Ok...that's what l was wondering about.

Can they put up with it that long?

only God knows...my guess is olmert goes out in the primary and I hope benji wins in a new election in 2009 but my guess is olmert will (or whoever beats him) stall for elections in 2010...buying 1 more yr of power...one thing is for sure........God is in control

US Builds 4 Missile Launch Base Pads on Iraq-Iran Border
June 27….(Mathaba News) The US military has constructed four advanced bases 20 miles from Iraq's border with Iran, a senior Iraqi police officer has announced. The bases, equipped with missile launch pads, have been set up over the past four months on the Iraq-Iran border; Iraqi al-Noor newspaper quoted the official as saying. He added that one of the bases has been located 30 km (20 miles) from the first border town with Iran and houses remote-controlled launching pads as well as radar systems similar to ones used in Kuwait during the first Persian Gulf war. "The bases do not serve military intentions and its staff would not be military personnel." According to the official, the bases are only precautionary measures in case of a military strike against Israel by Iran. A team consisting of high-profile US marines, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) alongside Pentagon experts oversee the bases.
................................................benny

Erekat: Six Months to Peace Deal

(Top negotiator for Palestinian Authority says solutions at hand for all core issues, now is time for decision-making. Speaking at conference organized by Peres Center for Peace, Erekat says 'Israeli and Palestinian leaders who reach an agreement will be more important to region's history than Jesus')

June 27….(YNET) "If we want a peace agreement, there are only six months left. This is the time to make decisions," Saeb Erekat said on Thursday evening. Speaking at a conference organized by the 'Peres Center for Peace' at Tel Aviv University, the top negotiator for the Palestinian Authority was joined for a discussion on the recent renewal of Israeli negotiations with Syria by MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz) and former director-general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Dr. Alon Liel. "Our goal is to reach an agreement. Regarding the core issues: Jerusalem, the refugees and the borders, all these have solutions. This is the time for decisiveness. We will not go back to talks over temporary arrangements or temporary border, we intend to reach an agreement and this is possible for all the core issues. We need to make decisions, and (Prime Minister) Olmert and (Palestinian President) Abbas are capable of making them. "The 'Israeli and Palestinian leaders who reach an agreement will be more important to region's history than Jesus," said Erekat. (FOJ: This person will also be the Antichrist) "Ultimately the only solution possible is that of two states in the 1967 borders. Like it or not, you have three options: two states, a bi-national state, and the current situation," said Erekat, alluding to an 'apartheid state.' The senior Palestinian diplomat also addressed the situation in the Gaza Strip: "We want the truce in Gaza to hold. It is good to give a chance for peace, and the calm is necessary for us." As for the indirect negotiations with Syria, Erekat said: "I hope the Israeli-Syrian channel is successful. We want Syria to be involved in the peace process because we would like to see a final arrangement for the entire region."

'Assad – driving force behind talks'
Alon Liel said that success with the Syrian channel would have a positive effect on the Palestinian one. "If we reach an agreement with Syria before we do with the Palestinians, there will be several elements aiding the Palestinian channel, like the issue of the refugees for instance. Syria will apparently agree to grant the refugees citizenship," he said. "I know that there's a lot of panic in Lebanon about this issue, as they fear that the Palestinian refugees will be settled there as well and alter the country's demographics. What's more, the Syrians will no longer allow Khaled Mashaal (Hamas' exiled politburo chief) to remain in Damascus. If we reach a stage where Syria stops aiding Hamas and Hizbullah, the balance of power will shift in Fatah's favor and this will help the peace process." The former director-general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said noted that the "driving force" behind the renewed talks with Syria was none other than Syrian President Bashar Assad himself. Olmert, said Liel, would not have initiated the negotiations. "I believe the reason for this is that Assad is afraid of Iran. The Syrians know exactly who the Iranians are, just as we do. They also know how dependent they've become in fields like military strength and their economy. I believe they came to the conclusion that they were under a 'friendly takeover' by Iran, and that Iran may yet do to them what they did in Lebanon." Liel said that only the United States would be able to broker a regional agreement with Syria that would block its "Iranization. "After that, with the help of the Syrians, we will be able to come to the public and ask them something very simple: 'What do you prefer, having Israel surrounded by an Iranian belt in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, or a friendly belt that will normalize relations with us and agree to end the conflict?"

...............................................benny

Jun 26, 2008 20:42 | Updated Jun 27, 2008 15:23
Security and Defense: Not leaving the nuclear threat up in the air
By YAAKOV KATZ
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A tourist who visited the Kirya in Tel Aviv this week could have been excused for mistaking the IDF Military Headquarters for an American army base. After all, it is not every week that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visits Israel - certainly not mere days following a visit by two four-star generals.

The week began with the arrival of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, who had come to meet his Israeli counterpart, Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom. Both took up their positions in late 2007, and they have already met three times - twice in the US, and now this time in Israel. This is the most, Roughead told The Jerusalem Post, that he has met with any other foreign Navy commander.

In the middle of the week, Gen. William S. Wallace, commander of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, landed in Tel Aviv. He was here as the guest of OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi. In contrast to Roughead's visit, which was covered by the media, the IDF refused to provide details surrounding the purpose of Wallace's trip here.

Wallace is responsible for a wide range of issues, including the recruiting, training and education of US Army troops. A recent op-ed he wrote for the East Valley Tribune read like a piece that could have been authored by an Israeli general protesting declining draft numbers. In Israel, he wrote, 25 percent of youth may be evading the draft, but in the US, only 28% of the 17-24-year-old population even qualifies to wear a military uniform.

After Wallace and Roughead flew back home on Thursday, it was their boss's turn to arrive. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen - as was reported exclusively in The Post this week - decided to cut short a scheduled tour of Europe to fly to Tel Aviv over the weekend for talks with his Israeli counterpart, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

This is significant. Until Mullen's previous visit to Israel in December, no joint chiefs chairman - the highest military position in the US - had been here in more than a decade. This week's visit is his second since taking up the post less than a year ago, and comes just weeks before Ashkenazi is scheduled to fly to Washington to meet with him there.

This sequence of visits was explained by IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Avi Benayahu as "routine trips dealing with many areas of cooperation."

Fair enough. But they come just two weeks after it was reported that the Israel Air Force had conducted one of the largest aerial exercises in its history. The IAF allegedly flew 100 F-15 and F-16 fighter jets - supported by midair fuel tankers and rescue helicopters - 1,500 kilometers westward over the Mediterranean Sea. This just happens to equal the distance eastward from Israel to Iran's nuclear facilities.

In addition, the meetings coincide with a recent escalation in Israeli rhetoric vis-à-vis Iran. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel would have no choice but to attack Iran. Other officials, too, such as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Israeli ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor, have made similar, if less definitive, remarks.

From an Israeli standpoint, the military option is certainly viable, though it rests on many variables, and is considered a "last resort."

Israel would prefer not to have to fly 100 of its fighter jets across the world, but - as it demonstrated in the reported massive air display over Greece - it is prepared to do so.

LONG-RANGE fighter-jet exercises are nothing new. As The Post reported on Sunday, the IDF has significantly increased its participation in overseas exercises in recent years - in the US, Canada, Spain, Greece and Italy. Flights by the IAF's International Squadron - responsible for midair refueling - have also dramatically increased.

Maj.-Gen. Elazar Shkedy, who stepped down last month as commander of the IAF, was said to have jumped at every invitation from foreign militaries to fly his jets to their countries. With so little available air space in Israel, the IAF needs every opportunity to test its long-range capabilities, and the only way to so is by going abroad. This is not only in order to ensure that the planes meet their long-range requirements, but also to test different munitions.

The reason these flights have not received much attention is because, in comparison to the reported exercise held over Greece earlier this month, they have been small in size. And though Israel did not confirm that it had held the major exercise over Greece, it was not disturbed by last Friday's New York Times report about it.

"You don't fly 100 jets over the Mediterranean and expect no one will see it," explained one defense official.

Roughead told The Post that he knew of the reported exercise, and that "there are many ways we [the US Navy] receive information."

Greek defense officials confirmed the unusual aerial activity. It is also likely that ships belonging to NATO, Russia and Syria, which regularly frequent these waters, did not turn a blind eye to the jets with the stars of David on their wings.

Though Israel has remained mum on the intent of the reported exercise, officials in the Pentagon speculated that it wanted the world to take notice - to see that it is serious about its military threat against Iran.

This assessment makes sense, since Israel is becoming increasingly frustrated with the faltering diplomatic efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program. With oil prices rising, Iran stands to earn more than $100 billion from oil exports this year, up from about $75 billion in 2007, itself a record year. This increase in revenues is believed to be partially behind Iran's rejection of the new incentive package offered by the European Union, which included support for a civilian nuclear energy program and R&D.

Another thing the reported exercise over Greece demonstrated was how dependent Israel would be on other countries, in the event of an attack on Iran.

THIS IS why the meetings held at the Kirya this past week were so important. Though both sides deny they are coordinating operational plans to attack Iran, it is likely that feelers are being put out by Israel to see what type of support, if at all, it could expect to receive from the US in the event of an airstrike.

As demonstrated by past coordination between the two countries - during the Yom Kippur War, for instance, when the US sent weaponry to the IDF, and surrounding Israel's September bombing of the Syrian nuclear reactor, for the Bush administration gave its consent - it is not likely that Israel would be able to strike Iran without first coordinating it with the US.

This coordination could take the form of an unspoken understanding that allows the IAF to fly over Iraq, or perhaps even include permission to use American bases in the Gulf to refuel and rearm.

Meanwhile, there are other challenges on the horizon that have to do with unknown variables. One such variable is that Teheran is believed to have purchased, but not yet received, the advanced Russian-made S-300 air defense missile system, capable of tracking dozens of targets and engaging over a dozen of them simultaneously at a range of hundreds of kilometers. Senior IDF officers have warned recently that this system cannot be allowed to reach the region. If it does, it would pose a major obstacle to an Israeli strike, and as a result, the IDF might be prompted to launch such an attack before the system is deployed in Iran.

