Maravot world news

08.10.05 US accuses Iran of smuggling weapons into Iraq

BAGHDAD, August 11 – US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused Tehran of smuggling weapons into Iraq, after US intelligence reports claimed a cache of bombs found in the country's north had come from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. "It is true that weapons clearly, unambiguously, from Iran have been found in Iraq," Mr Rumsfeld said. "It's a problem for the Iraqi Government. It's a problem for the coalition forces. It's a problem for the international community. And ultimately, it's a problem for Iran."

The US military believes a hidden store of manufactured bombs seized in Iraq about two weeks ago was smuggled into the country by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. If the intelligence is correct, it would suggest the Revolutionary Guard is moving into a conflict that for the past year has been dominated by Sunnis rather than Shi'ites.

The claim came as The New York Times reported that armed men had entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm and deposed the city's mayor, installing in his place a member of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite militia. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, called the move a municipal coup d'etat. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au; See dailystar.com.lb article, "Iraq probes claims over Iranian weapons smuggling."]

08.10.05 Saudi ambassador blasts Britain for ignoring terror threat

LONDON, August 10 – Saudi Arabia�s outgoing ambassador to Britain blasted the British government for ignoring constant Saudi warnings on Muslim extremists, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday. Prince Turki Al Faisal, a former chief of Saudi intelligence, told The Times he had been �going round in circles� with British authorities over the threat posed by Saudi dissidents in Britain. The prince, 60, has been ambassador to London since January 2003 but is soon to transfer to Washington. He said his warnings had been passed around government departments.

The situation got so bad that crown prince Abdullah, now king, warned British ministers relations between the two nations would be damaged if no action was taken, the ambassador said. �When you call somebody he says it is the other guy,� the prince told The Times. �So we have been in this runaround for the last two and a half years,� he said.

The prince�s chief grievances were over two Saudi dissidents, Saad Faqih and Mohammad Al Masari. Faqih is on the United Nations terror list accused by the US of involvement in the 1998 bombing of their Nairobi embassy. Al Masari runs a �jihadi� website, posting videos of suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq.

�We have been urging your government to send them back since 1996, if not earlier. During my two and a half years here it was one of the most persistent and consistent topics,� Prince Turki said. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

08.10.05 Iraqis, US troops among many killed

(Reuters) August 10 – At least 14 Iraqis, including policemen, and four US soldiers have been killed in attacks across Iraq. Police said four civilians and two policemen were killed and seven wounded when a bomber blew up his vehicle in front of a police patrol in Baghdad's Al-Gazalyia neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon.

Two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were killed in the town of Kashifa, 150km north of the capital when a joint US-Iraqi patrol was hit by a roadside bomb, police said. One Iraqi traffic policeman was killed and seven people were wounded when a mortar shell slammed into a central Baghdad square, an Interior Ministry official said. A second policeman was among those hurt.

Two oil security guards were killed by gunmen near the northern refinery town of Baiji, while a policeman was shot and killed in Kirkuk. Four US soldiers were killed and six wounded in an attack on a patrol near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji. The US soldiers were on patrol when attacked overnight. [More>>aljazeera.net]

08.10.05 Purported terror tape shows attack preparations

DUBAI (AP) August 10 – A purported Al Qaeda-made video shows militants in Afghanistan – including Europeans, Arabs and others — preparing to attack U.S. troops and showing off what they said was a U.S. military laptop. The video, parts of which have been shown by Al-Arabiya television, including a segment aired Tuesday, features interviews with a masked man yelling "As you bomb us, you will be bombed!" and shows a group of men packing explosives into bombs.

The authenticity of the videotape could not be confirmed. Air Force Capt. Lennea Montandon, a spokeswoman for US Central Command in Qatar, said the military would not comment because it had not seen the broadcast. If authentic, the program would be the latest attempt by the Al Qaeda network to use the broadcast media and Internet to promote its cause. [More>>foxnews.com]

08.10.05 One body found; 122 other miners still missing

August 10 – Rescuers have recovered the body of one of the 123 miners who were trapped in a flooded coal mine in Xingning county, south China's Guangdong Province for the past three days, officials said Wednesday. The body was found and carried to the ground early Wednesday morning. 122 others are still trapped.

