News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Friday, March 10, 2006
Border Patrol may be ordered to hire 12K
The figure more than doubles the agency's size over 2 years, but no money was provided for new hires.

MIKE MADDEN

Citizen Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee approved ordering the Border Patrol to hire 12,000 new agents in the next two years, more than doubling the current force.

Border Patrol officials and experts say that number exceeds what the agency can handle in terms of training and the panel didn't include any money to fund the new hires.

Yesterday lawmakers pushed ahead with immigration reform plans, hoping to finish work by the March 27 deadline imposed by GOP leaders.

Along with more agents, they propose replacing old fences along the border with 25 miles of new barricades in the desert west of Naco.

They put off action on contentious issues such as whether to make illegal presence in the United States a federal crime.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is running for re-election in November and who wrote the fence plan, told other lawmakers that similar fencing near El Paso and San Diego helped move human and drug smuggling to Arizona.

"They've been squeezed out of Texas and California, and I think we deserve a little relief in Arizona now," Kyl said.

A border security bill passed the House in December, calling for 700 miles of fencing at a cost of more than $2.2 billion.

Kyl's plan would replace old fences with double- or triple-layered barriers like the ones used in California and Texas. At least 200 miles of vehicle barriers and all-weather border roads also would be built.

Aides said Kyl has no estimate of how much his proposal would cost. Estimates for fencing along other parts of the border range between $1 million and $3 million per mile, which could put the taxpayer tab for Kyl's proposal well into the hundreds of millions of dollars if Congress approves the bill.

Adding 12,000 agents in two years would require significant appropriations from Congress.

"Is this a sincere effort, or is this just political posturing?" asked T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for 10,500 agents. "I'm afraid that it falls into the latter category."

Border Patrol may be ordered to hire 12K

[Shammu]

Bin Laden Fan Clubs Go Online

Bin Laden Fan Clubs Go Online March 10, 2006 1:49PM

Militants are flourishing on Web sites. On Orkut, at least 10 communities are devoted to praising bin Laden, al-Qaeda, or jihad (holy war) against the United States. They can be found easily through a simple English-language search of the site.

Al-Qaeda sympathizers are using Orkut, a popular, worldwide Internet service owned by Google, to rally support for Osama bin Laden, share videos and Web links promoting terrorism, and recruit non-Arabic-speaking Westerners, according to terrorism experts and a survey of the sites.

Most jihadist message boards on traditional Web sites are in Arabic and require users to know someone connected with the board before they can gain access. Social-networking services such as Orkut, Friendster, and MySpace, however, allow users to create personal profiles and associate with "communities" based on shared interests. After users join one of these services, they have access to the forum postings in any public community.

These popular Internet services can be used for everything from publicizing a garage band to finding dates to connecting supporters of democracy -- or terrorism.

Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom advocacy group, notes in a recent report that Internet use has grown faster in Iran than in any other Middle Eastern country, largely because of its political potential.

"Weblogs are much used at times of crisis, such as during the June 2003 student demonstrations, when they were the main source of news about the protests and helped the students to rally and organize," the group's report says.

Militants, too, are flourishing on Web sites. On Orkut, at least 10 communities are devoted to praising bin Laden, al-Qaeda, or jihad (holy war) against the United States. They can be found easily through a simple English-language search of the site.

The largest bin Laden community has more than 2,000 members, according to Orkut's tracking data, available on the site. It has a link to the site of the Islamic Army in Iraq, the group that claimed responsibility for and released a video of a bombing Dec. 2 that killed 10 Marines in Fallujah.

"They're one of the largest insurgency groups in Iraq today," says Rita Katz, director of SITE Institute, a Washington non-profit that tracks terrorist activity online for government and private clients, including the Department of Homeland Security. SITE gathers data by infiltrating and monitoring message boards and other sites that terrorism supporters frequent.

English-speaking visitors to the sites can find videos of attacks, see pictures of dead U.S. soldiers, and read an English translation of the Iraq-based wing of al-Qaeda's latest communique before it is available in English anywhere else, Katz says. "We know for sure that al-Qaeda is trying to recruit as many as possible from the Western societies, not people who look like Arabs," she says. "This is a good place to be if you want to recruit people like that."