Another unknown variable is the domestic situation in Iran. Presidential elections are scheduled for mid-2009, shortly after John McCain or Barack Obama move into the Oval Office.

According to a Newsweek report this week, current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands a 50% chance of losing reelection, in light of growing inflation. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei may decide not to support the incumbent president, and instead push for a conservative candidate who may be more open to EU incentives.

Israel may be inclined to allow that process to play out, and therefore might hold off on an airstrike until after the Iranian elections.

On the other hand, there is the question of what the US will do. According to a recent CBS report, Vice President Dick Cheney is in favor of attacking Iran, against the recommendations of Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Still, one window of opportunity to do so that has been suggested is the period between the US presidential elections in November and the inauguration in January 2009.

There is no guarantee, however, that Israel can wait that long.
....................................................benny

Rafsanjani to West: You're small, Iran is large


Tehran unimpressed by latest calls for suspension of uranium enrichment; ex-President Rafsanjani tells G8 'this type of doublespeak will not help you…you are too small to use this type of language. Iran is a large country.'

AFP Published: 06.27.08, 22:19 / Israel News




Group of Eight foreign ministers urged Iran on Friday to suspend uranium enrichment, a call dismissed in Tehran as doublespeak.




Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani slammed what he called the "doublespeak" approach of the superpowers, saying it would lead to failure.



Nuke Threat

Iran says 'enemies' won't stop nuclear work / Reuters

Bullying powers should know threats and pressure will not save them from us, Ahmadinejad says in speech. 'Even if they succeed to close all doors on Iran, the Iranian nation will become more determined to continue its nuclear path'
Full Story



"Today in Japan the members of the G8 group have adopted another resolution to apply a carrot and stick policy," he said in a Friday prayers speech in Tehran broadcast over state radio.

"This type of doublespeak will not help you and will not lead to a solution" to the nuclear problem, he said, addressing the Western powers.



"You are too small to use this type of language. Iran is a large country... the language of dialogue and negotiation must be used," he added.



Rafsanjani, who was defeated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 presidential elections, retains a considerable powerbase as head of both Iran's top arbitration body the Expediency Council, and the elite clerical Assembly of Experts.



'Act in a more responsible manner'
The industrial powers - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - said they "strongly urge" Iran to cooperate fully with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency.



"We also urge Iran to act in a more responsible and constructive manner in the region, particularly in the context of the Middle East peace process and the stability of Iraq and Afghanistan," said a statement after talks in Japan.



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Western powers have been ramping up pressure on Iran for refusing to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment, a process which can be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.



On Monday the European Union approved sanctions aimed at operations by Bank Melli, Iran's largest financial institution, in Britain, France and Germany - the three EU countries negotiating with Tehran.

.........................................................benny

Bahrain to Allies: Warn Us of Any Move on Iran

by Hana Levi Julian


(IsraelNN.com) The small but wealthy Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain has asked its allies in the international community to notify it in case of any planned escalation with Iran.

Bahrain Public Security Chief Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani said in a speech Wednesday before the Royal United Services Institute in London that "the level of tension currently concerning Iran is a further significant threat."

Al Zayani warned the security think tank, "Should the situation deteriorate, there will be a major impact on Bahrain, where a proportion of our Shi'ite population follows Iran's religious leadership blindly and apparently without question."

Al Zayani appealed to Bahrain's allies to consider the impact of an escalation on the entire region before moving ahead with military action against the Islamic Republic. "As partners we ask, rather in hope than in expectation, that we are consulted or at least given early warning of major escalation or other actions," he said.

Speaking later with a reporter from the Reuters news service, Al Zayani added, "The intention of the consultation is to ensure that war will not happen. The intention is to have peace. We are against war… The Iranian nuclear issue is a challenge for the whole region and war will be a challenge to all. We don't want escalation… we hope it will end in a political solution."

Iran has repeatedly threatened to annihilate the State of Israel and has adamantly refused to halt its nuclear development program, which intelligence agencies fear is aimed at creating a weapon of mass destruction. The Israeli government has stated it will not tolerate an existential threat, regardless of what other countries decide to do, although it prefers to deal with the issue diplomatically.

Bahrain is one of the few Arab nations which have not displayed public hostility towards Israel. The monarchy recently appointed a Jewish woman, Huda Nunu, to be its ambassador to the United States, the first Arab nation to do so. Nunu, a businesswoman and mother of two, who was the head of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch, was named to the post after a long process.

Currently there are fewer than 10 Jewish families in Bahrain, where Jews have lived since ancient times. Arabic records note their refusal to convert to Islam when the faith's founder, Mohammed, took over the territory.
....................................................benny

Just Politics:

Israeli minister: We have no Iran war plan
Jun 25, 2008


Iranian.ws




Israel's national infrastructure minister says Israel is not preparing for a military action against Iran over its nuclear program. “We're not planning any assault on Iran...But you can be sure if Tehran attempts to attack Israel, Iran will be destroyed,” Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said in an interview with Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

The remarks were made after the New York Times reported that US officials believed that a recent Israeli military exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the capacity to carry out long-range strikes against Iran.

Israel carried out the military maneuver over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece during the first week of June with more than 100 F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the exercise.

Greece, however, denied the report saying the maneuvers had nothing to do with a possible attack against Iran.

Ben-Eliezer had earlier threatened Iran with destruction if the country attacked the Zionist regime.


© Iranian.ws

................................................benny

PLO spokesman: We'll make bigger impact than Jesus

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Printer-friendly version By Stan Goodenough
June 27, 2008

PLO chief and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas' senior spokesman Thursday asserted presumptuously that the "successful" outcome of the land-for-peace process would make a greater impact on the Middle East than that made by Jesus Christ.

Saeb Erekat was speaking at a conference funded by the ultra-leftist 'Peres Center for Peace' in Tel Aviv.

"If we want a peace agreement – there are only six months left. This is the time to make decisions," Erekat said.

He insisted that there are solutions to the "core issues" of who will get Jerusalem, what will happen to the "Palestinian refugees," and what the final borders of Israel and Palestine will be.

"The Israeli and Palestinian (sic) leaders who reach an agreement will be more important to the region's history than Jesus," Erekat proclaimed.

Abbas’ man, unsurprisingly, also expressed support for the ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza-controlling Hamas terrorists who are exploiting the truce to re-arm in preparation for the next onslaught on Jewish population centers in the south.

"We want the truce in Gaza to hold. It is good to give a chance for peace, and the calm is necessary for us," he said.

................................................benny

Exclusive: Syrians and UN nuclear inspectors play hide and seek
June 26, 2008, 11:10 AM (GMT+02:00)


Olli Heinonen led nuclear watchdog inspection in Syria
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report that the three-man International Atomic Energy Agency team which inspected the El Kibar site bombed by Israel last September, returned to Vienna Wednesday, June 25, with soil and building materials samples gathered secretly without Syrian knowledge. From the Syrians they received different samples said to have been collected at a site which they insisted was a military facility under construction.

During their four days in the country, Olli Heinonen, IAEA deputy director and leading negotiator with the Iranian authorities, and his team interviewed Syrian army officers and men presented by Damascus as having been employed at the facility. They denied it was a nuclear reactor and possessing nuclear credentials themselves. But, according to DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources, the inspectors countered with their own list of officers, scientists and technicians – not only Syrians, but also Iranians and North Koreans employed in building the facility.

The Syrian side denied this and refused the inspectors permission to interview people on their list.

Last week, British, German and Israeli publications released new information from Israeli intelligence sources according to which the El Kibar reactor was intended to be a component of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s use of plutonium in its weapons projects was to be concealed by having it produced in Syria.

Wednesday, June 25, the London daily, the Guardian, quoted an adviser to Israel's national security council as saying: "The Iranians were involved in the Syrian programme. The idea was that the Syrians produce plutonium and the Iranians get their share. Syria had no reprocessing facility for the spent fuel. It's not deduction alone that brings almost everyone to think that the link exists" – implying that Israel had evidence.

DEBKAfile adds: War tensions between Israel and Iran have shot up in the last few days on the strength of reported Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations. By linking Syria’s destroyed reactor to Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli officials were saying in effect that the attack on an Iranian nuclear installation had already taken place …in Syria.

...................................................benny

A map for the road not taken
By JONATHAN SCHANZER


Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad
By Caroline B. Glick
Gefen
427 pages; $29.95

It is often said that either you are an idealist or a realist. Indeed, these two worldviews almost always clash. But Jerusalem Post deputy managing editor Caroline Glick, an American-Israeli with strong Zionist convictions, somehow embraces both with vigor. This has helped her produce consistently compelling commentary that wastes little time cutting to the very essence of the issues she explores.

Yet, in nearly every dispatch, Glick conveys either a subtle or even strong sense of frustration with her Israeli and Jewish-American audiences that refuse to wake up to the dangers that loom in the Middle East. Her first book, a well-structured compendium of her columns, may sadly serve as a map for the road not taken in the fight against radical Islam.

The seemingly endless Palestinian war against Israel is perhaps the greatest source of frustration for Glick. Several of her most compelling pieces hammer home the fact that the "Palestinian goal today is genocide," and their "central organizing principle is the physical elimination of the Jewish people." This should be obvious to most readers of Middle Eastern affairs. Yet a majority of American Jews and even Israelis continue to hold out hope for peace.

The author soundly rejects the notion that even the sweetest US or Israeli incentives can prod the Palestinians toward peace. She observes that the Palestinian people receive "more aid per capita than any people on earth" but prefer "poverty, violence and war to prosperity." This applies to all Palestinians; while Hamas is typically vilified for its gruesome acts of terror, we cannot forget that Fatah maintains "goals that are incompatible with the continued existence of the State of Israel." In other words, it has become impossible to separate the "general Palestinian population from those involved in terrorism."

She arrives at the sound conclusion that "Palestinian society itself must be transformed before there is to be peaceful coexistence."

