Latest News : Israel denies role in Hezbollah chief's death

Israel denies role in Hezbollah chief's death
Wednesday, 13 February 2008 12:17

The Israeli government has denied any involvement in this morning's killing of a leading member of the militant extremist group, Hezbollah, in Damascus. Imad Moughniyah, who is suspected of being behind the wave of kidnappings of western hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s, was killed in a car bomb attack in the Syrian capital. Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind the attack. Moughniyah was on the US State Department's list of most wanted terrorism suspects, and was sought over the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires which killed 29 people.



Israel denied responsibility Wednesday for the death of a fugitive Hezbollah militant leader who was reported killed in a bomb blast in the Syrian capital Damascus. "Israel is looking into the reports from Lebanon or from Syria regarding the death of a senior Hezbollah official, and is learning for the first time the details being reported in the media in the past few hours," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement, after initially saying it would not comment on the incident. "Israel rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in this incident. We have nothing further to add." Earlier in the day, Hezbollah
accused Israeli agents of being responsible for the killing of Imad Mughniyeh, who was indicted in the U.S. for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. navy diver died. He was suspected of masterminding attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the marine base in Lebanon that killed more than 260 Americans in the 1980s when he was security chief of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. "With all pride we declare a great jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon joining the martyrs … The brother commander hajj Imad Mughniyeh became a martyr at the hands of the Zionist Israelis," said a statement carried on Hezbollah's television. The statement from the militant group did not say how Mughniyeh was killed, but the announcement came a few hours after a late-night explosion in an upscale neighbourhood in Damascus destroyed a vehicle. Witnesses in Damascus said at the time that a passerby was killed as security forces sealed off the area. Among America's most wanted, with a $2 million bounty on his head, Mughniyeh had been in hiding for years and was suspected of involvement in numerous abductions and bombings over the last 25 years. Mughniyeh was also believed to be a close confidant of Hezbollah's Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the CBC's Nahlah Ayed reported Wednesday from the Lebanese capital Beirut. "He was considered by Western intelligence agencies as one of the most dangerous active operatives," Ayed said. Mughniyeh, 45, was also the reputed leader of a group that held Westerners hostage in Lebanon, among them journalist Terry Anderson, a former Associated Press chief and Middle East correspondent who was held captive for six years. Mughniyeh is also believed by Israel to have been involved in planning the 1992 bombing of Israel's embassy in Argentina in which 29 people were killed and the blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish centre two years later that killed 95. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Hezbollah legislator Ismail Sukeyir as saying the organization's leadership would meet in Beirut to discuss its response. "Hezbollah has the right to retaliate anywhere in the world and in any way it sees fit," Haaretz quoted him as saying. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated in recent months, with many speculating a new conflict could be triggered after the two sides fought in a bloody 34-day conflict in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Bomb kills top Hezbollah leader
Lebanese group Hezbollah says one of its top leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has died in a bombing in Damascus, and has blamed Israel for assassinating him. Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of Western hostage-taking in Lebanon in the 1980s. Correspondents say he had been in hiding for years and was high on US and Israeli wanted lists. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the killing but some Israeli politicians welcomed news of his death. Mughniyeh is variously described as special operations or intelligence chief of Hezbollah's secretive military wing. Correspondents say his death is a significant blow to Hezbollah, which battled Israel in the 2006 Lebanon war, and its Iranian and Syrian backers.
Neighbourhood in shock
Syrian police kept media and other onlookers well away from the scene of the overnight blast in the well-to-do Kafar Soussa district. Hours later, Syrian state TV confirmed one person had been killed in a car bombing, but did not identify the victim. "Scores of police and intelligence officers rushed to the site. People in the neighbourhood are shocked," said one resident quoted by Reuters news agency. "We saw security officers hauling the body away," said one witness quoted by Reuters news agency. Hezbollah-owned Manar TV in Beirut announced the death saying: "With all pride we declare a great jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon joining the martyrs... the brother commander hajj Imad Mughniyeh".
IMAD MUGHNIYEH
Born southern Lebanon 1962 - Indicted for 1985 hijack of TWA airliner
Accused of involvement in 1990s Buenos Aires bombings - On FBI Most Wanted list since 2001
The group said a funeral service would be held in its stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday. The city has been tense ahead of a mass rally also on Thursday to commemorate three years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There have been repeated clashes between supporters of the pro-Western government and the opposition, which includes Hezbollah.
High-profile attacks
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 by a group of Shia Muslim clerics after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It has emerged in recent years as a major political and military force in Lebanon, after military successes against Israel. Shia militants who went on to become members are thought to have planned some of the most high-profile kidnappings and attacks of the 1980s, including the 1983 suicide bombings in Beirut that killed hundreds of US and French service personnel.
Mughniyeh was among several suspects indicted in the US for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a US Navy diver was killed. Israel believes he was involved in planning the 1992 bombing of Israel's embassy in Argentina in which 29 people were killed, and the blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish centre two years later that killed 95. The Israeli government, which has been accused of a series of assassinations of its enemies in various countries over the years, stopped short of an outright denial that it had killed Mughniyeh. "Israel rejects the attempts of terror elements to attribute to Israel any involvement in this incident," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement. Israel was continuing to investigate all reports as they emerged, it added. But MP Danny Yatom called the killing "a big achievement for the free world against terrorist organisations."