Translated communiques from al-Qaeda in Iraq have been appearing, four or five at a time, on a message board forum within an Orkut community since Dec. 26, Katz says. When al-Qaeda's operation in Iraq officially started calling itself the Mujahedin Shura Council on Jan. 15, she says, updates on the forum reflected the change.

Google, which operates Orkut, says it tries to balance the free flow of information against the appearance of objectionable material by keeping intervention to a minimum. Google spokeswoman Debbie Frost says the service may remove obscene, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable material from Orkut sites "but has no obligation to." Frost did acknowledge that Google deleted some terrorism-related content that violated Orkut's published terms of service.

"It is a very fine line to walk sometimes," says Paul McMasters, a free speech expert at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va. "But our tradition under the First Amendment is always: Come down on the side of more speech, not less speech."

In any case, says Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney with the advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, the sheer size of the Internet makes it "simply impossible to monitor all the communications that get posted."

Orkut, which claims 13 million members, is particularly popular overseas, notably in Iran and Brazil. Iranian traffic was curtailed in January when the government banned Orkut and several popular blogging tools that carried anti-government content, Reporters Without Borders noted.

Despite Iran's actions, Orkut's size offers a measure of protection from outside interference that attracts terrorism sympathizers. "It's difficult for Saudi Arabia, for example, to censor that whole website" because so many citizens use it for legitimate purposes and would notice if it were shut down, Katz says. Orkut users who are members of communities such as "Al-Qaeda" and "Jihad Videos" take advantage of this to trade information as well as to provide links to other radical Web sites.

Some experts see the communities fostering an environment that reinforces radical beliefs among young people. "You are creating what I call a virtual community of hatred and seeding these ideas very early," says Jerrold Post, director of the political psychology program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Others note that the technology makes possible some free speech in oppressive countries and say that will ultimately foster democracy. "You've got to remember the entire picture," says Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. "The technology allows more good from the good people than bad from the bad people. It has immense positive consequences."

"I think the knee-jerk response will be to blame the messenger," says Bruce Hoffman, director of the RAND Institute's counterterrorism center. "But the jihadists are already using the Internet," he says. "The real issue is how we counter these messages of hate and radicalism."

Bin Laden Fan Clubs Go Online

[Shammu]

Fox's body had torture marks, Iraqis say

BAGHDAD (AP) — An aid worker from Virginia taken hostage with three other peace activists was found dead near a railroad line in Baghdad with gunshots to his head and chest and signs of torture on his body, Iraqi police said Saturday.

Tom Fox, a 54-year-old member of Christian Peacemaker Teams from Clear Brook, Va., was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow captives, a Briton and two Canadians.

The U.S. command in Baghdad confirmed that Fox's body was picked up by American forces on Thursday evening, although it provided no information on the condition.

Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshot wounds to his head and chest. There were cuts on his body and bruises on his head, indicating torture, he said. The corpse was dressed in Iraqi-made clothing.

Fox's body was found near a railway line in Dawoudi, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area that has been largely shielded from violence. Shocked local residents on Saturday condemned Fox's abduction and killing.

"These acts are terrorist ones and will hinder the political process and distort the reputation of Iraq," said Dhamir al-Samaraie, who had come to see where Fox was found.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four Christian Peacemaker Teams members, who disappeared Nov. 26.

Three of them — Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74 — were seen in a video dated Feb. 28 that was broadcast Tuesday on Al-Jazeera television. Fox did not appear in the brief, silent videotape.

"We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone," Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose, co-directors of Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, said in a statement.

At least 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in the nearly three years since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, and at least 40 have been killed.

Americans killed were Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician from Anchorage; Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.; and Nicholas Berg, 26, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.

Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.

Carroll's kidnappers initially threatened to kill her unless all female detainees in Iraq are released. They later amended their demands, which have not been made public. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis to "please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll."

