EU-DIGEST

'Israel war on Iran on the radar'

A senior European Union diplomat says the perfect time for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear installations 'is between now and January 20'. "A possible Israeli strike against Iran is not completely off the radar," Turkish paper Hurriyet quoted the diplomat as saying. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that Tel Aviv is 'convinced that Iran continues to try to build a nuclear weapon'.Israel, meanwhile, argues that the use of military force is a legitimate option in halting Iran's nuclear progress. "Israelis would consider a move such as this before Bush and Cheney leave," said the EU diplomat, adding that once Obama takes office, Israel's chances of striking Iran would be off the agenda.

Note EU-Digest: One can only pray and hope this dangerous plan does not materialize. Unfortunately it has a far better chance to succeed than the possibility of Obama breaking loose from the Jewish lobby's terror and giving Israel and the Palestinians an ultimatum: "No more financial aid or political support until Israel dismantles all its settlements and roadblocks, and withdraws to the agreed-upon borders, and you the Palestinians no more support until rocket attacks on Israel cease."

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Iran, Israel, War

China 'is fueling war in Darfur' - by Hilary Andersson

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan's government militarily in Darfur. The Panorama TV program tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005. The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

Labels: China, Darfur, War

The War With Iran - by Douglas Herman

The war began as planned. The Israeli pilots took off well before dawn and streaked across Lebanon and northern Iraq, high above Kirkuk. Flying US-made F-15 and F-16s, the Israelis separated over the mountains of western Iran, the pilots gesturing a last minute show of confidence in their mission, maintaining radio silence. At 9:15 AM, Baghdad time, the first Iranian missile struck the Green Zone. For the next thirty minutes a torrent of missiles landed on GPS coordinates carefully selected by Shiite militiamen with cell phones positioned outside the Green Zone and other permanent US bases. Although US and Israeli bomber pilots had destroyed 90% of the Iranian missiles, enough Shahabs remained to fully destroy the Green Zone, the Baghdad airport, and a US Marine base. Thousands of unsuspecting US soldiers died in the early morning barrage. Not surprisingly, CNN and Fox withheld the great number of casualties from American viewers.

By 9:30 AM, gas stations on the US east coast began to raise their prices. Slowly at first and then altogether in a panic, the prices rose. $4 a gallon, and then $5 and then $6, the prices skyrocketed. Worried motorists, rushing from work, roared into the nearest gas station, radios blaring the latest reports of the pre-emptive attack on Iran. While fistfights broke out in gas stations everywhere, the third Middle Eastern war had begun.

Labels: Iran, US, War

For the complete report from the New York Times click on this link

Son of Top Dutch General Is Killed in Afghanistan

A roadside bomb attack on a patrol of Dutch soldiers on Friday killed the son of the Netherlands’ top military officer, a day after his father took command of his country’s armed forces, officials said. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, the son of Gen. Peter van Uhm, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion seven miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in Oruzgan Province, a spokesman, Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman, said. Through a spokesman, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Lieutenant van Uhm’s death “an unprecedented tragedy” and said the weekly Dutch cabinet meeting had been briefly halted so ministers could reflect privately. There was no immediate comment from General van Uhm, who took up a new job as the overall commander of the Dutch military on Thursday in a ceremony outside Parliament in The Hague.Friday’s bombing brings the death toll of Dutch soldiers to 16 since the Netherlands began contributing combat forces to NATO’s Afghanistan mission in August 2006. The Dutch have 1,650 troops in southern Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, Dennis van Uhm, EU, The Netherlands, War

For the complete report from crossrhythms.co.uk click on this link

Israel Prepares For Showdown With Iran - by David Dolan

With Iranian leaders bombastically stating once again during February that Israel will soon be destroyed, Israel's top military leader warned mid-month that a decisive armed conflict could break out in the troubled region at any time. He added that it would be a major test over the resolve and preparedness of the country's regular and reserve armed forces.Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi became Israel's Armed Forces Chief of Staff less than one year ago when his predecessor, Dan Halutz, was forced to resign in the wake of the controversial 2006 military stalemate with Hizbullah forces.