... Many of those at management level, including General Manager Zeng Fenjiu, had run away after the accident, increasing the difficulties for rescuers trying to save the trapped men. Ten of the coal mine's 11 principal officials were detained by police yesterday. The local government issued a notice on Monday calling for the 65 runaways to return to the mine to help with the investigation. "This is a typical case caused by violation of safety regulations," said Li Yizhong, director of the National Bureau of Production Safety Supervision and Administration, who arrived at the site on Monday to supervise the rescue operation.

...the mine is illegal as it has no production licences. In addition, it continued production even though the local government had ordered all mines in Ningxing to suspend operation for safety examinations in the wake of a coal mine flooding accident on July 14.

The Daxing Coal Mine was a State-owned enterprise founded in 1990 and privatized in 1999. It was designed with an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons. However, it produced about 50,000-60,000 tons of coal during the first half of this year, sources with the local government said. An overall examination of all mines in the province started yesterday and is expected to last until the end of September, the Guangdong provincial government said. "Any mines that cannot meet safety standards will definitely be closed," said Li. Currently, there are more than 200 small-and-medium sized coal mines in the province. [Full story>>chinadaily.com.cn]

08.10.05 Extremists who are deported will be tortured, warns UN expert

August 10 – The United Nations has warned Tony Blair that his plans to deport Islamic extremists and foreign terror suspects could fall foul of international human rights law because they face torture in their home countries. The damning verdict on the deportation proposals, from Manfred Novak, the UN's special rapporteur on torture, came as the Government's problems deepened over its anti-terror crackdown.

Ministers have been examining ways to prevent the extremist cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed from returning to Britain from Lebanon and have abandoned a heavily trailed threat to prosecute militants for treason.

The Prime Minister announced last week that ministers were trying to win promises from around 10 countries that they would not torture deportees sent to them. But Mr. Novak said that assurances from countries such as Jordan and Algeria that they would not harm the suspects they received were worthless. "If you deport people, whether they are British citizens or foreigners, to another country where they are subjected to the risk of torture, then this is absolutely prohibited under international human rights law," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "If there is a substantial risk in a certain country like Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, etc, then diplomatic assurances cannot be used."

Mr. Novak cited a recent example of a man deported from Sweden to Egypt, who was tortured in spite of promises by the Egyptian government that he would not be ill-treated. [More>>belfasttelegraph.co.uk via yemendaily.com; See related story, aljazeera.net, "Britain, Jordan in deportation deal."]

08.10.05 Turkey detains 10 over suspected Al-Qaeda plot

ISTANBUL, August 10 – Turkish police have detained 10 people suspected of links to the Al-Qaeda extremist network and suspected of plotting attacks on Israeli cruise ships in southern Turkey, security sources said Wednesday. [jang.com.pk]; See more details, turkishpress.com : ...On Friday, Israeli authorities ordered four Israeli cruise ships scheduled to dock in Alanya to change course to Cyprus for fear of a possible attack. The sources said the Syrian suspect, identified only by his initials, N.S., has been taken to Istanbul and for questioning by anti-terror police in connection with suicide bombings that killed 63 and wounded hundreds others in Istanbul on November 15 and 20, 2003, and blamed on a local Al-Qaeda cell. The NTV news channel reported that the police had detained at least 10 people linked to Al-Qaeda, among them the Syrian who was allegedly collecting information on Israeli ships travelling to Turkey and on synagogues in the country. The Syrian, who was carrying forged identity documents, was planning an attack on Israeli ships, the channel said.]

08.10.05 Netanyahu resumes scathing attack on Sharon

August 10 – A day after his resignation from the Finance Ministry went into effect, MK Binyamin Netanyahu resumed his attack on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Netanyahu remarked that listening to Sharon's arguments about disengagement reminded him of the liturgical saying: "They have eyes but they cannot see." He made the comment while addressing the Knesset plenum during a special recess session about evacuating settlements under fire. Though Netanyahu is openly against the disengagement, he said that right wing protests could not derail the withdrawal.