An Iraqi journalist, meanwhile, was gunned down on his way to work Saturday, becoming at least the fifth media figure killed since an outbreak of sectarian violence after the bombing late last month of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad.

Amjad Hameed, a journalist for Iraqiya television, was attacked by gunmen who shot him in the head and chest while he was being driven to his job. His driver, Anwar Turki, died later in the hospital.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Hameed, who was married and the father of three, was the 11th Iraqiya journalist killed since the channel opened shortly after Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion nearly three years ago.

Iraqiya is run by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and seen by minority Sunni Muslims as biased against them.

Two days ago, Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, 35, an anchorman for the Sunni-affiliated Baghdad TV, was shot dead while driving from Baghdad to Mosul, in the north, to interview poets. Baghdad TV is owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group.

On Feb. 22, the day bombers destroyed the golden dome atop the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Al-Arabiya journalist Atwar Bahjat, a Sunni, and two colleagues from a local media company went missing. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found a day later near Samarra.

In addition to Hameed and his driver, at least four other people were killed in drive-by shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital on Saturday, police said.

They included a human rights activist and his bodyguard, a lieutenant colonel in the Interior Ministry commando force, and a retired government employee gunned down near a Sunni mosque in south Baghdad.

Fox's body had torture marks, Iraqis say

[Shammu]

Russia Lashes Out at U.S. Over Human Rights Report

Created: 11.03.2006 12:29 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:29 MSK, 19 hours 14 minutes ago

MosNews

Russia has lashed out at a State Department report that criticized its human rights record, accusing the U.S. of a double standard, the Associated Press reported.

The annual State Department report, released Wednesday, said the continued centralization of power under President Vladimir Putin eroded the accountability of Russian officials. It also criticized the government’s rights record in the persistent conflict in and around Chechnya.

The U.S. report “abounds in clear juggling of facts and is a specimen of unconcealed double standards in relation to human rights in Russia and the world,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry pointed to “human rights violations within the U.S., about which authoritative international rights organizations speak ever more loudly, and ... U.S. involvement in serious deviations from commonly accepted norms of humanitarian law in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

It said the report would hinder the development of Russian-American relations and lead Russians to believe American policy toward Russia is prejudiced.

The ministry rejected Western concerns about the Russian government’s attitude toward human rights, saying that “active work is being conducted to perfect systems designed to provide for the rights and freedoms of citizens.”

“There are no ideal countries from the point of view of adherence to human rights,” the ministry said, echoing Russian responses to past State Department rights reports. “This ... also applies to the U.S. itself.”

While Putin says Moscow welcomes constructive criticism, he and his government have repeatedly dismissed critics who accuse him of backtracking on democracy and human rights, calling them Cold War throwbacks intent on undermining Russia.

International concerns about human rights in Russia increased with the passage of a law restricting non-government organizations.

Russia Lashes Out at U.S. Over Human Rights Report

[Shammu]

Russia Proposes More Talks on Iran Nuclear Issue

Created: 10.03.2006 19:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 19:18 MSK

MosNews

Russia has proposed more talks to resolve differences over dealing with Iran’s nuclear program in comments released as the five Security Council powers considered a statement to pressure Tehran to clear up questions that have raised fears it wants to develop atomic weapons, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton and other senior American officials have suggested that if the Security Council does not take tough action, Washington might look elsewhere to punish Iran — possibly by rallying its allies to impose targeted sanctions.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said talks should be held that include Moscow, the United States, China, France, Germany, Britain and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“We all have to get together again to collectively find a new consensus regarding our strategy at the current stage,” Lavrov said in an interview with state television broadcast.

The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the exact format for the proposed talks.

However, Lavrov’s call for IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei to be included as well as Germany — which along with France and Britain has negotiated with Tehran but is not a member of the Security Council — appeared to indicate he meant the talks should take place outside the framework of the U.N. body.

The U.S. and its allies believe Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons, but Tehran denies the allegations, saying its nuclear program is solely for generating electricity.

