Todays 9/11 ' audio tapes' in full

Here are all the links to todays audio tape releases from the week of 9/11

"The histories, recorded in the weeks after the September 11th attack, offer some of the most detailed and intimate descriptions of the day's horror as seen through the eyes of the firefighters who made the iconic rush into the twin towers, and lost three hundred and forty-three of their brethren."

All links from CBS

All links require windows media player

CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 CD5 CD6 CD7 CD8 CD10 CD11 CD12 CD13 CD14
CD15 CD16 CD17 CD18 CD19 CD20 CD22

CD 21 is not related

Israel could give up more W.Bank settlements

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon raised the prospect on Friday that Israel could eventually uproot more settlements on occupied land after it evacuates its enclaves in Gaza and a pocket of the West Bank in coming weeks.

Sharon, in an interview with the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, reiterated that his "disengagement plan" was meant to strengthen Israel's hold on West Bank settlement blocs, which it intends to keep under any future peace deal with Palestinians.

However, asked about the fate of some of the more isolated West Bank settlements, Sharon said: "Not everything will remain. That issue will be raised during the final stage of negotiations with the Palestinians."

With five days to go before the start of Israel's eviction of Gaza settlers, Sharon's comments hinted at a softening of his stance against further withdrawals.
In the face of fierce rightist opposition to his pullout plan, Sharon has recently insisted he has no intention of giving up any more settlements beyond the 21 in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank scheduled for evacuation.

But a Sharon confidant said: "He has never ruled out that Israel would eventually have to give up some things -- but in the distant future when there is full peace and security."

Sunnis 'shocked' by Shiite call for autonomy

Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite expressed alarm Friday after the country's Shiite majority made a surprise move towards Kurdish-style autonomy, just days before a crucial deadline for agreement on a new constitution.

Thursday's call from leading Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim for autonomy in Shiite areas of south and central Iraq angered Sunni Arab leaders who said it could derail the entire political process.

"We are shocked and scared by the demand for autonomy as expressed by my Shiite brothers," said Salah al-Motlag, a key Sunni member of the constitutional drafting committee.
"The timing of the demand is wrong with just three days left to go for the deadline. Such demands can delay the constitution and Iraq could be without a constitution for another year."

CIA finds Iranian president likely not hostage-taker

CNN

CIA report has determined with "relative certainty" that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not involved in the taking of U.S. hostages 26 years ago, three government officials told CNN on Friday.

The officials insisted on anonymity, saying they did not want to speak for the CIA about its report.

Another U.S. official said the tone of the report is that there is no evidence to date that the new Iranian president was among those who held U.S. diplomats hostage.

Pakistan tests cruise missile

Reuters

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan successfully tested its first nuclear-capable, ground-launched cruise missile yesterday without informing India in advance, a Pakistani military spokesman said.

Nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India reached an agreement last week to inform each other about missile tests but the spokesman, Major General Shaukut Sultan, said India was not told about the test because the new Babur missile is not a ballistic missile.

''We don't have to inform neighboring countries in this case. It is not a ballistic missile and it doesn't fall under the agreement," he said.

The Babur, which has a range of 310 miles, is a terrain-hugging missile that can avoid radar detection and strike with pinpoint accuracy, the military said.

''By conducting the successful test, Pakistan has joined a select group of countries which have the capability to design and develop cruise missiles," the military said in a statement.

Pakistan and India tested nuclear weapons in 1998

villagers say 'bomb killed civilians'

Associated Press

QALAT, Afghanistan -- Afghan villagers said yesterday that US warplanes had bombed houses, killing several civilians and wounding others, including an infant. US forces suffered their sixth fatality in a week amid rising violence.

Zabul Governor Ali Khail said that US-led coalition forces made ''a mistake" during operations against militants in the southern province and that civilians had died.

But the US military denied that civilians were at the scene of the fighting in Day Chopan district on Monday, and the district's police chief said Taliban insurgents had been hiding in the area. American officials said earlier that 18 suspected Taliban guerrillas and a US service member had been killed in the clash.

Another US service member died yesterday when militants ambushed a group of American military engineers near a road construction project in Paktika Province. Another service member was wounded.

The death was the sixth US fatality since Aug. 4 when three US forces were killed in military operations in eastern Afghanistan. On Tuesday, an American service member died in a roadside bomb.

The US Defense Department's website says at least 176 American troops have died in and around the country since Operation Enduring Freedom began in late 2001 to topple the Taliban regime. The Web posting was last updated Wednesday.
Two villagers at a hospital in Qalat, the capital of Zabul, said their home village of Rauf had been pounded by American bombs on Monday night and early Tuesday.

''The children were crying, and they were very afraid," said a weeping Sadia Bibi, 50. ''These planes killed my relatives. We are poor and innocent people. Why are they killing us?"

New York opens up 9/11 files

The city of New York has released thousands of fire department files from the attacks on the World Trade Center.
They include transmissions recorded on 11 September 2001 and testimonies from firefighters which were gathered later.

The city was forced to release the documents following a lawsuit filed by the New York Times, and supported by relatives of firefighters who died.