Netanyahu began his address by referring to the 1985 Jibril agreement. "Today," he said, "I wish to add another aspect behind my resignation. Twenty years ago, when I was Israel's ambassador to the UN, I was informed that the government was about to approve the release of more than 1,000 prisoners [in return for several Israeli POWs in Lebanon]. I thought it was a terrible move."

Netanyahu added, "I wrote to my superior, then-foreign minister Yitzhak Shamir, and said that releasing prisoners would create an even greater wave of killings. And that's exactly what happened. I was willing to be fired then, and I had to quit now."

"If we thought that the capitulation to terror damaged us when it came to the Jibril agreement, then what we are about to do here is far more damaging," he argued.

Netanyahu called the agreement with Egypt to deploy 750 Egyptian border policemen along the Philadelphi route in southern Gaza "a very strange deal." According to the Likud MK, "Egypt is committing itself to prevent arms smuggling from Sinai, but is allowed to transfer arms [to the PA]." [More>>Jerusalem Post]

08.10.05 Iraqi police return discs seized in RIA news bureau search

BAGHDAD (RIA Novosti) August 10 – Iraqi police have now returned to RIA Novosti floppy discs and audiotapes that were seized during a search in the news agency's Baghdad bureau on Wednesday. Iraqi security forces searched the RIA premises this morning. They seized the tapes and computer software and examined the lease contracts and the IDs of Iraqi employees. RIA's Iraqi translator, Yasin Abbas, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for questioning, but when he arrived at the ministry, officials there told him the problem had already been settled and returned all the seized papers. Iraq's ministries of justice and the interior sanctioned the search in the RIA Novosti bureau, but the reasons for the move have not been disclosed. [rian.ru]

08.10.05 US, North Korea may have direct talks

August 10 – The United States might have new direct consultations with North Korea during the current three-week recess in the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions, top American negotiator Christopher Hill said. Hill said he expected a flurry of bilateral diplomacy among all the parties before the fourth round of talks resumes the week of Aug. 29 in Beijing, where they recessed Sunday after 13 grueling days. �I can't speak yet to the contacts with the North Koreans although I imagine there will be some, but we haven't had them yet," the clearly exhausted Hill said Tuesday a day after returning to Washington. �If there is value to direct contacts we would have them, just as we have been having them certainly since I've been around," said the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. The United States for years has refused to negotiate directly with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program and has opted for a multilateral approach bringing in China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. [More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

08.10.05 McDonald's Japan profit drops 57.5%

TOKYO (Kyodo News) August 10 – McDonald's Holdings Co (Japan) said Tuesday its group net profit in the first half of this year plunged 57.5% from a year earlier to 474 million yen due to its low-price campaign despite a sales expansion. The hamburger restaurant chain's group pretax profit for the January-June period also nosedived 77.4% to 589 million yen on 157.63 billion yen in sales, up 5.3%. [japantoday.com]

08.10.05 Mass bird deaths in Russia, Kazakhs say virus deadly

ASTANYA, Kazakhstan / MOSCOW (Reuters) August 10 – The number of bird deaths in a Russian bird flu epidemic jumped sharply on Wednesday, and neighboring Kazakhstan confirmed a fowl virus found in the Central Asian state could kill humans. Officials said no humans had been infected so far, but the highly potent H5N1 strain has killed over 50 people in Asia since 2003, and outbreaks in the ex-Soviet bloc raised fears the virus could infect humans and trigger a global epidemic.

"A number of measures are being carried out to prevent the disease from spreading further," the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a note. "There have been no cases of people getting ill." According to ministry data, the total number of bird deaths since the epidemic hit Russia's Siberia in mid-July rose to 8,347 on Wednesday. The number on Tuesday was just over 5,580. In Kazakhstan, which shares a long border with Siberia, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed that the virus found in birds was the deadly H5N1 strain. [More>>thestar.com.my]

08.09.05 Bombers 'radicalized' in UK: Musharraf

LONDON, August 10 – President Pervez Musharraf has insisted the July 7 London bombers were "radicalized" in Britain and not in his country. President Musharraf rejected suggestions that Pakistan played a "pivotal role" in the bombings. He said suicide bombers who killed 52 people might have picked up "some tips" in Pakistan, but stressed that their "mind set changed in the UK." He also suggested the 7 July bombers were "not experts" and that the attack must have been masterminded by someone.

