'Devastating response' if Iran nukes attacked

Terrorists say Tehran providing instructions in case U.S., Israel strike atomic facilities
By Aaron Klein/ © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Iran is anticipating a U.S. or Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities and has been providing Palestinian terrorists and other regional allies with contingency plans for attacks against the Jewish state and American regional interests in the event of war, according to Palestinian terrorist leaders. A senior leader of the Islamic Jihad terror group, which Israel says is backed by Iran, told WND Tehran is expecting to be attacked, but he didn't provide a time frame in which Iran anticipates a strike.He claimed during any attack his organization has been directed by Iran to "wreak havoc" on Israel with suicide bombings, rocket attacks and "special surprises." He said rocket attacks would be launched from both the Gaza Strip and from the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem. He threatened his terror group will target American interests in the Middle East whether any purported strike against Tehran is carried out by Israel or the U.S."
The Zionists and the Americans are coordinated 100 percent. It doesn't matter who attacks Iran, we are planning to hit them both," said the Islamic Jihad leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he said the topic was "very sensitive." He said overall Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah has been coordinating war plans with Iran, Syria and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah Lebanese militia. Shallah resides in Damascus and travels frequently to Tehran. Abu Ahmed, the northern West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, told WND all major Palestinian militant organizations are preparing to work together in the event Iran is attacked. "Our strategy is not to leave the Islamic alliance (Iran) alone against the enemy. All Palestinian organizations will work together in shooting rockets, suicide bomb attacks and other steps and actions decided closely." The Brigades is the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. Together with Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the last two years, including a bombing last month in Eilat and an attack in Tel Aviv last April that killed eight Israelis and American teenager Daniel Wultz. Israel says major Brigades cells in the Gaza Strip and West Bank receive Iranian funding through contacts with Hezbollah. Abu Ahmed said in his terror group's estimation Iran will indeed be attacked. "It's not a question of if, but when. The campaign now in the American media is just like the campaign before the invasion of Iraq," he charged. A senior leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND his group has also been preparing for what he called "the upcoming war." The Committees is a coalition of terror organizations operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank responsible for hundreds of anti-Israel rocket and shooting attacks. It is accused of bombing a U.S. convoy in Gaza in 2003 in which three American government contractors were killed. "We are preparing the tomb that Allah is digging for the Zionists and Americans," said the Committees leader. He claimed during any U.S. or Israeli military strike against Tehran, a response will be directed against Israel and American interests by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists. "The war will be a war on more than one front. It will be everybody against everybody. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinian organizations will work together. War with Iran is coming and it means the Middle East will not remain the same after it," the Committees leader said. Syria and Iran signed a military agreement in which either will respond if the other is attacked. Israeli security officials told WND Israel is not currently planning to strike Iran. Speaking theoretically, they said if any war breaks out involving Iran, they expect Syria, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists to join the fray and attack Israel. The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles were armed with. In addition to longer range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter range missiles such as 20mm and 305mm rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah. According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a deal worth several hundred million dollars transferring thousands of advanced antitank missiles to Syria. Antitank missiles used by Hezbollah during Israel's war in Lebanon this past summer devastated Israeli tanks and caused the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Last week, a senior officer from the intelligence unit of the Israeli Defense Forces announced Hezbollah is stronger today than before the 2006 Lebanon war. "Hezbollah has reinforced and it is stronger today than it was before the war in Lebanon," General Yossi Beidatz, head of the IDF's intelligence research department, told the Knesset. During the war in Lebanon, Hezbollah fired more than 3,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 39 civilians and devastating many northern towns. Beidatz also said Syria is reinforcing its military to prepare for the possibility of a new armed conflict in the region. According to reports in the Israeli media, Syria, aided by Iranian officers, has been boosting its army and navy. The reports, denied by Damascus, claimed Syria last week was moving troops closer to the border with Israel.The claim by Palestinian terrorists Iran is preparing for war come as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday his country's nuclear program cannot stop while a deputy foreign minister vowed Tehran was prepared for any eventuality, "even for war." "Iran has obtained the technology to produce nuclear fuel and Iran's move is like a train ... which has no brake and no reverse gear," Ahmadinejad said, according to Iranian state media. Manouchehr Mohammadi, a deputy at Iran's foreign ministry commented, "We have prepared ourselves for any situation, even for war." Iranian military commanders have said recent war games, the latest of which involved testing several missiles this month, show Iran's readiness to counter any attack. Meanwhile U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said over the weekend Iran's atomic ambitions must be curbed. He told reporters "all options" were on the table. During a visit to Australia, Cheney said it would be a "serious mistake" to allow Iran to become a nuclear power. An Australian newspaper quoted Cheney endorsing comments by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that the only thing worse than a military confrontation with Iran would be a nuclear-armed Iran. Iran ignored last week's United Nations deadline to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to fuel for nuclear power plants or produce material for warheads. Tehran claims it wants to negotiate but has repeatedly ruled out suspending its atomic program.

TODAYS LATEST NEWS

In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
By Seymour M. Hersh
>Read the Article
Posted 26/2/2007 @ 1:20:31 GMT'Iran Fires Rocket, Not Missile'Iran has launched a sub-orbital rocket for scientific research, not a missile capable of reaching space as earlier reported, an aerospace official told an Iranian news agency yesterday. Ali Akbar Golrou, the executive deputy of Iran's aerospace research center, told Fars News Agency the rocket would not stay in orbit but could rise to about 150 kilometers into atmosphere before falling to earth by parachute. more By China Daily

Posted 26/2/2007 @ 1:12:8 GMTDiplomats Seek to Halt Nuclear Train 'With No Brakes'Diplomats embark on a fresh round of talks today aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the country’s president described yesterday as “like a train which has no brake and no reverse gear”. Measures being discussed include imposing travel bans on a dozen named Iranians involved in the nuclear programme and tighter restrictions on the trade of arms and technology, as well as an attempt to block investment and export credits. more By The Times

Posted 26/2/2007 @ 1:2:27 GMTIran Declares Nuclear Programme IrreversibleIran declared yesterday that it was ready "even for war" and that its nuclear programme was irreversible, as it launched a rocket believed to have reached the edge of orbit. more By The Guardian

Posted 26/2/2007 @ 0:59:24 GMTUS 'Plans to Bomb Iran', Despite DenialsA Pentagon unit is planning for a bombing attack on Iran which could be carried out "within 24 hours", according to a report in the United States, issued just as the Iranian President Mahmoud Amadinejad warned that Tehran's nuclear programme had "no reverse gear". more By Independent Online