Glick sums up Israel's security predicament succinctly: Israel must find the "courage to recognize that security, not peace," is the ultimate goal. Yet, she observes that her country is suffering from a "lack of outrage," and Israelis have "gotten used to being killed." She therefore yearns for Israel to win its security through a show of force on the battlefield.

The poor Israeli performance in the 2006 war against Hizbullah was a source of agitation for the author. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's military blunder not only weakened Israel's deterrence in the Arab world, but it may have also weakened Israel's Western alliances. Moving forward, she believes that only Israeli military victories will end the growing notion that Israel has become a "strategic liability for the West."

Regarding Iran, Glick could not be any clearer. She notes that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has started a "countdown to the next Holocaust" and that the "catastrophe that will follow an American collapse into isolationism and appeasement is undeniable." She further warns that the failure to prevent Iran from going nuclear will result in "suffering, destruction and death on an unimaginable scale."

To Glick's chagrin, the international coalition necessary to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions has been moving at glacial speed. She therefore encourages her readers to support the growing movement led by several states in the US that are divesting their pension funds from companies that do business with Teheran.

But divestment for Glick is not enough. Through the pages of this book, she growls at Ahmadinejad, asserting that the maniacal Iranian leader uses Holocaust denial as a ruse among his county's other dangerous foreign policies, so that appeasing nations can claim to stand against Iran "without actually doing anything to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

Looking beyond Iran, the author understands that the West is now engaged in a "world war" with Islamists, but yet most of us "do not notice it." Glick is unrelenting in her insistence that "we must do everything to destroy them and nothing to give them hope for victory." One key to this victory, she correctly notes, is strategic communication. Unfortunately, she notes, the enemies of the West continue "to define our world for us." Put another way, the "leftist-Islamist front is eroding the free world's sense of justice." This is a battle the West continues to lose.

Notably, the battle is being lost quite badly on America's university campuses. Indeed, "campuses throughout the Western world are known as hotbeds for radicalism" - including Israeli campuses. Glick notes that "educators," such as Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, attack those who support Israel as bigoted or virulent. She observes that jihadists are now teaching the next generation in ways that "prevent us from seeing the dangers and defending ourselves."

But, in the battle of ideas, the West is taking its worst drubbing over the war in Iraq. Glick, who was embedded with the US military during the Iraq War, immediately understood the importance of the US-led reconstruction efforts, and the need to properly explain the military operations there. Glick's dispatches from her time in the field with American military men revealed her enduring patriotism for the country she left behind. She lambastes critics for "buying into Hizbullah's psychological warfare in repeating the analogy between Iraq and Vietnam." She notes that if the American public falls prey to the wrong messages, prompting the US to leave too early, the US would lose its standing "as the leader of the free world in the midst of a global war."

While a great many of Glick's observations ring true, the reader may not always walk away from Glick's work nodding in agreement. For example, she asserts that during the 2006 war with Lebanon, the Bush administration supported Hizbullah's claims to Mount Dov (also known as Shaba Farms), or that it sought to "appease Iran." At another point, she claims that Bush has followed a string of US presidents who allow Israel to "beat Arab aggression militarily, but [force] it to lose the war politically."

In a column last July, she warned that the US was pursuing an "alliance with Saudi Arabia with vigor while eschewing and downgrading its alliance with Israel." Castigating Israel's loyal ally - particularly an administration that has been incredibly supportive for eight years - hardly seems like a battle worth fighting.

In the end, however, Glick understands that radical Islam is the enemy. She snarls at the "rotten evil that characterizes the ideology of our enemies" and unabashedly states that defeating this enemy is the "mission of our generation." Indeed, the author seeks to "pave the way for a secure, peaceful and moral future for our people and our world."
.................................................benny

Jun 26, 2008 21:44 | Updated Jun 27, 2008 14:50
UK Conservative leaders hail Israel, talk tough on Iran
By JONNY PAUL, LONDON
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Conservative MP and shadow chancellor George Osbourne paid tribute to Israel's achievements on Wednesday, saying a trip to the Jewish state in 2004 in which he experienced the aftermath of a suicide-bombing shaped his understanding of the country.

"It's an objective view of what Israel has achieved during its existence and the way it represents freedom and democracy in a part of the world that is not familiar with freedom and democracy," Osbourne also said when asked the source of his views.

Osbourne was speaking with Daniel Finkelstein, columnist and comment editor of the Times, and shadow foreign secretary William Hague, at the Conservative Friends of Israel's annual business lunch at the Dorchester Hotel in central London.

More than 500 guests, including Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, members of Parliament, European Parliament, the House of Lords, and the Greater London Assembly attended the event.

On November 1, 2004, Osbourne saw at first hand the results of a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market that killed three people and wounded more than 35. He said it made "a very powerful impression on what Israel is up against."

During that trip, he added, he and four MPs including current-London Mayor Boris Johnson ended up singing patriotic Israeli songs in a Tel Aviv karaoke bar.

Speaking about Iran, Osbourne said: "We should not rule out military options. It's not the same as ruling in military options, but it does mean not ruling them out, and I think we have to be very hard-headed and realistic about the world in which we live."

"We would have like to have seen a more energetic approach by the current [UK] government and we are critical of them," Hague said. "Gordon Brown announced sanctions on Iranian oil and gas last November; he announced it again last week, and still nothing has taken place."

Hague also said that Britain or Israel should not negotiate directly with Hamas.
..............................................benny

JPost.com » The Iranian Threat » Article


Jun 28, 2008 10:31 | Updated Jun 28, 2008 17:43
'Israel cannot stop our nuclear program'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
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Israel is no match for Iran and cannot stop its nuclear program, Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said in an interview to Iranian daily Jam-e Jam Saturday.


Ahmadinejad listens to Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, during a military parade in Teheran. [file]
Photo: AP

Slideshow: Pictures of the week "This country [Israel] is completely within the range of the Islamic republic's missiles. Our missile power and capability are such that the Zionist regime - despite all its abilities - cannot confront it," Jafari said, according to an AFP report.

"There is the possibility that by attacking Iranian nuclear sites the enemy wants to delay our nuclear activities, but any interruption would be very short since Iranian scientific ability is different from that of Syria and Iraq."

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Jafari warned countries in the region not to allow their territory to be used for any attack.

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Security and Defense: Not leaving nuke threat up in air
A disastrous attack on Iran?
"If enemies from outside the region use the soil of regional countries against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the governments of those countries will be responsible and it is our obvious right to act in the same way against their military capabilities and abilities of enemies anywhere," he said.

The Iranian official also said that, if attacked, Iran would use oil as part of the confrontation.

"If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region, definitely the scope [of the confrontation] will reach the oil issue," Jafari said.

"Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy. Regarding the main route for exiting energy, Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz," he said. "After this action, the oil price will rise very considerably and this is among the factors deterring the enemies."

Also Saturday, former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the West is "too small to punish a big country like Iran."

According to a report by the official IRNA news agency, Rafsanjani said in a prayers sermon Friday that "we have repeatedly advised that using the literature [of sanctions] in dealing with Iran will not be in favor of the west."

"The West should stop following a wrong approach towards Iran," the chairman of the regime's Assembly of Experts said. "With a great country like Iran, one should deal only with a proper literature, dialogue, logic and reason; otherwise, you would put the region in trouble without gaining anything."

Rafsanjani asserted that Iran seeks nuclear energy for peaceful purposes only, and said it was ready for dialog to win the world's confidence.

European Union nations approved new sanctions against Iran on Monday, including an assets freeze of the country's biggest bank, Bank Melli. On Tuesday the EU listed 20 Iranian companies and 15 individuals who will be affected by new financial and travel sanctions imposed due to Teheran's nuclear defiance.


................................................benny

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief threatens to hit US, Israel, block Persian Gulf if attacked
June 28, 2008, 6:59 PM (GMT+02:00)


IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari
DEBKAfile reports: The Guards commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari issued Tehran’s toughest and most explicit threats yet in response to recent reports of Israeli preparations to strike Iran’s nuclear installations.

This week the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullent and Chief Naval Operations chief, Adm. Gary Roughead were in Israel to discuss coordination on the Iran front.

Hinting at an American attack, Jafari said: “If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region , definitely the scope will reach the oil issue,” said the IRGC commander to the Iranian Jam-e Jam newspaper.

After this action (of imposing controls on the Gulf waterway), the oil price will rise very considerably,” he said. The Iranian general’s words may push rocketing oil prices even past the current $143 record per barrel, energy experts calculate.

Jafari clearly differentiated between Iran’s responses to possible American and Israeli attacks. The oil weapon would be applied against the former – “and this is among the factors deterring enemies,” he said.

“Israelis know if they take military action against Iran… the abilities of the Islamic and Shiite world, especially in the region, will deliver fatal blows.” He noted that Israel was in range of Iranian missiles.

He said Iran’s “allies in the region” could also retaliate, referring to those living in “Lebanon’s heartland of South Lebanon,” without naming Hizballah.

US forces were “more vulnerable than the Israelis” because of their troops in the region. “Iran can in different ways harm American interests, even far away.”

Jafari warned Iran’s neighbors not to let their territory be used.

“If the attack takes place from the soil of another country ... the country attacked has the right to respond to the enemy's military action from where the operation started," he said.

..................................................benny

Iran Says Gulf Oil Route at Risk if Attacked

Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:50 AM

Article Font Size



The Revolutionary Guards said Iran would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked and warned regional states of reprisals if they took part, a newspaper reported on Saturday.


Fear of an escalation in the standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, have been one factor propping up sky-high oil prices. Crude hit a record level on international markets near $143 a barrel on Friday.


Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its disputed nuclear ambitions has risen since a report this month said Israel had practiced such a strike, prompting increasingly tough talk of retaliation, if pushed, from Tehran.


"Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy," Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari told Jam-e Jam newspaper in some of the toughest language Iran has used so far.


Analysts say Iran may not match the firepower of U.S. forces but could still cause havoc in the region using unconventional tactics, such as deploying small craft to attack ships, or using allies in the area to strike at U.S. or Israeli interests.


"Regarding the main route for exiting energy, Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz," Jafari said of the Gulf waterway through which about two-fifths of all globally traded oil passes.