Records already published by the paper have raised questions whether some of the deaths might have been avoided.

More than 340 firefighters lost their lives on 11 September 2001. Many died after radio messages telling them to evacuate the north tower went unheard.

Last year a congressional inquiry into the attacks said there was a breakdown in communications between the emergency services.


for the full story goto the BBC

ACLU 'have 60,000 documents of US torture and abuse'

NEW YORK -- In legal papers unsealed today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged a federal court to order the release of photographs and videos that depict the abuse and torture of prisoners in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The ACLU also asked the court to reject the government's attempt to file some of its legal arguments in secret.

"The ACLU shares everyone's deep concern about the dangers facing American soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The actions depicted in these photos and videos demonstrate the failure of American leaders who placed our young men and women in compromising situations and are now seeking to blame them for it. The real shame here is that our leaders left our troops out on a limb and now they are hiding behind a veil of rank and government office to avoid accountability."

Romero noted that until the first photos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib were made public in April 2004, the government had consistently denied that any wrongdoing had taken place despite news reports to the contrary. Since then, the ACLU has obtained through a court order more than 60,000 pages of government documents regarding torture and abuse of detainees.
Despite this evidence, the government continues to minimize the extent of the torture and to describe it as the action of a few rogue soldiers.

In response, the ACLU has called for an independent counsel with subpoena power to investigate the torture scandal, including the role of senior policymakers, and has filed a separate lawsuit to hold Secretary Rumsfeld and high-ranking military officers accountable

todays 'last throws' 11th August

Source: ReutersBAGHDAD, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents reported in Iraq on Thursday, Aug. 11, as of 1115 GMT.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.
THULUIYA - U.S forces killed two insurgents as they repelled a small-arms fire attack in the town of Thuluiya, 70km north of Baghdad, the U.S. army said.
Five people were arrested following the attack. There were no U.S casualties, the army said.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi police officer was assassinated in western Baghdad's Mansour district as he was driving to work, a hospital official said.
BASRA - Iraqi army Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim Khalil al-Rawi was assassinated by gunmen in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, hospital officials said.
KIRKUK - The body of an Iraqi translator working for U.S forces was found in central Kirkuk after he was kidnapped by masked gunmen in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Yadgar Mohammed said.

Not in my name

with all the recent opinion about muslims going around .. so often people miss what is being done by muslims and what is being said

so it is about time that sites like this were mentioned more often

Bush makes comment on Sheehan

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush said Thursday he understands and respects the views of anti-war advocates like a California mother camped outside his Texas ranch to mourn her soldier son fallen in Iraq, but said it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops home now.

"I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place," Bush said.

"I also have heard the voices of those saying: 'Pull out now!' " he said. "And I've thought about their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree."

Immediate withdrawal "would send a terrible signal to the enemy," the president said.

Cindy Sheehan has been camped along a road near Bush's ranch since Saturday, asking to talk to Bush about her son Casey and vowing to remain until his Texas vacation ends later this month. Casey was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year. He was 24.

"I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan," Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position, and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position, and I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so."

9/11 Pentagon responds to claims of prior knowledge of Atta

The US Defense Department has provided an independent commission with information about an intelligence operation that a lawmaker said identified a hijacker a year before the attacks of September 11, 2001, a spokesman said.

But the spokesman said the Pentagon remains uncertain what level of detail was provided to the official commission that investigated the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

"We are looking into what information - and in what detail - was provided to the commission, but as I understand it, at least some of this information was provided," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

"We are looking to better understand what information was developed and then what information was also provided to (the commission)," he said.

Asked whether there was knowledge of Mohammed Atta, the reputed leader of the September 11 hijackers, before the attacks, Whitman said: "We're looking further into it."

Multiculturalism is backed by 62% of Britains

This is a small survey but it seems we are not as racist as the terrorists and the far right would want us to be...

Another small step for common sense


Multiculturalism is backed by 62% of the population, who say it makes Britain a better place to live, according to new figures.

The Mori poll for the BBC found fewer Muslims than other groups think Britain is becoming less racially tolerant.

A total of 31% said they believed this was the case, compared with 39% of people generally.

According to another 31% of Muslims, we are becoming more tolerant, 32% have seen no change and 6% declined to answer or did not know.

In addition, the number of Britons who regard themselves as racially prejudiced has fallen from 30% in 2003 to 25% now.

The Mori poll on August 8 and 9 involved 1,004 adults as well as 204 booster interviews among Muslims.

But the poll also records mixed responses to questions about the integration of immigrant communities.

Nationally, 82% think immigrants who become British citizens should be made to learn English while 90% of Muslims think citizenship should require a knowledge of English.

IRAQI: IRAN SMUGGLING REPORTS EXAGGERATED

BAGHDAD, Iraq -

Iraq's interior minister said Wednesday that reports of deadly roadside bombs being smuggled into this country from Iran are exaggerated

On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said some insurgent weapons are entering Iraq from Iran although it's unclear whether they were coming from elements of the Iranian government or from other parties.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr told reporters that Iraqi security forces recently opened fire on a group of men carrying boxes near the Iranian border. The men dropped the boxes and fled back into Iranian territory. Inside the boxes were dynamite sticks with some wires.