The five permanent Security Council members, who wield veto power, are scheduled to hold their second closed-door meeting Friday to discuss a proposed response to the Iranian nuclear crisis. The Americans hoped the statement could be adopted next week.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would not be opposed to the Russian proposal for more talks with Iran, but he expected the Security Council to issue a presidential statement first. “Then, we’ll see,” Steinmeier told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Salzburg, Austria.

Officials in Washington have raised the possibility of a Security Council resolution backed by the threat of military force that would demand Iran abandon uranium enrichment and answer outstanding questions about its nuclear program. The U.S. also wants the statement to include some condemnation of Iran.

But Russia and China, which have closer ties to Iran, oppose sanctions on principle and fear that tough council action will lead Iran to abandon the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for good and expel IAEA inspectors.

In an attempt to stave off sanctions against Iran, Russia proposed to host Iran’s uranium enrichment program in an offer backed by both the U.S. and the EU as a way to tighten controls over the Iranian atomic program.

But talks on the issue have stalled over Iran’s staunch refusal to re-impose a moratorium on domestic enrichment activity — a condition that accompanied the Russian offer.

“Yes, the situation is critical, including because of the position of the Iranian leadership, which we do not approve of,” Lavrov said. “But it does not mean that everybody now has to go to the Security Council and start to issue calls, threaten and put such threats into effect.”

Britain, also a proponent of tough action, has proposed asking ElBaradei to report back in two weeks on Iran’s compliance with IAEA resolutions. But Russia’s Ambassador Andrei Denisov said Thursday that this would not give Tehran enough time.

Russia Proposes More Talks on Iran Nuclear Issue

[Shammu]

Russian Police Says Islamist Extremism Spreading Among Schoolchildren

Created: 10.03.2006 15:25 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:25 MSK

MosNews

Local police in the Russian Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria have been alarmed by spreading of radical trends of Islam among the schoolboys, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

“We have analyzed Nalchick (the republic’s capital) schools and found out that in some of them senior pupils impose ideas of Wahhabism on their younger fellows,” Arsen Tishkov, the head of the local police directorate for fighting religious extremism, told the agency.

Wahhabism is a Sunni fundamentalist Islamic movement, which members reject all acts implying polytheism, including the veneration of saints, and advocate a return to the original teachings of Islam as found in the Qu’ran and the Hadith. They supported the establishment of a Muslim state based on Islamic canon law. In Russia the term is often wrongly referred to Chechen rebels and their supporters.

Tishkov said that older pupils make the young download mobile phone screensavers, pictures and movies picturing terror acts performed by guerillas in Chechnya. “There are even facts proving that certain teachers do the same,” the policeman stressed.

Russian Police Says Islamist Extremism Spreading Among Schoolchildren

[Shammu]

Russia Strikes $7.5Bln Arms Deal with Algeria

Created: 10.03.2006 17:32 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:32 MSK

MosNews

Russia’s state arms exporting agency Rosoboronexport has signed an arms deals with Algeria worth $7.5 billion and is planning to sign other contracts worth another $2-3 billion, the company’s head said on Friday, March 10.

“We have signed arms contracts totaling $7.5 billion in the last two-three months, including on deliveries of air defense systems, combat aircraft, ships and combat vehicles,” Sergei Chemezov told a news conference in Algiers.

He said 90 percent of contracts were for sales of new equipment and only 10 percent of the deals were for the modernization and repair of equipment previously sold to the country. “We dominate the Algerian arms market and sell military equipment only for real money,” Chemezov said, quoted by RIA Novosti.

He also said Russian military equipment was as good as similar foreign equipment but 15-20 percent less expensive.

“I hope we will be able to conclude new contracts worth about $2-3 billion,” the head of Rosoboronexport also said.

It was previously reported that contracts for the delivery of 40 MiG-29SMT Fulcrum fighters, 20 Su-30 MK Flanker fighters, 16 Yak-130 Mitten combat trainers, eight battalions of S-300 PMU2 Favorite air defense systems and 40 T-90 main battle tanks had been initiated before President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the North African country. MosNews also reported on Thursday, March 9, that Russia was willing to forget Algeria’s Soviet-time debt if the contracts were signed.

