Saudi Newspaper: Prepare for radioactive fallout from US nuclear attack on Iran

Bush sends nuclear sub and more warships to the Gulf
by Richard Clark - http://www.opednews.com/ - Mon Mar 24, 2008

According to Chris Floyd at the Empire Burlesque web site:
The Saudi government is now preparing plans to deal with "any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards" that may arise from an attack on Iran's nuclear reactors. This was reported by a top Saudi newspaper, Okaz, and relayed by a leading German news service, DPA -- one day after Dick Cheney paid a visit to the kingdom. As we noted, no one knows exactly what was said at that confab of allied authoritarians -- but something sure lit a fire under the Saudis, and convinced them that urgent action is needed to brace for the lethal overspill from a strike on Iran. Floyd points out that nothing in Saudi Arabia becomes the top news story without government approval. That such a story should be released the day after Cheney's visit, sends a message to everyone about what’s on Cheney's mind. This, combined with the dismissal of Centcom chief, Admiral Fallon, Petreus' claim to have evidence (which he doesn't produce) that Iran was responsible for the recent shelling of the Green Zone, . . and the Egyptian report that a nuclear sub has been ordered by Bush into the Gulf, the bleak picture in both Pakistan and Afghanistan (accelerating collapse of Musharraf's power and strategy, the coming spring offensive in the Taliban's announced drive for Kabu), . . plus the oft-stated desire of Bush and Cheney to attack Iran, and, as noted by former mideast policy official William K. Polk at Juan Cole's site just a few days ago, the last time Cheney visited the nations he visited this time was right before the Iraq attack, . . then only a moron would deny that Bush and Dick have nothing but contempt for the will of the people, congress and the courts, and that they crave war like a junkie craves his fix.
http://soldiervoices.net/svfor/showthread.php?p=4883

Cheney Visits them, and Saudis then Prepare for "Sudden Nuclear Hazards" - One Tick Closer to Midnight

Last Friday, Dick Cheney was in Saudi Arabia for high-level meetings with the Saudi king and his ministers. On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council -- the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle -- is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts' warnings of possible attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors," one of the kingdom's leading newspapers, Okaz, reports. The German-based DPA news service relayed the paper's story.
Simple prudence -- or ominous timing? We noted here last week that an American attack on Iran was far more likely than most people suspect. We pointed to the mountain of evidence for this case gathered by scholar William R. Polk, one of the top aides to John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and to other indicators of impending war. The story by Okaz -- which would not have appeared in the tightly controlled dictatorship without approval from the top -- is yet another, very weighty piece of evidence laid on the scales, pointing toward a new, horrendous conflict. We don't know what the Saudis told Cheney in private -- or even more to the point, what he told them. But the release of this story now, just after his departure, would seem to be a clear indication that the Saudis have good reason to fear a looming attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, and that they are actively preparing for it. We don't know what the Saudis told Cheney in private -- or even more to the point, what he told them. But the release of this story now, just after his departure, would seem to be a clear indication that the Saudis have good reason to fear a looming attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, and that they are actively preparing for it. And they certainly should be bracing themselves. A U.S. attack on Iran will come suddenly, and if it is indeed aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities -- a "threat" being talked up again with new urgency by both Cheney and Bush lately -- it has the potential for unimaginable consequences.

War With Iran May Have Begun With Offensive In Iraq
The United States military offensive against Iran may have begun with a swiftly escalating series of operations directed against the Mahdi Army in Iraq.
Pulling Triggers In Iraq
Basra Fighting -- Why Now?
The Iranian Regime's Lobby In US And The Israeli Decoy
I wholeheartedly believe that a US war against Iran will be a catastrophe of unbelievable dimensions. It equally troubles me to see that Tehran's lobbyists and ayatollahs' advocates disguise their patronage for mullahs as anti-war pursuit. Their disinformation campaign is bringing us to the brink of a war they pretend they aim to deter..
Iraqi Police In Basra Shed Their Uniforms, Kept Their Rifles And Switched Sides
Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went to the other side without a second thought.

