News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

 Jewish scholar's books disturbs pro-Israel circles in US
London, April 9, IRNA

US-Book
The book by an American Jew critical of the founding fathers of the Zionist regime has caused fiery reactions among the supporters of Tel Aviv in the United States.

In his work "A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two People" Ilan Pappe narrates the Palestinian view on the occupation and the Middle East conflict.

"My bias is apparent despite the desire of my peers that I stick to facts and the 'truth' when reconstructing past realities. This book is written by one who admits compassion for the colonized not the colonizer; who sympathizes with the occupied not the occupiers," the author explains in the introduction to A History of Modern Palestine.

Pappe also regards Zionism and Israeli history "more than a century of colonization, occupation, and dispossession of
Palestinians."
In his doctoral dissertation, subsequently published as Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-51 in 1988, the author had also tried to explain the Palestinians view of the formation of Israel.

In his recent book, he refers to Herzl's attempts to "enlist British help in installing a temporary Jewish state in British Uganda."
According to Pappe, this offer was "seriously considered by some in Whitehall." However it was foiled by Weizmann who suggested the occupation of Palestine instead.

Those who support Israel are angered by the publication of the book.

A case in point is a critical review by Efraim Karsh director of the Mediterranean Studies Programme at King's College, University of London, and editor of the quarterly journal Israel Affairs.

Karsh is the author of Arafat's War: the Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest in 2003.

In a review recently published in The Middle East Quarterly, Karsh accuses Pappe of "distorting" the history and "subscribing to a relativist view of history and repeating the Arabs' cliches concerning the being victims of foreign invasion".

In criticising Pappe's account, Karsh reveals that it was British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, not Herzl, who conceived of the East Africa idea.

Karsh said that the "Uganda Plan", contrary to what Pappe says, narrowly passed by last Zionist Congress in 1903 but was buried after Herzl's death in July 1904.

Trying to cast doubt on the accuracy of Pappe's account, he asks, "Does Pappe count on the ignorance of the general reader to accept it? Does he expect his peers to give him a pass?"
The editor of Israel Affairs goes on to claim that publication of books such as the one by Pappe "symbolizes the crisis in Middle East studies."

Jewish scholar's books disturbs pro-Israel circles in US

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Mubarak: US must not leave Iraq yet

Sunday 09 April 2006, 0:48 Makka Time, 21:48 GMT

The Egyptian president says civil war has broken out in Iraq and the conflict would spread and worsen if US forces left the country.

Hosni Mubarak also told Arabic channel Al Arabiya on Saturday that many in the large Shia Muslim populations of Arab states around Iraq were more loyal to Iran than to their own countries.

Asked what effect an immediate US troop withdrawal would have, he said: "Now? It would be a disaster... It would become an arena for a brutal civil war and then terrorist operations would flare up not just in Iraq, but in very many places.

"It's not on the threshold [of civil war]. It's pretty much started. There are Sunnis, Shia, Kurds and those types which come from Asia."

"I do not know when the situation in Iraq will stabilise. I personally do not see a solution to the problem in Iraq, which is practically destroyed now."

He blamed ousted president Saddam Hussein for the mess.

"If Saddam was more just, none of this would have happened."

Receiving about $2 billion a year, Egypt is the largest recipient of US foreign aid after Israel and Iraq.

Loyalty to Iran

Mubarak said Iran exerted strong influence over Iraq's majority Shia population and Shia living in other Arab countries.

"Naturally Iran has an influence over Shia who make up 65%  of Iraq's population."

Iraq's top Shia political parties, the Supreme Council for the  Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Dawa, were based in Iran before the fall of Saddam in 2003.

Since US-led forces overthrew Saddam in the 2003 invasion, the Shia majority has emerged as the largest political force in Iraq, disturbing the old status quo of Sunni domination in the Arab world.

Mubarak said of the Arab countries around Iraq: "There are Shia in all of those states in very big percentages, and the loyalty of those Shia is to Iran, most of them are loyal to Iran. Their loyalty is not to their particular countries."

"Naturally Iran has an influence over Shia who make up 65%  of Iraq's population"

Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have large Shia communities but community leaders there deny they have any loyalty to any other country.

Mubarak also dismissed the idea of sending Arab troops to Iraq in place of US and allied forces, saying Iraqis had made clear that they did not want to be controlled by foreigners.

On Hamas

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Egyptian leader denied asking Hamas to recognise Israel but said he would work with both the new Palestinian and Israeli governments to help resume peace negotiations.

Mubarak said he believed progress could be made with both sides to improve the livelihood of Palestinians.

Asked about a report in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, had urged Hamas to recognise the Jewish state, Mubarak said: "Neither Omar Suleiman nor anybody else can ask Hamas to recognise Israel."

Mubarak: US must not leave Iraq yet

[Shammu]

 Bush 'is planning nuclear strikes on Iran's secret sites'
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 09/04/2006)

Jack Straw: Iran attack would be 'nuts'

The Bush administration is planning to use nuclear weapons against Iran, to prevent it acquiring its own atomic warheads, claims an investigative writer with high-level Pentagon and intelligence contacts.

President George W Bush is said to be so alarmed by the threat of Iran's hard-line leader, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, that privately he refers to him as "the new Hitler", says Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

Some US military chiefs have unsuccessfully urged the White House to drop the nuclear option from its war plans, Hersh writes in The New Yorker magazine. The conviction that Mr Ahmedinejad would attack Israel or US forces in the Middle East, if Iran obtains atomic weapons, is what drives American planning for the destruction of Teheran's nuclear programme.