"This is all that happened at the border and was very much exaggerated," Jabr said.

Appearing before parliament, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari dodged questions about the use of Iranian weapons by the insurgents. Al-Jaafari, who spent years in exile in Iran, referred questions to the interior and defense ministries.

Al-Jaafari was responding to a question by a Shiite Muslim legislator, Hussein al-Sadr, about U.S. allegations that weapons were coming in from Iran.

"Concerning me, I don't comment on reports especially if they are coming from abroad," al-Jaafari said. "It should not be that someone says something and we sit here and open a conversation about it. We have our own sources."

source (ap)

U.S. officials in Gitmo transfer talks

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and at least 10 other nations are involved in negotiations that could drop the detainee population at Guantanamo Bay by 80 percent -- or 410 people -- within the coming months, State Department officials said.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen are among the countries in "various stages of discussion" with the Bush administration about the return of their citizens in the next two months, said the two U.S. officials who hold senior posts.

Last week the United States and Afghanistan announced an agreement on a similar transfer.

The United States has 510 detainees from 34 countries in custody at Guantanamo.

Citizens from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen account for the majority of those detainees with 129, 110 and 107 respectively, the two U.S. officials said.

Detainees whom the United States considers "really bad guys" will remain in Guantanamo, the officials said, but in coming months the facility population could drop to about 100.

Sheehan tells Hadley 'get that maniac out here !'

“That lying bastard, George Bush, is taking a five-week vacation in time of war,” Cindy Sheehan told 200 cheering members of Veterans For Peace at their annual convention in Dallas last Friday evening. She then announced she would go to Bush’s vacation home in nearby Crawford, Texas and camp out until he “tells me why my son died in Iraq. I’ve got the whole month of August off, and so does he.”

Sheehan left the VFP meeting on Saturday morning and is now in Crawford with a couple dozen veterans and local peace activists, waiting for Bush to talk with her. She said in Dallas that if he sends anyone else to see her, as happened when national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin did later that day, she would demand that “You get that maniac out here to talk with me in person.”

She told the audience of veterans from World War Two to today’s war in Iraq, that the two main things she plans to tell the man she holds responsible for son Casey’s death are “Quit saying that U.S. troops died for a noble cause in Iraq, unless you say, ‘well, except for Casey Sheehan.’ Don’t you dare spill any more blood in Casey’s name. You do not have permission to use my son’s name.”

“And the other thing I want him to tell me is ‘just what was the noble cause Casey died for?’ Was it freedom and democracy? Bullshit! He died for oil. He died to make your friends richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East. We’re not freer here, thanks to your PATRIOT Act. Iraq is not free. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism,” she exclaimed.

“There, I used the ‘I’ word – imperialism,” the 48 year-old mother quipped. “And now I’m going to use another ‘I’ word – impeachment – because we cannot have these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war crimes and go to jail.”

Todays 'Last throws' from Iraq

BAIJI - Four U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded late on Tuesday in an attack on a patrol near the oil town of Baiji, 180 km (115 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement on Wednesday. Police said two Humvee patrol vehicles and a larger armoured vehicle were wrecked.

MOSUL - Fifteen people were killed in separate incidents over the past 24 hours in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. A police source said there were two policemen among the dead. They were gunned down while heading to work.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 14 when he drove a car at a police patrol in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad, police and Interior Ministry sources said. Two of the dead and two of the wounded were policemen.

BAGHDAD - A mortar bomb exploded at an intersection in the capital's northern district of Aadhamiya, killing a traffic policeman and wounding six civilians, a police source said.

ISKANDARIYA - Two civilians were killed and another three were wounded when gunmen shot at their car near Iskandariya, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Police brigadier Khudhur Abbas al-Salih was kidnapped when he left his house in the capital's northern district of Raghiba Khatoun. A police source said the kidnappers had called his wife, asked for ransom and threatened to behead him if she did not pay.

RAMADI - Nine car bombs and 28 improvised bombs were discovered and 32 suspects were detained in operation Quick Strike in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said on Tuesday. The operation has ended.

HABBANIYA - A U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire on Tuesday in the town of Habbaniya, west of Baghdad near Ramadi, a U.S. military statement said. * BAIJI - Gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by Iraqi army and police near Baiji, killing four soldiers and wounding four, including a civilian, police said.

Childish Theory

What we routinely misname a democracy (our form of government is a republic, not a democracy) evolved through the centuries from our mother country, the United Kingdom. It has taken hold nowhere else on the globe except in the English-speaking countries, not even on Continental Europe.
It is uniquely English, based on English common law.

One would have to be a moron or entirely ignorant of the Muslim world to expect that you could impose that system on Iraq at the point of a gun. There is such a striking absence of common sense in Washington that I sometimes think we ought to outsource the State Department to the Teamsters Union, and intelligence work to the Mafia. It would help if we moved the national capital to Fargo, N.D., where subzero temperatures might encourage Congress to do its work on time

to read the full article click Here

Are we losing ?