IRIP copter crashes, five on board killed
Islamic Republic News Agency - Tehran,IranA helicopter operating under Islamic Republic of Iran Police crashed Friday afternoon killing all five on board, a provincial official said Saturday.
The Sunni-Shiite Terror Network
Wall Street Journal - USAMcCain suggested that the Islamic Republic in Iran, a Shiite power, may be helping al Qaeda, a Sunni outfit, in its murderous campaign in Iraq and elsewhere ...

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah says we monotheists worship the same deity.

SAUDI KING SAYS CHRISTIANS, JEWS, MUSLIMS SHOULD LIVE IN PEACE
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.MichNews.com -Mar 27, 2008

We don’t. - Allah is Lucifer, the Koran scribed by demons and mosque clerics agents of hell. Christ is the true Messiah, the Bible is divine revelation and biblical gospel-tellers are agents of heaven. Judaism does not recognize Christ as Messiah, holds to the Old Testament as divine revelation, and discounts Allah as co-deity.

Nevertheless, the king spoke at a seminar on “Culture and Respect of Religions.” There he set forth that better relations need to exist in his Muslim country because of the “weakening of the family, increasing atheism and a lack of ethics, loyalty and sincerity for our religions and humanity” per AP. Christianity is given the daily threat in Saudi Arabia. For a Muslim to testify to Christ as Savior equals death. So obviously the Islamic regime has set up Christianity as the archenemy. Time to be nice to Christians? Belatedly so. Weakening of the family? I did not know there was much of a Muslim regard for family, not with females regarded as less than dung and honor killing a daily slice-and-dice. As for atheism, I would think it would flourish as the most reasonable alternative to Islam. As for “ethics,” what does that mean to sharia and the Koran but bloodletting? Anyhow, at least the speech will make Islam appear the “peace religion” some think it is. Kudos to the king.
--Read: http://jgrantswankjr.blogspot.com/

More demands from Islam

Another turn of the screw.

9/11 commission leaders blast CIA on interrogation tapes

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Thursday, January 3
The leaders of a US commission that examined the September 11, 2001 terror attacks accused the CIA Wednesday of having obstructed their investigation by withholding information about videotaped interrogations of terror suspects.The goal of the blue ribbon 9/11 Commission, wrote chairman Thomas Kean and vice-chairman Lee Hamilton in The New York Times, was "to provide the American people with the fullest possible account" of what led to Al-Qaeda's attacks more than six years ago on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. But Kean and Hamilton wrote that although US President George W. Bush had ordered all executive branch agencies to cooperate with the probe, "recent revelations that the CIA destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot." "Those who knew about those videotapes -- and did not tell us about them -- obstructed our investigation."They continued: "There could have been absolutely no doubt in the mind of anyone at the CIA or the White House -the commission's interest in any and all information related to Qaeda detainees involved in the 9/11 plot."Yet no one in the administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations," Kean and Hamilton wrote.They said the panel made repeated, detailed requests to the spy agency in 2003 and 2004 for information about the interrogation of members of the Islamic extremist network but were never notified about the existence of the tapes.The CIA revealed last month that in 2005 it destroyed videotapes that showed harsh interrogations of two Al-Qaeda members.

9/11 Commission: CIA withheld interrogation videotapes December 22, 2007
Federal judge weighs inquiry into CIA destruction of interrogation videos December 21, 2007
House panel subpoenas ex-CIA official who ordered destruction of interrogation videos December 21, 2007
CIA to give House panel info on destruction of interrogation videos December 20, 2007
White House lawyers took part in debate on destroying CIA interrogation videos: NYT December 19, 2007
click for more...