Hersh claims that one of the plans, presented to the White House by the Pentagon, entails the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites. One alleged target is Iran's main centrifuge plant, at Natanz, 200 miles south of Teheran.

Although Iran claims that its nuclear programme is peaceful, US and European intelligence agencies are certain that Teheran is trying to develop atomic weapons. In contrast to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, there are no disagreements within Western intelligence about Iran's plans.
    
Iran factfile

This newspaper disclosed recently that senior Pentagon strategists are updating plans to strike Iran's nuclear sites with long-distance B2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles. And last week, the Sunday Telegraph reported a secret meeting at the Ministry of Defence where military chiefs and officials from Downing Street and the Foreign Office discussed the consequences of an American-led attack on Iran, and Britain's role in any such action.

The military option is opposed by London and other European capitals. But there are growing fears in No 10 and the Foreign Office that the British-led push for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear stand-off, will be swept aside by hawks in Washington. Hersh says that within the Bush administration, there are concerns that even a pummelling by conventional strikes, may not sufficiently damage Iran's buried nuclear plants.

Iran has been developing a series of bunkers and facilities to provide hidden command centres for its leaders and to protect its nuclear infrastructure. The lack of reliable intelligence about these subterranean facilities, is fuelling pressure for tactical nuclear weapons to be included in the strike plans as the only guaranteed means to destroy all the sites simultaneously.

The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings among the joint chiefs of staff, and some officers have talked about resigning, Hersh has been told. The military chiefs sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran, without success, a former senior intelligence officer said.

The Pentagon consultant on the war on terror confirmed that some in the administration were looking seriously at this option, which he linked to a resurgence of interest in tactical nuclear weapons among defence department political appointees.

The election of Mr Ahmedinejad last year, has hardened attitudes within the Bush Administration. The Iranian president has said that Israel should be "wiped off the map". He has drafted in former fellow Revolutionary Guards commanders to run the nuclear programme, in further signs that he is preparing to back his threats with action.

Mr Bush and others in the White House view him as a potential Adolf Hitler, a former senior intelligence official told Hersh. "That's the name they're using. They say, 'Will Iran get a strategic weapon and threaten another world war?' "

Despite America's public commitment to diplomacy, there is a growing belief in Washington that the only solution to the crisis is regime change. A senior Pentagon consultant said that Mr Bush believes that he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do," and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy".

Publicly, the US insists it remains committed to diplomacy to solve the crisis. But with Russia apparently intent on vetoing any threat of punitive action at the UN, the Bush administration is also planning for unilateral military action. Hersh repeated his claims that the US has intensified clandestine activities inside Iran, using special forces to identify targets and establish contact with anti-Teheran ethnic-minority groups.

The senior defence officials said that Mr Bush is "determined to deny Iran the opportunity to begin a pilot programme, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium".

Bush 'is planning nuclear strikes on Iran's secret sites'

[Shammu]

Straw: Iran attack 'nuts'
(Filed: 09/04/2006)

Bush 'planning nuclear strikes on Iran'

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has dismissed reports of a possible United States nuclear strike against Iran as "completely nuts".

He was commenting on an article in tomorrow's New Yorker magazine, trailed in the Sunday Telegraph, claiming that the US has drawn up secret plans to attack facilities in Iran if necessary.

The article, by Seymour Hersh, the investigative journalist, suggests that the Pentagon is even considering the possibility of a nuclear strike.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported leading neo-conservative Richard Perle as saying that an attack could be "over before anybody knew what had happened. The only question then would be what the Iranians might do in retaliation."

However, Mr Straw today branded Mr Perle "a rather unreliable reporter on what happens in the administration".

And he added: "The idea of a nuclear strike on Iran is completely nuts."
    
Iran factfile

Mr Straw - who has said that military action against Iran is "inconceivable" - added: "I have made clear the British Government's position on this time and time again which is widely shared across Europe.

"The American administration, Condoleezza Rice, President Bush use slightly different language. They say that it is not on the agenda, but it isn't on the agenda.

"They are very committed indeed to resolving this issue - it is a complicated issue - by negotiation and, yes, by diplomatic pressure.

"And what the Iranians have to do is to recognise that they have overplayed their hand at each stage."

Mr Straw, speaking on BBC1's Sunday AM Programme, stressed that the UK would not launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran, adding that he was as "certain as he could be" that neither would the US.

There was "no smoking gun" and therefore no justification for military action, he said.

Straw: Iran attack 'nuts'

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More Violence Marks 'Freedom Day' in Iraq

By VANESSA ARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Five roadside bombs killed at least three people in
Iraq on Sunday — the three-year anniversary of the Baghdad's fall to U.S. forces. Iraq police and soldiers bolstered security in the capital to prevent attacks on "Freedom Day."

The holiday marks the April 9, 2003 event in which a huge crowd of Iraqis cheered as U.S. Marines hauled down the statue of Saddam Hussein on Firdous Square, marking the collapse of his regime.

American troops killed eight suspected insurgents in a pre-dawn raid north of the capital. Drivers in the capital were stopped and searched by Iraqi forces at extra checkpoints in the city.