"There are dangers to our survival on the horizon and great challenges to Israeli security. The Israeli Defense Forces need to insure a rapid victory in any conflict, and I cannot guarantee that we won't need to act in the near future."

Some Israeli military analysts averred that the Armed Forces Chief was cryptically referring to an Israeli air force strike upon Iran's burgeoning nuclear program, which they assume would not only be followed by Tehran's threatened missile counterstrikes upon Israeli civilian and military targets (including the Dimona nuclear reactor), but by missile, rocket and probably ground assaults from Syrian, Hizbullah and Hamas forces.

Labels: Iran, Israel, US, War

Venezuela's Sukkhoi fightr jets

For the complete report from The Seattle Times click on this link

War in Latin America ? Venezuela, Ecuador sending troops to border with Colombia after rebel leader killed - by IAN James

President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops on Sunday to the border with Colombia, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war by killing a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil. Denouncing Colombia's slaying of the rebel commander in a cross-border raid into Ecuador, Chavez said Venezuela will respond militarily if Colombia violates its border. He ordered Venezuela's embassy in Bogota closed. "Mr. Defence Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately -- tank battalions. Deploy the air force," Chavez said during his weekly TV and radio program. "We don't want war, but we aren't going to permit the U.S. empire, which is the master (of Colombia) ... to come divide us." In protest, Ecuador withdrew its ambassador from Bogota, ordered Colombia's top diplomat expelled and ordered the mobilization of troops to the border with Colombia.

"This could be the start of a war in South America," Chavez said. He warned Uribe: "If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" -- Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.

Labels: Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, US, Venezuela, War

Turkish troops enter Iraq

For the complete report from Bloomberg.com click on this link

Turkish Troops Enter Northern Iraq to Target the PKK - by Camilla Hall

Turkey sent 700 soldiers into northern Iraq and had 20 tanks ready to follow them in an assault on Kurdish militants who have carried out cross-border attacks. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in northern Iraq today for a previously unannounced visit, flying into Kirkuk, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on the party's Web site.

The U.S., alarmed over the prospect of a conflict in a relatively peaceful area of Iraq, had been working with Turkey to prevent an incursion. Turkey says the U.S., which classifies the PKK as a terrorist group, and Iraq haven't done enough to stop the group using northern Iraq as a base.

Labels: Iraq, Kurdish PKK terrorists, Turkey, War

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran- by Brian Ross and Richard Esposito

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

A National Security Council spokesperson, Gordon Johndroe, said, "The White House does not comment on intelligence matters." A CIA spokesperson said, "As a matter of course, we do not comment on allegations of covert activity." The sources say the CIA developed the covert plan over the last year and received approval from White House officials and other officials in the intelligence community. Officials say the covert plan is designed to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program and end aid to insurgents in Iraq.

Labels: George Bush, Iran, War

War Costs Money. Why Can't Politicians Say So? - by Robert D. Hormats

Lost amid the week's political struggles was this blunt reality: America's political leaders have been reluctant to confront the public with the need to make financial sacrifices to pay for the conflict and for the ongoing struggle against al-Qaeda. And that could spell disaster later on.

Labels: Iraq, US Economy, War

480 US nuclear warheads in Europe

A documentary aired on Italian TV channel, RAI 24, has claimed that the U.S. military is keeping 480 nuclear warheads across Europe, 90 in Italy. Fifty of the warheads are being kept at Aviano Air Base, north-east of Italy and forty others at a military facility near Brescia. The documentary warns of possible nuclear strikes against countries in the Middle East.

Pointing to remarks made by NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction policy, Guy Roberts, the documentary emphasizes that all sovereign countries have the right to call on the U.S. government to remove all its nuclear weapons from their soil.

Labels: EU, Italy, Nato, Nuclear, USA, War, Weapons of mass destruction

The history at the end of history - by Francis Fukuyama

"Democratic transitions need to be driven by societies that want democracy, and since the latter requires institutions, it is usually a fairly long and drawn out process.