Al-Qaeda Member's Account of His Stay in Iran

Columnist Fares bin Hazam, who specializes in issues relating to Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, published in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh a personal account by a former Al-Qaeda member of Saudi origin. The article, titled "Iran Recruits Members to Al-Qaeda at Tens of Thousands Dollars a Month," describes the assistance the former fighter and his friends received from Iranian authorities after they fled Afghanistan, as well as Iranian attempts to recruit him as an Iranian agent in Saudi Arabia.
The following are excerpts from the account: "After the disintegration of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 as a result of the American attack and the coming to power of other Afghan forces in the country, instructions were received from our leadership to retreat from Kabul in the direction of Kandahar. In the month of Ramadan, we received instructions from our commander to leave for Iran in order to seek refuge there. We arrived in Iran via Pakistan, where we did not stay very long. Our group consisted of about 30 fighters, among them Faisal Al-Dakhil, 'Amr Al-Shehri [both killed in 2004] and other prominent figures wanted by the Saudi government. "We were aware that Afghani [Islamist] leader Gulboddin Hekmatyar, who resided in Iran [at that time], was acting as an intermediary and liaison [between us and] Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Hekmatyar promised us accommodation in the border city of Zehdan [in southeastern Iran], where the majority of the residents are Baluchi Sunnis. There we met with Al-Qaeda commander Abu Hafs Al-Mauritani, who had earlier opposed the September 11 attacks. [Al-Mauritani] assured us that we were in a safe place, and that we would be questioned by Iranian intelligence services in Teheran, who would provide for all our needs during our stay in Iran. "Our numbers dwindled: only 10 of us remained after about two-thirds of our group had disappeared, Al-Dakhil and Al-Shehri among them. We moved to Teheran and met with the interrogators. They proposed that I collaborate with them from abroad, [that is,] from my country [Saudi Arabia], supplying them with information that they would need in the future. Their offer shocked me. I declined, and then was overcome with fear that the refusal would [harm the chances of] my release and return to my country. The interrogator began enticing me: '[You will receive] a monthly salary of $10,000, an Iranian passport, and military training with Hizbullah in Lebanon.' "However, I was firm in my refusal to cooperate in any way. All I wanted was to leave. The [Iranian] officer said: 'You and us, we are both fighting the same enemy, the American [enemy], as well as everyone who supports him and helps him to remain in the region. Your jihad is our jihad, and a joint jihad operation of this kind is a duty incumbent upon us all. Do not fear, we will release you, and when you [decide to] accept our offer, you will have to contact (…) in your country, and within a few days we will convey to him [instructions for] you.'
"I do not know whether the rest [of our group] received the same offer. We did not speak with one another on this matter, but we were all given travel permits and travel privileges. The intelligence officer told us that he would stamp our passports with a date preceding the September 11 attacks. As far as I can remember, the date was June, while we were already at the very end of 2001. He also explained to us how to act at the airport security checkpoints through which we would be passing en route to our country, so as to avoid being suspected of fleeing the war in Afghanistan."
Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), November 6, 2007.

Recent developments from the Israeli point of view.