Most Iraqis welcomed the end of Saddam's regime, but the insurgency, militias, rising sectarian violence, electricity shortages and political vacuum have all sapped much of the enthusiasm generated by the collapse of dictatorship.

"Iraqis are pleased and displeased," said Qassim Hassan, a soldier. "They are pleased because they got rid of tyranny and dictatorship, but they are displeased because they went from bad to worse. The Iraqi street is seething between sadness and terrorism."

Even U.S. officials acknowledged the mixed nature of the Iraq war's current stage.

"Despite much progress, much work remains," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. said in a joint statement. "The legitimate security forces must quell sectarian violence. Population centers must be secure to allow Iraq's new institutions to take root and businesses to flourish. Finally, the people must be able to trust their leadership."

Efforts to form a new government have reached a deadlock over the nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a new term. Shiite politicians met Sunday to discuss the impasse, but made no decision to replace al-Jaafari as their nominee, officials said.

Instead, representatives from the seven factions of the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc, formed a three member committee better ascertain the reasons for Sunni and Kurdish opposition to al-Jaafari, said Shiite official Ridha Jawad Taqi.

The Shiite alliance will meet again Monday to review the committee's findings, he said.

Sunni and Kurdish leaders blame al-Jaafari for failing to curb rising sectarian violence. A Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, suggested that Shiites pick an independent candidate for prime minister, one who does not come from one of the major political parties.

Until a new government is in place, the violence is not expected to decrease and the U.S. government is unlikely to begin troop withdrawal.

In a pre-dawn raid Sunday, clashes erupted when U.S. forces surrounded a suspected safehouse and nearby tent on the northern outskirts of Baghdad. After being fired upon, troops gunned down five suspected insurgents, and three others were killed in an air strike.

Bombs and weapons were found inside the house, a U.S. statement said.

Sunday's roadside bombs killed at least two civilians and a policeman. One targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed a passer-by in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital, and another bomb meant for police killed a civilian when it exploded at Maysaloun Square in eastern Baghdad.

Other bombings around Baghdad killed a policeman and wounded about a dozen others, police said. One of the attacks targeted police near a Sunni mosque in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, wounding at least three people, police said. Another targeted a convoy of American military police, but there were no casualties, the U.S. military said.

Police discovered four bodies, handcuffed and at least one shot in the head, in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, a man allegedly making a bomb was killed when it accidentally exploded inside a house, police said. Police arrested six others in the house after hearing the explosion, police Maj. Karim al-Tamimi said.

In Najaf, officials raised the death toll from last week's car bombing of the Imam Ali mosque to 13. Three Iraqis wounded in the bombing died Saturday, said Dr. Issa Mohammed, director of the morgue at Najaf General Hospital.

An insurgent umbrella organization called the Mujahedeen Shura Council claimed responsibility for a Saturday attack against the Anbar provincial government headquarters in Ramadi, 75 miles west of Baghdad. U.S. officers said it was the strongest attack in six weeks, though there were no American casualties.

The "Freedom Day" holiday appeared to draw little public attention. The Iraqi Islamic Party, a the biggest Sunni party, issued a statement rejecting the day, saying it was "an anniversary of occupying Iraq, not liberating it."

But some Iraqis embraced the memory of Hussein's statue coming to the ground.

"This is a dear day — we got rid of the dictatorship," said Fadhil Abul-Sebah. "It doesn't mark the fall of Baghdad, it marks the fall of Saddam ... and the regime, because Baghdad will never fall."

More Violence Marks 'Freedom Day' in Iraq

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Berlusconi Battles to Stay in Power

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago

ROME - Voters had a chance Sunday to punish Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his conservatives for a flagging economy in elections that saw the flamboyant media mogul and U.S. ally trying to fend off an opposition bloc that includes Communists.

Berlusconi, Italy's richest man whose sprawling business empire includes Italy's main private TV networks, a soccer club, publishing, and advertising, had been trailing slightly in opinion polls in the premier's race behind Romano Prodi, an economics professor and former European Union chief who defeated him in 1996 elections.

Publication of surveys was not permitted in the last 15 days before the two-day vote, which began Sunday.

One potential issue — Iraq — was largely deflated before the campaign got going.

Berlusconi strongly supported President Bush despite opposition among Italians against the war, but months ago he said Italy's troops in Iraq would all be home by year's end.

Prodi earlier had made a similar promise about the once 3,000-strong contingent, which had been deployed for reconstruction after Saddam Hussein's ouster, and said recently he would bring them home as soon as possible.

The ailing economy was at center stage, although neither candidate offered any bold ideas for its revival.

With the campaign almost over, Berlusconi promised he would do away with a property tax. Prodi tried to minimize damage by a Communist ally who said that the center-left would bring back an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi. Prodi hastened to say only the wealthiest would have to pay. He also promised to cut payroll taxes to try to spur hiring.

Berlusconi boasted that his government had spurred the creation of many jobs, but many of them were temporary contracts, like the kind 33-year-old Gabriele Moreschi has at a call center in Rome.

Moreschi said he voted for a liberal party in the center-left coalition because Prodi "promised more job security."

Critics, including Prodi, say Berlusconi should have concentrated more on the economy and less on himself.

They contend he dedicated his premiership to push through laws to protect his business interests and to help him in his years of legal problems. Berlusconi, who won the premiership in 1994 and 2001, contends the laws benefit all Italians and that he has been the innocent victim of left-leaning prosecutors.