"Certainly those four boys who killed themselves...were not experts in handling bombs and handling a complex operation like timing explosives and all that. "So I'm sure there must be a brain behind it," Musharraf told BBC2 documentary The New al-Qaeda, broadcast on Monday night.

The two of 7 July bombers had visited Pakistan led to investigation abroad focussing on the country. After the attacks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on Pakistan to crack down on extremists in seminaries.

"Even if they visited Pakistan, and they contacted some extremists here, the reality is that they have been in the UK for 20 years," Musharraf said. The president said: "The indoctrination, the mind set did not change here. The mind set changed in the UK. They may have got some tips or some.. anything, that is the only possibility in Pakistan...this radicalization did not take place in the last visits of theirs in a few months." Radicalization took place back at home, wherever they live, in whatever condition and whoever they've been meeting and interacting with." President Musharraf also said he was surprised that moves had not been made earlier to clamp down on radical clerics. [More>>jang.com.pk]

08.09.05 Biblical pool uncovered in Jerusalem

August 9 – Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer, reports: Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the Old City of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, according to the Gospel of John.

The pool was fed by the now famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is "a much grander affair" than archeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, said Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, which reported the find Monday. "Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit" to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. "Now we have found the Pool of Siloam � exactly where John said it was." A gospel that was thought to be "pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history," he said.

..The pool of Jesus' time was built early in the 1st century BC and was destroyed by the future Roman Emperor Titus about AD 70. The pool was discovered by a repair team excavating a damaged sewer line last fall under the supervision of Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority. As soon as Shukron saw two steps uncovered, he stopped the work and called in Reich, who was excavating at the Gihon Spring. When they saw the steps, Shukron said, "we were 100% sure it was the Siloam Pool."

With winter approaching, the two men had to hurry their excavation so the sewer could be repaired before the rainy season. As they began digging they uncovered three groups of five stairs each separated by narrow landings. The pool was about 225 feet long, and they unearthed steps on three sides... [Full story>>latimes.com via orlandosentinel.com]

08.09.05 Iran says has new nuclear proposal as IAEA meets

VIENNA (Reuters) August 9 – The U.N. nuclear watchdog held a crisis meeting on Tuesday to try to stop Iran pursuing a nuclear programme after Tehran resumed work at a uranium plant, stoking Western fears it was bent on developing atomic weapons.

As the governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met in Vienna, Iran's new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he had new ideas to resolve the nuclear standoff with the West and was ready to continue nuclear talks with the EU. "I have new initiatives and proposals which I will present after my government takes office," he said in a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the semi-official ISNA students news agency reported.

He said Iran – which says it is only seeking nuclear power – had done nothing unlawful by resuming uranium conversion at a nuclear facility near the central city of Isfahan on Monday.

Iran's chief delegate at the IAEA meeting, Sirus Naseri, was more specific, telling reporters after the IAEA session adjourned that Iran wanted to continue talks with France, Britain and Germany but only on terms satisfactory to Tehran.

"We no longer accept being left out in the cold to wait for the Europeans to come up with a plausible basis for a solution," he said, adding an Iranian proposal to settle the standoff by increasing IAEA inspections was "still on the table." [More>>thestar.com.my]

08.09.05 US mulls visa for Iran's hardline President

LONDON, August 9 – The United States mulled the unprecedented step of refusing hardline Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad a visa to attend next month's UN General Assembly, the State Department said. According to Agence France Press (AFP), Deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Washington was looking at the visa request by Ahmadinejad in light of allegations he might have been involved in the 1979 seizure of US diplomats in Teheran.

The United States is obliged to permit world leaders to attend UN meetings at the organization's headquarters in New York. Officials confirmed no visa had ever been refused for a head of state. But Ereli said that in reviewing the Iranian president's request, the Americans were "also taking into consideration previous activities with respect to hostage-taking."