US Navy denies reports of offensive military build-up in Gulf

dpa German Press Agency Published: Monday February 19, 2007

The US Navy's top Persian Gulf commander on Monday denied reports of a US naval offensive military build-up in the region, affirming however that the coalition was keeping a close watch on increasing Iranian naval exercises in Gulf waters. Commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command and the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, said that this was "an unprecedented time of instability and insecurity in the region," with tension in Somalia, Lebanon, Eastern Mediterranean, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. He also said that Iranian military naval exercises in the past nine months showed the suggestion of the use of mines and the threat of the closure of the strait of Hormuz, the only sea access into and out of the region. Walsh, who was speaking to the media at the US Navy 5th Fleet Command in Manama before being replaced by Vice Admiral Kevin J Cosgriff in the coming days, described the Iranian exercises in the strait as provocative. "Mines are an offensive terrorist type of weapon," he said. "We are not giving up water to Iran. This is international waters, it therefore should have international access and we will safeguard that with our regional and coalition partners." Walsh added that concerns over Iranian intentions are augmented by the firing of ballistic missiles into the Gulf and some of the rhetoric coming out of the Iranian leadership. "The question is not what the Americans are planning but what the Iranians are planning," he said. "When they conduct their exercises and they fire their missiles we are watching very closely and we are sharing that information with our Gulf partners." Walsh emphasized that the US military presence in the region was of a defensive nature, dismissing rumours of an impending attack on Iran. The outgoing commander also said the US had no intentions of abandoning its allies in the region and dismissed reports that the US 5th Fleet command would be transferred out of Bahrain.

IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE TONIGHT WATCH THIS VIDEO

Iran in Iraq
U.S. outlines its evidence of Iranian meddling in Iraq. CNN's Michael Ware reports. (February 11)

http://edition.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/world/2007/02/11/ware.iraq.iran.weapons.cnn&source=money&wm=11

The United States has been used by the pro-Iranian government in Baghdad to carry out attacks against Shia tribes in southern Iraq

Iran 'Fooling' U.S. MilitaryDahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily, Electronic Iraq12 February 2007NAJAF (IPS) - New evidence is emerging on the ground of an Iranian hand in growing violence within Iraq.As the United States heads for a confrontation with Iran over allegations of Iranian involvement in bombings, the massacre in Najaf last month indicates that Iran could be working also through the Iraqi government, local leaders in Najaf say.The slaughter of 263 people in Najaf by Iraqi and U.S. forces Jan. 29 provoked outrage and vows of revenge among residents in and around the sacred Shia city in the south. The killings have deepened a split among Shias.Iran is predominantly Shia, one of the two main groupings within Islam along with the Sunnis. Iraq has for the first time a Shia-dominated government, comprising groups that have been openly supportive of Iran.
As the United States heads for a confrontation with Iran over allegations of Iranian involvement in bombings, the massacre in Najaf last month indicates that Iran could be working also through the Iraqi government, local leaders in Najaf say.The people killed were mostly Shias from the Hawatim tribe that opposes the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq as well as the Dawa Party. These two pro-Iranian groups control the local government in Najaf and the government in Baghdad.The Najaf attack has provoked strong reactions among members of the Hawatim tribe and among other Shia groups who are not loyal to Iran - and who became the target in those killings.An attack on a local tribal leader led to an assault on members of the tribe by U.S., British and Iraqi forces. The tribe was described by government officials as a "messianic cult."Abid Ali who witnessed the Najaf fighting told IPS that a procession of roughly 200 pilgrims from the Hawatim tribe had arrived in the Zarqa area near Najaf to celebrate the Ashura festival. Following a confrontation over the procession, Iraqi army soldiers at a checkpoint shot dead Hajj Sa'ad Sa'ad Nayif al-Hatemi, chief of the tribe, as he and his wife sat in their car.Members of the tribe then attacked the checkpoint to avenge the death of their chief."It was after this that the Iraqi army called in the Americans, and the planes began bombing civilians," Ali said. "It was a massacre. Now I believe the internal Shia fighting has entered a very dangerous phase."Ali added that most people in the area believe the U.S. military was told by Iraqi security forces loyal to the pro-Iranian government in Baghdad that "terrorists" or the "messianic cult" was attacking Najaf. They say the misinformation was intended to mislead occupation forces into attacking the tribe.Many Shias in the southern parts of the country and in Baghdad now say they had been fooled earlier by U.S. promises to help them, but that the Najaf massacre has dramatically changed their views.Significantly, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a group of Sunni Muslims headed by Dr. Harith al-Dhari, issued a statement condemning the Iraqi-U.S. military attack in Najaf against the Hawatim tribe. The statement, which seeks to bridge a Shia-Sunni divide, denounced the killing of dozens of women and children and added, "It was an act of vengeance and political termination.""They (the United States) were misled, and their last move in Najaf shows how the smart Iranians are leading the Americans deeper into Iraqi sands," Jaafar al-Jawadi, a political analyst from Baghdad told IPS."I really admire the way Iranians are dealing with the situation in a professional way while the Americans are walking with their eyes closed. They are losing the last Iraqi fort they were hiding behind, and that was the peaceful way Arab Shias were dealing with occupation."Jawadi who is also a former Shia politician says he once believed in U.S. promises of liberation for Iraqis, particularly the Shia population. Like many other Iraqis, he now believes that the United States has been used by the pro-Iranian government in Baghdad to carry out attacks against Shia tribes in southern Iraq who have recently become more and more anti-occupation."I do not really understand what those Americans are doing because now they are just like an elephant in a china shop, and everything they do is terribly wrong as if they are committing suicide," Talib Ahmad, a lawyer and human rights activist in Najaf told IPS."Iran is benefiting from that for sure. Americans are simply fighting for Iran who appears to be the winner in Iraq after all."Many Iraqis are amazed at the unlimited support the U.S. administration has been presenting to what many now call an Iranian-Iraqi government. The new U.S. condemnation of Iran could be a first sign that the United States is getting wise to the fact that it is being fooled by Iran.The U.S. administration is, however, pointing the finger at Iran, and not at the government in Baghdad that it props up.

Ahmadinejad had said that the Gulf states are "gas stations, not real countries." NOW HE HAS TO EAT HUMBLE PIE !

ARABS ALLY VS. PERSIAN POWER
By AMIR TAHERI
February 12, 2007 -- A FEW weeks ago, when British Prime Minister Tony Blair evoked the idea of a bloc of moderate Arab states helping to stabilize the Middle East, many dismissed it as a pie in the sky: How, the pundits wondered, could Arabs, notorious for internecine feuds, develop a common strategy? Yet it looks as if such a bloc is taking shape. The latest sign came last week, when the rival Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah reached an accord to share power and stop their burgeoning civil war.