Outside powers like the US can often help in this process by the example they set as politically and economically successful societies. They can also provide funding, advice, technical assistance, and yes, occasionally military force to help the process along. But coercive regime change was never the key to democratic transition."

Labels: History, Peace, US, War

USA: The tax bucks stop here / Resisters withhold payment in protest of U.S. sending troops to Iraq

With the tax-filing deadline just two weeks away, some Bay Area residents are using it as an opportunity to protest the war by withholding their tax dollars to fund it. Known as war tax resisters, they consider it an act of civil disobedience. Some withhold only a symbolic portion of what they owe -- $10.40, for example, to represent the 1040 tax form -- while others, like Hansen, refuse to pay anything at all. Many will redirect their tax dollars to a charity of their choice.

Labels: Iraq, Protest, USA, War

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here on Wednesday said if Washington revises its attitude, resumption of ties between Iran and the US will be possible, stressing that his country seeks friendly and extensive ties with all the world nations, except for Israel.

Speaking during his first press conference in the new Iranian year (i.e. from March 21,2007 to March 20, 2008), the Iranian president said in response to a Fox News question about possibility of the resumption of ties between Iran and the US that these were the Americans themselves who cut relations with Iran. "They thought that if they cut the ties, our nation would have to go under much pressure, but this did not come true," he said, and continued, "With the present kind of attitude shown by the US, no world nation is willing to establish ties with the US."

Labels: Iran, Israel, Nuclear, Peace negotiations, UK, US, War

Syrian officials say Damascus played key role in getting British sailors released by Iran

Syria's information minister and foreign minister said Wednesday that Damascus had played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15 British sailors held by Iran. Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said that Syria had been asked "to help positively in the issue of British sailors" since their March 23 seizure by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy in the Persian Gulf waters.

Labels: Britain, EU, Middle East, Syria, War

American forces casualties toll nearly twice Iraqi forces-U.S. military deaths in March total 81 - by Steven Hurst

The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

According to the AP count 3,246 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. At least 83 American forces died in January and 80 in February, according to the AP tabulation.Additionally, the Iraqi ministry figures listed 1,872 Iraqi civilian deaths for the month, about 300 more than the AP tabulation, which is mainly gathered from daily police reports nationwide.

Labels: Casualties, Iraq, US, War

Around the globe: U.S. allies: No attack on Iran from their lands

ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS — The United States wrapped up a massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf Wednesday, putting on a show of strength for Iran even as the United Arab Emirates became the second Gulf nation to declare it would not take part in any attack on the Islamic Republic. The U.S. has denied any intention to attack. But the public refusals of two allies to help could affect U.S. military options or require shifting of resources if tensions did seriously escalate.

Qatar — home to 6,500 U.S. troops and the enormous al-Udeid Air Base, headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East — said this month it would not permit an attack on Iran from its soil. The Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose alliance of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Emirates, has called on all its members not to support any U.S. action against Iran.

Labels: Iran, Middle East, Nuclear, US, War

Ganging up on Iran - by Linda S. Heard

"I’ll begin with a question. Is Iran an aggressor or a victim? If you’ve answered aggressor then may I suggest you take a moment to reflect. Unfortunately, the fabricated scenario that led us into Iraq is at play again. And once again we’re being suckered into being accepting of a neoconservative plan designed to ensure America’s domination over this region’s oilfields and maintain Israel as the sole nuclear power in the Middle East. This is practically a replay of events leading up to the invasion of Iraq. In this case, the US-driven UN Security Council has ganged up to coerce Iran with sanctions into giving up its legitimate right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 30 days, the UN screws will, no doubt, be further tightened.

Today, Bush and Co. are intent on cornering Iran with the object of regime change. According to the New Yorker’s investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, there are plans on the table to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities using bunker-busting tactical nuclear weapons. Ironic isn’t it! Hersh says Bush privately calls the Iranian president “the new Hitler.” Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February that the Bush administration is seeking a pretext to attack Iran. At the same time, Washington is funding Iranian opposition groups in the diaspora as well as militant ethnic separatist groups within Iran. There have already been several violent incidents in country stamped with the CIA’s fingerprints.