Danish Police Arrest Suspects in Plot to Kill Cartoonist who Drew Prophet Muhammad
The cartoons provoked outrage worldwide two years ago : By JAN M. OLSEN
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - February 12, 2008 —

Danish police said Tuesday they have arrested three people suspected of plotting to kill one of the 12 cartoonists behind the Prophet Muhammad drawings that sparked a deadly uproar in the Muslim world two years ago. Two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin were arrested in pre-dawn raids in western Denmark, the police intelligence agency said. The Dane was suspected of violating Danish terror laws but likely would be released after questioning as the investigation continues, said Jakob Scharf, the head of the PET intelligence service. The two Tunisians would be expelled from Denmark, he said. The agency did it mention which cartoonist was targeted. However, according to Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the drawings on Sept. 30, 2005, the suspects were planning to kill its cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. "There were very concrete murder plans against Kurt Westergaard," said Carsten Juste, the paper's editor-in-chief. The cartoons were later reprinted by a range of Western publications, and they sparked deadly protests in parts of the Muslim world. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry. Westergaard, 73, and his wife Gitte, 66, had been living under police protection, Jyllands-Posten reported. "Of course I fear for my life when the police intelligence service say that some people have concrete plans to kill me. But I have turned fear into anger and resentment," Westergaard said in a statement published on Jyllands-Posten's Web site. PET, the police intelligence service, called the action "preventive," saying it decided to strike "at an early phase to stop the planning and the carrying out of the murder." In the uproar that followed the publishing of the cartoons, Danes watched in disbelief as angry mobs burned the Danish flag and attacked the country's embassies in Muslim countries including Syria, Iran and Lebanon. Jyllands-Posten was evacuated several times because of threats and posted security guards at its office outside Aarhus and in Copenhagen. The paper initially refused to apologize for the cartoons, which it said were published in reaction to a perceived self-censorship among artists dealing with Islamic issues, but later said it regretted that the cartoons had offended Muslims. The Danish government also expressed regrets to Muslims, but noted that it could not interfere with the freedom of the press. Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Copenhagen-based Islamic Faith Community, a network of Muslim groups that spearheaded protests against the cartoons in Denmark, said he hoped Tuesday's arrests would not rekindle the uproar. "We urge Muslims to take it calmly," he told the TV2 News network. The rage over the caricatures resonated beyond Denmark. In Germany, two men were accused of planting bombs aboard a pair of German commuter trains in 2006 that failed to explode. One of the men, Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib, a Lebanese citizen, is on trial in Duesseldorf. The second man, Jihad Hamad, was convicted in December in Lebanon and sentenced to 12 years in prison. El-Hajdib told the court last week that Hamad planned the attacks as revenge after some German newspapers reprinted the Muhammad caricatures. Hamad, however, testified at his trial in Lebanon that el-Hajdib was the initiator of the failed plot. He said el-Hajdib brainwashed him and exposed him to extremist videos and propaganda.