The accord, brokered by Saudi King Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz, was signed in Mecca in view of the Ka'aba (the holiest place in Islam), thus enjoying special solemnity. In their speeches, Mahmoud Abbas (the Fatah leader and president of the Palestinian Authority) and Khalid al-Meshaal (Hamas' "supreme guide") vowed to implement the accord in full: "We promise here in this holy city and with the Ka'aba as our witness that we will not let the dark events of the past to be repeated." With the prospect of Palestinian harmony, revival of the peace process now looks possible for the first time in six years. And that could make a great contribution to easing regional tension. The Palestine-Israel issue is not the most important, let alone the only, cause of instability in the Middle East. But it has always been the easiest to exploit by those who wish to destabilize the region. As yet, the new bloc of moderate Arab states has no official name or structure. It is made up of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus Jordan and Egypt, so some call it "the 6+2 group" As always with alliances, this bloc formed in response to a clear and present danger.

The perceived threat comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran - which can't decide whether it is a nation-state or a revolutionary cause.



The Mecca accord is a blow to the Islamic Republic's investment in Hamas and in Islamic Jihad in the hope of overthrowing President Abbas and extinguishing any chance of talks with Israel. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had designated the Palestinian territories as part of Iran's turf in an eventual war with Israel and the United States; with the Mecca accord, Tehran loses that part of its imagined power. Back in 2004, with the United States apparently bogged down in Iraq, the "revolutionary cause" advocates in Tehran moved onto the offensive. They argued that America would run away, first from Iraq and then from the whole region, burying dreams of a Pax Americana - so that Tehran could then impose a regional Pax Khomeinista as a first step toward claiming the leadership of Islam. The first move was to turn Syria into a client state; the next, to trigger last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah. The perception that Israel was humiliated in that conflict enhanced Iran's prestige as a power capable of, one day, wiping "the Zionist enemy" off the map. But then Tehran overplayed its hand by ordering Hezbollah to try to seize power in Beirut. The specter of a "Shiite Crescent," first evoked by Jordan's King Abdullah II and dismissed as hyperbole, suddenly appeared real.


After some initial hesitation, the 6+2 nations decided to draw a line in the sand on Lebanon: Tehran would not be allowed to seize power in Beirut. The group's determination made it possible for the broader international community to also rally behind the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. By the end of January, it had become clear that Tehran's bid in Beirut, although damaging Lebanon, had no chance of sweeping Hezbollah into power. Tehran's second mistake was to play a game of smoke and mirrors over its alleged nuclear ambitions. The leaders of the 6+2 bloc never believed that the Islamic Republic had told the truth on this issue. When Khomeinist emissaries appeared in Arab capitals to demand the use of oil as a political weapon in case the United States took military action against the Islamic Republic, suspicions rose further: Why was Iran's leadership prepared to risk war in defense of a nuclear program that it claims is entirely peaceful? The 6+2 bloc's response came in the form of a "technical statement" by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi, reiterating the kingdom's 34-year-old policy of never playing politics with oil. Thus, if the Islamic Republic provoked a war, it would find itself as alone as Saddam Hussein was in 2003. Tehran's third mistake was to renew contacts with dissident Arab Shiite groups seeking the overthrow of Gulf regimes. Tehran had stopped supporting such groups in 1993, after an understanding between the Saudis' then-Crown Prince Abdullah and Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Iran's president. Tehran's fourth mistake was to set up a network of direct influence in Iraq. To do so, it bypassed its traditional Shiite allies (including Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) for clients such as Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. In response, Hakim and the Da'awah Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had to tone down their Shiism and emphasize their Arab-ness. That offered the 6+2 states new opportunities to develop a positive Iraq policy. Plans are under way for the bloc's next initiative, which centers on Iraq. Contact has already been established with key Iraqi leaders, Sunni and Shiite; a national reconciliation conference in Mecca could be organized within months. The expected improvement of the security situation in Baghdad under the new "surge" plan, led by Gen. David Petraeus, could help the process. Ahmadinejad may have to rethink his dismissal of the Gulf states as "gas stations, not real countries." The 6+2 is emerging as a real force. It has much scope for expansion by including such moderate Arab states as Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Somewhere down the road, Iraq , too, will join. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are already undeclared allies of the 6+2, as is Turkey. The Islamic Republic, by contrast, has no allies outside Syria - and no prospect of attracting any. The 6+2 message is clear:
Even if the Americans run away post-Bush, these nations won't submit to a Pax Khomeinista dictated by Tehran.

GREATEST IRAQI DEAD COUNT: MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS

By J. Grant Swank, Jr.MichNews.comFeb 9, 2007

Consider that the most Iraqis slain have been slain by Iraqis, though Al-Baghdadi incites his own to slaughter non-Muslims for causing Iraq`s carnage.

Look at the facts: The real 2006 'Iraq Body Count' of Iraqi civilians killed last year by Islamic terrorists numbers 16,791. Iraqi civilians killed collaterally in incidents involving Americans (and Islamic Terrorists) equals 225.

Iraqis aren't dying from war. They are being murdered by Islamic terrorists. Source: IraqBodyCount.net (includes civilians caught in crossfire who may have been killed by the terrorists, and terrorists who may have been counted as civilians). This detail is provided on TheReligionOfPeace.com at http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/



Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, Al-Qaeda appointed as "head of the Islamic State of Iraq," provides the following recording dated February 2, 2007. It is titled, "Victory from Allah, Victory is Near."
Note that he finds "no blood sweeter than that of the Christians. . ."
"Oh Muslim youths, remember the cut up bodies of the children, the voices of their bereaved [parents] and the anguished cries of the elderly. Let the volcano of your wrath burst forth. Burn the ground beneath the feet of the Jews and their helpers, eradicate their army, destroy their equipment, down their planes, ambush them in their homes, in the wadis and on the roads.
"Hide in the darkness of night and turn their morning into hell... We are not afraid of your coalitions...We have drunk blood [in the past], and we find no [blood] sweeter than that of the Christians... Roast their flesh with car bombs, cut off their supply lines with [explosive] charges and tear out their hearts with sniper fire. Know that offense is the best [form of] defense, and be careful not to lay down your weapons before the war is over... We are not fighting out of nationalism, but with the aim of making Allah's word supreme."

Yet it is Iraqi slaying Iraqi that makes the dead count so abominably high.

Surprising Partners Among Tehran's Layer of Alliances

The Guardian / Julian Borger, Diplomatic Editor .


When Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed this week to hit back at American interests around the world if Iran was attacked, it was no empty threat. More than at any time in the life of the Islamic republic, Iran is positioned to inflict significant pain on the US and its allies in many places at the same time. US stumbling in the Middle East has strengthened and emboldened Iran. On top of an array of patron-client relationships with powerful Shia groups, like Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Badr brigades and the Mahdi army in Iraq, Tehran has built a new layer of alliances with some more surprising partners among the Sunni jihadists. It has forged a relationship with Hamas in Gaza, and even appears to have developed links with the Taliban. In the wake of anecdotal accounts of would-be Iranian jihadists turning up in Afghanistan, western intelligence sources believe official contacts have been made between the erstwhile enemies. Iranian intelligence is thought to be providing some money and training to the Taliban and giving safe passage for jihadists travelling from the Iraqi to the Afghan front. Seth Jones, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corporation thinktank, who has just returned from Afghanistan, said: "There are indications the Iranians have opened contacts with insurgent groups, including the Quetta Shura (the Taliban command council for southern Afghanistan)". He said there was so far no evidence Iran had supplied what the Taliban need most, modern surface-to-air missiles. He also stressed that Iranian backing for the Taliban was barely significant compared to the support it enjoyed in Pakistan, while Tehran enjoyed strong relations with the Karzai government in Kabul. "What Iran in my view is doing is pursuing a hedging strategy," he said. "The Iranian government would prefer to keep a close relationship with the Afghan government, but also wants to protect itself from a strike from the US or Israel." Iran could make life more difficult for the US, Britain and their allies in southern Afghanistan. "If the Taliban got surface-to-air missiles, it would really change things in Afghanistan." What was unfolding in Afghanistan was part of a broader contest, in which both sides were seeking a more lethal grip on their opponent as insurance against attack. "There is a struggle for influence between US and Iran right across south-west Asia, in which main theatres of operation are Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq," said Afshin Molavi, an Iranian specialist at the International Crisis Group (ICG). In that struggle, Iran national interests rise above sectarian or ideological affiliation. Meanwhile, the long-standing relationship with Hizbullah offers Iran the potential to threaten US interests much further afield. Tehran helped set up the Shia militia after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and it has since developed a global presence stretching as far as Lebanese communities in Latin America.
In the event of an attack on Iran, it could offer Tehran a potent network for reprisals.
But Iran's capacity to hit back is limited to the readiness of its clients and partners to take on the US. In recent years, Hizbullah has opted to focus on its role in Lebanon and its conflict with Israel. "The Mahdi army and Moqtada al-Sadr are willing to take money from Iranians, but he is an Iraqi nationalist with no pro-Iranian proclivities," said Joost Hiltermann, a Jordan-based analyst for the ICG. Furthermore, Tehran must calibrate any retaliation to avoid bringing the region down on its head. It may support the Taliban, but does not want to see the Sunni extremist movement back in power on its eastern border.

Gen. Cody: Insurgents Not Using New Tactics to Bring Down U.S. Copters in Iraq

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — There is no basis for believing that insurgents' recent success in shooting down U.S. helicopters in Iraq means they have developed new attack methods or discovered new U.S. vulnerabilities, the Army's vice chief of staff said Saturday.
"I see no change in trends" on the part of the insurgent's targeting efforts, "and I see no capability gaps" on the part of U.S. forces, Gen. Richard Cody said in an interview en route to this air base north of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital.Cody said all U.S. helicopters in Iraq recently received upgraded defensive systems to protect them against known threats like anti-aircraft missiles, although he acknowledged that helicopters on combat missions face inherent dangers, including small arms fire if they fly low to avoid being targeted by missiles. "We've been studying the heck out of this thing," he said, referring to the crashes, which began in January with the shootdown of a Black Hawk helicopter in which all 12 U.S. soldiers were killed. Later in January two Apache attack helicopters were shot down, apparently by small arms fire, killing two in each. Two U.S. private contractors' helicopters also were shot down last month.
"I think people are making too much about this," Cody said, while stressing that he personally and the Army as an institution take each loss seriously and are constantly looking for ways to avoid combat losses. Cody met with soldiers of the 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, which arrived in Afghanistan in recent weeks. In a session with pilots and others from the brigade's combat aviation unit, which flies Apaches and other choppers, he stressed the importance of remaining vigilant against insurgent attacks. "As soon as you get predictable, as soon as you get a little bit complacent, either the enemy will get you or this terrain will get you," he said, referring to the rugged, often mountainous landscape in which they fly. Pilots in Afghanistan have not suffered any shootdowns recently. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress last week that it was not clear whether the insurgents in Iraq were using new tactics and techniques or whether the string of shootdowns simply was a matter of the odds catching up to helicopter pilots who fly every day in dangerous conditions. Teams of military specialists are reviewing in detail the circumstances surrounding each attack, starting with the 24 hours that preceded each one, to see what may have been overlooked in the available intelligence picture — from insurgent movements to weather conditions to other flight-related factors, Cody said. Cody, 56, a career helicopter pilot who flew an Apache attack mission on the opening night of the 1991 Gulf War, said it should not be surprising that helicopter operations in Iraq sometimes encounter a rash of difficulties. He said U.S. chopper pilots have flown more than 1.4 million hours in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 and have lost a little over 100 aircraft.

Lieutenant General David Petraeus

Stakes high as Bush's Iraq strategy gets underway



The make-or-break US strategy to quell the violence in Iraq has begun in earnest with the new commander of US troops Lieutenant General David Petraeus
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/qzalumni/testimonials/petraeus.html
set to spearhead the offensive. "He's the General Grant of the surge," said Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, quoted by the Washington Post, referring to the legendary Union general in the American Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, who went on to be president. "He's our last best chance as a military commander to bring about a change on the ground," the paper added, saying the general had flown to Iraq this week. read the rest of this article by following the link.

Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says

By MICHAEL R. GORDON / WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 —



The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran. The assertion of an Iranian role in supplying the device to Shiite militias reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies, although officials acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete.
In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing “lethal support” to Shiite militants in Iraq.
The focus of American concern is known as an “explosively formed penetrator,” a particularly deadly type of roadside bomb being used by Shiite groups in attacks on American troops in Iraq. Attacks using the device have doubled in the past year, and have prompted increasing concern among military officers. In the last three months of 2006, attacks using the weapons accounted for a significant portion of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq, though less than a quarter of the total, military officials say. Because the weapon can be fired from roadsides and is favored by Shiite militias, it has become a serious threat in Baghdad. Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators. But the device produces more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs. Any assertion of an Iranian contribution to attacks on Americans in Iraq is both politically and diplomatically volatile. The officials said they were willing to discuss the issue to respond to what they described as an increasingly worrisome threat to American forces in Iraq, and were not trying to lay the basis for an American attack on Iran. The assessment was described in interviews over the past several weeks with American officials, including some whose agencies have previously been skeptical about the significance of Iran’s role in Iraq. Administration officials said they recognized that intelligence failures related to prewar American claims about Iraq’s weapons arsenal could make critics skeptical about the American claims. The link that American intelligence has drawn to Iran is based on a number of factors, including an analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants believed to be working at the behest of Tehran. The Bush administration is expected to make public this weekend some of what intelligence agencies regard as an increasing body of evidence pointing to an Iranian link, including information gleaned from Iranians and Iraqis captured in recent American raids on an Iranian office in Erbil and another site in Baghdad. The information includes interrogation reports from the raids indicating that money and weapons components are being brought into Iraq from across the Iranian border in vehicles that travel at night. One of the detainees has identified an Iranian operative as having supplied two of the bombs. The border crossing at Mehran is identified as a major crossing point for the smuggling of money and weapons for Shiite militants, according to the intelligence. According to American intelligence, Iran has excelled in developing this type of bomb, and has provided similar technology to Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The manufacture of the key metal components required sophisticated machinery, raw material and expertise that American intelligence agencies do not believe can be found in Iraq. In addition, some components of the bombs have been found with Iranian factory markings from 2006. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appeared to allude to this intelligence on Friday when he told reporters in Seville, Spain, that serial numbers and other markings on weapon fragments found in Iraq point to Iran as a source. Some American intelligence experts believe that Hezbollah has provided some of the logistical support and training to Shiite militias in Iraq, but they assert that such steps would not be taken without Iran’s blessing. “All source reporting since 2004 indicates that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps-Quds Force is providing professionally-built EFPs and components to Iraqi Shia militants,” notes a still-classified American intelligence report that was prepared in 2006.
“Based on forensic analysis of materials recovered in Iraq,” the report continues, “Iran is assessed as the producer of these items.” The United States, using the Swiss Embassy in Tehran as an intermediary, has privately warned the Iranian government to stop providing the military technology to Iraqi militants, a senior administration official said. The British government has issued similar warnings to Iran, according to Western officials. Officials said that the Iranians had not responded. An American intelligence assessment described to The New York Times said that “as part of its strategy in Iraq, Iran is implementing a deliberate, calibrated policy — approved by Supreme Leader Khamenei and carried out by the Quds Force — to provide explosives support and training to select Iraqi Shia militant groups to conduct attacks against coalition targets.” The reference was to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian leader, and to an elite branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Command that is assigned the task of carrying out paramilitary operations abroad. “The likely aim is to make a military presence in Iraq more costly for the U.S.,” the assessment said. Other officials believe Iran is using the attacks to send a warning to the United States that it can inflict casualties on American troops if the United States takes a more forceful posture toward it. Iran has publicly denied the allegations that it is providing military support to Shiite militants in Iraq. Javad Zarif, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in an Op-Ed article published on Thursday in The Times that the Bush administration was “trying to make Iran its scapegoat and fabricating evidence of Iranian activities in Iraq.” The explosively formed penetrator, detonated on the roadside as American vehicles pass by, is capable of blasting a metal projectile through the side of an armored Humvee with devastating consequences. American military officers say that attacks using the weapon reached a high point in December, when it accounted for a significant portion of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq. For reasons that remain unclear, attacks using the device declined substantially in January, but the weapons remain one of the principal threats to American troops in and around Baghdad, where five additional brigades of American combat troops are to be deployed under the Bush administration’s new plan. “It is the most effective I.E.D out there,” said Lt. Col. James Danna, who led the Second Battalion, Sixth Infantry Regiment in Baghdad last year, referring to improvised explosive devices, as the roadside bombs are known by the American military. “To me it is a political weapon. There are not a lot of them out there, but every time we crack down on the Shia militias that weapon comes out. They want to keep us on our bases, keep us out of their neighborhoods and prevent us from doing our main mission, which is protecting vulnerable portions of the population.”
Adm. William Fallon, President Bush’s choice to head the Central Command, alluded to the weapon’s ability to punch through the side of armored Humvees in his testimony to Congress last month. “Equipment that was, we thought, pretty effective in protecting our troops just a matter of months ago is now being challenged by some of the techniques and devices over there,” Admiral Fallon said. “So I’m learning as we go in that this is a fast-moving ballgame.” Mr. Gates told reporters last week that he had heard there had been cases in which the weapon “can take out an Abrams tank.” The increasing use of the weapon is the latest twist in a lethal game of measure and countermeasure that has been carried out throughout the nearly four-year-old Iraq war. Using munitions from Iraq’s vast and poorly guarded arsenal, insurgents developed an array of bombs to strike the more heavily armed and technologically superior American military. In response, the United States military deployed armored Humvees, which in turn spawned the development of even more potent roadside bombs. American officials say that the first suspected use of the penetrator occurred in late 2003 and that attacks have risen steadily since then. To make the weapon, a metal cylinder is filled with powerful explosives. A metal concave disk manufactured on a special press is fixed to the firing end. Several of the cylinders are often grouped together in an array. The weapon is generally triggered when American vehicles drive by an infrared sensor, which operates on the same principle as a garage door opener. The sensor is impervious to the electronic jamming the American military uses to try to block other remote-control attacks. When an American vehicle crosses the beam, the explosives in the cylinders are detonated, hurling their metal lids at targets at a tremendous speed. The metal changes shape in flight, forming into a slug that penetrate many types of armor. In planning their attacks, Shiite militias have taken advantage of the tactics employed by American forces in Baghdad. To reduce the threat from suicide car bombs and minimize the risk of inadvertently killing Iraqi civilians, American patrols and convoys have been instructed to keep their distance from civilian traffic. But that has made it easier for the Shiite militias to attack American vehicles. When they see American vehicles approaching, they activate the infrared sensors.
According to American intelligence agencies, the Iranians are also believed to have provided Shiite militants with rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, mortars, 122-millimeter rockets and TNT. Among the intelligence that the United States is expected to make public this weekend is information indicating that some of these weapons said to have been made in Iran were carried into Iraq in recent years. Examples include a shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile that was fired at a plane flying near the Baghdad airport in 2004 but which failed to launch properly; an Iranian rocket-propelled grenade made in 2006; and an Iranian 81-millimeter mortar made in 2006. Assessments by American intelligence agencies say there is no indication that there is any kind of black-market trade in the Iranian-linked roadside bombs, and that shipments of the components are being directed to Shiite militants who have close links to Iran.
The American military has developed classified techniques to try to counter the sophisticated weapon. Marine officials say that weapons have not been found in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, adding to the view that the device is an Iranian-supplied and Shiite-employed weapon. To try to cut off the supply, the American military has sought to focus on the cells of Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives it asserts are in Iraq. American intelligence agencies are concerned that the Iranians may respond by increasing the supply of the weapons. “We are working day and night to disassemble these networks that do everything from bring the explosives to the point of construction, to how they’re put together, to who delivers them, to the mechanisms that are used to have them go off,” Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week. “It is instructive that at least twice in the last month, that in going after the networks, we have picked up Iranians.”