Iranian officials have in the past sent mixed signals about whether Iran would use oil as a weapon. But such threats, when made, have sent jitters through the crude market for fear of disrupting supplies from big OPEC producers in the Gulf.


The Islamic Republic insists its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. But the West and Israel fear Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. Israel is believed to be the only Middle East state with nuclear arms.


Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.


'RIGHT TO RESPOND'


"If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region, definitely the scope (of the confrontation) will reach the oil issue," Jafari said.


The Revolutionary Guards are the ideologically driven wing of Iran's military with air, sea and land capabilities, and a separate command structure to regular units.


"After this action (of Iran imposing controls on the Gulf waterway), the oil price will rise very considerably and this is among the factors deterring the enemies," Jafari said.


He said any military action might "be able to delay Iran's nuclear activities but this delay will certainly be very short."


Jafari warned neighbors not to let their territory be used.


"If the attack takes place from the soil of another country ... the country attacked has the right to respond to the enemy's military action from where the operation started," he said.


Kuwait, the launchpad for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Iraq itself, where U.S. troops are now stationed, have both said they would not let their land be used for a strike on Iran. The U.S. military has bases in other Gulf states and Afghanistan.


Jafari said U.S. forces were "more vulnerable than Israelis" because of their troops in the area. Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has in the past said Iran would target U.S. interests if attacked.


"Iran can in different ways harm American interests even far away," the Guards commander said.


Jafari suggested Iran's allies in the region, who include Lebanon's Shi'ite militia Hezbollah, could also retaliate. He referred to Iran's ties with those living in Lebanon's Shi'ite heartland of south Lebanon but did not refer to any group.


"Israelis know if they take military action against Iran ... the abilities of the Islamic and Shi'ite world, especially in the region, will deliver fatal blows," Jafari said, adding that Israel was in range of Iranian missiles.


He also hinted that Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that receives Iranian funding and which has sent suicide bombers into Israel, might act. But, again, he did not name the group.

.................................................benny

Exclusive: Iranian put on trial as Israeli spy as war fever grips Tehran
June 28, 2008, 6:56 PM (GMT+02:00)


Exclusive: Photo of alleged Israeli spy on trial in Tehran
The Iranian statement Saturday, June 28, claimed he was run by the Israeli Mossad and “instruments” they gave him were presented to the “revolutionary court.” The statement does not identify the suspect, elaborate on the charges against him, or disclose when his secret trial began.

The court held its last hearing Saturday and will publish its verdict next week. He was defended by an attorney.

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report Iranian official circles have beome obsessed with suspions of infiltration by Israeli and American undercover agents to prepare impending attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. There have been claims in the past of spies hiding in strategic places ready to guide incoming heavy American bombers to targeting those facilities. Iran also fears enemy agents have penetrated its nuclear research centers to gather “crucial” strategic data.

These alarms have raised concerns for the safety of the 4,000-years old Jewish community of Iran, whose numbers have dwindled to 17,000 to 20,000. While every Iranian immigrant is offered a $10,000 Jewish Agency grant, few have taken it up. Eight years ago, 13 Iranian Jews from Shiraz and Isfahan were accused of spying for Israel and sentenced to long prison sentences which were commuted under heavy international pressure.

The former sole Jewish legislator in the Iranian majlis, Morris Mo’tamed, reported in an interview to Hizballah’s Al Manar television some months ago that a number of Iranian Jewish citizens had paid visits to Israel to see relatives and perform religious duties.

.............................................benny

Jul 1, 2008 10:19 | Updated Jul 1, 2008 11:15
'US officials worried Israel will attack Iran before year's end'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
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Senior US defense officials are concerned that Israel may attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of the year, and that this may prompt a wave of Iranian retaliatory attacks against both Israeli and US targets, according to an ABC News report on Monday.


Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
Photo: AP [file]

Slideshow: Pictures of the week According to an unnamed Pentagon official quoted by the broadcaster, there is an "increasing likelihood" of such an attack as Iran approaches two "red lines" in Israel's view: The first is the point when Iran produces enough highly enriched uranium to develop a nuclear weapon - something that could happen in 2009 and perhaps even by the end of 2008, according to US and Israeli assessments.

"The red line," the official said, "is not when they get to that point, but before they get to that point. We are in the window of vulnerability."

The second red line is Iran's acquisition of the SA-20 air defense system from Russia. The system would make an Israeli strike much more difficult, and if an offensive is being planned, it is likely to take place before that time, according to ABC.

Again quoting a senior Pentagon official, ABC reported that the large-scale IAF exercise conducted in early June was "not a rehearsal, but basic, fundamental training" for an attack on Iran.

"The Israeli air force has already conducted the basic exercise necessary to tell their senior leadership, 'We have the fundamentals down,'" the official said. "Might they need some more training and rehearsals? Yes. But have they done the fundamentals? I think that is what we saw."

He added that additional such drills were to be expected as a possible operation nears.

The TV station's report added that Pentagon officials believe an Israeli attack could not destroy Iran's nuclear program, and would only do temporary damage.
.............................................benny

Seeing Through Iran's Strait Talk
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 7/1/2008

Middle East: Iran's Islamofascist regime is threatening to block the major oil route of the Strait of Hormuz if attacked by Israel. But bluffing doesn't work when the whole world sees how bad your hand is.


What is Tehran's intention in suggesting that the result of an attack disabling its nuclear facilities would be an all-out war that would disrupt global oil supplies from the Middle East and consequently deliver a body blow to the Western economies?

On the one hand, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the fanatical mullahs who pull his strings are apocalyptic Jew-haters who want to see a great final conflict that will wipe the Zionists off the map once and for all.

On the other hand, the revolutionary state founded by the Ayatollah Khomeini has had plenty of experience dealing with weak-kneed Americans.

Iranian leaders know that almost the entire Washington establishment was ready to pull out of their neighbor, Iraq, before the job was finished there. If they can scare war-weary Americans into thinking that attacking them would mean the first world war of the 21st century, maybe our politicians would conclude it wasn't worth it and hope for the best as Tehran edges toward atomic weapons capability.

But the threat, which came from the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard last week, is in vain as far as any chance of success.

Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander of our Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, made a point of telling reporters on Monday that the fleet won't let the "vital international waters" of the Strait be threatened by anyone. About 20% of the international daily oil supply would be at stake.

Whatever Iran does in the way of retaliation — from rockets launched against Israel to expanding its proxy attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq — the U.S. and Israel cannot let that lead to relinquishing our responsibility to prevent the greatest potential threat to the world: a nuclear-armed Islamist power.

From equipping terrorist groups with atomic suitcase bombs that could be smuggled into Europe or America to nuclear warheads raining down on Tel Aviv, the mayhem that could result is incalculable.

Thankfully, a solution to the problem may be in the works. Adm. Mike Muller, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has met in Israel with his Israeli counterpart and other senior brass, and it's been confirmed that Tehran's nuclear program was "a major topic." Sounds like preparation for coordination on an Iran mission.

Early last month, more than 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s conducted military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean and Greece. The distances involved strongly indicate it was a test run for attacking Iran.

ABC News reported this week that a Pentagon official identified two "red lines" that, once passed by Iran, would trigger an Israeli attack.

One is when Iran's Natanz uranium processing facility is at the threshold of producing enough material to construct a weapon, expected to happen in 2009, or even later this year. The second is when Iran acquires Russia's SA-20 air defense system. Once up and running, it would make an Israeli offensive much more difficult.

Add those signs to an Israeli Cabinet minister and former Defense Forces chief recently calling an attack on Iran "inevitable," plus former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton suggesting an attack timed for the final weeks of President Bush's presidency.

Iran's threats to disrupt the world economy should not be feared, because it can't back them up — today. That won't be the case if we let this fanatical regime obtain nukes.

To let it become so armed would be a crime against humanity comparable with — or perhaps even worse than — what the free world let Germany become in the 1930s.


http://www.investors.com/editorial/e...99804170232422
...................................................benny

Ex-Intelligence official: World Expects Israel to Bomb Iran
(West assumes Israel will hit Iran, Jewish State to be blamed in case of global flare-up, ex-intel officer Yossi Kuperwasser says; Tehran believes likelihood of strike on its nuke facilities very low)

July 2….(YNET) The West believes that Israel is aware of the magnitude of the Iranian nuclear threat and assumes that the Jewish state will bomb Iran, ex-IDF intelligence officer Yossi Kuperwasser told Ynet Tuesday. Kuperwasser, the former head of the IDF's Research and Assessment Division, believes that the Pentagon source's assessment that Israel will likely strike in Iran by the end of the year shows that the West assumes Israel will do the dirty work for it. "That way, in case of a global flare-up, Israel could be blamed," Kuperwasser says. The former senior officer, who for many years dealt with Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, told Ynet the most problematic issue was Tehran's ability to produce industrial quantities of high-grade uranium. "Within a year to a year and a half, the Iranians will have enough uranium for a nuclear bomb," Kuperwasser says. "This is also the American intelligence estimate, which at the time was harshly criticized, and rightfully so. As far as we know, the Iranians have not yet reached this capability…at the same time, they continue their research uninterrupted." Turning his attention to the SA-20 aerial defense system purchased by Iran from Russia, Kuperwasser admits that the missile system could make an aerial strike considerably more difficult to carry out. "This is a missile system that can to protect against missiles and airplanes. The Iranians have another aerial system today, but they view it as inadequate. Clearly, every addition to the aerial defense system may minimize the effectiveness of an aerial strike," he says.

'West is sensitive to pain, money'
While the West has increasingly internalized the Iranian nuclear threat, the process has been too slow and insufficient, the former military officer says. "The West realizes that this is an Iranian challenge to the existing world order, aiming for Islam to enjoy a different status," Kuperwasser says. "Finally people have woken up, but the question is whether officials in the US and Europe realize the gravity at this time. It looks as though everyone is trying to shift the responsibility to someone else, and they believe that ultimately, if nothing changes, Israel will do the job for the West." "Iran realizes that the West is sensitive to pain and money, and won't embark on an operation that would significantly boost oil prices," he says. "Every time the possibility of a military strike is raised, the Revolutionary Guard's commander speaks out and warns against the chaos. They believe that the likelihood of a strike is very low." "In this poker game, the Iranians are leading at this time," Kuperwasser says. "The pressure should be boosted considerably, and it should be made clear that a military move will be carried out if needed…if the Iranians believe that the West is serious, they will think twice about whether it is worthwhile for them to continue."