Notorious Hizballah terrorist hostage-taker Imad Mughniyeh killed in Damascus
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, the Hizballah’s supreme commander and plotter of major anti-US and anti-Israel terror operations in the last 25 years reportedly died in a car bomb explosion in the Damascus district of Tanzim Kafr Susa Tuesday night, Feb. 12. more By DEBKAfile
Imad Moughniyah, Hezbollah Commander Killed in Damascus Bombing
A top Hezbollah commander on the most wanted list in the US and Israel has been killed in Syria. The Shi'ite Muslim group, which is backed by Syria and Iran, says Imad Moughniyah was killed in a car bombing in Damascus. It has accused Israel of being behind the killing, but Israel has denied any involvement.
Far More Than the Killing of One Terrorist

The killing of Imad Mughniyeh - whoever is responsible - represents a significant achievement for Israel and its allies, and a tremendous blow to its most sworn enemies, in particular Hizbullah and Iran's radical Islamist regime. more By The Jerusalem Post
Iran Puts Uranium Gas in Centrifuges
Iran's new generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday. more By The Associated Press
Iranian Activist Wins 2007 Palme Prize
Stockholm -- Iranian activist Parvin Ardalan was Wednesday named winner of the 2007 Palme Prize for "making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran."Braving "persecution, threats and harassment," the jury cited her efforts noting an "ongoing campaign for a million signatures against discrimination." more By Earth Times
Next Iran-US talks on Iraq to be Held at Expert LevelThe fourth round of Iran-US talks on Iraq would be held at expert level, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday. more By Islamic Republic News Agency
Iran Has Capacity to Produce Nuclear Arms Says US Intelligence
February 14, 2008 Google News AFP : http://tinyurl.com/2rkbzd

Iran still possesses the capacity to produce nuclear weapons even though it may have stopped its atomic arms development program, a senior US intelligence official said Wednesday. Thomas Fingar, deputy US director of national intelligence for analysis, told a Congressional hearing that the Islamic republic "continues to develop" capabilities that could be swiftly adopted for production of nuclear weapons."We judge it has the technical and industrial capability to produce nuclear weapons," he told the House of Representatives armed services committee which held the hearing to make a global security assessment.Lawmakers were particularly keen to find out from senior intelligence officials who testified Wednesday the background behind a new intelligence report in December saying Iran halted its nuclear weapons drive in 2003 and that US charges about Tehran's atomic goals were overblown.The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies, had also cautioned that Iran was keeping its nuclear options open, still bucked international demands to freeze uranium enrichment, and could have the technical ability to make a nuclear weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015.Asked by one lawmaker whether Iran, by continuing its uranium enrichment activities, was still within striking distance of developing a nuclear weapon, Fingar said, "your logic point is that they have the capacity to resume a weapons program" if they wanted to do so.He said the US time frame prediction for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon was based on an indigenous capability for enriching uranium, which could be used to make nuclear fuel but also to make fissile material for atomic bombs.The time frame could be shortened if they procure fissile material elsewhere, he said. "It's the centrifuge program -- fissile material production -- which is the main variable," he said.Media reports have said Iran is testing advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, in flagrant defiance of UN resolutions to suspend all enrichment activity until the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, can verify that such activities are entirely peaceful.Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment activities, in defiance of two sets of UN sanctions and the threat of a possible third, have fuelled western suspicions that Tehran is seeking to develop the atomic bomb.Iran insists it has an inalienable right to develop the technology to generate nuclear power to meet the energy needs of a growing population.

OpEdNews Exclusive: United States Is Not A Signatory To United Nations Human Rights And Torture Convention!
By Michael Morris