Known for his sometimes outrageous comments, Berlusconi ranted against Communists, whom he claims use Prodi as a front-man in what he depicts as a campaign to hurt Italian democracy.

Surveys had shown that much of the electorate was unenthusiastic.

Linda Mille, a doctor, said she voted for the center-left to boot Berlusconi out of power: "I don't think there can be anyone worse than Berlusconi."

In Rome, 79-year-old Antonio Recine said he voted for the right, brushing off economic concerns. "All told, it doesn't seem to me like we're starving here," Recine said.

Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading daily, ran a front-page editorial cartoon depicting Italy as a woman with a clothespin on her nose while she pondered her ballot choice.

Berlusconi lobbied his 95-year-old mother, Rosa, at a Milan polling station to vote for his Forza Italia party, earning a reproach from electoral officials who told him campaigning was banned on the premises.

"I can't do that even with my mother?" he asked.

Prodi shook hands with voters at his polling station in Bologna, where he lives.

Hours before the polls opened, three gasoline bombs were hurled at a polling station in the northeastern town of Vittorio Veneto, and fliers found at the scene denounced both coalitions, police said. No one was hurt.

Italians were voting under a proportional system, thanks to a law pushed through by Berlusconi's government to increase the chances that his tinier allies would win seats in Parliament.

By Sunday evening, 52.1 percent of Italy's eligible 47 million voters had cast ballots, the Interior Ministry said.

Berlusconi Battles to Stay in Power

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European Union Struggles to Condemn Terrorism
Thursday, April 06 2006 @ 10:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time

The European Union (EU) is again having difficulty reacting to the growing incidents in Turkey with the provocation of the terror network the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party), following the killing of PKK terrorists.

As the European Commission issues “but” statements, nearly 50 members of the European Parliament (EP), wrote a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with copies sent to EU term president Austria’s Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, EP President Joseph Borrell and the Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, blaming the Turkish army and state for “killing innocent people.”

EP members closely watching the developments in Turkey are making calmer statements.

The United States condemns PKK openly and completely; however, what the EU says in this is unclear, drawing a question mark over Europe’s sincerity in counter-terrorism.

Upon the question “Why can’t Brussels give a clear-cut message as the US does?”, European Commission sources replied by emphasizing that the PKK is on the EU’s terror list, and the Commission condemns all kinds of terrorism.

This condemnation; however, does not refer explicitly to the people murdered in Istanbul.

Commission authorities added there are “socio-economic development issues, a bigger problem,” in the southeastern part of Turkey, and called on the Turkish government to develop the cultural rights of Kurds.

EP letter: We condemn Turkey

Forty-seven deputies signed the letter prepared by the Kurdish Friendship Group in the EP and sent to Turkey’s Prime Minister.

The letter condemning Turkey advises Ankara that the problem cannot be solved with “military approaches,” but does not mention the PKK or PKK related terrorism.

The letter which holds the Turkish army and state responsible for the deaths makes no reference to the people the PKK murdered in Istanbul.

The same letter again obviously overlooks that actual negotiations with Turkey have not yet started, and reiterates that negotiations may be suspended in the case of serious human rights violation, calling on the term president Austria and European Commission to do what is necessary.

It is apparently signed by four of the six Greek Cypriot members and several Greek deputies in the EP.

However, observers say the letter must not be taken seriously. The Greens are reportedly preparing an alternative statement condemning PKK terror as well.

Lagendijk: It is difficult to understand the incidents at a time when Kurdish broadcasting has begun

Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chair Joost Lagendijk starts his remarks by condemning the PKK terror.

Lagendijk, censuring the PKK that provoked the latest incidents also criticizes Ankara for not developing a comprehensive approach for the development of the region and solving of problems.

The European parliamentarian said he has difficulty in understanding the incidents at a time when Kurdish broadcasting has started on local TV channels, and said to Kurds sympathetic towards the PKK: If you seek your rights by means of violence, you must know that violence will generate violence. As long this continues, the socio-economic balances in the region will not change. This is actually an approach that dooms itself to failure. “I condemn the PKK terror. Socio-economic measures are urgently needed for the eradication of the problem in the region,” he added.

Ozdemir: Kurds are missing an opportunity

EP member of Turkish origin Cem Ozdemir indicated to Kurds that they are about to miss a historical opportunity, and added Diyarbakir Mayor and Kurdish movement leaders could not give the necessary answer to Prime Minister Erdogan’s “historical” speech of Diyarbakir.

Ozdemir said the government is on the right track; “It is necessary to eradicate the conditions feeding terrorism. Jobs and food must be found, cultural rights must be given.” He stresses those who want the government to fail “are both on the mountain and in Ankara.”

European Union Struggles to Condemn Terrorism

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Iraqi Shiites Fail to Resolve Deadlock

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite lawmakers met on Sunday, the third anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, in the first formal step to break the deadlock over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to their choice for a prime minister to head the next government.

But the meeting, held at the insistence of the Shiites' top clerical leadership, failed to produce any breakthroughs, as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's key allies stuck by their support for him, according to Shiite officials.

Iraq observed "Freedom Day," a holiday that commemorates U.S. Marines tearing down a statue of
Saddam Hussein as Iraqis cheered in Firdous Square on April 9, 2003, marking the collapse of Saddam's regime.

Meanwhile, at least 15 people were killed Sunday, including eight suspected insurgents shot by American soldiers in a pre-dawn raid north of the capital.