Five former US hostages have identified Ahmadinejad as an active participant in the storming of the US embassy in Teheran by radical students who held 52 diplomats captive for 444 days. US officials have said that Ahmadinejad was definitely a leader of the student movement in Iran at that time. But they say they have yet to corroborate his direct involvement in the hostage taking.

"We also take very seriously information that someone has been involved in hostage-taking of American citizens in contravention of international law and international practice," Ereli said Monday. "And that certainly is a relevant consideration in the (visa) matter at hand." [iranmania.com; See also aljazeera.net, "US may block Ahmadinejad visit to UN."]

08.09.05 Iran says it increased range, accuracy of its Shihab-3 missile

(AFP) August 9 – Iran said Tuesday it has improved the range and accuracy of its Shihab-3 missile, saying the weapon can strike targets as far away as 2,000 kilometers with an accuracy of within one meter. Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Iran's outgoing defense minister, also said Iran would halt its international cooperation on its nuclear development if the United States or Israel attacks its nuclear facilities. "If some day they attack, we will drop all our nuclear commitments," Shamkhani told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday. "We are capable of meeting our defense needs and improving (the Shihab-3's) specifications at any time." He did not mention retaliating to an attack by military means.

Iran on Monday resumed activity at one of its nuclear facilities that carries out an early stage in the nuclear fuel process, defying European demands that it maintain an eight-month suspension of its program. But Iran continues to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, allowing it access to its sites. [More>>haaretzdaily.com]

08.09.05 Extremist preacher says he is on 'holiday'

August 9 – John Prescott today sent a personal message to the extremist cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed: "Enjoy your holiday... make it a long one." The Deputy Prime Minister, on the second day of his annual holiday cover for Tony Blair, spoke out after it emerged that the preacher – who left Britain for Lebanon on Saturday – had informed reporters that he was merely taking a break.

Mr. Bakri Mohammed said..it would be "against Islam" for him to inform the police of any terrorist attacks that he knew were being planned in Britain...

Asked about the radical Islamist's suggestion that if he was not welcome in England he would not return, Mr. Prescott told a news conference in London: "Good." He was then asked whether Mr. Bakri Mohammed was welcome here, and replied: "I don't think he is welcome by many people in this country, is he? "But at the moment he has the right to come in and out. That is the circumstance at present and we have to change situations in this country by law. It�s a democracy, not a dictatorship, for God�s sake. I just say �Enjoy your holiday, make it a long one." Mr. Bakri Mohammed told the BBC that he had travelled to Lebanon of his own free will to visit family at the weekend but planned to return to his home in north London in four weeks.

"I decided myself to go holiday, for four, five weeks and stay with my mother back home," he said. "But anyway, I am going to return back after six or four weeks, unless the Government says I am not welcome."

Sheikh Bakri Mohammed said that he flew from Heathrow to Beirut on Middle East Airlines Flight 202 on Saturday afternoon because he believes that the Government is using his name and reputation to alienate Britain's Muslim community.

"I don't want the British Government to keep using Omar Bakri Mohammed: because of him, because of some cleric we will make a new set of rules and put pressure on the Muslim community," he said.

In the telephone interview, Mr. Bakri Mohammed said that he would return to Britain to clear his reputation, adding that he had never committed a crime. But the cleric reiterated his belief that it would be "against Islam" for him to inform the police of any terrorist attacks that he knew were being planned in Britain. "I say publicly, Islam forbids me to report any Muslims, even if he is oppressive, you see, to the British police," he said. "Islam forbid me, that don't mean I know about crime." [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

08.09.05 The Web as a weapon

August 9 – Susan B. Glasser and Steve Coll, Washington Post Staff Writers, provide the last installment of three parts: The jihadist bulletin boards were buzzing. Soon, promised the spokesman for al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, a new video would be posted with the latest in mayhem from Iraq's best-known insurgent group. On June 29, the new release hit the Internet. "All Religion Will Be for Allah" is 46 minutes of live-action war in Iraq, a slickly produced video with professional-quality graphics and the feel of a blood-and-guts annual report. In one chilling scene, the video cuts to a brigade of smiling young men. They are the only fighters shown unmasked, and the video explains why: They are a corps of suicide bombers-in-training.