Gates: U.S. Has Evidence That Iran's Helping Insurgents in Iraq

SEVILLE, Spain — Serial numbers and markings on explosives used in Iraq provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is providing either weapons or technology for militants there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted Friday. Offering some of the first public details of evidence the military has collected, Gates said, "I think there's some serial numbers, there may be some markings on some of the projectile fragments that we found," that point to Iran. At the same time, however, he said he was somewhat surprised that recent raids by coalition and Iraqi forces in Iraq swept up some Iranians. Just last week, Gates said that U.S. military officers in Baghdad were planning to brief reporters on what is known about Iranian involvement in Iraq but that he and other senior administration officials had intervened to delay the briefing in order to assure that the information provided was accurate. Speaking to reporters at a defense ministers conference here, Gates said Friday, "I don't think there was surprise that the Iranians were actually involved, I think there was surprise we actually picked up some." He and other U.S. officials have said for some time that Iranians, and possibly the government of Iran, have been providing weapons technology, and possibly some explosives to Iraqi insurgents . The improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been a leading killer of U.S. forces in Iraq, where more than 3,000 servicemen and women have died in the nearly four-year-old war. Gates, who is attending his first NATO defense ministers meeting, said Iran is "very much involved in providing either the technology or the weapons themselves for these explosively formed projectiles. Now they don't represent a big percentage of the IED attacks but they're extremely lethal." Gates said the raids combined with the movement of an additional U.S. aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf have created a stir, but said the Bush administration has no intention of attacking Iran.

"we will stop them."

These two news items were the most important new of the last few days. In a speech on Thursday trying to gain support from the locals by raising alarm of an impending American attack Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that : Iran will target U.S. interests if attacked . Thu Feb 8, 2007 6:16 PM IST - TEHRAN (Reuters) -
He said that the Islamic Republic would target U.S. interests around the world if it came under attack. "The enemies know well that any aggression will lead to a reaction from all sides in the Iranian nation on the aggressors and their interests around the world," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television. "We believe that no one will make such an unwise and wrong move (to attack Iran) that would endanger their country and interests. Some say that the U.S. president is not the type who acts based on calculations or thinks about the consequences of his action. But even these people can be brought to their senses," he said.
U.S. President George Bush has said he has no intention of invading Iran, though he has pledged to step up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme and what Washington calls Iran's meddling in Iraq. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is purely civilian and says it is not backing militants in Iraq.

Now this is the American reaction to this speech by Khamenei.

No intention of war with Iran, U.S. says . Thu Feb 8 , 8:01 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House dismissed threats from a top Iranian official on Thursday, saying the United States has no intention of going to war with Iran. Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had said the Islamic Republic would target U.S. interests around the world if it came under attack over its disputed nuclear program. "Khamenei from time to time makes these unprovoked statements and we would certainly hope they are not directed at the United States because President Bush has made it clear we have no intention of going to war with Iran," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. In addition to Khamenei's remarks, an Iranian naval commander said the Revolutionary Guards had test fired missiles that could sink "big warships" in the Gulf, the waterway where a second U.S. aircraft carrier is now heading. Of this development, Johndroe said: "They run various exercises from time to time in the Persian Gulf. We monitor those exercises." President George W. Bush has vowed to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Tehran denies is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon. But he has said if Iranian agents attempt to kill American forces or Iraqi citizens inside Iraq, "we will stop them."

TEHRAN -- Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hussein Mohseni Ezheh'ee here on Wednesday said that 100 American and Israeli spies have been identified

Iran's intelligence minister said Iran had identified 100 people he described as U.S. and Israeli agents and said some were arrested trying to leave Iran to attend "spying" courses abroad, state TV reported on Thursday. Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has previously warned about a "velvet revolution" -- a supposed U.S. plot to use intellectuals and others inside the country to bring about "regime change." Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted by state television as saying Iran had "identified 100 American and Israeli spies at the Iranian border. They were planning to obtain military and political information within Iran." He did not give any nationalities and it was not clear to which border point he referred, but several Iranian activists and journalists in recent weeks have been detained or barred from leaving Iran at airports on the way to courses abroad. "We were able to identify and arrest all those who were leaving the country with the excuse of passing educational courses and with the aim of attending spying training courses," Mohseni-Ejei told a gathering of clerics in the city of Qom. In statement on Thursday from its New York headquarters, Human Rights Watch urged the Iranian government to lift foreign travel bans that prevented rights activists and journalists from attending international forums. "The Iranian government is effectively putting the country's civil society leaders under national house arrest," the group's Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in the statement.The U.S. group cited the case of Hashem Aghajari, who the Iranian news agency ISNA reported had been stopped at an airport earlier this month on his way to attend a conference in the United States at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi told Reuters last month three Iranian journalists, all detained in January when they were leaving for a journalism training course in India, were facing trial in April for acting against national security. The three, who were also women's rights activists, have been released on bail, said Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Last year, Canadian-Iranian writer Ramin Jahanbegloo was detained for four months for alleged involvement in the "velvet revolution," unnerving many activists and government critics. He was also detained at an airport. Some Iranians working for non-governmental organizations say they are now more wary of traveling to conferences abroad for fear it could land them in trouble with the authorities. Rights groups often complain that Tehran imprisons pro-reform writers, journalists and intellectuals without due legal process. Iran routinely dismisses accusations of rights violations and says it does not hold any political prisoners.

He also said that the spies, who worked for CIA and Moussad, intended to gain access to Iran's military and political information. The minister also said that enemies have selected a number of Iranians inside the country and trained them in other countries, adding that his ministry has identified and arrested all the said agents of the US and Israeli intelligence services. Asked about the US invasion of Iran, he said according to the latest information and data collected by the Iranian intelligence forces inside and outside the borders, Washington does not intend to attack Iran and that the rumors about a likely raid on the Islamic Republic have all been intended to serve as a part of psychological operations.
Iran to Hit U.S. Interests if Attacked
By NASSER KARIMI / Associated Press Writer / TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- If the United States were to attack Iran, the country would respond by striking U.S. interests all over the world, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday. Speaking to a gathering of Iranian air force commanders, Khamenei said: ``The enemy knows well that any invasion would be followed by a comprehensive reaction to the invaders and their interests all over the world.'' Iranian leaders often speak of a crushing response to any attack. While the remarks are seen as an attempt to drum up national support, Iran's position on Iraq and its nuclear program have provoked more than usual international pressure in recent months. President Bush has ordered American troops to act against Iranians suspected of being involved in the Iraqi insurgency and has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf area as a warning to Iran. The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions because of Iran's refusal to cease uranium enrichment. ``Some people say that the U.S. president is not prone to calculating the consequences of his actions,'' Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state television, ``but it is possible to bring this kind of person to wisdom. ``U.S. policymakers and analysts know that the Iranian nation would not let an invasion go without a response,'' Khamenei added. He also addressed rumors about his health - a subject that is rarely discussed openly in Iran. Last month, there was speculation his health had deteriorated seriously. ``Enemies of the Islamic system fabricated various rumors about death and health to demoralize the Iranian nation, but they did not know that they are not dealing with only one person in Iran. They are facing a nation,'' Khamenei said.