Representatives of the seven factions within the United Iraqi Alliance made no final decisions during the Sunday meeting but agreed to form a three-member committee to discuss the crisis with Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that have opposed al-Jaafari.

Though the Shiites' support is still behind al-Jaafari, several names have been floated as possible alternatives as the Shiites face massive pressure from the U.S. and top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to speed formation of the new government.

The Shiites planned to meet again Monday to review their options.

Late Sunday, the Shiite committee met with Kurdish leaders, who stuck by their insistence that al-Jaafari must go. Kurdish elder statesman Mahmoud Othman said the Kurds made clear they would not participate in a government headed by al-Jaafari.

Sunnis and Kurds have blamed al-Jaafari for the rise in tensions between Sunnis and Shiites, which boiled over following the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, triggering reprisal attacks against Sunnis that plunged the nation to the brink of civil war.

Al-Sistani has insisted that Shiite politicians resolve the deadlock as soon as possible in the interest of national unity.

With al-Jaafari refusing to step aside and his key supporters standing fast, Shiite officials have been reluctant to try to force the prime minister to withdraw, fearing it would shatter their alliance.

A Sunni politician, Dhafir al-Ani, said the Shiites had told Sunni leaders they were ready to give guarantees to make the Sunnis soften their opposition. Al-Ani would not elaborate.

Another Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, proposed that the new prime minister be chosen by consensus among all parties, a proposal the Shiites are unlikely to accept. Al-Mutlaq said the new government should be made up of "independents, nationalists and technocrats" not affiliated with "current political parties."

The constitution states that the prime minister must come from the ranks of the largest faction in parliament. The Shiites won 130 of the 275 seats in the Dec. 15 election, making them the biggest faction but without enough strength to govern without partners.

Names of several other Shiites have been mentioned as a possible alternative to al-Jaafari, including Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, deputy parliament speaker Hussain al-Shahristani, and two members of al-Jaafari's Dawa party, Jawad al-Maliki and Ali al-Adeeb.

Also Sunday, kidnappers threatened to kill two German engineers seized by gunmen in January in northern Iraq unless prisoners held by U.S. forces are freed. The two Germans — Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich — were shown in a video posted Sunday on the Web pleading for help.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government was "doing everything in our power to save the lives of the hostages."

U.S. officials believe a unity government with Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds offers the best hope for easing sectarian tension and restoring order in this turbulent country.

Delays in forming a new government have persisted despite strong pressure from the U.S., Britain and Iraq's fellow Arab countries, which fear the turmoil here will spill across their borders and expand the influence of Shiite-dominated
Iran.

Without a new government in place, U.S. hopes to begin removing troops from Iraq are effectively on hold.

Nevertheless, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has cautioned that Iraqi leaders face difficult decisions in forming a government that meets the aspirations of all ethnic and religious communities.

"We need to be patient at the same time to make sure that they don't get any government, but that they get a good government," Khalilzad said on CNN's "Late Edition."

The turmoil across this country stands in sharp contrast to the euphoria that swept many areas of Iraq when Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed during the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.

"Freedom Day" has been declared a national holiday, although the day was not celebrated in Fallujah and other parts of insurgent-infested Anbar province.

The insurgency, militias, rising sectarian violence, electricity shortages and the political vacuum have all sapped much of the enthusiasm generated by the collapse of Saddam's dictatorship.

"Iraqis are pleased and displeased," said Qassim Hassan, a soldier. "They are pleased because they got rid of tyranny and dictatorship, but they are displeased because they went from bad to worse. The Iraqi street is seething between sadness and terrorism."

In a pre-dawn raid Sunday, clashes erupted when U.S. forces surrounded a suspected safehouse and nearby tent on the northern outskirts of Baghdad. After being fired upon, troops gunned down five suspected insurgents, and three others were killed in an air strike.

Iraqi Shiites Fail to Resolve Deadlock

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Ramadi Insurgents Develop Clever Tactics

By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago

RAMADI, Iraq - On an eerie, battle-scarred street in this blown-out urban war zone, a mannequin with painted black hair stares silently at U.S. Marines hunkered down in sandbagged observation posts atop buildings a few blocks away.

It's the latest insurgent ruse in an evolving war pitting the world's most powerful military against guerrilla fighters using their most effective weapon: ingenuity.

Insurgents in Ramadi recently have flown kites over U.S. troops to align mortar-fire, released pigeons to give away U.S. troop movements and staged attacks at fake funeral processions complete with rocket-stuffed coffins, U.S. forces deployed here say.

"They're crafty, I'll give 'em that," said Marine Cpl. John Strobridge, 20, of Orlando, Fla., as his Humvee passed the mannequin along one of the most bomb-infested roads in town, a street Americans call Route Michigan.

"Gun it! Gun it!" he screamed to his driver as the vehicle crossed a frequently targeted intersection.

The mannequin first popped up a few weeks ago in the courtyard of a secondary school near a collapsed building. The simple figure appears to be made of wood, with a white shirt and blue plants painted on. Two white arms hang down, carrying a briefcase.

"We kind of laugh at it. We don't know why they do it," Strobridge said. "But I think the idea is, we get used to looking at the mannequin, and then one day there's a real person standing there" — with an AK-47 or a rocket launcher.

Marines said there's no point stopping to take it down. The road is too dangerous, and such bizarre sites often are booby-trapped. At the bottom of a light pole beside another mannequin elsewhere in the city, the sleeve of an American MRE military ration package was found concealing a bomb.