...................................................benny

Tuesday, July 08, 2008
WAR IN NOVEMBER?


UPDATED: War clouds continue to build in the epicenter. Last month in Rome, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that the United States and Israel would soon be "annihilated," language he had not used so explicitly since October 2005 when he promised to wipe Israel "off the map" and urged Muslims to "envision a world without the United States." This week, his regime authorized a new series of Iranian war games. He ordered the digging of 320,000 graves to bury the enemies of Islam. He is calling for the unification of the Islamic world politically and economically, including the creation of a single currency.

What's more, Iranian TV is running a new anti-Semitic documentary film series entitled, "The Secret of Armageddon." Setting the stage for a coming apocalyptic war that will usher in the Islamic Messiah known as the Mahdi or the "Twelfth Imam," the series focuses on a series of Bible prophecies that inform Jewish and Christian End Times theology. While the presentation is grossly distorted, some facts do emerge. Iranian scholar Dr. Ismail Shafe'i Sarustani , for example, tells viewers that the word "Armageddon" is "originally a Hebrew word" and "is a real geographical region, situated south of Haifa," noting that "the place was shelled by Hizbullah during the 33-day [July 2006] war." Iranian historian Mohammad-Taqi Taqipour notes that "these [Evangelical Christians], along with the Jews, believe that the War of the End of Days will take place in the desert of Megiddo, in Palestine. They believe that Jesus will return, and that then there will be a millennium of happiness."

The series, however, accuses Jews who were recently victims of genocide -- during the Holocaust Ahmadinejad denies ever happened -- of actually planning to commit genocide. "There is a genocidal Zionist Jewish plan for the genocide of humanity at the hand of the Zionist Jew-boys," claims one Iranian researcher interviewed for the program. "The Zionist Jew-boys talk about a 'Greater Israel' -- from the Euphrates to the Nile -- but their actual goal is world domination." At one point, Iranian researcher Shams Al-Din Rahmani argues that "the goal of the Zionists is the total destruction of Islam."

During the June 7th episode, the narrator embraces anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and proceeds to try to justify Iran's own war plans. "Today, there are many indications that the 'hidden hands' of world Zionism were involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack. According to a large group of Western intellectuals, the Zionists are the real rulers of the United States. According to irrefutable documents published by independent American media outlets, the Zionists used intelligence agents and spies, with the full cooperation of agencies with the country, to carry out this terrorist operation in full view of the world, in order to prepare the ground for taking over Afghanistan and Iraq, and to realize the dream of a greater Israel."

Top Israeli intelligence officials, meanwhile, increasingly believe that time is running out. They believe that Iran could have nuclear weapons within a year and one former Mossad chief is urging his country's leadership to launch a massive series of air strikes against Iranian nuclear and other military facilities before it is too late. Israel's Air Force just conducted a test run of such a bombing mission. John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., says he believes Israel may strike Iran sometime in late fall or early winter, after the U.S. elections in November but before the inauguration of the next American President on January 20. A senior Pentagon officials told the Washington Post several days ago he is worried about the same scenario -- a November surprise -- prompting both President Bush and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to make strong public statements warning the Israelis not to take such actions. Until just a few weeks ago, it was widely believed in Israel that new parliamentary elections would be held in November. But at the last moment, Defense Minister Ehud Barak withdrew his threat of voting to bring down the Olmert government for a few more months. This led some to speculate that Barak may be calculating that Israelis couldn't be fully immersed in an electoral campaign and a bombing campaign simultaneously.

The U.S. does not want Israel to strike. After all, the repercussions of such a war with Iran would be global in nature. Israel would face tens of thousands of incoming missiles not just from Iran but likely from Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza and possibly the West Bank. Some of these missiles could be have chemical and/or biological warheads, even if the nuclear warheads in Iran are not yet ready. Ballistic missiles would also be likely fired from Iran at the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, at oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Straight of Hormuz, and at U.S. bases and forces in Iraq. Tens of thousands of suicide bomber cells could be activated in the region -- especially in Iraq and Israel -- and perhaps even in Western Europe and the U.S. and Canada. Iranian efforts to topple Jordan's King Abdullah II and/or Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in favor of radical Islamic regimes friendly to Tehran could also be set in motion. Oil prices could shoot from $140 a barrel to $300 a barrel or more. U.S. gas prices could spike to $7-$10 or more, with horrific domestic and global economic repercussions.

No wonder Washington doesn't want a war with Iran. No wants such a war. I certainly do not, nor do the Israelis. Yet, the U.S. does not have a convincing plan to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program in time. Nor does the U.N., or the E.U. Diplomacy isn't working. Economic sanctions have been imposed on Iran since 1979 to little strategic effect. Unfortunately, the words of Sen. John McCain keep echoing in my head this week. In April 2006, the senior Senator from Arizona appeared on NBC's Meet the Press. He warned, "there's only one thing worse than using the option of military action, and that is the Iranians acquiring nuclear weapons." For if Iran gets the Bomb, he said, "I think we could have Armageddon."

Developing....

-----------------------------------
KEY HEADLINES TO TRACK:
* Israel has a year to destroy Iran's nuclear programme: ex-spy chief
* Former Mossad chief: Israel must attack Iran: 'Or we will find ourselves in very dangerous situation'
* John Bolton: Israel could strike Iran after U.S. presidential election
* Don't bomb Iran, Bush warns Israel
* Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen: US army would find 'third front' hard if Israel attacks Iran
* Mullen: Many risks if Israel strikes Iran
* Iran's Revolutionary Guards hold war games -- code-named: "The Great Prophet Maneuvers"
* Iran digging graves for 320,000 enemies in preparation for coming war
* Ahmadinejad calls for a single currency for the Islamic world
* AHMADINEJAD VOWS U.S & ISRAEL WILL SOON BE "ANNIHILATED": Israeli leader says war may be "unavoidable"
* Washington Post: PENTAGON OFFICIAL WARNS ISRAEL COULD ATTACK IRAN BY YEAR'S END: Chairman of Joint Chiefs was in Israel over weekend
* ISRAELI AIR FORCE PRACTICING TO ATTACK IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES
----------------------------------
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posted by Joel C. Rosenberg @ 7:22 AM
.........................................................benny

Russia threatens strike against U.S. missile shield: report

By Wallace Witkowski
Last update: 2:24 p.m. EDT July 8, 2008
www.marketwatch.com


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Russia said it will respond to a U.S. anti-missile shield near its border with military action, according to Agence France-Presse Tuesday, citing a statement from the Russian foreign ministry.

"If a US strategic anti-missile shield is deployed near our borders, we will be forced to react not in a diplomatic fashion but with military resources," the statement said according to AFP.

The statement came after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to place a radar tracking station for the missile shield in that country

...............................................benny

Iran stages war games, rejects nuclear demand
By Parisa Hafezi
2 hours, 26 minutes ago

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran started war games on Monday and its president rejected a demand by major powers that it stop enriching uranium as "illegitimate," showing no sign of backing down in a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Missile units of the elite Revolutionary Guards' naval and air forces began war games, Iranian news agencies said, hours after the U.S. Navy said it had begun exercises in the Gulf.

Speculation about an attack on the world's fourth biggest oil exporter over its nuclear program rose after a report last month said Israel had practiced such a strike. Fears of military confrontation helped send world oil prices to record highs.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday his country would not stop enriching uranium, work which Tehran says is aimed at generating power but which the West fears may be part of a covert nuclear weapons program.

It was Ahmadinejad's first comment on the dispute since Iran delivered its response on Friday to a package of incentives offered by world powers seeking to curb its nuclear activities. Details of the response were not made public.

"They offer to hold talks but at the same time they threaten us and say we should accept their illegitimate demand to halt (enrichment work)," Ahmadinejad told reporters in Malaysia, where he was attending a summit of eight developing countries.

"They want us to abandon our right (to nuclear technology)," the president said.

By contrast, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke during the weekend of a "new environment" for diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program.

The United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany demand that Iran suspend its enrichment work before formal talks can start on their revised package of incentives, which includes help to develop a civilian nuclear program.

Tehran has repeatedly refused to stop producing enriched uranium, which can be used as fuel for power plants, or, if refined much more, can provide material for nuclear weapons.

The offer of trade and other incentives proposed by the world powers was presented last month by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Iran has put forward its own bundle of proposals aimed at resolving the dispute and has said it was encouraged by common points between the two separate packages.

MIXED SIGNALS

So far the Iranian government's formal response to the latest offer has not been made public and there have been mixed signals in statements by its senior officials.

Senior officials from world powers held a conference call on Monday to discuss Iran's response, the State Department said.

"We are consulting with our partners in the P5+1 (permanent five U.N. Security Council members plus Germany) on issues related to that response and what we might hear and what we have heard thus far," a spokesman said of the conference call.

The goals of Iran's war games included raising combat readiness and the capability of missile units. Exercises started a few hours ago, the Fars and Mehr news agencies said, without giving details on where the maneuvers were taking place.

The Guards often hold maneuvers in the Gulf.

The Revolutionary Guards' head said in remarks published in late June that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked.

The U.S. Navy last week vowed that Iran would not be allowed to block the Gulf waterway which carries crude from the world's largest oil exporting region.

The U.S. Navy on Monday said two U.S. vessels were taking part in its exercise alongside a British warship and one from Bahrain, a Gulf Arab ally which hosts the Fifth Fleet.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday that harsh U.S. rhetoric toward Iran appeared to be contributing to the surge in oil prices and that a calmer approach might help soothe the markets.