Russia Strikes $7.5Bln Arms Deal with Algeria

My note; The more things change, the more they remain the same.

[Shammu]

Government Seeks to Close Website for Anti-Islamist Comment

Created: 10.03.2006 16:20 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:20 MSK

MosNews

Court hearings will start on Friday against a popular independent news website in Siberia for extremist views expressed in a comment.

Russia’s Federal Service on Law Maintenance Control in Media has brought in a suit against Bankfax.ru after the website had published a violently anti-Muslim comment from an anonymous reader known as “Bratka” last month on a forum discussing the controversy over the publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

The service has also sent a notice to the popular news website Gazeta.Ru for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed saying it had committed an action aimed at arousing religious and social hatred and set up a real threat of causing damage to the social security.“

Speaking on Bankfax.Ru, the service’s spokesman, Evgeny Strelchik, quoted by AP said that the news site had distributed extremist views and should therefore face closure. ”They published the opinion of a person who incited religious hatred,“ he said.

The prosecutor’s office in the Siberian region of Altai said that Bankfax had deleted the offensive comments a day after they were posted, only after prosecutors had complained.

Prosecution spokesman Valery Ziyastinov said that a criminal case for inciting religious hatred had been opened and if found, the anonymous reader would face four years in prison.

However, Oleg Panfilov, head of the media freedom watchdog, the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said that the news site had long irked the authorities and the extremist comment posted on its chat forum was a convenient excuse to target it.

Government Seeks to Close Website for Anti-Islamist Comment

[Shammu]

10 Dead As Violence Continues in Baghdad

2 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bomb blasts, rocket and gunfire killed at least 10 people and injured 23 in the Iraqi capital Sunday, police said.

The low thud of mortar fire could also be heard, but it was not immediately clear where the shells were landing.

A roadside bomb exploded Sunday morning in a busy west Baghdad street, killing at least six people and inuring 12, said police Lt. There Mahmoud.

The blast targeted a police patrol in the mostly Sunni Qadissiyah neighborhood. Three policemen were among the dead and three were injured, Mahmoud said. The rest of the victims were civilian bystanders.

Another bombing near the Mustansiriyah University in east Baghdad injured five policemen, said police 1st Lt. Mohammed Khaiyoon.

Drive-by shooters fired on a car in the western Biyaqa neighborhood, killing its three occupants, including a member of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, police 1st Lt. Muataz Salaheddin said.

Gunmen in a speeding car fired into a crowd of day laborers in Amariyah, another troubled west Baghdad neighborhood, injuring four workers, said police Lt. Thayer Mahmoud.

In the western Jamiah neighborhood, a rocket landed near a house, killing one occupant and injuring two others, police Lt. Col. Hassan Chaloob said.

10 Dead As Violence Continues in Baghdad

[Shammu]

Iran Opts Out of Russian Enrichment Plan

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday it had ruled out a proposal to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia, further complicating the international dispute over the country's nuclear program.

Russia has sought to persuade Iran to move its enrichment program to Russian territory to allow closer international monitoring. The U.S. and the European Union had backed the idea as a way to ensure Iran would not misuse the process to make nuclear weapons.

Iran had insisted that the plan was negotiable and reached basic agreement with Moscow, but details were never worked out.

"The Russian proposal is not on our agenda any more," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

He said Iran would instead start large-scale uranium enrichment at home. Iran, however, has only an experimental research program and it would need months to begin any large-scale enrichment.

Asefi's announcement came as the five veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members consider how to pressure Iran into reimposing a freeze on uranium enrichment and fully cooperating with a U.N. probe of its suspect nuclear program.

The council has the power to impose political and economic sanctions on Iran.

"Circumstances have changed. We have to wait and see how developments unfold within the five veto-holding countries," Asefi said.

Uranium enriched to a low level produces fuel for a nuclear reactor, while higher enrichment produces the material needed for a warhead.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for generating electricity, but the United States and other Western nations fear Tehran is trying to build a bomb.