A Marine intelligence officer, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said insurgents had placed other booby-trapped mannequins on roadsides, hoping U.S. forces would believe they were corpses and stop to check on them. He said they had used the same trick with real corpses.

In recent weeks, Marines found a human leg in the road with a pressure-switch bomb set to go off when it was picked up.

"The enemy will always try different things to try get us to bite on. They're very smart," Capt. Andrew Del Gaudio, 30, commander of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, said during an interview at Government Center, a sandbagged fortress topped with camouflage netting that serves as headquarters to the provincial government.

"They sit there and watch us, observe us for weeks at a time, see how we operate and how we react to things," said Del Gaudio, of Mt. Laurel, N.J. "Then they try to place obstacles in our path."

The U.S. military conducts a huge array of counterinsurgency tactics, both offensive and defensive, but most of them are classified.

Marines stationed at Government Center, which came under a two-hour sustained attack Saturday by dozens of gunmen, say insurgents regularly creep through the abandoned, shot-up buildings surrounding it, storing ammunition in empty houses and firing rockets, mortars and automatic weapons.

Sometimes insurgents will shine flashlights at U.S. guard posts, trying to blind Marines' night-vision goggles. Guerrillas have been seen crawling slowly on their bellies, trying to lay bombs. One was spotted trying to move unseen beside a cow by a device that produces an image from body heat.

Insurgent snipers — hiding in tall buildings — are a constant threat. One was spotted — and subsequently fired upon — observing a U.S. position with binoculars through a hole left in a wall where a single brick had been removed from under a window.

The most dangerous threat, however, remains roadside bombs — hidden in trash, potholes, piles of dirt or dead animal carcasses.

U.S. forces regularly sweep the roads for bombs, and insurgents sometimes try to remove them, then replace them. Another tactic: dropping a harmless piece of trash by the roadside one day, planting explosives in it the next, then arming it later and triggering it from blocks away with a cordless telephone.

Marine and Army officials said guerrilla fighters also fly kites that signal to other fighters where U.S. soldiers are, to help them direct their fire, and Del Gaudio said insurgents have released flocks of pigeons into the air as an American or Iraqi patrol goes by so that other fighters know where U.S. forces are.

Carlos Goetz, 29, of Miami, said insurgents also have used mosque loudspeakers to signal impending attacks.

"They'll call for blood drives in the hospital or say there's gonna be a funeral procession, and seven out of 10 times that's code for an attack," Goetz said.

That apparently bore true one day last week, when an assault on Government Center — two mortars, two RPG rounds and some small arms fire — was preceded by a funeral announcement broadcast from minarets.

Goetz said insurgents in Ramadi have held full-blown funeral processions carrying a coffin through the streets. They set the coffin down behind a wall, whipped out assault rifles and rocket-launchers and began attacking U.S. positions, Goetz said.

"Firepower-wise they're no match for us, but that's the nature and beauty of an insurgency — they capitalize on their strengths to hit our weaknesses," Del Gaudio said.

Insurgents in Ramadi have destroyed the city's cell phone towers and land lines, cutting off a key avenue for locals to tip off U.S. and Iraqi forces of guerrilla activities. People sympathetic to U.S. or Iraqi troops are especially targeted by insurgents, who have issued warnings with black spray paint on villa walls calling for collaborators to be killed.

Del Gaudio said this week he'd come under fire by a dozen insurgents who were holding children and firing at U.S. forces — knowing Marines would not return fire. Goetz said a 12- or 13-year-old had been spotted Saturday planting a roadside bomb.

"They fight us hard, they are a determined enemy," Del Gaudio said. "But there is no morality there. They hide among the population, among families, women and children. That's how they fight. That's how they do what they do."

Ramadi Insurgents Develop Clever Tactics

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New Baghdad Sculpture Holds Little Meaning

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The turquoise color is faded, and nests of sparrows fill its holes.

The sculpture that replaced the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled three years ago is supposed to represent freedom. But many Iraqis say it has little meaning when fear, violence and uncertainty dominate their lives.

"It has no meaning because there is no freedom," said Mohammed Ahmed, who operates a currency exchange shop nearby.

The modernist structure, with branches reaching up toward the sky and a crescent moon shape balancing a ball, sits on top of a concrete cylinder that once held a larger-than-life replica of Saddam wearing a suit, his right arm stretched out.

The statue in Firdous Square became famous when viewers across the world watched as U.S. Marines hauled it down on April 9, 2003. Iraqis cheered and started jumping on top of it to celebrate the end of Saddam's regime.

"Freedom Day," celebrated Sunday, was created to mark the anniversary of the event.

"It does not stand for anything," Umm Wadhah, a 51-year-old housewife in black robes who lives nearby, said of the statue. "It does not symbolize the country, or unity, or anything. We want something that stands for us ... all of us."

The statue was created by a group of Iraqi artists that produced the gypsum monument to represent family, hope and elements of Iraq's past — the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Islamic civilization and the ancient Sumerians.

Ahmed, 41, said every day he sees people appear baffled as they look up at the statue, wondering what it is supposed to depict.

When compared with America's most important symbol of freedom — the Statue of Liberty — he said the Iraqi version hardly sizes up. He finds its presence annoying, he said.

"I was talking about it today to some friends telling them that I wish a mortar round would hit and free us from it," he joked.