United States is not a signatory to United Nations Human Rights and Torture Convention!
Read the full article here : http://tinyurl.com/2z582o
EXCERPS :
Remember the United States is a signatory to the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POW's and would never dare to openly violate that Treaty, but they had a problem with the 1984 signing of the Convention for Human Rights and Torture. Also remember that ALL Treaties signed and ratified become the Supreme Law of the Land, become, for all purposes, part of the Constitution. Being that the US Legal system can twist a beam of light in mid air with its lingo and nonsense, the World decided to write the additional clarifications to the 1984 Convention with the hope of at a minimum curtailing the illegal activities of the United States and its Allies after 911. In the Section 1, referencing Article 1 of the Optional Protocols, of the point that needs highlighting, the Convention added the wording that severe pain and suffering often termed "cruel, degrading or inhumane treatment" is added to the original 1984 Treaty. By doing this the UN amended the Treaty to use the laws and definitions of US laws to define torture. Under US law, it is not torture unless we say so, remember? If you remember the massive discussions, where even Senator McCain spoke if water boarding was torture and said it was, was all about this section. If the US is in violation of that section of the 1984 Treaty, the US could be held accountable in the world court. Section 2, referencing Article 2 of the Optional Protocols, is directed squarely at the US. It says that under no circumstance can we use any excuse to break the Treaty, including 911. It also directs this section square at our courts that they do not have the right to order torture or "cruel, degrading or inhumane treatment" at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. Section 16 , referencing Article 16 of the Optional Protocols, is to address what happened at Gitmo. Even though not on our soil, it still counts, Abu Ghraib and Gitmo again.Article 3 in the Optional Protocols deals with transport of prisoners who are transported to other States that will do torture. The World knew what we were doing not only to circumvent international law, but our own laws as well.Bottom line, it would seem that the US would not sign this Treaty because the US did not want to be held accountable for torture on the world stage or at home. This level of a decision not to sign a Treaty can only come from a cabinet level position which means that the President has to be informed. (Unless someone is willing to fall on his/her sword) It would also seem to verify that because the US was knowingly violating Human Rights and using what the people of the US would call torture, but what this administration light bending legal definitions has twisted into "extreme interrogations", this administration twisted and buried the truth once again from the American People with the heading of National Security. The CIA tapes that were destroyed may have contained not only evidence that we violated our own laws, but international laws as well. Does anyone remember that DONALD RUMSFELD WAS CHARGED WITH TORTURE DURING A TRIP TO FRANCE! The world knew what was happening, but the US did not care and though its actions and lack of action made every American citizen complacent in torture and abuse. Do you not remember how the world, including the US, viewed the German people when we all learned the truth of the Nazi death camps? What is the monkey wrench in all of this elaborate planning for the past 20 plus years, me!I am an American citizen, I am not an enemy combatant or POW (not yet at least), my rights are covered by the Constitution and therefore the Treaty signed in 1984 (which was in effect in January of 1998) as it had become the Supreme Law of the Land. Article 10 of the 1984 Treaty includes ALL local and Federal law enforcement personal under this Treaty. Because the laws were in effect, the sanctions that can be taken are in effect and the US had the duty to investigate my complaint. Nothing has ever been done in 10 years as the paper has gone round and round.How the law works here in the US is if my allegations were openly heard and my case proven in a court of law in the US, it would set the precedence for all such violations to not only be prosecuted as civil rights violations in US Courts but as Human Rights violations in a World Court. This "legal trail" of precedence and testimony in the case of the four British citizens is why John Burton wrote "With an outlandish display of convoluted and specious logic" because while there was never a chance of paying damages, as that was covered in the Treaty for non-citizens and not on US soil, the court could not acknowledge that it was covered by the Treaty because to do so would affirm that the Treaty was in force and that all actions in violation of that Treaty would have to be prosecuted. Oh what tangled webs we have allowed to be woven. Deny, deny, deny and hope it all goes away. If America was held to the Supreme Law of the Land as the Constitution enforces, most of this administration, the law enforcement personnel involved in my case, the case of the woman in Ohio, the lady who died in the Phoenix Airport, the man tazered to death in front of his 12 year old daughter, would all have to face criminal charges in a World Court and if our Courts refused to prosecute, world sanctions, such as those WE have imposed on Countries that WE say are Human Rights violators could be imposed upon us, in effect, crashing our economy into the ground. America knows that on the world stage we have very few friends and the numbers are getting smaller each and every day.I would suggest that all readers click the links below as these links go far more in depth into the 1984 and 2002 Treaties that I have in this article. You the reader must decide if we as a nation can pick and choose what laws we will obey and ones we will not, but remember, creditability of our word as a nation not only to our own people but to those we must live with on this planet is the only way to peace. Once we elect to violate one law, we have open the doors to violating them all at will and will be despised by the world seeking to eliminate the nation that calls the kettle black. Such is the true State of the Union.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_Against_Torture
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ratification/9_b.htm
http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/gitmo-torture-appeal-rejected/2226/