Iran Opts Out of Russian Enrichment Plan

[Soldier4Christ]

 Iran builds a secret underground complex as nuclear tensions rise

 Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command centre in Teheran as they prepare for a confrontation with the West over their illicit nuclear programme, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

The complex of rooms and offices beneath the Abbas Abad district in the north of the capital is designed to serve as a bolthole and headquarters for the country's rulers as military tensions mount.

The recently completed command centre is connected by tunnels to other government compounds near the Mossala prayer ground, one of the city's most important religious sites.

Offices of the state security forces, the energy department and the Organisation of Islamic Culture and Communications are all located in the same area.

The construction of the complex is part of the regime's plan to move more of its operations beneath ground. The Revolutionary Guard has overseen the development of subterranean chambers and tunnels - some more than half a mile long and an estimated 35ft high and wide - at sites across the country for research and development work on nuclear and rocket programmes.

The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) learnt about the complex from its contacts within the regime. The same network revealed in 2002 that Iran had been operating a secret nuclear programme for 18 years.

The underground strategy is partly designed to hide activities from satellite view and international inspections but also reflects a growing belief in Teheran that its showdown with the international community could end in air strikes by America or Israel. "Iran's leaders are clearly preparing for a confrontation by going underground," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, the NCRI official who made the 2002 announcement.

America and Europe believe that Iran is secretly trying to acquire an atomic bomb, although the regime insists that its nuclear programme is for civilian energy purposes.

As the United Nations Security Council prepares to discuss Iran's nuclear operations this week, Teheran has been stepping up plans for confrontation. Its chief delegate on nuclear talks last week threatened that Iran would inflict "harm and pain" on America if censured by the Security Council.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline president who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map", also said that the West would "suffer" if it tried to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. As the war of words intensified, President George W Bush said that Teheran represents a "grave national security concern" for America.

In Iraq, which Mr Ahmadinejad hopes will develop into a fellow Shia Islamic state, Iran is already using its proxy militia to attack British and American forces, often with Iranian-made bombs and weapons. As tensions grow, Teheran could order Hizbollah - the Lebanese-based terror faction that it created and arms - to attack targets in Israel.

The regime is also reviewing its contingency plans to attack tankers and American naval forces in the Persian Gulf and to mine the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 15 million barrels of oil (about 20 per cent of world production) passes each day. Any action in the Gulf would send oil prices soaring - a weapon that Iran has often threatened to wield.

The Pentagon's strategic planning is focused on the danger that Iran might try to mine the strait and deploy explosive-packed suicide boats against its warships. In May, American vessels in the Gulf will take part in the Arabian Gauntlet training exercise that deals with clearing mines from the strait, which has a navigable channel just two miles wide.

The naval wing of the Revolutionary Guard has in recent years practised "swarming" raids, using its flotilla of small rapid-attack boats to simulate assaults on commercial vessels and United States warships, according to Ken Timmerman, an American expert on Iran.

The Pentagon is particularly sensitive to the dangers of such attacks after al-Qaeda hit the USS Cole off the Yemen with a suicide boat in 2000, killing 17 American sailors. Last month the White House listed two foiled al-Qaeda plots to attack ships in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

US intelligence believes that if Iranian nuclear facilities were attacked by either America or Israel, then Teheran would respond by trying to close the Strait of Hormuz with naval forces, mines and anti-ship cruise missiles.

"When these systems become fully operational, they will significantly enhance Iran's defensive capabilities and ability to deny access to the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz," Michael Maples, the director of the Defence Intelligence Agency testified before the Senate armed services committee last month.

A senior American intelligence officer said that the US navy would be able to reopen the strait but that it would be militarily costly. Hamid Reza Zakeri, a former Iranian intelligence officer, recently told Mr Timmerman that the Iranian navy's Strategic Studies Centre has produced an updated battle plan for the strait.

Its most devastating options would be to use its long-range Shahab-3 missiles to attack Israeli or American bases in the region or to deploy suicide bombers in Western cities under its strategy of "asymmetric" response.