As notable as the video was the way Abu Musab Zarqawi's "information wing" distributed it to the world: a specially designed Web page, with dozens of links to the video, so users could choose which version to download. There were large-file editions that consumed 150 megabytes for viewers with high-speed Internet and a scaled-down four-megabyte version for those limited to dial-up access. Viewers could choose Windows Media or RealPlayer. They could even download "All Religion Will Be for Allah" to play on a cell phone. [More>>washingtonpost.com]

08.09.05 Four in 9/11 plot are called tied to Qaeda in '00

WASHINGTON, August 8 – More than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and a Republican member of Congress. In the summer of 2000, the military team, known as Able Danger, prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to the military's Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the congressman, Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, and the former intelligence official said Monday.

The recommendation was rejected and the information was not shared, they said, apparently at least in part because Mr. Atta, and the others were in the United States on valid entry visas. [More>>nytimes.com via timesonline.co.uk]

08.09.05 Insurgency could get worse: Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON, August 9 – US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned today that violence in Iraq could worsen, comparing insurgents to desperate Nazi SS officers and Japanese kamikaze pilots at the end of World War II. Insurgents were desperate to stop political progress in Iraq, Mr. Rumsfeld said, following one of the bloodiest weeks for US forces since the US-led invasion in 2003. "I think it's reasonable to expect that violence could, again, increase for a time, as it did during the last elections," Mr. Rumsfeld said, looking ahead to a referendum on a new constitution in October and elections in December. "As allied forces (pushed) forward in both the European and Pacific theatres in World War II, the enemy's tactics, such as the cult of death among SS forces and the kamikazes in the Pacific, led to some of the bloodiest fighting of that war," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "But those deadly acts, and they were deadly, proved not to be harbingers of victory." Mr. Rumsfeld cautioned that observers should not "draw the wrong conclusion" over any spike in violence. [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au]

08.09.05 (Update) Anti-Iraq war protest at Bush ranch in Texas

CRAWFORD, Texas, August 9 – Several dozen demonstrators protested against the Iraq war outside US President George W. Bush's Texas ranch, calling for the United States to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Cindy Sheehan et al. protest against the War in Iraq. Collage made from Fox News, AP (bottom) and turkishpress.com AFP (top).. The protest's goal is to confront Bush: 'War based on horrendous lies.'

Under a blistering sun, some 50 anti-war activists chanted "Bush, liar" and "How do you ask a soldier to be the last person to die for a lie?" outside the gates of the sprawling Prairie Chapel ranch near Crawford where the president is spending a month's vacation. The protestors were forced by police to stand in a ditch and stay off the otherwise deserted road as they yelled boos at the occasional car entering the ranch. [More>>turkishpress.com; See also AfterDowningStreet.org for more articles on the event; update 8.08.09 television reports quoted Sheehan as saying that the group was initially intimidated by the President's security force and their tents were in a ditch and they had no toilet facilities; but Sheehan would stay until the President talks with her or the end of August; update 8.09.08 Sheehan is still waiting for Bush to explain "the noble cause" that led to the invasion of Iraq, in light of Bush's original claim of invasion to rid Iraq of "weapons of mass destruction."

Associated with the "weapons of mass destruction" was the finding that Saddam Hussein was not attempting to buy material from Africa for manufacture of nuclear bombs. This finding – by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson – led to an alleged release of Classified information, connected to the president's office via White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. The issue opined via several media and cnn.com 7.12.05, article, "White House clams up on CIA leak" : .... Newsweek reported this week that a July 2003 e-mail from Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper states Rove told him about an agent who was the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had just leveled accusations that the Bush administration had overstated a key piece of intelligence in its arguments for war with Iraq.

Cooper's e-mail does not say that Rove explicitly named Plame. But it states that Rove told him Wilson was not authorized by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq had sought uranium from the African country of Niger, as Wilson had stated in a July 2003 piece in The New York Times.

The CIA "leak" is under continuing investigation.]