"There are some geopolitical issues that affect the price of oil," he added. "So for us to ratchet down the rhetoric when it comes to Iran, for example, and engage in tough, principled diplomacy, as I've called for, might calm the markets down."

Before news of the Iranian war games, oil dropped over $4 a barrel Monday on profit taking and signals that Iran could be more flexible in negotiations over its nuclear program.

U.S. crude settled at $141.37 a barrel, down $3.92 and below Friday's low of $143.22. Brent crude settled at $141.87 a barrel, down $2.55.

(Additional reporting by Hossein Jaseb, Hashem Kalantari and Fredrik Dahl in Tehran and Dubai and Washington bureaux; Writing by Peter Millership; Editing by Keith Weir)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080707/...ran_nuclear_dc
........................................................benny

Saber Rattling from Iran and Russia By MARK THOMPSON / WASHINGTON
Wed Jul 9, 1:45 PM ET



The missile-bound game of nuclear tic-tac-toe continued across the Middle East and Europe Wednesday as Russia made a provocative response to an expansion of the U.S. missile shield in Europe, and Iran followed with a provocation of its own. After the U.S. and Czech Republic signed an agreement calling for the basing of a U.S. radar south of Prague, Moscow responded with a threat of unspecified "military" action if the system is ever deployed. Then, less than 24 hours later, apparently responding to increasing chatter from the U.S. and Israel about attacking Tehran's nuclear production sites, Iran test-fired a barrage of missiles at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a vital waterway through which about 40% of the world's oil - much of it bound for the U.S. and the West - passes.

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Iran's nine-missile test shows "our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language," Gen. Hossein Salami of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a broadcast over Iranian state television. Iran has threatened to halt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. or Israel attacks its nuclear-development sites. The test firings reportedly included Iran's newest missile, the intermediate range Shahab 3, which can reach Israel, Turkey and U.S. military deployments in the region. "Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," Salami told the official IRNA news agency Wednesday. While it can carry a one-ton conventional warhead, the Shahab 3 is not very accurate, U.S. officials say. Marrying a nuclear warhead to it - assuming Iran is able to build one - is also a daunting technical challenge.


The Iranians conduct such tests several times a year. While provocative, Iran has defensive motives for such testing as well: it was 20 years ago this month that the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes killed 290 people aboard an Iranian airliner as it flew across the Persian Gulf after the ship erroneously identified the airliner as an Iranian F-14 intent on attacking the vessel.


The Persian barrage came shortly after the Russians issued their own threatening reponse to a pact signed Tuesday between Washington and the Czech Republic to move into that country an aging missile defense radar system currently based in the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. "We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods" if the shield is ever deployed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The tracking radar slated to move to the Czech Republic would be linked to 10 interceptor missiles Washington hopes to base in Poland. Russia has threatened to re-aim its missiles at those sites if the system is built.


Defense Department officials expressed exasperation at the latest Russian denunciation of the missile shield that U.S. officials maintain is designed only to protect parts of Europe as well as the United States. "No one's name [in the Russian government] is attached to it," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told TIME shortly after the Russians released their saber-rattling statement. "It's being reported as a foreign ministry statement - and it's got strange wording in it like 'We would be forced to react with military resources' or 'technical means' - what does that mean?"


Moscow lobbed the verbal missile toward Washington after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Czech counterpart, Karel Schwarzenberg, signed an agreement in Prague for the radar's move, which the U.S. says is designed to warn of missiles headed toward Europe from Iran. "We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is growing ever longer and ever deeper and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology to this point is still unchecked," Rice said after inking the pact. "It's hard for me to believe that an American President is not going to want to have the capability to defend our territory [and] the territory of our allies."


Pentagon officials have wooed the Russians with enticements to get them to participate in the shield, saying that Tehran threatens Moscow as well as other Eurasian nations. But Moscow has steadfastly declined to cooperate. Ever since the U.S. announced several years ago that it planned to spread its missile-defense system to Europe, Moscow has seen it as a ploy designed to emasculate its last remaining claim to superpower status: its nuclear might. In the two decades since the Soviet Union's demise, its slide into international irrelevancy has been slowed only by its nuclear arsenal and the recent rise in oil prices. While superpower tensions have eased considerably since the Cold War, both sides continue to keep hundreds of long-range missiles set on hair-trigger alert.


"This system is not designed to counter a Russian threat - this system is designed to counter what is an emerging threat from the Middle East," Whitman says. "We have been very transparent with respect to our intent and purpose - we have offered the Russians a very attractive, robust collaboration opportunity and we have also offered what is unprecedented transparency."


While President Bush is eager to cement the European element of the missile-defense shield before he leaves office, actually building and deploying it would fall to his successor. Presumptive Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain backs the proposal, while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has been less supportive. What really matters isn't what either does - or what the Russians say - but what the Iranians do. The closer Tehran is believed to having a nuclear weapon, Pentagon officials say, the more necessary such a Euroshield becomes. Wednesday's tests, Rice said while traveling in Bulgaria, are "evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one." - With reporting by Eben Harrell/LondonTime.com

................................................................benny

Iran Announces Second Round of Ballistic Missile Tests
July 10….(DEBKA) Iran test-fired more long-range ballistic missiles in the Gulf Thursday, July 10, the day after its launch of 10 missiles including the Shehab-3, which is capable of delivering a one-ton payload over Tel Aviv. The second round was announced by Tehran state TV on Day Three of the Great Prophet war games. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the 20 missiles of assorted ranges tested so far (including the Fajar and Zelzal series) were put on show to convince the United States and Israel that Iran has enough missiles and launchers to keep on firing on consecutive days. This was more posture than reality. In fact, only one 2,000-km range Shehab-3 was actually test-fired. However, accentuating the Gulf as the location of the second day’s tests, instead of an inland desert location like the first, raises the threat level. It was Tehran’s answer to the bland comments delivered Wednesday by US undersecretary Nicholas Burns that Washington is not nearing a military confrontation with Iran and that Tehran’s response to the latest six-power incentives package makes it possible to keep diplomacy going. Iran clearly prefers to continue talking from a position of strength and flexed military muscles. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Wednesday. "The Iranians should stop the development of ballistic missiles, which could be used as a delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon, immediately." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged the US will defend its interests and its allies. The US has enhanced its security presence in the Gulf and “we take our obligations to defend our allies very seriously and no one should be mistaken about that.” Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama said the missile tests showed the US needs to pursue direct and aggressive diplomacy backed by “tougher sanctions.” His rival Senator John McCain said the missile firings mean “Iran continues to threaten the security of their neighbors.” But he was sure that European allies are ready to impose financial and trade sanctions that “can be effective in modifying Iranian behavior.”





Iran’s Missile Tests Meant to Wage Oil Price Warfare on US
July 9…. Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games that officials said aimed to show the country can retaliate against any US and Israeli attack, state television reported. Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, said the exercise would “demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language,” the TV report said. Wednesday’s war games were being conducted at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about 40 percent of the world’s oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the strait if attacked. The report showed footage of at least three missiles firing simultaneously, and said the barrage included a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance. “Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying Wednesday. Tehran has stepped up its warnings of retaliation if the Americans, or Israelis, do launch military action, including threats to hit Israel and US Gulf bases with missiles and stop oil traffic through the vital Gulf region. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Wednesday’s tests “evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one.” “Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims,” Rice said while traveling in Sofia, Bulgaria. In late June, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, who was then the commander of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, said any attempt by Iran to seal off the Strait of Hormuz would be viewed as an act of war. The US 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, across the Gulf from Iran.


This map shows range of the Iranian Shahab-3 missile. Iran test-fired the missile, capable of reaching Israel, and angering the U S amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to a war. Iran has said it will also wage economic warfare on the US over the issue of its nuke program. Iran’s missile tests ironically affected oil prices today, which enables Iran to profit off the tension.







Putin, Ahmadinejad Pledge Military and Technical Cooperation

July 9….(In The Days) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday. “And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”(Ezekiel 38:16) “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:” (Ezekiel 38:5) “In the course of the conversation, Putin and Ahmadinejad discussed various aspects of trade and economic interaction between the two countries as well as energy cooperation, including atomic energy,” the government press service said. “In this context, both sides emphasised the need for timely construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant,” it said. “Among other topics, Putin and Ahmadinejad also discussed issues pertaining to bilateral cooperation in the field of transport and military-technical cooperation,” the press service said. The official news agency IRNA reports from Kuala Lumpur, where the Iranian president is currently on a visit, Ahmadinejad called for the development of bilateral relations and expressed hope for a bright future of Russian-Iranian ties. According to Ahmadinejad, relations between the two countries are developing owing to the will of their leaderships, and all of the agreements reached earlier are being implemented. Putin said Russia attached great significance to relations with Iran.





Russia Threatens Military Action Against US over Missile Defense Deal
July 9….(In The Days) Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defense system in Europe a step closer. (“And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:” Ezekiel 38:3) (“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Matthew 24:42) The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project. Moscow argues that the missile shield would severely undermine the balance of European security and regards the proposed missile shield based in two former Communist countries as a hostile move. “We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not detail what its response might entail. Dr Rice, the US Secretary of State, hailed the agreement as a step forward for international security. After 14 months of negotiations, the US is struggling to clinch agreement with its other proposed partner, Poland, where it hopes to locate the interceptor missiles designed to shoot down any incoming rockets. Washington insists that the system will not be targeted at Russia, but will act as a safeguard for Europe against regimes such as Iran. The plan was endorsed by NATO in April. “This missile defense agreement is significant as a building block not just for the security of the United States and the Czech Republic, but also for the security of Nato and the security of the international community as a whole,” Dr Rice said. “Ballistic missile proliferation is not an imaginary threat.” A change of government in Poland last November saw the country introduce a range of demands including US investment in its air defences in return for siting the missiles. Poland’s tough negotiating position has even led to a threat from the Pentagon to find an alternative site in the Baltic state of Lithuania. “There are remaining issues, but the United States has made a very generous offer [to the Poles],” said Dr Rice. A year ago at the G8 in Germany, President Vladimir Putin of Russia surprised the US by suggesting that the radar could be hosted in Azerbaijan so that the technology could be shared. The signing ceremony seemed to bury that idea. Addressing Russian anxiety about the anti-missile system in what used to be its backyard, Ms Rice added: “We want the system to be transparent to the Russians.” Mirek Topolanek, the Czech Prime Minister, said that the deal was an example of “our joint desire to protect the free world” and said his country could not afford to miss out as it had done after the Second World War, when it fell under Soviet influence. “We were in the past in a similar situation and then we failed. We did not accept the Marshall Plan…we should not allow a second error of this kind,” he said. In Prague, where polls consistently show a majority of Czechs opposed to hosting the US radar, protestors from Greenpeace unrolled a large banner proclaiming “Do not make a target of us.” After Prague, Dr Rice will visit Bulgaria and Georgia where she will stress US support for Tblisi’s application for Nato membership, another annoyance for Russia. She will also appeal for calm between Moscow and Tblisi over the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “We have said both Georgia and Russia need to avoid provocative behaviour but frankly some of the things the Russians did over the last couple of months added to tension in the region,” Dr Rice said. “Georgia is an independent state. It has to be treated like one. I want to make very clear that the US commitment to Georgia’s territorial integrity is strong.”