Draw your own conclusions as to who is aggressing whom, but bear in mind that Iran has never threatened to attack the US or its allies other than in retaliation for a strike on it. Moreover, unlike the US, Iran does not harbour neo-imperialist ambitions and does not have a record of launching wars or invading other countries."

Labels: Bush, Iran, Nuclear, War

Admit fault to help sailors: Iran to U.K.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines entered Iranian waters in order to resolve a standoff over their capture by the Mideast nation. Manouchehr Mottaki’s statement in an interview with The Associated Press came on a day of escalating tensions, highlighted by an Iranian video of the detained Britons that showed the only woman captive saying her group had “trespassed” in Iranian waters. Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with the Mideast nation.

Earlier Wednesday, a brief video of the captured Britons was shown on Iran’s Arabic language satellite television station, Al-Alam. The video also displayed what appeared to be a handwritten letter from Turney, 26, to her family. “I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us entering their waters,” it said. The letter also asks Turney’s parents in Britain to look after her 3-year-old daughter, Molly, and her husband, Adam.

Labels: Iran, Middle East, Nuclear, UK, US, War

Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border

Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday. "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.

He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran "that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost." He also said the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Labels: Conflict, Iran, Nuclear, US, War

U.S. Aircraft Carriers Start Exercises in Gulf

The captain of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group in the Gulf said a second U.S. aircraft carrier had entered Gulf waters on Tuesday to carry out exercises. It is the first time a second aircraft carrier has entered Gulf waters since the attack on Iraq in 2003 and comes at a time of rising tension with Iran over its nuclear programme and the capture of British military personnel. Captain Dan Cloyd said in an interview the USS John C. Stennis strike group would carry out dual carrier exercises for a "few days or more", but could stay on in the Gulf for longer.

He said the deployment and exercises were not timed to exert pressure on Iran and did not mean a military confrontation was looming.

Labels: Confrontation, Iran, Middle East, Nuclear, US, War

European shares fall amid concerns over US economy, Iran

British and European share prices fell on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve chairman said uncertainty over America's economic outlook had risen, upsetting investors already unnerved by deteriorating relations with Iran.

Worries that tension between US and Iran would lead to a full-scale conflict kept investors on tenterhooks, but boosted oil prices. BP advanced 1.6% percent and Royal Dutch Shell climbed 0.8%, while BG Group notched up 1%.

Labels: Iran, Oil Exploration, Trade, US, War, World Economy

Easter Surprise: US Attack on Iran, New 9/11... or Worse - by Heather Wokusch

The Bush administration continues moving closer to a nuclear attack on Iran, and we ignore the obvious buildup at our peril.

Russian media are sounding alarms. In February, ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Shirinovsky warned that the US would launch a strike against Tehran at the end of this month. Then last week, the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti (RIA-Novosti) quoted military experts predicting the US will attack Iran on April 6th, Good Friday. According to RIA-Novosti, the imminent assault will target Iranian air and naval defense capabilities, armed forces headquarters as well as key economic assets and administration headquarters. Massive air strikes will be deployed, possibly tactical nuclear weapons as well, and the Bush administration will attempt to exploit the resulting chaos and political unrest by installing a pro-US government.

Seymour Hersh has published numerous articles in The New Yorker detailing the Bush administration’s plans to invade Iran. His latest, "The Redirection," discusses US participation in Iran-based clandestine operations, the kidnapping of hundreds of Iranians (including many "humanitarian and aid workers") by US forces and the shocking revelation that an Iran-Contra-type scandal has been run out of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office with some of the illicit funds going to groups "sympathetic to al-Qaeda."

"The Redirection" also reports that the Pentagon has been planning to bomb Iran for a year and that a recently-established group connected to the Joint Chiefs of Staff is formulating a assault strategy to be implemented "upon orders from the President, within twenty-four hours." Hersh notes that current capabilities "allow for an attack order this spring," possibly when four US aircraft-carrier battle groups are scheduled to be in the Persian Gulf simultaneously.