The U.S. military continues to try to shut down the Iraqi insurgents with "sweeps" of different towns or hotspots. Typically this is a reactive move following deaths of U.S. servicemen.

It takes time for the U.S. military to respond to any provocation, because the only way Americans will engage the enemy is from heavily armored vehicles with massive firepower. This calls for logistics, planning, and usually eliminates any possible use of stealth or rapid response to achieve tactical advantage. So, we see the U.S. running their sweeps into towns and villages or utilizing air strikes and bombings or artillery attacks -- after the fact, usually well after the fact of any insurgent activity.

This means that long after the militants are out of the building, the bomb strikes and killing non-combatants such as local families. Long after the insurgent tactical squads have evacuated a town or village, the tanks roll in and blast the smithereens out of any building from which fire was suspected two days earlier. Oops! More dead civilians. This farce of warfare is good for only one thing -- increasing recruitment for the insurgency. "Kill my cousin and now I kill you" is the understandable reaction of thousands of Iraqis now.

Talk about motivation!

The American way of warfare was designed to win huge land wars, such on the European theater against masses of Russians with huge tank armies. America needed massive firepower because of being outgunned in that potential theater of war.

In Iraq, America has the advantage in numbers of men AND firepower, but little room for maneuver and little initiative. Americans are on their heels and when they do try to take the initiative they fire into buildings long after the battle is over.

This war cannot be won by America.

Those 'pathetic' Iraqis just will not stand and fight toe to toe. For some strange reason, the Iraqis are fighting to win, not to meet American wishes and expectations. Every day that Americans are in Iraq fighting the insurgency is another day that George Bush is losing ground. Every death of an American soldier is a nail in the coffin of the American Empire.

And George Bush thought it would be easy! Mission Accomplished, George! George has lost some of that strut he used to use when walking across the aircraft carrier deck. His senior military officers are probably having a hard time looking him in the eye. Rumsfeld is a little less cocky these days, and Cheney is buried in his bunker thinking about nuking Iraq and Iran, because he has no other solution. American strategy is proving to be weak, and it all started when the Iraqis refused to sit still and be blown to smithereens.

Osama bin Laden in Iraq

Hey .. thats what it said .. anyway after the huge post on the MI6 agent i thought it better to lighten the mood .. so we go from the sensible to the stupid . I just picked up this story

U.S. troops in Iraq have seized documents suggesting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is planning to enter Iraq during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to an Iranian news agency report.

Bin Laden's visit to Iraq during Ramadan, which this year begins in early October, would be part of an al-Qaida attempt to further destabilize the war-ravaged country and to lead a coup attempt against the government in Baghdad, the Mehr news agency said.

Citing a spokesman from the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah of Iraq, the report said that Americans soldiers found documents, apparently meant for internal use by an Iraqi al-Qaida affiliate, the Mujahadeen of the Land of Rafedin, mentioning bin Laden's planned visit.
The documents were reportedly seized in a house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.


and if you believe that then you probably voted for George

Interview with former MI6 agent

Alastair Crooke is a former official with Britain's MI6 intelligence agency and I have picked up this recent interview with al-jazeera that makes fascinating reading .Considering his previous position it is probably fair to presume that his view mirrors that of MI6 and therefore makes the interview more interesting still. The fact that his views are not as extreme as those i so often come across is something of a comfort . Alastair spent many years in the Arab and Muslim world and engaged in dialogue with Hamas and Hizb Allah, as well as facing paramilitary forces and drug cartels in Latin America and militias in Africa. During this time, Crooke helped end the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002 and worked to mediate the summer 2003 ceasefire between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces. So he knows his stuff , If only more people could see the bigger picture

How do you explain the apparent increase in bombings taking place around the world, most recently seen in London and Egypt? What is happening?

What I think we see is a division in views that is taking place. I think we have on the one hand groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizb Allah who are trying to build a Muslim society, and to get a stake in society and in power, by working through the electoral process, by trying to work or to try to contrive the reforms that will allow them, if you like, from the bottom up, popular Islamism.
You see that very clearly taking place in Egypt, where there is a process of drawing on a popular desire to see elections, changes and reforms - and trying to mobilise that popular support in order to get a stake in power, whereby they can bring about the changes that conform with what their constituencies are looking to.
On the other hand, I think there is a different trend which sees the project of decolonisation after the last European war having been incomplete and having failed, and amongst some of this trend, you get the sense that you have to break the system in order to make the system. You've actually got to bring down the structures in order to start again.

That accommodation ultimately will fail because the West won't allow groups like Hamas, Hizb Allah and others to participate fully in the electoral process. So they are looking to another way of doing that, in which they are challenging, if you like, completing the process of decolonisation. They believe you have to pull the structure down and start again.

I think this dichotomy was elegantly described by Muqtada al-Sadr [a Shia Muslim cleric in Iraq] in a recent interview, in which he said, 'Look, there are some of my brothers who believe that by working with the provisional government, they can work to bring about an end to the occupation of Iraq. Well, I wish them luck with that, but I believe ultimately they will fail because the United States will not allow it. That is why I believe that first by resistance we must bring about the end of occupation, and only then will it be possible to create a state, a Muslim state, in Iraq'.

