The U.S. government has been illegally enforcing sanctions on Iran even though Iran has been cooperating fully with nuclear watchdogs, and they're still pushing for a third round of sanctions in the very near future. They have repeatedly ignored the warnings from Russia and China, and amongst many reports of Iran not having done anything wrong. The U.S. wants the tougher backbreaking sanctions to be put in place, but cooperation has made that pretty much impossible. They don't want to play by the rules, and everyone not working for their criminal agenda in Europe is fully aware and knowledgeable of it.

Cooperation with IAEA will cause more division among powers

However, Jahanbakhsh Izadi, a fellow international expert, argues that the continuation of talks between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog would inflame discord among major powers.

Tehran’s full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency has prevented the group to reach a consensus on the nuclear issue, Izadi observed.

Political expert Ahmad Bakhshayeshi Ardestani argued the U.S. will be unable to turn the “limited sanctions” into “more serious economic sanctions.”

“The Complexity of the issue and the powerfulness of the Islamic Republic of Iran have stalled a final decision” against the country for its nuclear program, he noted.

The current sanctions do not have any immediate and significant influence on Iran’s policies, so the U.S. will not eventually be able to achieve its objectives within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions, he added.

BBC Proves Israel is Helping the Kurds

The BBC has gotten their hands on legitimate evidence that Israel has been helping and training the Kurds along Iraq's borders. This proves that Israel is strategically attempting to ready themselves for engaging Iran, and anonymous Israeli officials interviewed in the video have said that they couldn't have gone through Kurdistan without the knowledge of Kurd authority. This report is a huge blow to the Kurds who are trying to decrease the worries in the Arab community that they're trying to take over the region in northern Iraq, and that they're not involved in allowing the Israelis into the country, as suspected by neighboring states such as Iran and Syria. Israeli government is of course denying knowledge of it, as they always do, and this will create a huge rift between the Kurds and other Arab countries.

(BBC Video)

Beating the War Drums; More U.S. Sanctions on Iran

The hypocritical Bush administration is using the labeling of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran as a terrorist group to press on with new sanctions against Iran, this time focusing on the blacklisting of Iranian banks as an attempt to somehow destabilize their military.

"These actions will help to protect the international financial system from the illicit activities of the Iranian government," Rice said.

"They will provide a powerful deterrent to every international bank and company that thinks of doing business with the Iranian government."

The move was the latest by the US administration to step up pressure on Iran, which it accuses of fomenting global terrorism, supporting insurgents in Iraq and working to develop an atomic bomb.

Unbelievable is the utter gall and puppetry of this woman.

Rice, who on Wednesday said that Iranian policies posed "perhaps the single greatest challenge" to US security, reiterated the United States was committed to resolving the crisis through diplomatic means.

But she warned: "If they choose to continue down a path of confrontation, the US will act with the international community to resist these threats of the Iranian regime."

Iran poses the single greatest challenge to our security? Again they are lumping our country's 'security' in with that of their terrorist occupation in Iraq. She is taking orders from the lowest of the administration, and that little smidgen of a backbone that sometimes squeezes out is now reduced to this.

Iranian officials say that this is just a precursor to their actual plan to attack them, and it will ultimately backfire calling it a 'strategic mistake.'

In Washington, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation said the unilateral sanctions would trigger a "backlash" from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other hardliners in the Iranian regime.

They can "only undermine US security interests, in part by putting US troops in Iraq at risk of retaliation and hampering talks with Iran over Iraq security," said the center's Iran analyst, Carah Ong.

And they are correct. How is adding bogus sanctions an attempt to go the 'diplomatic' route? That is skewed anti-American corruption logic for you, and Bush/Cheney along with all the other crazy neocons desperately want this war before they leave office.

"It is plain and simple -- reputable institutions do not want to be bankers to this dangerous regime," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

US officials said these would be the broadest sanctions imposed on Iran since the country's Islamic revolution in 1979. It is also the first time the United States has directly sanctioned another country's military.

What the secretary does not say is how 'reputable institutions' do not really want to do business with us anymore, as the Federal Reserve and Treasury coincide to kill our currency into nothingness. He also implies that somehow Russia and China have no important 'institutions.' This will not change their minds one bit.

