Middle East Madness
Sun Dec 4, 2005
By Paul Tait
Sun Dec 4, 2005
By Paul Tait
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Attacks on lawyers and flaws in the Iraqi justice system mean the trial of Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity will never satisfy international standards, a UN rights official said on Sunday.
Comment: Comment: Not so much the "trila of the century" but the farce of the century, with "Saddam" hamming it up for all he is worth.
05.12.2005
MosNews
05.12.2005
MosNews
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Russia has struck a deal to sell short-range, surface-to-air missiles to Iran, the defense minister said Monday, confirming reports that have raised concern in the United States and Israel, AP reported.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov didnt give details. But Russian media have said that Moscow agreed in November to sell $1 billion worth of weapons to Iran, including up to 30 Tor-M1 missile systems over the next two years.
AFP December 5, 2005
AFP December 5, 2005
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that he could consider a pre-emptive air strike against Iran's nuclear installations if he were to be re-elected.
Netanyahu, who is widely expected to regain the leadership of the right-wing Likud party later this month, said Israel needed to "act in the spirit" of the late premier Menachem Begin who ordered an air strike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
"I view the development of the Iranian nuclear (programme) as a paramount threat and as a real danger to the future of the state of Israel," Netanyahu told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
"Israel needs to do everything to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear threat against it." [...]
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Attack targets police academy
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two suicide bombers attacked a police academy in east Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 36 police officers and academy students and wounding 72 others, police said.
The incident took place about 12:45 p.m., the U.S. military said in a statement. Police said the bombers were dressed as police.
The bombers, "each wearing a suicide vest, walked into a classroom at the academy and detonated in the midst of students," the statement said.
Many of the wounded were taken to Al-Kindi Hospital.
Earlier reports indicated the bombers were female, but the U.S. military said they were male.
Comment: Comment: Notice that the only source for the claim that ANYONE walked into the police station before the bombs went off is the US military.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press Writer
06/12/2005
By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press Writer
06/12/2005
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
JERUSALEM Dec 6, 2005 Israel clamped an open-ended closure on the West Bank and Gaza Tuesday, banning virtually all Palestinians from Israel, and arrested 15 Palestinian militants in a first response to a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis outside a shopping mall.Israeli officials also said the army would target Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank, both through arrest raids and targeted killings of operatives, and renew airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in response to any Palestinian rocket attacks.
"We decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure, and I hope that we will be able to prevent such attacks in the future," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio after a late-night meeting of security officials.
By Roni Singer and Arnon Regular
By Roni Singer and Arnon Regular
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
At least five people were killed and 95 others were wounded yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at around 11:30 A.M. at the entrance to Hasharon shopping mall in Netanya.
Comment: Comment: There are a number of points in this report on the "suicide bombing" that need to be looked at more closely.
First, we should note that in any long standing conflict like that between Israel and Palestine, between state oppressor and non-state resistance force, the resistance is invariably infiltrated by agents of the state oppressor. Despite what is generally understood, such infiltration does not only (and perhaps not even primarily) facilitate information gathering by state forces, but also affords the oportunity to, if possible, divert the tactics of the resistance towards activities that cast them in a negative light.
If we look at some of the Western "terrorist" organisations of the 20th century, it is clear that the leadership of these groups realised, if not from the beginning then very soon thereafter, that the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians, regardless of what "side" they are on, is counterproductive to winning the propaganda war and therefore the war in general. Of course, the state oppressor is also well aware of this fact, and while it generally tries and succeeds in covering up any state-orchestrated massacres, it is not beyond using any and all means to pain the resistance as a indicriminate murderer of the innocent. It is from this perspective that we should view all alleged "suicide bombings", not only in Israel but also in Iraq.
It comes as no surprise then when we learn that "Islamic Jihad" in Palestine has been
infiltrated by the Israeli Mossad.
Let's turn then to the details of this most recent "suicide bombing" in Israel by Islamic Jihad.