And I think that is something of the dilemma we are facing, that I think what we saw in Egypt is [both trends] taking place at the same time. On the one hand, you have the Muslim Brotherhood and the other groups working politically, challenging for power through the electoral process, and we see the bombs that took place in Sharm al-Shaikh - we don't yet know the full motivation - which may represent the other trend, which says, you've got to collapse the system before you can really rebuild a fair and just society.

You make a distinction between the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizb Allah, and al-Qaida or al-Qaida related-groups, that are more global in their actions?

I think there is a big difference between the two, in that what you have is Hamas, Hizb Allah, Jammat Islamiya, Muslim Brotherhood and these groups.
They may be seen on the one hand through the optic of using resistance or violence, in support of their objectives, but these groups all favour elections, they look for reform, they're looking for constitutional change in their society, and that is an important difference between these groups and some of the other Salafi, Takfiri, extreme radical groups who are looking for polarisation.

So what does al-Qaida want?

Well, I'm afraid I'm one of those people in the West that thinks this title, al-Qaida, has become so overused and used so widely, that I mean that's it's impossible any longer to say.
I don't think there is that organisational structure that is so often presented in the West, but I think it is quite clear the main objective is the removal of Western armies from Muslim lands and an ability to create a just society in Muslim lands. But their methodology is very different.

This is to oversimplify it, but it has some objectives which were evident in 1998 [the year Osama bin Laden declared a fatwa calling on his followers to kill American nationals and allies of the US, and the year of the East Africa embassy bombings] which was about polarisation and radicalisation and a short circuiting of the route to an Islamic society by an act of "shock and awe" that would radicalise the ummah [global Muslim community] and bring about an instant change.

But for many Muslims and many groups - including the Islamists - they would say it has alienated much of the ummah by the type and nature of the violence that has been used to radicalise the situation. And also some would say that it has made the conditions for Muslims worse off because of "the war on terror".

And certainly, some groups might point to the situation of the Palestinians as an example and say it has greatly deteriorated. So what have these acts achieved?

Do you think America is waging the ''war on terror'' in an effective manner?

You have to go back and say, what is a war? "Terror" -whatever that means - I don't use that word because I don't think it's necessarily helpful to understanding what we're dealing with.
And certainly, if we are, it's why I prefer to use such words as political insurgency - an incipient political insurgency - because an insurgency is basically about psychology and politics and that's what we have been trying to understand, and that's what we have to deal with.
But I think there are two things that are very important to understand. One is that in dealing with the situation we have now, the first thing is the West often muddles together things that are so completely different. They group Hamas and Hizb Allah and put them in the same box and say all of this is "Islamist terrorism".
They couldn't be more poles apart. Just [recently] for example, I heard that there is an assassination list put out by some of these radical groups which contain Hizb Allah names on it, proposing that they should be assassinated. There is a world of difference between bunching them together - the struggle and the difference between [these] groups.

The other thing that is important to understand is we often talk about anger and hostility, but there is also a feeling in the West that it is just anger and hostility to the West and that, if only things settle down in Iraq and if Muslims are more educated and get a little bit more money, it will all go away and vanish and things will become stable again. I think that is to miss the point.

There is anger, and there is this hostility, but there is also beneath that a substantive critique of Western policies, of Western economic structures of our financial system, of our trade policy, of our development policy, of our foreign policies and also an alternative view of how a society should be. In other words, the challenge that they are not necessarily universal values. So I think we should just not regard this as a froth of anger that will be dissipated, if only a little more money and investment is poured into the [affected places].

I think the anger may diminish, but there beneath this, a substantive and real critique needs to be addressed by the West and not denied by them.

US President George Bush says that extremist groups like al-Qaida hate the democracy and values the West represents. Is this a correct view and understanding of what motivates such groups?

This is completely wrong. Muslims everywhere - and the polls underline this very clearly - reflect the same values: They do not hate our values, but they do hate our policies.

Polls show very clearly that Muslims support elections, they want popular participation in government. They want effective and good governance and they want reform. And these are the same values as European and American societies. Muslim values expressed in the polls represent no threat to our societies.

Perhaps they will look for a society that is underpinned with ethical values not only in a personal sphere but in an institutional sphere, and in a sphere of governance in order to avoid what they see as some of the weaknesses of a secular liberal democracy, but that is not a challenge, or an existential threat to our societies.

Why do you believe it is important to talk to groups that use such tactics as suicide bombings?

I don't want to imply that that is a condoning of these tactics, but what we are looking at is we are talking to those groups that have sometimes used political violence, but these are groups that should also be seen, on the other hand, [as groups] who do support elections, who do support positive reform and change, and who reflect significant Muslim constituencies. They have a real legitimacy. They clearly have many people who support their activities and vote for them and express their support. So they do have a real legitimacy, which the West must not sweep under the carpet and pretend it's not there.