08.09.05 Assad calls for cooperation with Iran and Iraq to 'block' region occupiers

(AFP and Daily Star - Lebanon) August 9 – Syrian President Bashar Assad said that cooperation among his nation, Iran and Iraq would create a barrier against "occupiers in the region," a reference to the continued US military presence in Iraq, state television reported. At the end of a two-day visit by the Syrian president, his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Iran welcomed "cooperation among Iran, Syria and Iraq," which he said would produce "large benefits for all countries in the region."

The new Iranian president said the two sides discussed bilateral relations, regional issues and Iranian oil exports to Syria, without giving any details.

Assad also met Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and one-time President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

During talks with Rafsanjani, still a powerful political figure in Iran, Assad said trilateral cooperation among the three neighbors would "be a barrier in the way of occupiers in the region." An account of Assad's visit by SANA, the Syrian news agency, did not mention Iraq by name, saying only that the "political atmosphere" in the region dominated his talks.

Syria and Iran, which share many policies in the region including support for Lebanon's Hizbullah, called for "constructive cooperation" with the resistance group "to block the violation of rights of Iraqi and Palestinian people." [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

08.09.05 US and Iraqi forces prevent Syrian trucks from crossing border

August 9 – US and Iraqi forces are preventing hundreds of Syrian trucks from entering Syrian territories through a crossing northeast of the country, creating a backlog of transit trucks stranded on the border, a Syrian customs official said yesterday. With only a week until the deadline for a new constitution, a massive sandstorm derailed a crucial meeting of Iraqi leaders called to break the constitutional deadlock, President Jalal Talabani's office announced. But the sandstorm did not deter rebels, who killed at least 12 Iraqis, mostly security personnel across the country.

In rising tensions between Iraq and its neighbor Syria, Iraqi and US forces stopped more than 700 Syrian trucks from returning to Syria after unloaded produce and other merchandise in Iraq, Syrian customs official, Shehadeh al-Hussein said. He said Iraqi authorities allowed non-Syrian trucks to pass but banned those with Syrian license plates from entering, while often directing insults at their drivers. Hussein, who is director of the Customs Authority in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, said some of the drivers have been stranded for up to 18 days on the Yaaroubiyya crossing, some 780 kilometers northeast of Damascus. Many had little or no food, he said. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

08.09.05 Ethnic groups shun minister's 'rebranding' plan

August 9 – Britain's ethnic communities have been dismayed by a suggestion from a government minister that they should "rebrand" their identities in an attempt to inspire greater patriotism.

The Home Office minister, Hazel Blears, said that Muslim and minority groups should be asked if they wanted to be referred to by terms such as Asian-British, Pakistani-British or Indian-British, rather than simply as "Asians". She would be floating the idea at a series of meetings with Muslim leaders this summer, she said....In an interview with The Times, Ms. Blears, who was appointed head of a government commission on integrating minorities, said that it might be useful to adhere to an American US-style identity system. "In America, they do seem to have the idea that you're an Italian-American or you're an Irish-American, and that's quite interesting," she said. "I am going to talk to people and ask how does that feel? It is about your identity and I think it's really important. "I think it's really important, if you want a society that is really welded together, there are certain things that unite us because you are British, but you can be a bit different too." Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, was irritated by Ms. Blears' suggestion. "What of the second generations? Why should they be defined as other than British?" he asked. [More>>independent.co.uk]

08.09.05 Fed boosts key interest rate for 10th time

WASHINGTON (AP) August 9 – The Federal Reserve on Tuesday boosted a key interest rate for a 10th time and signaled that more rate hikes were likely as the central bank keeps pushing borrowing costs higher to contain inflation. The action pushed the Fed's target for the federal funds rate up to 3.5 percent, the highest level in almost four years. The move was certain to be followed by an announcement by commercial banks that they were increasing their prime rate, the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans, by a similar quarter-point. That would put the prime at 6.5 percent, its highest point in four years. [More>>washingtonpost.com; See also, "Fed debt not a concern of the Press."]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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Copyright © 1981-2005 Mel Copeland. All rights reserved
Painting of Apple by Mel Copeland, early 70's
Background: tile from Cicero's villa (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)

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