A warning to Iran From Wesley Clark.The democratic party`s 2008 presidential hopfull

"Good Morning. I'm Wes Clark. I'm a soldier, and I'm fighting for my country." And although he didn't quite come out and say it, Wes Clark could just as well have added, "And I want to be the next president of the United States."

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark is concerned by Iran's nuclear ambitions and cautioned the Islamic republic to take U.S. warnings "very, very seriously." the former warrior-turned-politician at the same time admitted being worried by the Bush administration's strong-arm policies in the Middle East. "I'm concerned,"and worried that the rising tension between the United States and Iran could escalate to a point of no return. As a former soldier who has seen his share of action from Vietnam to Kosovo, Mr. Clark does not scare easily.
But the Iranians, too, have reason to be concerned, says Mr. Clark. Speaking to United Press International Friday after addressing a meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, Mr. Clark said that the Iranians should take "very, very seriously the prospect of air strikes and missile strikes as well as other operations directed against Iran's nuclear capacities and all other elements of their military power." When it comes to war, Mr. Clark has an advantage over other presidential candidates. He has tasted the ugliness of war; he knows firsthand what it means seeing men -- sometimes boys hardly old enough to shave -- killed in battle.

"I know what it is to plan and prepare for war and to send the cream of our youth on a mission from which they may not return," Mr. Clark told the group of assembled Democrats a short while earlier. "I know firsthand the struggles of domestic politics and international diplomacy to accomplish a difficult peace after the shooting stops." For many people who have lived through the hell called combat, war is the last resort they want to turn to. So how would Wes Clark's policies be different were he elected president? How would he stop the war in Iraq, for example? "I would use diplomacy first... I would find common ground," said the former soldier. Isn't this a tad oversimplifying an overcomplicated issue? What if the political track fails?

Mr. Clark insists the political track will not fail. "You have to force them or induce them into the political track," said Mr. Clark. "You have to use 'carrots and sticks.' " And how do you accomplish this? By including all countries in the region in accepting a "statement of principles" that would guarantee the security of each, taking into account their needs for secure borders, while promoting and opening the region to commerce, trade and tourism. Does "all countries" in the region include Syria and Iran? Would Mr. Clark, as president, establish dialogue with Damascus and Tehran? "Yes," he says. "As I look at the discussions ongoing inside Iran as best I can follow them from here, it's clear that there are different sectors of opinion in the leadership and I think the leadership needs to understand that it is seriously at risk," said Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark also said that : "I speak to you today as the only person who will take this podium before you having actually done the things we need to do to succeed in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.

looking at it from another angle

"Don't be fooled by the appearance of dissent or disunity inside Iran's super-sophisticated, apparently disjointed political system," cautioned Clare Lopez, a former CIA operations officer who worked briefly with the Iran Policy Committee. "Iran's democratic facade is just that, a veneer and nothing more," said Miss Lopez. "The Majlis or local and municipal councils can do or say what they like, it matters not to the Shi'ite clergy and IRGC that actually run the country. "The diplomatic track that is now the flavor of the week is just checking the box, one last-ditch effort to make this work, maybe with Sunni Arab support," says Miss Lopez. "Iran will blow that off, just like they've blown off the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the [United Nations] Security Council. These mullahs know that their window of opportunity is closing fast and that without a nuclear weapon, they cannot possibly hope to hang on to power for very much longer, much less expand throughout the region as they wish to."

Also In reply to those who say that there are two schools of thought in dealing with Iran -- diplomacy and force -- Raymond Tanter, a professor at Georgetown and an active IPC member says: "Please recall a third option. Removing the main Iranian opposition from Western terrorist lists to threaten the Iranian regime's survival and provide it an incentive to negotiate on the nuclear file, subversion of Iraq, and the destabilization of Lebanon," . By "main opposition" Mr. Tanter means the MeK, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. "Opening up a third option not only reinforces diplomacy, the third alternative also keeps the U.S. military strike option available for future contingencies," Mr. Tanter added. ( there are other anti IRI forces that the US can relay on).

U.S. Not Planning Iran War

The defense secretary Gates Says U.S. Not Planning Iran War


At a news conference on Thursday 1St February 2007 Defence Secretary Gates said that the decision announced in January to send a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region does not mean the United States is planning for a war with Iran. He said the purpose was to underscore to U.S. allies as well as potential adversaries that the Gulf is a vital interest to the United States. "Nobody is planning, we are not planning for a war with Iran," Gates said. He then went on to say that the United States' main aim with regard to Iranian influence inside Iraq is to counter what he called networks providing explosives used to make roadside bombs that are powerful enough to destroy a U.S. tank. "Because we are acting against the Iranians' activities in Iraq, it has given rise to some of these talks" of U.S. intentions to attack Iran, he said, adding that there is no such plan. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the same conference said that over the past month or so, raids against those bomb-supplying networks had netted two Iranians. Secretary Gates also said that it was too soon to say with a high degree of confidence whether Iranians were involved in the ambush in Karbala, in southern Iraq, that left five American soldiers dead. U.S. officials have said in recent days that they are investigating possible Iranian links. "The information that I've seen is ambiguous," he said.
Gates then said that U.S. military officers in Baghdad were planning to brief reporters on what is known about Iranian involvement in Iraq but that he and other senior administration officials had intervened to delay the briefing in order to assure that the information to be provided is accurate.
Iran has denied accusations it is supplying weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq. An official assessment of Iraq by U.S. intelligence agencies has said that Iran was providing lethal support to select Shiite groups but that "outside actors" such as Iran and Syria are "not likely to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability" in Iraq. Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said the declassified public document "does not adequately reflect" the degree of concern in nearby Sunni nations about Shiite-run Iran's meddling in Iraq. He disputed suggestions that Bush has overemphasized Iran's role.In his Iraq speech to the nation last month, Bush said the U.S. would "seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced training and weaponry to our enemies in Iraq," citing Iran and Syria. Critics of Bush's harder line on Iran fall into two camps: those who worry his recent strong talk might lead to a military conflict and those who claim he should have gotten tough earlier. Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, for instance, has criticized what he suggests is previous indifference to the Iranian threat. "In order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all options must remain on the table," Edwards says in a hint at possible military action. The vice presidential nominee in 2004 has called for withdrawing troops from Iraq.For now, time appears to favor Iran, says Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Even if the United States and Iraq's Shiite-led government can bring stability, "Iran must now feel it can outwit the U.S., exploit U.S. unpopularity in many Shiite areas, and has every reason to be opportunistic. "Iran wins to some degree even if it does not exploit the situation. A Shiite-dominated Iraq is going to need Iranian help and support for years to come."

Another nonsense Article by The Guardian

As US Power Fades, it Can't Find Friends to Take on Iran
February 02, 2007 / The Guardian
A REPLY TO THIS ARTICLE.