With the other groups [such as al-Qaida], there is no indication of whether they have a clear legitimacy. Maybe some arguments that they make have some resonance, perhaps or not within the whole of Muslim societies, but some sectors of it. There's no formal way of judging the degree to which there is legitimacy for their views, as opposed to some ephemeral resonance that some arguments have within Muslim society, so there is a big difference, I believe. The other difference is, if they're looking for polarisation and radicalisation, then I'll doubt if they want to talk to anyone.

Should governments not take the principled stand that they should not negotiate with those who use such indiscriminate carnage?

We need to find the most effective way to break a cycle of violence and we need to address it in a number of ways. One of the clear things I'm saying is that once you look and understand that this is also about politics, it means we have to have a political approach, as well as a need to protect our societies too. Every society has to protect its citizens, that is the duty of a government.

But it is also important to look at it more widely and to understand possibly that by labelling and lumping together groups like Hamas and Hizb Allah and others that clearly are wanting to participate ... to try to deny them political space, to isolate and demonize them and disempower their discourse is the wrong way to go about it.

You have moderates and young people - even people here in the camps in Lebanon - who would say to their political leaders, "Look, see where your moderation has got you? See what you've succeeded in? Your still labelled a terrorist, you are still hunted down and killed and it has achieved for you nothing." If that continues, it would be not surprising if people - young people - will say there's no point [in positive participation].

Rumsfeld ups pressure on Iran

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said weapons from Iran have been found in Iraq. An issue that we reported on this site a few days ago

Mr Rumsfeld said it was "unhelpful" of Tehran not to have prevented them from crossing the border.
erm Donald , doesn't a border have two sides ? they are not responsible for the Iraqi border ! maybe you should be shouting at the Iraqis or if as you say only 3000 of them are trained then who is exactly is guarding the borders ?

what a wonderful and strange piece of double logic

He said the arms were "clearly" Iranian but refused to describe them or say how many had been identified

Some media reports have suggested that the weapons include sophisticated explosives that are finding their way into the hands of insurgents but there is as yet no independent confirmation of that

I hope Syria is watching closely ..

...they must be next

Another burst of 'last throws' from today in Iraq

BAGHDAD - At least 10 Iraqi policemen were shot dead in five separate attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry official said.

In one attack, four policemen on patrol were killed by insurgents with automatic weapons on a major highway in the eastern part of the capital.

BAGHDAD - At least three Iraqis were killed and 32 injured by a suicide car bomb targeting a police convoy on a busy central Baghdad street, police said.

BAQUBA - Three pilgrims were killed and eight injured when gunmen sprayed their minivan with gunfire near the town of Baquba, medical sources said. The pilgrims were heading to neighbouring Iran to visit a holy Shi'ite shrine.

ABU KHAMIS - Two people were burned to death when insurgents stopped their truck and set fire to it in an area called Abu Khamis, just north of Baghdad, police said. It was unclear why the truck had been targeted.

LATIFIYAH - Two Iraqi civilians were killed and a third critically wounded on Monday when gunmen fired on their car while they travelled on a main road near the violent town of Latifiyah, just south of Baghdad, police said.

Police said it was unclear why the three men, who were brothers, had been attacked. Scores of Shi'ites have been murdered near the town by Sunni radicals in the past year.

* BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber in a car killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two when he struck their convoy at a Baghdad intersection, the U.S. military said in a statement.

* HILLA - Gunmen killed a former officer in Saddam Hussein's Baath party in the southern town of Hilla, police said.

BAGHDAD - One police commando was killed and another injured by an explosion in Baghdad's Mansour district, police at the scene said.

BAQUBA - One policeman was killed and another injured when gunmen fired on their patrol car in the centre of Baquba, a town about 40 km (25 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - One civilian was killed and another injured when gunmen attacked their mobile phone shop in al-Jamee'a district of southwest Baghdad, a hospital source said.

RAMADI - One U.S. soldier was killed in action on Monday by small arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

Source: Reuters

CIA asked us to let nuclear spy go

AMSTERDAM — The CIA asked the Netherlands not to detain Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for stealing nuclear secrets from a Dutch facility, former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has claimed.

Speaking on Dutch radio programme Argos on Tuesday morning, Lubbers said the Dutch authorities held off from taking action against Khan in 1975 and 1986 because the US security agency wanted to gain more information about the scientist's activities.

Khan was hailed a national hero in Pakistan in 1997 when the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced that the country possessed nuclear weapons.

It emerged later that Khan also headed a clandestine network that sold on nuclear know-how to Libya, North Korea and Iran. Although there was mounting evidence of Khan's illicit activities by 2001, this was only made public in 2004.

Born in Bhopal, Khan trained as a metallurgist in Germany. From May 1972 to December 1975 he was employed by Physics Dynamic Research Laboratory (also known as FDO), an engineering firm based in Amsterdam and a subcontractor to the URENCO consortium specialising in the manufacture of nuclear equipment.

Urenco's primary enrichment facility was in Dutch city of Almelo, near the German border. Khan had an office there by late 1974, the website of globalsecurity.org says.