Principal Electrical Engineer For WTC: "Fuel And Planes Alone Did NOT Bring The Towers Down"
-- Enlargen
Principal Electrical Engineer for WTC: "Fuel and Planes Alone Did NOT Bring the Towers Down" Richard F. Humenn, PE was the Senior Project Design Engineer for electrical systems for the entire World Trade Center, and he had 60 people working under him.

NOW AN ARTICLE BY A TRAITOR TO ALL VALUES OF BEING AN IRANIAN / PERSIAN : by Soraya . S . ULRICH - A paid up member of the IDIOTS gang of GHOM. ( The stupid women calles herself Iranian ! the bitch )

Reza Pahlavi: A Neo-Con Asset
Neo-cons using the Shah's son to intervene in and attack Iran under the pretext of humanitarian appeal - a repeat of Iraq.

Britain sees ‘mission’ to spread democracy
By Alex Barker in London : Published: February 13 2008 02:00

Britain must steadfastly pursue a moral “mission” to spread democracy throughout the world in spite of mistakes made in Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK foreign secretary said on Tuesday.
David Miliband warned that the rise of China meant that “we can no longer take the forward march of democracy for granted”. Supporting democratic government with the full range of diplomatic and military tools satisfied both a “moral impulse” and Britain’s national interest, he said.


Iranians Scheme to Elude Sanctions
Tough sanctions haven't brought Iran to its knees, but they're rewriting how business is done in the Middle East's second-largest economy. more By The Wall Street Journal




The U.S.-Iranian Negotiations: Beyond the Rhetoric
February 12, 2008 Stratfor George Friedman

Tehran has announced that Iran and the United States will hold a new round of talks on the future of Iraq at some point next week. The Iranians said that the “structure of the discussions have been finalized but the level of participation has not yet been agreed.” Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to visit Iraq before March 20, the Iranian New Year. The United States has not denied either of these reports. There thus appears to be some public movement occurring in the U.S.-Iranian talks over Iraq.

Venezuela-Iran Oil Deal Raises Concern
A proposed oil deal between Iran and Venezuela has raised congressional concerns, with two prominent House Republicans pushing for a Bush administration probe of whether the deal violates U.S. sanctions laws. more By The Washington Times
Germany's Economic Relations with the Mullahs
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went to great lengths to avoid a diplomatic dispute with Germany on Iran's nuclear program this week, during his second visit to Berlin in 14 months. more By The Jerusalem Post
U.S.-Iran Relations in Holding Pattern
Shhh. Don't tell anyone. I saw Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, sitting between two Iranian officials at the Davos World Economic Forum. There he was, right next to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Mojtaba Samare Hashemi, a top adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. more By The Baltimore Sun
Olmert Urges Germany to Sever Iran Ties
During a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel and backed Israeli military action meant to stem Kassam rocket fire. more By The Jerusalem Post
Olmert: Certain Iran Secretly Building Nuclear Arms
BERLIN -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday he was certain that Iran is engaged in a secret operation to build nuclear weapons. "We are of the view that the Iranians are continuing to pursue their plans to create a capacity for non-conventional weapons," he said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a meeting. more By Reuters
US Confirms Upcoming Talks with Iran on Iraq
WASHINGTON -- The United States confirmed Monday reports that it is planning a new round of talks with Iran on the future of war-ravaged Iraq, but that the two sides have yet to agree on a date. more By AFP
Many Iranians Says Revolutionary Ideals Still Unmet
In Tehran Monday, tens of thousands celebrated the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. more By The Christian Science Monitor
A Campaign to Stop Stoning
Iranian judges apparently didn't get the memo about the moratorium on stoning issued in 2002 by Ayatollah Shahroudi, head of the judiciary. According to Amnesty International, nine women and two men are currently in prison awaiting this cruel and barbaric punishment, which is usually meted out for sexual transgressions.