Israeli FM Says a Nuclear Iran Not a Threat

In a bit of a follow-up to the Haaretz story in their upcoming battle with their own country's lobby, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni apparently said recently that if Iran did successfully develop nuclear weapons they posed no "existential" threat to Israel. Ironically, this story just popped up on Haaretz, so maybe they are truly waging war on the Lobby. I wouldn't go that far, but this is refreshing to say the least. Everyone in Israel seems to be beating the war drums except for their foreign minister in this case.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni to be published tomorrow.

Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears. Last week, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy said similar things about Iran.

The article also reveals for the first time a document Livni prepared and sent to Olmert a few months after the Second Lebanon War proposing a new division of labor between the two. "Enclosed is a proposal for work procedures between us, with the aim of providing an answer to Israel's strategic needs and facilitating early planning and the formulation of coordinated Israeli positions ... within the framework of cooperative relations, full transparency and continuous mutual updates," wrote Livni.

American Jew Says Israel Lobby Going After Haaretz

It really warms the soul when you hear from a pure and decent Jewish American voicing his analytical rights about Israel and its lobbies. Haaretz is a very popular Israel-based newspaper/online 'zine that focuses on all things Jews, Israel, and the Middle East. It is known by millions around the world for its somewhat unbiased views of those subjects compared to other Israel/Jewish-affiliated newspapers and mags. The author of the article attended a conference hosted by CAMERA, another textbook biased member group of the American-based Israel Lobby which looks to defame anyone with differing views. The leader of CAMERA, Andrea Levin, basically says "the audacity of a world-wide Israeli paper writing about the truth in the Middle East."

No other newspaper in Israel matters, Levin says, because Ha'aretz is an elite publication and it has such an amazing English-language website. It is read by millions around the world. "None of the other papers is having international impact." All true.

"We feel directly affected by Haaretz... we feel we should be directly interacting as much as possible... putting more resources into that, because of its direct effect on all of us." I believe that Levin said she had even appealed to government bodies in Israel, including the IDF, to do something about Haaretz stories. The speech ended with the call to arms, for CAMERA members to start pressuring Haaretz. "Write, phone, challenge, speak out... Haaretz is now affecting all of us."

The Israel Lobby has been under increasing scrutiny as of late, all of which is much warranted, and the same tactics being used by fading American neocons are being used by the Lobby, or the other way around you could say. This short article is a must-read that goes on to say Levin stated that Haaretz should follow suit of the American newspapers with their easily noticeable one-sided views, and also allow the Lobby members themselves to post their propaganda in op-ed pieces; and I hope Haaretz has the courage and willpower to stay the course for the sake of truth and fairness as they've shown many times in the past.

New York Times Creates Room for More Israel/Syria Lies and Propaganda

Here we go again. One month later and we're still getting fed lies and assumptions in hopes of shaping policy in Israel's favor. The New York Times released an article Saturday which stated "Israeli and American intelligence analysts" have come up with the apparent foregone conclusion that the Israeli strike on Syria was "in fact" the beginnings of a nuclear reactor. The 'Times' writers decided to spin the events of the past month in such a way as to put all guilt on Syria, to suggest Arab opposition to a Syrian nuclear facility, and to add no such debate to the actual reality in the facility ever being there in the first place. Despite this being 100% legal, despite the fact that it could have been used for energy purposes, despite Israel hiding the fact that they have their own worrisome stockpile of nukes, and despite the fact that it would have taken cash-strapped Syria no less than seven or more years to produce any nuclear capabilities (not to mention not even having the cash to complete it in that short of time, even with the help of North Korea), you still have to be highly skeptical that what they hit was even the beginnings of a reactor at all.

This is becoming more suspicious by the day with all the silence coming from administrations of both Israel and the U.S. At first, there were highly peculiar reports of Israel both "possibly" and "surely" having "satellite photos" of a Syrian nuke site which were passed along to the U.S., but there is no way that could have been true, as they seem to be slowly but surely talking their way towards that notion again. If there were conclusive evidence of a nuke site, there wouldn't be all this misinformation floating around. And why is it taking so long for these revelations to come about? There is absolutely no way Israel had any proof of a partial nuke site. It is straight-up nonsense. The Neo-con(Fox) News Channel has already ran with the story nationally today as if everything in the article is 100% accurate, and throwing the what-ifs about North Korea in as well for good measure. No stock should be put in the mainstream media's reporting of Middle East affairs, especially when it has anything to do with Israel. When will people learn? Belief in disinformation is so much more comforting for people here in America, and for the most part Israel, but some tend to prefer the truth.