In early 1976, Khan left the Netherlands with secret Urenco blueprints for an uranium centrifuge. He was convicted in absentia by a court in the Netherlands in 1983 for stealing the designs. The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.

Phew good job he wasn't Iranian !

Every Mother's Son

George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.

Sheehan had met Mr. Bush once before. On April 4, 2004, just shy of a year after Bush stood on an aircraft carrier beneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," Cindy Sheehan's son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in Iraq when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. He was 24 years old.

After Casey's death, Cindy Sheehan was invited to the White House for a visit with Mr. Bush in June of 2004. Her first memory of Bush's appearance that day was when he walked into the room and said in a loud, bluff voice, "Who we'all honorin' today?"

"His mouth kept moving," Sheehan later recalled of her meeting with Bush, "but there was nothing in his eyes or anything else about him that showed me he really cared or had any real compassion at all. This is a human being totally disconnected from humanity and reality. His eyes were empty, hollow shells." Bush called her "Ma" or "Mom" throughout the whole meeting, and never got around to learning her name.

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting," Sheehan said later. "Designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn't even know our names. I just couldn't believe this was happening. It was so surreal and bizarre. Later I met with some of the other fifteen or sixteen families who were at the White House the same day and, sure enough, they all felt the same way I did."

9/11 New evidence comes to light

A year before the 9/11 attacks a secret US intelligence unit had identified four of the hijackers as likely linked to al-Qaeda, a US congressman says.
But the unit's request for the FBI to be informed was turned down, according to Representative Curt Weldon.
One of the men identified was said to be 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta.
Mr Weldon has a reputation for bold statements, but his comments are being taken seriously after claims from an unnamed former intelligence official

for the full details click Here and for the NYT times article click Here

Remember Nagasaki

We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace.

The UK and US made a 'cows ear' of anthrax deal with Saddam

A BRITISH cow that died in an Oxfordshire field in 1937 has emerged as the source of Saddam Hussain’s “weapons of mass destruction” programme that led to the Iraq war.

An ear from the cow was sent to an English laboratory, where scientists discovered anthrax spores that were later used in secret biological warfare tests by Winston Churchill.

The culture was sent to the United States, which exported samples to Iraq during Saddam’s war against Iran in the 1980s. Inspectors have found that this batch of anthrax was the dictator’s choice in his attempts to create biological weapons.

The discovery has angered some British politicians. Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, has renewed his call, supported by 126 MPs in the last Parliament, for a UN investigation into whether Washington broke a weapons control agreement.

“It just makes them look more hypocritical than ever,”

read more Here

main incidents in Iraq today

or 'last throws' meets 'losing steam'

BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents reported in Iraq on Sunday, Aug. 8, as of 1330 GMT.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.
SAMAWA - Guerrillas fired rocket-propelled grenades at police in the southern town of Samawa in a second day of unrest. On Sunday, hundreds of protesters demanded the governor's resignation and better services. Police shot and killed one protester and wounded 40, police and doctors said on Sunday.
SAMARRA - The bodies of five policemen who were shot dead and thrown in a river were found in the northern town of Samarra, police said. They were on their way home for vacation when they were killed, police said.
BAGHDAD - A translator working at Baghdad's Doura power station was shot dead, said a source at Yarmouk hospital.
FALLUJA - A suicide bomber attacked a U.S. patrol in the former rebel stronghold of Falluja, west of Baghdad, Iraqi police sources said. There was no immediate confirmation of the attack from the U.S. military and no word on casualties.
KIRKUK - Two employees of the Iraqi state-owned North Oil Company were shot dead by gunmen in Fatha, 75 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

Saddam's family sacks foreign legal team

The family of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has sacked all members of his foreign defence team and would deal only with his Iraqi lawyer.
Saddam, who was ousted in April 2003 after the US-led invasion of Iraq and captured the following December, is in US custody near Baghdad awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.
No trial date has yet been set.
"From today, none of the lawyers, except Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi, will have the right to act on behalf of Saddam," according to a statement from the family signed by Saddam's daughter Raghad.
"They used their position to further interests not linked to the case," the statement said.
A member of the Amman-based defence committee, Issam al-Ghazzawi, said the family's decision may be linked to the number of public declarations by various lawyers about Saddam's case.
"Defence committee members do not have the mandate to plead Saddam's case in court, but will offer legal advice and support, nothing more," he added.
The committee, which has about 20 active lawyers, does not recognise the competence of the Iraq Special Tribunal to try Saddam.
Last month, the court filed the first charges against Saddam over the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the village of Dujail, north-east of Baghdad, where he had been the target of a failed assassination bid.

World oil prices reach a new high

LONDON (AFP) - World oil prices have struck fresh record high points, reaching almost 64 dollars in New York, as an unspecified threat caused the United States to shut its embassy in Saudi Arabia -- the world's biggest exporter of crude.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, soared 1.68 dollars Monday to 63.99 dollars per barrel in early deals.
Before Monday, the previous high stood at 62.50 dollars -- a level reached last Wednesday after US refineries were hit by disruptions

Cindy Sheenan threatened with arrest

Daily Dissent is reporting that a source close to the war protest mom currently camped outside the Bush home in Crawford, Texas has been threatened with arrest .