"The price to the West for standing up to Iran is clear," Gen Moshe Ya'alon, the former Israeli defence chief said last month in Washington. "It includes terror attacks, economic hardship… and consequences resulting from fluctuations in Iranian oil production. Indeed, the regime believes that the West - including Israel - is afraid to deal with it."

[Shammu]

Revealed: UK develops secret nuclear warhead
Michael Smith
Full text of Trident report by Foreign Policy Centre

BRITAIN has been secretly designing a new nuclear warhead in conjunction with the Americans, provoking a legal row over the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The government has been pushing ahead with the programme while claiming that no decision has been made on a successor to Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. Work on a new weapon by scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire has been under way since Tony Blair was re-elected last May, and is now said to be ahead of similar US research.

The aim is to produce a simpler device using proven components to avoid breaching the ban on nuclear testing. Known as the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), it is being designed so that it can be tested in a laboratory rather than by detonation.

“We’ve got to build something that we can never test and be absolutely confident that, when we use it, it will work,” one senior British source said last week.

The secret programme to build a new warhead in close co-operation with the Americans will spark anger among Labour opponents of any replacement of the Trident programme, which is estimated to have cost nearly £10 billion.

Developing a new weapon would also, according to expert advice from Cherie Booth’s Matrix chambers, be a material breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The office of Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, refused to comment on whether it had been asked for legal advice by No 10.

Both Labour backbenchers and the Liberal Democrats accused the government of introducing a replacement nuclear weapon by the back door without a parliamentary debate.

Paul Flynn, a Labour backbencher who has drafted parliamentary motions questioning the need for a Trident replacement, insisted there had to be a proper debate. “The Trident missiles will last for another 20 years,” he said. “Who on earth are we going to take on with them anyway? Replacing them wrecks any standing we have when we preach non-proliferation to countries like Iran.”

Michael Moore, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, called for a statement. “This work would appear to pre-empt the proper debate the prime minister has promised,” he said.

The controversy is set to ignite this week with an embarrassing report by the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), set up under Blair’s patronage, calling for Trident to be scrapped and not replaced.

On Tuesday the defence select committee will take evidence from experts, most of whom are expected to say that there is no need for a new nuclear deterrent.

The FPC report says that Britain’s independent deterrent is an illusion. The missiles are stored in the United States and have to be collected by a British submarine before it goes on patrol.

Aldermaston is run by a consortium headed by Lockheed Martin, a US company, and there are 92 Americans working there, including the managing director and four of his senior managers.

“The UK should cease to try to keep up appearances and adopt a policy based on the reality that it is not an independent nuclear power,” the FPC report concludes. “Trident should not be replaced and should be phased out now.”

Blair is said to want to decide on Trident’s replacement before he steps down. “It is a huge decision for the country and it will probably be done in a far more open way than the decisions have been taken before,” he said last month.

As he spoke, work was well advanced at Aldermaston on designs for the RRW. The US Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore nuclear laboratories began a competition to produce an RRW last May. But Washington sources say the British have been designing their own Reliable Replacement Warhead and “are now ahead of the Americans”.

One possible way to avoid breaching the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is for Blair to announce that the new deterrent will have fewer warheads. We currently have about 200.

Revealed: UK develops secret nuclear warhead

[Shammu]

Rice: Iran central banker for Mideast terror

Ahead of Latin America, Asia trip Secretary of State Rice tells reporters that even if Iran suspends its nuclear enrichment activities U.S. would be unlikely to agree to bilateral talks; adds that she hopes Indonesia would urge Hamas to recognize Israel
Ynet

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told American and foreign reporters that even if Iran suspends its nuclear enrichment activities, the United States would be unlikely to agree to bilateral talks.

"Iran has been the country that has been in many ways a kind of central banker for terrorism in important regions like Lebanon through Hizbullah in the Middle East, in the Palestinian Territories, and we have deep concerns about what Iran is doing in the south of Iraq," Rice said.

Should Iran agree to drop its nuclear ambitions, she said, "that isn't a quid pro quo for anything. It just needs to be done because it's a demand of the international system."

