TODAYS LATEST NEWS, FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF LAST

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:38:56 GMTA Muckraker on the Wane?It's become a habit to greet whatever journalist Seymour Hersh writes with reverence. However, after his ludicrous claim last summer that Israel's war in Lebanon was a trial run for an American bombing of Iran—an accusation undermined by postwar narratives showing the confused way Israel and the United States responded to the conflict—my doubts hardened. In his latest New Yorker piece, Hersh maintains he has unearthed more dirt on the Bush administration: The U.S. is involved in containing Iran by directly or indirectly "bolstering Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." more By Reason Magazine

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:31:52 GMTIran Cleric Says Pakistan Becoming 'Terrorist Sanctuary'A top Iranian cleric accused Pakistan on Friday of becoming a "terrorist sanctuary," following an upsurge of violence on the two nations' border area that Tehran blames on plots by arch foe the United States and on Pakistan's inability to control its border. more By Agence France Presse

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 12:21:21 GMTIf Iran Gets the BombWith the Bush administration now happily basking in the glory of positive coverage in The New York Times and enjoying the warm embrace of the James Baker/Brent Scowcroft wing of the Republican Party, it is hard to imagine that it will reconsider its decision to abandon the Bush Doctrine. That doctrine, named after President George W. Bush and most forcefully enunciated by him, eschewed appeasement of terror-supporting, weapons of mass destruction-proliferating enemies of the free world. more By The Jerusalem Post

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 11:1:44 GMTIran Sanctions Talks Make ProgressMajor powers of the world have made progress Thursday on imposing further sanctions against Iran for defying a UN deadline and refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, even though some differences still persist, UN diplomats said. more By Nasdaq

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:56:25 GMTAnalysis: U.S. Intel on Nukes in DoubtVIENNA, Austria -- New doubts are arising about the accuracy of U.S. intelligence on the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran, only a few years after faulty warnings about weapons of mass destruction helped President Bush justify the invasion of Iraq. more By The Associated Press

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:53:25 GMTAhmadinejad: U.S., Israel Cause ProblemsKHARTOUM, Sudan -- Iran's president blamed the United States and Israel for the world's problems Thursday in a lecture to Sudanese officials and intellectuals during his visit to Sudan. more By The Associated Press

Posted 2/3/2007 @ 10:39:37 GMTStudent Rebels in Iran Expelled and Earmarked for ArmyIranian students involved in an angry protest against the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been expelled and earmarked for compulsory military service in an apparent act of official retribution. more By The Guardian