UN Resolution 1771 Set to Collapse as Syria Rearms Terrorists
July 9….(IsraelNN.com) Resolution 1701, the ceasefire passed by the United Nations' Security Council to end the Second Lebanon War in 2006, is widely expected to collapse as Hizbullah forces gather strength at the Israel-Lebanon border. The resolution will be discussed in Wednesday’s meeting of the Israeli security cabinet, as the Israeli leadership revisits the terms of the 2006 agreement. The cabinet, convened by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, will discuss the continued rearmament of Hizbullah by Syria in violation of the cease-fire, according to senior defense officials. Also on the table will be the options available to the Israeli government to deal with the growing threat, perhaps including the option of a renewed offensive against Hizbullah. During the meeting, cabinet ministers will be presented with an assessment of the situation in Lebanon, including a briefing on a resurgent Hizbullah and on preparations by the terrorist group for another attack on Israel. The cabinet will also discuss ways to dam the flood of weapons coming from Syria to the group. Defense officials estimate that Hizbullah now holds almost three times as many missiles as it did before the war. Also to be assessed in the meeting is Hizbullah’s deployment in southern Lebanon. Security officials have suggested searching Arab press releases for leaks on the group’s activities in the area. A Kuwaiti newspaper published a report, last week, detailing Hizbullah plans to place anti-aircraft missiles on the peaks of Lebanese mountains. Regardless of the prospect for a future military confrontation with Hizbullah, Israeli defense officials believe that Israel’s only recourse at the moment is to place pressure on UNIFIL and the European countries that contribute to its forces. Israel has been making efforts to expand the role of UNIFIL as defined in Resolution 1701. The mandate for the U.N. peacekeeping force is up for renewal next month, and Israel is examining options to give the force more authority to stop the rearmament of Hizbullah. In a conversation with the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that "Israel cannot accept the ongoing and intensifying gnawing at Resolution 1701, which has not been fulfilled, and the continuing transfer of weaponry that is damaging the delicate balance at the northern border." Barak told Kouchner that Israel expects France, as a member of UNIFIL, to intervene in stemming the flow of weapons from Syria to Hizbullah, and that UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon need to do a better job of preventing the rearmament and fortification of Hizbullah. "Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has completely failed," said one Israeli official.





The Weapons of World War III

July 9….(WND) Did the Chinese military cause the largest blackout in the history of North America? That is the assertion of Tim Bennett, the former president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, who says US intelligence officials confirmed to him the People's Liberation Army gained access to a network that controlled electric power systems serving the northeastern U.S. in 2003. Some 50 million people were affected by the 9,300-square-mile blackout that hit parts of New York, Canada, Michigan and Ohio. The official explanation for the power outage was that overgrown trees came into contact with strained high-voltage lines in Ohio. But the story of this possible skirmish in the "electromagnetic spectrum" is widely whispered about in defense and intelligence circles. It is referred to by some as the first battle of World War III, a conflict to be fought asymmetrically in cyberspace and with weapons that might seem like science fiction. The Moscow newspaper Zavtra reported only a week ago that Russia has developed "special powerful electromagnetic impulse generators that may be used in design of new type radars and as a basis of electromagnetic weapons that will render enemy electronics inoperable." "The US Army is convinced meanwhile that the Russians have already designed 'kinetic weapons' and 'directed energy weapons' (apparently lasers) for ASAT warfare," the article continued. "In any event, the Americans suspect that the recent episode with the Chinese laser that damaged an American spysat became possible precisely because Moscow had made this technology available to China." The superweapons being developed for the next global conflict began coming into sharper focus last winter when China destroyed one of its own aging, low-Earth-orbit weather satellites while it was circling at an altitude of 500 miles, using a ground-based, direct ascent anti-satellite weapon. This year, the US, using its sea-based Aegis missile defense system, shot down a disabled American intelligence satellite at 100 or so miles altitude as it tumbled uncontrollably toward the planet. The Defense Department says China is developing non-kinetic means of attacking satellites, such as jamming and blinding, and using lasers, microwave, particle beam and electromagnetic pulse weapons. Cyber-warfare, one of the proven strengths of the Chinese military, can also be used as an anti-satellite capability. In congressional testimony this year, the director of national intelligence stated, "Counter-command, control and sensor systems, to include communications satellite jammers and ASAT weapons, are among Beijing's highest military priorities." Bennett, meanwhile, told the National Journal he believes Chinese cyber-hackers were also responsible for another US blackout last February in Florida, one that affected 3 million customers. Bennett told the National Journal he decided to speak publicly about the incidents to point out that security for the nation's critical electronic infrastructures is weak and to emphasize that government and company officials haven't sufficiently acknowledged these vulnerabilities.





Iran: We Will Reduce Tel Aviv to Ruins
July 9….(Israel Today) A senior Iranian official on Tuesday told state-run media that Tel Aviv will be obliterated if either Israel or the US dare to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. "The Zionist regime is pressuring the White House to attack Iran. If such a stupid act were undertaken, Tel Aviv and the American ships in the Persian Gulf would be our first targets and would be burnt to ruins," warned Ali Shirazi, an assistant to supreme Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Over the past month, both the US and Israeli militaries have conducted massive exercises believed to have simulated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and maneuvers to defend against any Iranian retaliation. Despite those preparations, Israeli officials have acknowledged that Israel would be unable to actually launch an attack on Iran without a green light from Washington, as Israeli planes would have to fly through Iraqi airspace controlled by the US military. According to a former Pentagon official and leading US military analyst, the White House recently made very clear to Israel that that green light has not been given, and likely won't be given during the final months of the Bush Administration. Speaking to gathered Israeli defense analysts at Israel's Institute of National Security Studies on Monday, Prof. Anthony Cordesman said that reining in Israel was the primary purpose behind the recent visit by Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. Cordesman, who is today the top defense analyst for the ABC television network, said that Mullen was sent by the White House to make it clear to Israel that the US is sticking to a policy of diplomacy vis-a-vis Iran, and that is not expected to change before the next US president takes office. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton believes that puts Israel in an impossible situation. Jerusalem is increasingly convinced that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons in the absence of military intervention by Israel or the US. But Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated that if he is elected, he will take the military option for dealing with Iran off the table. If Obama wins the presidential election in November, Israel will know that it has less than two months to hit Iran, or have its greatest existential nightmare come true, Bolton told a leading British newspaper last month.





Iran Has ‘Resumed’ A-Bomb Project
July 9….(Newsmax) Intelligence information received by Western diplomats reports that Iran has resumed building equipment used for constructing atomic weapons. According to the London-based Daily Telegraph, the latest intelligence indicates that the work is aimed at developing a bomb according to a blueprint provided by Pakistani scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of the Pakistanian nuclear program who sold information on building atom bombs to Iran in the early 1990s. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, along with senior officials from its Atomic Energy Agency, is reportedly directing the clandestine project that has been concealed from United Nation’s inspection teams. Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter, says its nuclear activities are peaceful. The United States and its Western allies suspect they are a cover to build atomic bombs. “If Iran’s nuclear intentions were peaceful there would be no need for it to undertake this work in secret,” says an official familiar with the intelligence reports. Construction of the highly sophisticated atomic weapons is being done on the outskirts of Tehran, The Telegraph reports, and includes the advanced P-2 gas centrifuge for uranium enrichment. Tehran last week announced to the world media that it has no intention of halting its uranium enrichment program. European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana tells The Jerusalem Post he hopes to hold talks with the Iranian nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, before the end of the month to diffuse tensions in the region. “There’s been no response yet. We are still talking among ourselves, but we hope to have a response soon, hopefully by the end of the month,” Solana says. Shabtai Shavit, adviser to the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee, tells The Sunday Telegraph that time is running out to prevent Iran from creating an atomic bomb, predicting that Iran is less than 12 months from achieving its nuclear ambitions. Shavit, who retired from the Israeli intelligence agency in 1996, warns that he has no doubt Iran intends to use a nuclear weapon once it has the capability. "The time that is left to be ready is getting shorter all the time," he says in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "As an intelligence officer working with the worst-case scenario, I can tell you we should be prepared,” Shavit says. “We should do whatever necessary on the defensive side, on the offensive side, on the public opinion side for the West, in case sanctions don't work. What's left is a military action." An Iranian official speaking on behalf the republic was quoted by Reuters Tuesday as saying Iran will hit Tel Aviv, US shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its nuclear activities. "The first bullet fired by America at Iran will be followed by Iran burning down its vital interests around the globe," the students news agency ISNA quotes Ali Shirazi, an aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying in a speech to Revolutionary Guards. More than 40 percent of all globally traded oil passes through the 35-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz, putting tankers entering or leaving the Gulf at risk from Iranian attacks, which Iran intends to use as leverage in the nuclear dispute.