Seriously, he said, he thought it should be removed, and not be replaced.

"Because whose statue would they put instead — one of Bush?" he said, referring to the U.S. president.

One onlooker noted the positive changes that have taken place since Saddam was pushed out but said a more attractive, symbolic statue was needed to convey the improvements.

"Another statue, a more creative one that can express the suffering of the Iraqi people during the 35 years under the former regime, should be put in its place," said the 60-year-old Wahid Zughair. "We have freedom of speech and media and things are better than before. Another statue must be put to express all these changes."

Some Iraqis paid no attention to the statue at all.

"I am too preoccupied with my work, and numerous problems and worries to notice it," said Abu Mohammed, 36.

"For me, all statues represent tyranny," he added.

New Baghdad Sculpture Holds Little Meaning

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Mubarak's Warning Angers Iraqi Leaders

By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer 55 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak angered Iraqi leaders Sunday by saying Shiites there and across the Middle East are more loyal to Iran than to their own countries as he gave a startlingly frank warning about possible civil war in Iraq.

The flap highlights the escalating tensions between predominantly Sunni Arab countries — alarmed by possible Kurdish and Shiite domination of their neighbor — and Iraqis who say they are not getting enough support from their Arab brothers.

"Definitely Iran has influence on Shiites," Mubarak said in an interview broadcast Saturday evening by Al-Arabiya television. "Shiites are 65 percent of the Iraqis ... Most of the Shiites are loyal to Iran, and not to the countries they are living in."

He also said civil war "has almost started" in Iraq.

"At the moment, Iraq is almost close to destruction," he warned.

Mubarak has rarely commented on the situation in Iraq and his statements usually are broad, vague expressions of concern over the violence and political turmoil there. Arab leaders also generally avoid pointed criticism of their fellow leaders.

So the interview startled not only Iraqis but also the Shiites who form large communities in a number of Mideast nations — particularly the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Some of them said Mubarak's comments only fuel momentum toward civil war.

Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, tried Sunday to soften the impact. He said the president was talking about Shiite sympathy with Iran "in view of its hosting of (Shiite) holy shrines."

"The president's statement about Iraq was only reflecting his increasing worries about the deteriorating situation and his keenness to maintain Iraq's national unity," Awad said in a statement carried by the state news agency MENA.

That did not seem to mollify Iraqi leaders.

Iraqi interim leadership said they were "annoyed" by Mubarak's remarks.

"This is a stab in their (Shiites') patriotism and their civilization," Iraq's three highest-ranking Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni Arab leaders — President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Parliament Speaker gotcha98 Pachachi — said in a joint statement Sunday.

"Reality and historical facts show that the Shiites always have been patriotic and genuine Iraqis. This unfair accusation against Shiites is baseless," Talabani, a Kurd, later told Iraqi television.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari complained to Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit about Mubarak's remarks, an Iraqi diplomat in Cairo said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Mubarak's comments are likely to fuel complaints by Iraq's new Shiite and Kurdish leaders that Sunni-led Arab nations are biased toward the country's Sunni Arab minority and do not consider their government legitimate.

Last month, Zebari lashed out at Arab leaders in a summit in Khartoum, Sudan — that Mubarak did not attend — telling them they are to blame if Iran has influence because they have not supported Iraq since Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003.

Iraq has demanded Arab countries follow through on promises to send ambassadors to Baghdad, and it sees their failure to do so as a lack of support and recognition. Iraqi leaders also want their Arab neighbors to forgive their debt and condemn the insurgents, most of whom are Sunni Arabs.

But Arab nations appear increasingly worried about Iranian influence in Iraq and the possibility that Shiite power there will stir up Shiite minorities in their countries.

Last year, Jordan's King Abdullah II warned that Iran was seeking to create "a Shiite crescent" that would disrupt the balance of power in the region. Saudi Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal made similar warnings.

Arab leaders at the Khartoum summit expressed deep concern over plans for U.S.-Iranian talks over Iraq, fearing that meant they were being squeezed out of a say in the country.

Arab governments are countering by trying to form their own united stance on Iraq. Arab foreign ministers are due to meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss Iraq.

Last week, Arab diplomats told The Associated Press that top intelligence officers from several Arab countries and Turkey have been meeting secretly to coordinate their governments' strategies in case civil war erupts in Iraq and to block Iranian interference.

Turkey, a key non-Arab Sunni Muslim nation bordering Iraq, is worried about Iraq's split into sectarian and ethnic entities that will give rise to Kurdish ambitions for independence.

The Cairo-based Arab League also is planning a meeting of leaders of the Iraqi factions ahead of a proposed conference that will bring together representatives of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis in June.

For Shiites around the region, Mubarak's remarks hinted at Arab governments lining up against their community.

"We do not beg for certificates of allegiance to our countries from Mubarak or others," Kuwaiti Shiite lawmaker Hassan Jawhar said in a press conference held in parliament.

The comments are "the engine which drives the whole region toward civil war," Fouad Ibrahim, a prominent Saudi Shiite writer, told The Associated Press from exile in London.

Shiites are the majority in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain and have significant minorities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen.

Mubarak's Warning Angers Iraqi Leaders

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Chavez Threatens to Expel U.S. Ambassador

By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the U.S. ambassador was "provoking the Venezuelan people" and threatened Sunday to expel the American diplomat, whose convoy was chased by pro-government protesters.