We are told that the attack occurred when a man carrying a black bag crossed the street in front of the mall and an Israeli driver waiting at a red light noticed the
suspicious man
Why would a man crossing a street with a black bag be immediately deemed as "suspicious" when we have been repeatedly told that "suicide bombers" wear their bombs under their clothing?
The claim that this suspicious man was the bomber rests on the testimony of a security guard who pinned him up against a wall before he allegedly detonated his bomb:
"I was looking [the bomber] in the eye and he pressed [the button] and blew up," Hudra said. "I flew, and all I remember is that I was looking in his eye. I saw his gaze."
We are then told that the explosion was "huge" that "the blast shattered windows and pock-marked the outside of the brown multistory building. Pieces of concrete were ripped off the facade", yet apparently the explosion was not so huge that the men who had the bomber pinned to wall at the point of detonation could not chirpily recount the event just a few hours later. Cearly something is not right with this picture.
It is our contention that a majority, if not all, suicide bombings in Israel that are alleged to be the work of Islamic Jihad are not in fact sucuide bombings at all but rather carefully orchestrated bombings by agents of the Israeli state, designed to demonise any legitimate Palestinian resistance to Israeli state terrorism.
As is usual in such cases, we are presented with an insight into the real reasons for such attacks by the subsequent words of Israeli government officials:
"Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the bombing is more proof of the ineffectiveness of the Palestinian Authority. Israel will act against the terror organizations with all its might and all the means at its disposal. Israel's response will be hard and painful."
"In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called on the Palestinian Authority to "take immediate steps to prevent these attacks, to end the violence and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism."
He also demanded that Syria shut down the Islamic Jihad offices in Damascus."
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 02 September 2004
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 02 September 2004
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
From where they stand, the Iranian leaders have little choice but to press ahead with their quest for nuclear weapons. They may say - as did the Pakistanis, Indians, and Israelis before them - that they want only peaceful uses of atomic energy. They may see nuclear power as the best way to meet a growing population's demand for electricity. In fact, much of the program began under the Shah, and with American blessings. But the Bush Administration has given Iran the strongest argument yet for wanting atomic bombs - and the missiles to drop them on Tel Aviv. Nothing less seems as likely to hold the pre- emptive Bushies at bay. [...]
For the Israeli Likkudniks, and for me personally, the situation looks like déjà vu all over again. We all saw the same thing back in 1981, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin took on the French government of then-Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, which was helping Saddam Hussein build his OSIRAK nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
Last Updated Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:24:13 EST
CBC News
Last Updated Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:24:13 EST
CBC News
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
The United States Secretary of State is refusing to say outright that the U.S. does not operate secret prisons in Europe for the purpose of questioning suspected terrorists. But Condoleezza Rice does deny charges that Washington transports prisoners to, or through, other countries for the express purpose of interrogation involving torture.
Comment: Comment: Bono's former favourite politician, Paul Martin, continues to show his true colours. So much wiggle-room...
As for Condi:
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press
Mon Dec 5, 1:42 PM ET
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press
Mon Dec 5, 1:42 PM ET
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
JERUSALEM - Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks published Monday that he would support a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear program.
Netanyahu's comments, made in the heat of a campaign for leadership of the hardline Likud Party, drew criticism from rivals, who accused him of playing politics with the country's security. Iranian leaders brushed off the threat, warning that an attack "will have a lot of consequences."
Brendan O'Neill
The Guardian
Wednesday <strong>February 25, 2004</strong>
Brendan O'Neill
The Guardian
Wednesday <strong>February 25, 2004</strong>
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
The horror of one of Saddam's execution methods made a powerful pro-war rallying cry - but the evidence suggests it never existed
Forget the no-show of Saddam Hussein's WMD. Ask instead what happened to Saddam's "people shredder", into which his son Qusay reportedly fed opponents of the Ba'athist regime.
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