How Might Israel Attack Iran's Nukes?
July 9….(Newsmax) Iran would retaliate against any attack on its nuclear facilities by "burning" Tel Aviv and US assets in the Gulf, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The remarks stoked global jitters over the possibility of a regional war resulting from any preemptive strikes by Israel, which has vowed to deny its arch-foe atomic technologies with bomb-making potential. Though Israel's conventional military is widely assumed to be too small to destroy the Iranian nuclear program outright, a successful attack could still delay by years Tehran's bid to develop technologies with bomb-making potential. Following is an overview of Israeli armed forces and the tactics they might employ in any future conflict with Iran.

Air
Israel has around 500 combat-ready warplanes, including advanced US-made F-15 and F-16 jets capable of reaching western Iran for a bombing run, further, should aerial refueling be an option. Onboard stealth and radar-jamming equipment could allow the warplanes to overfly hostile Arab territory en route to a sneak attack in Iran, and withstand ground fire. Armed with ground-penetrating "bunker buster" bombs, Israeli jets could significantly damage key nuclear sites. Satellite and optical guidance systems would allow for bombs to be released at high altitude and great distances, perhaps with some of the planes remaining outside Iranian airspace. The Israeli air force also commands ballistic missiles, a capability shrouded in secrecy. Israel is assumed to have dozens of long-range Jericho missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads as far as the Gulf. Conventional Jerichos could damage targets in Iran, but the salvoes would lack the element of surprise given the likelihood of launches being immediately spotted, and reported on, in Israel. Israel is widely believed to have the region's only atomic arsenal, but Israeli officials have hinted that any such capability would only be used in last-ditch national defense.

Ground
Israel does not border Iran, making most ground forces irrelevant to any future war. Should there be Israeli air strikes on Iran, commandos could be inserted to mark targets and monitor the damage to them. Special forces could also be deployed to hunt and destroy Iranian missile batteries before they can fire at Israel in retaliation.

Sea
Israel has three German-made, diesel-powered Dolphin submarines that dock at its Haifa port and are in theory capable of reaching the shores of Iran, though this would likely entail sailing around Africa, about a month-long voyage requiring stops for fuel and provisions. Each Dolphin has 10 torpedo tubes, four of them expanded in girth at Israel's request. Some independent analysts believe this was to accommodate cruise missiles capable of reaching Iran from the Mediterranean, or with supersonic engines allowing them to defeat enemy air defenses
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http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27392

Will Israel Strike Iran
by W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Posted: 07/09/2008

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, Israeli commentator Yossi Melman writes: “No decision to attack Iran has been made in Israel” and it is “a matter of at least one year” before any decision will be made.
Melman’s words seem enough to convince the editorial staffs of publications like the Post and the Nation. But sources inside the U.S. intelligence and Defense communities are telling us, there is an increasing “probability” that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) will soon strike Iranian nuclear facilities. The strikes -- if they take place -- will be far more extensive than that which occurred during the strike against Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility in 1981. The new strikes will target much more than just the nuclear sites. The extent to which America will or will not provide support will depend on multiple variables. And the strikes will not be over in a single night.

“To hit the number of targets the Israelis need to hit with their force structure would require several days,” Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney (U.S. Air Force, ret.), former assistant vice chief of staff of the Air Force, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “If they did it in a night -- with, say, 100 airplanes -- they’d probably inflict significant damage to Bushehr and other facilities, but it would be more difficult to hit the deep bunkers at Natanz.”

But, McInerney adds, the problems associated with an air campaign that goes beyond 24 hours is “it becomes more difficult politically because you’ve got to have more people complicit in terms of airspace requirements, etc.”

Nevertheless, a multi-phased campaign lasting several days is what the current plan looks like according to analysts and insiders.

One intelligence community source tells us, “The campaign will last more than a few days, perhaps up to a week or more.” And it looks as if the operational green-light will be given at some point within the next few months before any window of opportunity closes that would prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon (a reality that could come to pass within six months to a year -- perhaps sooner in a crash-building program -- according to a MEMRI interview with International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Dr. Muhammad El-Baradei).

One former Defense Department official says he believes a strike against Iran’s developing nuclear infrastructure might be “a bad idea because of Iranian national pride in the program: it's likely to strengthen the regime without accomplishing any strategic objective.”

He adds, “The only way to deal with these guys is to hit the regime itself, hard, and leave the nukes alone for the moment.”

Others say hitting the nuke sites is part of a much broader plan that will facilitate regime change.

“It’s not just the nuclear sites,” Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely (U.S. Army, ret.), former deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Pacific, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “It’s regime target sites.”

According to Vallely, the approximately 75 regime targets on the tier-one targeting list -- updated daily -- includes Iran’s command-and-control, the country’s air defense network, the various Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units and positions, as well as the nuclear sites. There are many targets beyond those on the tier-one list.

Without getting into specifics, the current plan calls for a “takedown” that may be supported by U.S. air and naval forces in the both the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighters and refueling tankers will be running back-and-forth through U.S. Central Command–controlled air corridors. Mossad agents and Iranian (anti-government) operatives will help coordinate the strikes from the ground. Meanwhile, home-based Israeli ground forces (with helicopter support) will reinforce defenses in northern Israel and on the Golan Heights; prepared for the possibility of defensive cross-border operations against Hizballah in southern Lebanon and perhaps operations inside Syria along geographic points where -- in recent weeks -- two Syrian mechanized-infantry divisions have been reinforced. Other Israeli ground and air assets will reinforce Gaza positions.

If the Iranians -- in retaliation for strikes against their facilities -- make a move against American forces in the region, or if they try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz (the strategically vital waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman) as they have threatened to do, U.S. forces will “unleash hell and more than complement what the Israelis are doing,” says Vallely.

McInerney says, “The Iranians may try to shut down the Strait, but they are deathly afraid that we’ll get involved.”

An intelligence source says, “Iran’s provoking the Americans into the game is exactly what Israel wants, because overwhelming U.S. airpower would be able to finish the job in very short order.”

McInerney agrees, adding, “That’s why I believe if the targets are going to be hit, we need to be the ones to do it.”

Some experts contend such a strike “must be” before the U.S. presidential elections because the Israelis know that any operation prior to the elections would give plausible deniability to either one of the American presidential candidates. After the election, it would be difficult for the president-elect to deny knowing because of the access and leverage held by a president-elect. Others say it may be after the election, but before the inauguration because if Barack Obama is elected the Israelis fear he would not support any form of military action against Iran, whereas the Israelis are confident in both John McCain’s support of Israel and in his willingness to use military force -- either directly or indirectly -- in support of Israel.

In a recent article for Middle East Times I explained how Iran's frequent threatening of Israel and the United States, its covert operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, its recent military-political victories in Lebanon (through its proxy army, Hizballah), a newly signed defense pact with Syria, and -- most important -- its nuclear ambitions; may be forcing the West's hand.

During the first week in June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly told Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that "influential nations should get ready for a world minus the U.S." We know Ahmadinejad frequently threatens to "wipe Israel off the map," Moreover, his surrogate deputies, like Hizballah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, often call for the "deaths" of America and Israel.

The same week Ahmadinejad made his comments to Fukuda, the IAF conducted a massive military air-exercise over the Mediterranean, flying and refueling over a distance roughly equal to that which would be required in a strike against Iran.

Israel isn’t just saber-rattling. “The only one thing worse than Israel’s having to launch an attack against Tehran's nuclear facilities is an Iranian nuclear bomb,” Brig. Gen. Dieter Farwick (German Army, ret.), the former director of Germany's military intelligence office and the current editor-in-chief of World Security Network, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “An Iranian nuclear bomb would trigger a nuclear arms race in the broader Middle East. Still any attack against Iran should remain a last resort; and timely, limited negotiations should be given a last chance."

Closed-door negotiations are continuing. But so is Iran’s nuclear program, its president’s threats, and an uncertain American political landscape: Which is why -- in Israel’s mind -- chances, opportunities, and certainly time may be running out.

The big question remains: if Israel with it’s current force structure attacks Iran with only a nod -- and very little direct support -- from the U.S., can the Jewish state pull it off successfully.

“Yes, but the timing of this thing is important,” says Vallely. “The Israelis know that politically they have to do it this year, because they and we don’t know who is going to be the U.S. president next year. They also know this thing has to be done as a regime change. If they want this to be successful -- and they do -- they can’t just go in and only take out the nuke sites.”

The stakes for Israel go beyond any operational success or failure; for as IAF Col. Ziv Levy told Bob Simon in a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year, Israel cannot lose: “The first war we lose, Israel will cease to exist.”

........................................................benny

Israeli Jets Flying over Iraqi Territory in Preparation for Strike on Iran
July 11….(YNET) Sources in Iraq's Defense Ministry say for past month Israel using American bases to conduct overflights as part of rehearsal for possible bombing or Iranian nuclear facilities. Israeli fighter jets have been flying over Iraqi territory for over a month in preparation for potential strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, sources in the Iraqi Defense Ministry told a local news network Friday, adding that the aircraft have been landing in American bases following the overflights. Word of Israel's alleged Air Force maneuvers in Iraq has reached Iran. The sources said the US has boosted security in and around the bases used by Israel during the exercises. According to the Defense Ministry officials, retired Iraqi army officers in the Al Anbar district reported that fighter jets have been regularly entering Iraqi airspace from Jordan and landing at the airport near Haditha. The sources estimated that should the Israeli jets take off from the American bases it would take them no more than five minutes to reach Iran's nuclear reactor in Bushehr. American officials said recently that more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters took part in maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June, apparently a rehearsal for a potential bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities.

...........................................benny

Jul 12, 2008 13:24 | Updated Jul 12, 2008 17:50
'Iran would destroy Israel, US bases'
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
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Iran would "destroy" Israel as well as 32 US army bases in the region if the Islamic Republic is attacked, an aide to Iran's SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday.


Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Photo: AP

Slideshow: Pictures of the week "If Israel and the US fire a bullet or a missile at Iran, its forces will attack the heart of Israel and 32 American bases in the region before the dust from such an at