‘Voice for moderation’

"I don't foresee any reason for broader talks with the Iranians. We have our channels," the secretary of state said, emphasizing that U.S. efforts to isolate Iran do not extend to the Iranian people.

"We want to continue to reach out to the Iranian people in any way possible, which is why we have asked for more resources for broadcasting, more resources for educational and cultural exchanges," Rice added.

Ahead of her schedule trip to Indonesia next week, Rice said the country’s current government supports the Road Map for peace in the Middle East, saying "Indonesia has been a voice for moderation, and that is perhaps what's needed most."

She added that she hoped Indonesia would urge Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

When asked about the possible rise of extremist Islam in Indonesia, Rice predicted that as Indonesia's democracy becomes stronger and matures it will permit people "to channel their differences, their interests, into a political process rather than turning to violence."

Rice: Iran central banker for Mideast terror

[Shammu]

US probably can stop Iran without force: senators

By John Poirier Sun Mar 12, 2:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States probably can stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons without military action, but use of force, subject to congressional approval, is still an option, U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday.

"I think we can stop them from having a nuclear weapon short of war," Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), a Delaware Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet The Press" television program.

Republican Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) of Virginia said on the same show: "Ultimately, you never want to take military action off the table. But you never want it to get that far. But if necessary, it is an option. But it is not one that is desirable."

Biden and Allen, both potential U.S. presidential candidates in 2008, agreed that Washington must work with other countries to deal with Iran, and that Bush would need congressional approval before the United States participates in military action to curb Iran's nuclear weapons program.

"He has to do that," Biden said.

"I believe he should, and I believe he would if necessary," said Allen.

RUSSIAN DEAL APPEARS DEAD

The UN Security Council was due to take up Iran's case this week after the International Atomic Energy Agency sent the council a report saying it could not verify that Iran's nuclear plans were purely peaceful.

Iran on Sunday said it was no longer considering a Russian compromise deal intended to overcome the international dispute over whether Tehran is seeking to build an atomic bomb.

Russia had proposed making nuclear fuel for Iran to ensure uranium was enriched only to the low level needed for power stations. But Iran was unwilling to surrender its right to enrich uranium on its own soil.

While en route to Indonesia from Chile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran's announcement was not a surprise.

"They were interested, but they have never really demonstrated that they were interested in the Russian proposal as the Russians had actually put it forward," Rice said.

President George W. Bush said on Friday that Iran is a "grave national security concern," but said it was important to use diplomatic means to deal with Iran's uranium enrichment-related activities.

Iran, which has fought to avoid being taken to the UN Security Council, suspects Bush is using the nuclear issue as a pretext for promoting a change in the Islamic republic's government.

The possibility of sanctions against Iran was mentioned late last week by Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief at the
European Union, which an Iranian senior cleric denounced as a "puppet of U.S. policies."

Ambassadors from the Security Council's five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- met on Friday on drafting a statement. The British and French ambassadors both said the consultation would continue -- an indication the five had not agreed on a text.

The Western powers would like the statement to call on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment-related activities and to seek a report, perhaps in two weeks or a month, on whether Tehran has done so.

Divisions are expected to emerge after the statement, with Russia and China strongly opposing any escalation of measures, including sanctions, against Iran.

US probably can stop Iran without force: senators

[Shammu]

Anti-government protests erupt in north-west Iran
Sun. 12 Mar 2006

Iran Focus

London, Mar. 12 – Banks, police cars, and government buildings were set on fire as violent clashes erupted on Saturday between security forces and angry residents in the north-western Iranian town of Piranshahr, according to eye-witnesses contacted by telephone.

Protests began after agents of the State Security Forces (SSF) shot and killed a young man in his car at a stop-and-search point.

At least five police vehicles were set on fire during the clashes between young protesters and security agents.

Reports from the Kurdish city of Mahabad in north-western Iran said that widespread clashes had broken out on Friday between residents and security forces after a detained man was shot at point blank by security agents.

Anti-government protests erupt in north-west Iran