Cheney Lines up Middle East Arab Allies for US Iraq Pull-out and Possible Iran Attack
May 12, 2007 DEBKAfile DEBKAfile Special Report
US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Riyadh Sat. May 12, with a full caseload for his talks with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz . He is seeking coordination with the Saudis in good time for the approaching winding-down of US military forces in Iraq. Cheney will also clinch the Bush administration’s offer to double the Saudi air force in size, boosting its capability for contending with Iranian air might and the Revolutionary Guards’ naval and marine strength. The USS offer of advanced warplanes was first revealed by DEBKAfile when it was presented in Riyadh by visiting US defense secretary Robert Gates last month. The vice president’s regional presence from Wednesday, May 8, set up a whirlwind of activity. In Baghdad, he had a tough message for Iraqi leaders that time was running out and the country’s security crisis had reached a critical point. "We've got to get this work done. It's game time. ... Everybody's got to sit down, raise their game, redouble their efforts," he is quoted as saying. He then flew to Abu Dhabi for talks with the deputy chief of UAR armed forces, Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan. Friday, aboard the USS John Stennis, one of two US air carrier strike groups deployed in Gulf waters, the vice president pledged the US would “stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region.” This statement was not taken in the Gulf as a military threat, but rather a message that Washington is not looking for a military showdown with Iran, at this sensitive juncture ahead of a US troop withdrawal from Iraq, but rather bidding for strategic understandings to hold in check Iran’s nuclear weapons plans, on the lines of the accommodation with North Korea, while conditionally allowing enrichment of uranium to go forward. In the last two weeks, Washington has marginally trimmed down the US buildup opposite Iran’s shores. Shortly before Cheney arrived, the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike group reached the Gulf with 6,000 men - not to augment the US naval presence, but to relieve the USS Boxer Strike group which is returning to base. While no Bush administration official has publicly admitted to a timeline for the US pull-out from Iraq - and has in fact fought one tooth and nail through Congress - DEBKAfile’s sources in Washington, the Gulf and Baghdad report that Cheney is bringing the news to the Middle East rulers that Washington will make its decision in the second half of August and an evacuation will begin shortly thereafter. In parallel with preparations for a partial US exit from Iraq, DEBKAfile discloses that Washington and Iran will embark on negotiations, which could lead to the Bush administration accepting parts of Tehran’s civilian nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment in agreed quantities. In the meantime, as part of US preparations for this event - and a possible Iranian threat - American military strength in the Gulf is regrouping, while Saudi forces are being buttressed. The coming weeks may, therefore, see President George W. Bush backing down on two of his most stubbornly-held foreign policy issues: a timeline for US forces to depart Iraq and uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic. Israel, which will be vitally affected in the years to come by these sweeping regional changes, happens to be ruled by a leadership too crippled by survival tactics to look ahead and prepare. Its Arab neighbors are in contrast running ahead, with the Saudis and Jordanians already on the move in April. (Jordan’s Abdullah has launched a new diplomatic initiative for the West Bank, disclosed in a separate report in this page) April 1, the Saudi monarch met Adm. William J. Fallon, US Central Command chief. April 16, he received defense secretary Gates and, two days later, April 18, he held a long conversation with the US state department Iraq coordinator, David Satterfield. These talks led to a decision to make the Saudi air force the biggest in the Middle East, on a par with Israel’s air might, by an infusion of sophisticated aircraft equipped with the most advanced avionics, electronic warfare instruments and missiles. In a war contingency, the boosted Saudi air force will undertake the key function of immobilizing the antiquated Iranian air force, preventing it from posing a threat to the Gulf or providing air cover for sabotage squads or marines seeking to attack oil installations, disrupt oil tanker passage through the Gulf or seize territory in Gulf emirates. DEBKAfile’s military sources report: The Iranian air force, numbering 600 combat-ready fighter-bombers, is technologically backward and weak in combat skills. Some of its planes are early American models or home-made craft based on outdated US, Chinese or Russian technology. The Saudi air force is smaller – 350 aircraft organized in 17 squadrons - but more modern and in better shape - even before the promised American infusion, which is likely to consist of first line F-16 Cs and Ds, F 15 Es and possibly the F 22 Raptor. Israel has strenuously objected to this upgrade. However, since last year’s Lebanon war, the Olmert government has by and large found itself talking to deaf ears in Washington.

03.04.07, 7:53 AM ET Iran denies Mideast peace plan discussed in Saudi talks

TEHRAN (AFX) - The office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday vehemently denied a report he had backed an Arab plan for normalising ties with Israel on his visit to the kingdom.The official SPA agency said on Saturday that Ahmadinejad had 'voiced support for the Arab peace initiative' endorsed at an Arab summit in 2002 in his talks with Saudi King Abdullah.'In the meeting of President Ahmadinejad with King Abdullah there was absolutely no talk about the 2002 initiative,' Ehsan Jahandidieh of the presidential press office told AFP.Under the Saudi-authored plan, the Arab world would normalise ties with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from Arab land occupied since 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state.However Iranian leaders have repeatedly vowed that the Islamic republic will never under any circumstances recognise Israel, with which it has no relations.Ahmadinejad has said that Israel should be 'wiped from the map' and predicted that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.