Mr. Jonathan Steele

In your article, http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2004169,00.html , you say that "The dispute with Iran (IRI) is not as monumental as Washington claims". I assure you that the dispute of the Iranian Nation with the Fascist mullah Mafias ruling Iran is MONUMENTAL. its a case of life and death. Their survival and the slow death of a great nation. You obviously have been paid off handsomely by the IRI to write this drivel. YOU WILL BE FOUND OUT IN THE END LIKE SO MANY OTHERS WHO WERE IN THE PAYROLL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN.
Read the full article by following this link.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2004169,00.html

U.S. blames Iran for new bombs in Iraq

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY




WASHINGTON — A sophisticated type of roadside bomb that U.S. officials have linked to Iran has been used increasingly against U.S. troops in Iraq. The device is called an explosively formed projectile (EFP). It is usually made from a pipe filled with explosives and capped by a copper disk. When the explosives detonate, they transform the disk into a molten jet of metal capable of penetrating armor. They perform in the same way that U.S. anti-tank missiles do.
"Properly handled, it goes through armor like a hot knife through butter," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a military think tank in Alexandria, Va. Officials such as Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte have said the new bombs are being provided by Iran and are killing U.S. troops. U.S. officials have declined to say exactly how many have been killed or how the weapons have been traced to Iran, which has denied supplying them. Maj. Anne Edgecomb, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the military wants to limit the information available to insurgents about the effectiveness of their attacks. That's the same reason the Pentagon says it no longer identifies troops killed by Iraqi snipers. Last week, the Pentagon announced for the first time that an explosively formed projectile had killed a U.S. soldier. The attack occurred Jan. 22 in Baghdad, according to the Pentagon's announcement. It killed Spc. Brandon Stout, 23, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The Pentagon later changed the announcement. It removed the reference to an EFP and said only that Stout had died in an attack by an improvised explosive device, the general term used to describe roadside bombs in Iraq. Since Dec. 4, EFPs have killed four other soldiers, according to published reports and family memorials: •On Dec. 4, Army Sgt. Jay Gauthreaux was killed by an IED explosion in Baqouba, Iraq, the Pentagon said. A Dec. 20 report in U.S. News & World Report magazine said his Humvee was hit by an EFP. •On Dec. 25, Army Sgt. John Bubeck, Spc. Aaron Preston and Pfc. Andrew Nelson were killed by an IED in Baghdad, the Pentagon said. A website run by Preston's family said he was killed by an EFP. USA TODAY could not independently confirm either the magazine report or the website information. Negroponte told Congress on Jan. 18 that the new weapons have killed U.S., coalition and Iraqi troops.
The bombs must be machine-milled to precise specifications in order to work properly, said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee. There are indications that some explosively formed projectiles used in Iraq may have been manufactured in Iran, he said. "There's a lot evidence that there's some Iranian connection in producing or at least disseminating the technology," Reed said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also a member of the Armed Services Committee, said he believed Iran was involved in supplying advanced IED technology to insurgents. "My concern is that we're dealing with a thinking enemy who has adapted his techniques to be more lethal in the area of IEDs," Graham said. Reed and Graham did not cite specific evidence. IEDs are the largest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. According to Pentagon figures through Jan. 20, they have killed 1,327 troops and wounded 11,861 others.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week, "We are trying to uproot these networks that are planting IEDs that are causing 70% of our casualties."

US warns Iran on Iraq insurgents

The US says Iran is providing more lethal bombs to insurgents . The US has issued the latest in a series of warnings to Iran, telling Tehran to stop helping Iraqi militants make lethal bombs to attack US troops. see : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6319451.stm

San Antonio arrest linked to Iran

Web Posted: 01/31/2007 01:22 AM CST / Guillermo ContrerasExpress-News

Federal authorities in El Paso are investigating an international smuggling operation that allegedly tried to illegally export to Iran parts used in Hawk surface-to-air missile systems, which initially were developed for the U.S. military, court documents show. One of the members of the alleged conspiracy, Robert Caldwell of Portland, Ore., was taken into custody last week in San Antonio as he tried to buy batteries that power Hawk missile systems, according to a government court affidavit obtained Tuesday by the San Antonio Express-News.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allege in the affidavit that the batteries were to be shipped to Iran, which the State Department lists as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The affidavit, however, doesn't mention the intended use of the batteries. Caldwell, 56, is jailed in San Antonio on a charge of conspiring to export without a license items regulated by the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Caldwell is scheduled for a bail hearing in federal court in San Antonio today. The affidavit paints Caldwell, who owns a brokerage company that handles domestic procurement and exports, as a middleman in the scheme.
According to the affidavit, Caldwell told agents he was led to believe the batteries he sought have applications other than for powering systems for Hawk missiles, which were designed to down aircraft or other missiles. "He plans to enter a plea of not guilty, and we plan to see if we can get him released so we can more carefully explore the facts surrounding his role in the alleged offense in a more relaxed setting," said his lawyer, Van Hilley. "He's never been arrested, and all this is new to him." The Hawk missile system was developed in the 1950s for U.S. forces and saw action during Gulf War I, in the early 1990s, according to Redstone Arsenal Historical Information, an official Army Web site. "The missile is highly lethal, reliable and effective against electronic countermeasures," the site says. It also says newer, more advanced and longer-range missile technology largely has replaced the Hawk systems, but that other countries also received them as private contractors produced them. Iran has some in its arsenal obtained from other countries, according to historical listings compiled by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif. The center, which tracks weapons of mass destruction and used public sources to compile the list, said some Hawk missiles were obtained by Iran during the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration sold missiles to Tehran to fund rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
The court affidavit said the smuggling ring shipped "U.S. technology" to Iran using the United Kingdom or the Netherlands as go-between countries to disguise the shipments and that the group planned to use similar routes to ship batteries in the future. The State Department lists Iran among a handful of countries designated as state sponsors of international terrorism, and most items except food, medicine or other humanitarian items are barred from export from the United States to Iran. Munitions and their components require a license to be exported to any country. Caldwell's arrest is but a piece of the puzzle federal agents have been putting together since they investigated and arrested a suspect last year who tried to buy batteries for $5,000 apiece, the affidavit said. According to the affidavit, in an interview, the unnamed suspect told agents the batteries would be sent to Iran. Further investigation resulted in a meeting in San Antonio last Thursday with Caldwell, according to the affidavit. Caldwell came to San Antonio to handle the purchase and transportation of some of the batteries, the affidavit alleged. He was arrested by federal agents shortly after he checked in at an upscale downtown hotel. Caldwell had some documents relating to the purchase of some of the batteries, the affidavit said. It said Caldwell told the agents he was told the batteries he was buying were for navigational systems but acknowledged the items still required a license for export out of the United States. "Caldwell told (special agents) that he knew it was illegal to do this, but did not know the consequences," the affidavit said.