Labels: England, Iran, Nuclear, US, War

Rosie: Captured Brits a hoax to provoke war

In yet another provocative claim, TV host Rosie O'Donnell implied yesterday the Iranian seizure of British sailors was a hoax to provide President Bush with an excuse to go to war with Tehran. In a discussion about the 15 British personnel seized Friday for allegedly entering Iranian waters, the controversial co-host of ABC's "The View" correlated the event to the Gulf of Tonkin incident that propelled the U.S. into the Vietnam War. President Johnson's administration was accused of provoking one incident in 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin and making up another as a pretext for war.

O'Donnell, according to the media watchdog Newsbusters, said: "But interesting with the British sailors, there were 15 British sailors and Marines who apparently went into Iranian waters and they were seized by the Iranians. And I have one thing to say: Gulf of Tonkin, Google it. Okay."

Labels: Britain, Bush, Iran, Tony Blair, US, War

Forty coalition casualties during the first 2 weeks of March of which 39 Americans and one British

Yesterday the US suffered 5 more casualties in Iraq bringing the total US casulties since the start of the war to 3210 and more than 32,500 wounded.

Labels: War

Turkey will not be launching pad for Iran attacks

Cairo. Turkey will not allow its territory to be used for any attacks on neighbouring countries, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday in response to a question about possible US moves against Iran, AFP reports.

"My country will not permit an attack on any neighbouring country to be launched from its soil," he said during a news conference with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa. The question comes against a backdrop of rising tensions between the United States and Iran over the latter's nuclear programme and activities in neighboring Iraq.

Labels: War

Washington Sends Mixed Signals To Tehran, Europe

As the UN Security Council again begins to wrestle with how to answer Iran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment, Washington continues to reserve the right to take unilateral action. U.S. officials say no options are off the table. That gives rise to much speculation about whether the U.S. will ultimately strike Iran. But, for now, U.S. strategy remains centered on diplomacy.

But not everyone in the administration has been stressing diplomacy. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reminded Iran on February 24 that "all options" remain open should Iran continue to reject the UN's demands. "We've worked with the European community and through the United Nations to put in place a set of policies to persuade the Iranians to give up their aspirations and to resolve the matter peacefully, that's still our preference," Cheney told journalists during a trip to Australia on February 24. "But I've also made the point, the president has made the point that all options are still on the table." Although Cheney did not specifically discuss military strikes, his remarks were widely interpreted in the media amid as indicating the standoff could escalate into a conflict.

Labels: War

Decision to attack Iran could fall on US generals - by GWYNNE DYER

MANY people listen to the White House these days and conclude that an American attack on Iran is imminent. “To be quite honest, I’m a little concerned that it’s Iraq again,” Senator John Rockefeller, the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said recently. But if President George Bush gives the order, then General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will face a big decision.

With all ground troops in Iraq, air strikes alone could not win the war, however massive, and they probably could not even destroy all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are dispersed, and often buried. Many Iranians would be killed, but what would the US do next? It would have very few options, whereas Iran would have many. Iran could flood Iraq with sophisticated weapons and send volunteers to help the fight the US there.It could throw international markets into turmoil by halting its own oil exports.

There is a civil-military confrontation brewing in the US more serious than anything that has been seen since President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.

Labels: War

US Iran intelligence 'is incorrect' - by Julian Borger

Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today.

The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was defying a UN security council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear programme.

That report, delivered to the security council by the IAEA director general, Mohammed ElBaradei, sets the stage for a fierce international debate on the imposition of stricter sanctions on Iran and raises the possibility that the US could resort to military action against Iranian nuclear sites.

Labels: War

Media must challenge Bush's Iran assertions - by Carmen Breen

"It's deja vu. The Bush administration, having mired the world in a war in Iraq, is now preparing an attack on Iran. And instead of questioning the government's every assertion, the media are echoing unconfirmed allegations that the Iranian government is supplying Iraqis with lethal roadside bombs to kill American troops. Have we learned nothing from the last run-up to war? An unwillingness to challenge the US administration's assertions led us to war four years ago. Please don't lead us down that road again."

Labels: War