Ahmadinejad, Saudi King Reject Sectarian Strife

By REUTERS / Filed at 1:29 a.m. ET
RIYADH (Reuters) - Sunni and Shi'ite heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed on Saturday to fight the spread of sectarian strife that threatens to spill over from their neighbor Iraq, the Saudi foreign minister said. Saudi King Abdullah held talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was on his first official trip to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi official said earlier the kingdom would seek Iran's help to ease sectarian tensions in Iraq erupting into full-blown civil war. Killings by Sunni and Shi'ite death squads in Iraq and the political crisis in Lebanon dividing Sunni and Shi'ite parties have led to fears of sectarian conflict in the Middle East. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are among the most influential nations of their respective branches of Islam. ``The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region,'' Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters. ``The two leaders stressed that the greatest threat against the Muslim nation are attempts to spread strife between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims,'' the official Saudi agency SPA said. Ahmadinejad and King Abdullah also voiced support for Iraq's government, its national unity and the ``equality of its citizens.'' Ahmadinejad voiced support for Saudi efforts to ease tensions in Lebanon, and the two leaders called on all parts to cooperate with these efforts, the agency said. The agency made no reference to Iran's nuclear program, which Iranian state media had said was expected to be discussed. SPA said Ahmadinejad left Riyadh after the talks. Saudi Arabia has led a diplomatic drive in recent months to counterbalance what is regarded as Iran's growing influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. While Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, Iran is a fierce opponent of Western influence in the region. The United States is pushing for the United Nations to impose tougher sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can make fuel for either atomic bombs or nuclear power plants.
BATTLE FOR INFLUENCE
The West suspects Iran's nuclear energy program aims to develop weapons, an accusation Tehran denies. U.S.-allied Arab governments also fear Iran is gaining influence in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq, where Saudi Arabia blames Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias for sectarian killings. Riyadh wanted to press Iran to exert pressure on Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran and Syria, to put an end to a political standoff in Lebanon, the Saudi official said.
Diplomats said Iran wanted to address these concerns before an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia later this month. ``Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have taken up the role of an alliance speaking in the name of the Arab world ... So Iran is making sure its views and positions on Arab issues are heard at summits,'' a Saudi-based Western diplomat said. Saudi and Iranian officials have met several times in recent weeks to mediate between Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's U.S. and Saudi-backed government. But their talks, as well as Saudi contacts with Washington and Paris and Iranian talks with its closest regional ally, Syria, appear to have made little headway. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria have accepted Iraq's invitation to a regional conference in March on easing tensions in Iraq.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 80 YEARS, A RUSSIAN LEADER GOES TO SAUDI ARABIA

یدار و گفتگوی پوتین با پادشاه عربستان در ریاض
به گزارش خبرگزاری فرانسه، ولاديمير پوتين، رئيس جمهور روسيه شب گذشته در راس یک هیئت بلندپایه وارد عربستان شد و قرار است با ملک عبدالله، پادشاه عربستان و سایر مقامات اين كشور ديدار و گفتگو کند.
اين نخستین بار پس از گذشت 80 سال است که يک مقام بلندپايه روسيه از عربستان سعودی ديدار می ‌كند.
گسترش روابط دو جانبه و بحران هسته‌ ای رژیم تهران از موضوعات اصلی گفتگوهای رئیس جمهور روسیه با مقامات عربستان در ریاض اعلام شده است.

مشاركت روسیه در برخی از پروژه های نفتی و گازی عربستان، بخش ديگری از گفتگوهای سران دو كشور را تشكيل می ‌دهد. بیش از 60 تن از صاحبان صنایع روسيه، پوتين را در اين سفر همراهی می ‌كنند. در پي ديدار پادشاه عربستان از مسكو در سال 2003 میلادی، روابط سياسی و اقتصادی میان مسکو و ریاض نسبتا بهبود يافت. رئیس جمهور روسیه قرار است پس از عربستان به اردن سفر کند