The UN has said they are working on either confirming or denying the reports, and that they have not received any satellite or intelligence reports from Israel or the U.S. An American analyst had this to say:

"A very real question is whether Syria is technically and financially able to build such a reactor. It would be hard to justify an air strike on a facility so early on in construction and, if supplied by North Korea, unlikely ever to be finished," U.S. analyst David Albright, alluding to North Korea's nuclear disarmament agreement earlier this year, told Reuters.

"Israel may have wanted to send a signal to Iran. The U.S. wants to scare Iran (off nuclear work) and this air strike might have been a way to do it, and explain some of Israel's secrecy."

Warmonger Bolton Again Calls for Bombing of Iran

John Bolton, think-tank purveyor of Zionist lies and propaganda, is at it again. The former U.S. ambassador to the UN said Sunday that he sees no other option than to attack Iran. Why this guy is still allowed to spew his filth on the world is beyond me. Not only that, the man still has his supporters. It's time to bomb HIM, and people like him.

"I don't think the use of military force is an attractive option, but I would tell you I don't know what the alternative is."

Of course he doesn't. Rational thought left this man's skull long ago.

The fact that intelligence about Iran's nuclear activity was partial should not be used as an excuse not to act, Mr Bolton insisted. "Intelligence can be wrong in more than one direction." He asked how the British government would respond if terrorists exploded a nuclear device at home. "'It's only Manchester?' ... Responding after they're used is unacceptable."

Using his own logic there, the Middle East has every reason to hate Israel. This guy is not working for the American people. He's working for Israel and its American lobbyists. Iran's capabilities right now is equal to that of a nuclear power plant. He's trying to further justify going to war just on assumptions and lies, not that we haven't seen this before from the man.

However, he praised the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his forthright criticism of Iran in recent weeks.

Raising the spectre of George Bush's "axis of evil", Mr Bolton said that Kim Jong-il's regime in North Korea was akin to a "prison camp" and that he would "sell anything to anyone".

Those who thought North Korea would give up its nuclear capability voluntarily were wrong, he said.

Of course he's going to praise France's new nonconservative dictator. This isn't the same France that led the coalition against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He knows that. Predictably, he also had to spread some of the propagandist lies that North Korea is helping Syria go nuclear, which is a laughable impossibility. You can read the whole article here.

Why the Hush-hush?

Yesterday, New York Times posted an article with the headline: "IAF recently photographed nuclear facilities in Syria." That article has now suddenly been removed, but it isn't hard to find out where that fallacy came from. Here's the gist of the NY Times article:

The New York Times on Wednesday quoted a Bush Administration official as saying Israel recently photographed possible nuclear installations in Syria.

The comments come amid ongoing silence in Israel regarding Damascus’ allegations that the Israel Air Force fired missiles at ground targets deep in Syria during an overflight last week.

“One Bush administration official said Israel had recently carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria, taking pictures of possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea,” the paper wrote. “The administration official said Israeli officials believed that North Korea might be unloading some of its nuclear material on Syria”

“The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” the New York Times quoted the official as saying.

Note how it goes from genuine assurance, to "possible." In other words, you can throw everything you've read out the window. Who wrote that article, you say? Why Israelis and the Jewish media of course. What a coincidence. Nothing that's being reported about the mysterious alleged September 6th IAF air strike in Syria through the mainstream media is factitious. It's all theoretical up to this point, but you can't keep the Jewish media from spinning the story. Israel, the Saudis, and (for the most part) the U.S., have all been quiet about this. How unusual that something like this happens, and both the Israelis and U.S. remain private about it. That never happens.

I think it's because the mission was a big, fat failure, and to save themselves and others the embarrassment, they decided to just let the biased media run with it for now. I don't think the mission had anything to do with Hizbullah rockets, or if it did, they missed. Otherwise the Israelis would be gloating all over the place. Testing of Syrian air defenses is another possibility, and is not entirely out of the question. That would sort of explain maybe why the jets had to drop their fuel tanks on Turkish land. Whatever is going on, you can rest assured that we're going to get dragged into it. The silence is quite possibly the biggest mystery, and I don't believe the lies lately of Israel not wanting to go to war with Syria and Iran for a second.