"I'm going to throw you out of Venezuela if you continue provoking the Venezuelan people," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech addressed to U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield.

Venezuela's acting foreign minister on Saturday condemned the crowd of protesters for pelting Brownfield's car with eggs and tomatoes, but suggested that Brownfield is partially responsible for failing to advise authorities of his travel plans in order to avert such problems.

Chavez's more incendiary comments came after Washington warned of "severe diplomatic consequence" if a similar incident repeats itself.

"If the Washington government takes some measure against Venezuela motivated by provocations, you will be responsible, you will have to leave here, sir. I will declare you persona non grata in Venezuela," Chavez responded Sunday.

Chavez accused Washington of seeking to escalate tensions and "looking for another incident."

Chavez said Brownfield was partially responsible for the incident for failing to advise the local mayor's office or the foreign ministry of his travel plans.

The U.S. embassy in Caracas had no immediate response to the president's comments.

Brownfield had visited a ballpark in Caracas' Catia slums, a Chavez stronghold, to donate baseball equipment to a youth league.

The response to his visit Friday was the third time in three weeks that Brownfield has been met by protests. Earlier, demonstrators burned tires and torched an American flag.

The State Department said the incident Friday "clearly was condoned by the local government," with local officials handing out snacks to perpetrators at the stadium. U.S. officials accused police of doing nothing, saying a single city police car stayed well behind the convoy while motorcyclists pounded and kicked the ambassador's car.

The Caracas mayor's office denied involvement,

Chavez says the United States of plotting against him, an accusation American officials deny. The United States, however, has said Chavez is stifling democracy.

Chavez Threatens to Expel U.S. Ambassador

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North Korean defense chief warns of pre-emptive attack on US

55 minutes ago

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea's defense chief has warned that Pyongyang could also launch a preemptive attack against the United States, with state media saying soldiers were ready to be "human bombs."

"A preemptive attack is not (the) monopoly of the US, and North Korea will never sit idle till it is exposed to a preemptive attack of the US," Defense Minister Kim Il-Chol said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The US is now talking about the six-party talks but in fact, it is zealously inciting hostility toward North Korea while floating all sorts of sheer fictions, utterly indifferent to the talks," he said.

He issued the warning at a meeting Saturday to mark the 13th anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's reign as chairman of the country's powerful National Defense Commission.

Kim Il-Chol accused Washington of "watching for every chance to attack Pyongyang after listing it as a target of preemptive attack.

"It is the traditional combat method of North Korea to directly counter the pressure and threat of aggression from the enemies, without yielding to them," he said.

Rodong Sinmun, the ruling communist party's daily newspaper, said in an editorial Sunday that the North's military power "has been remarkably strengthened."

"The whole army is replete with the spirit of devotedly defending the leader and all the servicepersons are reliably defending the country and socialism in the spirit of readily becoming human bombs, the spirit of suicide bombing.

"It has modern offensive and defensive means capable of coping with any war," it said.

The comments came as top negotiators from six nations involved in efforts to end North Korea's weapons drive were gathering in Tokyo for a regional security conference.

Six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States are in limbo after Washington accused Pyongyang of counterfeiting US dollars and laundering money.

North Korea denies the charge and demands the United States lift financial sanctions before it returns to the talks.

Pyongyang declared in February last year that it had nuclear weapons. Experts say the country is also busily developing advanced missiles capable of serving as a delivery system.

North Korean defense chief warns of pre-emptive attack on US

[Soldier4Christ]

Man apprehended on White House grounds
Secret Service arrest bearded man, 40, seen screaming on the front lawn

A screaming intruder made it onto the front lawn of the White House Sunday while President Bush was at home before being apprehended by Secret Service officers.

Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren identified the man as 40-year-old Brian Lee Patterson, whose last known address was in Albuquerque, N.M. Patterson has been caught trying to get onto the White House grounds at least three times before, Zahren said.

The bearded man, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt that said “God Bless America,” jumped the fence outside the White House and ran across the north lawn while repeatedly yelling, “I am a victim of terrorism!”

Members of the Secret Service emergency response team, including one holding a barking dog, chased Patterson with their guns drawn and surrounded him near the row of cameras set up for television stand-ups.

“I have intelligence information for the president,” he said, waving his arms in the air. “I’m not afraid of you,” Patterson screamed at the officers who were ordering him to the ground with guns drawn.

Patterson eventually kneeled on the ground and was taken into custody shortly before 4 p.m. He cut his hand jumping the fence and was taken to George Washington University hospital for treatment and was to appear in court Monday, Zahren said.

Zahren said Patterson was charged with unlawful entry for the last time he jumped the fence, in February. He faces the same charge for Sunday’s incident and also a contempt of court charge for violating judge’s orders to stay away from the White House.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran 'shoots down unmanned plane'

From correspondents in Tehran

IRAN had shot down an unmanned surveillance plane in the south amid reports that the United States is planning military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a press report said today.

"This plane had taken off from Iraq and was filming border areas," a report in the hardline Jumhuri Eslami newspaper said.

It added the Islamic Republic "officials have obtained information from the plane system and recordings", without giving any further details.

US publications reported over the weekend that the White House was studying options for military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities to pressure Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear program.

The US media has reported that the US military has been secretly flying surveillance drones over Iran since 2004 using radar, video, still photography and air filters to detect traces of nuclear activity not accessible to satellites.