'David Swanson from Daily Kos reports:
Cindy Sheehan phoned me from Texas a few minutes ago to say that she's been informed that beginning Thursday, she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Coincidentally, Thursday is the day that Rice and Rumsfeld visit the ranch, and Friday is a fundraiser event for the haves and the have mores. Cindy said that she and others plan to be arrested. '

for those that wish to , there is a link at Daily Dissent to send your messages to Cindy

Iran, the bomb and the truth

The facts about Iran's "alleged" nuclear weapons program have never been in dispute. There is no such program and no one has ever produced a shred of credible evidence to the contrary. That hasn't stopped the Bush administration from making spurious accusations and threats; nor has it deterred America's "imbedded" media from implying that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

Iran has no nuclear weapons program. This is the conclusion of Mohammed el-Baradei the respected chief of the IAEA. The agency has conducted a thorough and nearly-continuous investigation on all suspected sites for the last two years and has come up with the very same result every time; nothing.

If we can't trust the findings of these comprehensive investigations by nuclear experts than the agency should be shut down and the NPT (Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty) should be abandoned. It is just that simple.

That, of course, is exactly what the US and Israel would prefer since they have no intention of complying with international standards or treaties and are entirely committed to a military confrontation with Iran.

The United States doesn't allow any intrusive inspections on its nuclear weapons sites even though it is the only nation that has ever used nukes in battle and even though it is developing a whole new regime of tactical "bunker-buster" bombs for destroying heavily-fortified weapons sites buried beneath the ground.

The US is also the only nation that claims the right to use nukes in a "first-strike" capacity if it feels that its national security interests are at stake.

The NPT is entirely designed to harass the countries that have not yet developed nuclear weapons and force them to observe rules designed by the more powerful states. It was intended to maintain the existing power-structure not to keep the peace.

Why should Iran forgo the processing of nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes if it is written right into the treaty? Would Israel or Pakistan accept a similar proposal?

Of course, not. Both countries ignored the treaty altogether and built their own nuclear weapons behind the back of the international community. Only Iran has been singled out and punished for COMPLYING with the treaty. This demonstrates the power of Washington to dictate the international agenda.

So far, none of the terrorist bombings in London, Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia or the US have implicated even one Iranian national. That will certainly change if we pursue this this current agenda . Iranian Intelligence has probably already planned covert operations that will be carried out in the event of an unprovoked attack on their facilities. Iran is also likely to become an active supporter of international terrorist groups; enlisting more recruits in the war against American interests. After all, any attack on Iran can only be construed as a declaration of all-out war.


snippets taken from "ICH"

Iran has restarted its nuclear programme

Iran has resumed sensitive fuel cycle work at its uranium conversion facility near the city of Isfahan.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed work had begun at the plant, after it was suspended in 2004 to allow for negotiations with the EU.
The US and EU had previously warned that any resumption could lead to Iran being referred to the UN Security Council for economic sanctions.

full story Here

Iran rejects US allegations of intervention in Iraq

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi on Sunday rejected US defense secretary's allegations on Iran's intervention in Iraqi affairs. In his weekly press briefing, he reacted to the recent allegations of the US defense secretary accusing Iran of intervening in Iraq's internal affairs by transferring bombs to the country, the spokesman said that there is nothing to motivate Iran to do so. He stressed that Iran supports establishment of stability and security in the country.

He further commented that such remarks by the US officials aimed at justifying US failure in Iraq to the world's public opinion by inventing a hypothetical enemy which could be blamed for the failures.

new poll: Americans slam Bush over Iraq

WASHINGTON, Aug 7

In one of the the lowest ratings for US President Mr George W Bush, 61 per cent of Americans have disapproved of his handling of the war in Iraq, a new opinion poll has revealed. Newsweek magazine, which conducted the poll, said yesterday that it was Mr Bush’s lowest approval on Iraq and the first below-40 per cent drop in his ratings. Only 34 per cent of those polled said they approved of Mr Bush’s handling of Iraq. While 50 per cent said the US was losing ground in its efforts to establish security and democracy in the country, only 40 per cent said US was making progress. A poll done by the magazine one month ago had shown that 41 per cent of Americans approved of Mr Bush’s handling of Iraq while 54 per cent did not.

Update: Yet another two soldiers die in Iraq today

Again the source is US Centcom
August 7, 2005
Release Number: 05-08-10
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETWO TASK FORCE LIBERTY SOLDIERS KILLED, THREE WOUNDED BY IED
TIKRIT,
Iraq

Two Task Force Liberty Soldiers were killed and three were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near a vehicle patrol near Samarra at about 6:00 p.m. on August 6. The Soldiers were evacuated to a Coalition Forces medical facility where two Soldiers died of wounds sustained in the attack. The names of the Soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin

Soldier's mom digs in near Bush ranch

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- A mother whose son was killed in Iraq says she is prepared to continue her protest outside President Bush's ranch through August until she is granted an opportunity to speak with him.

Another wonderful example of real american determination , i wish her luck

full story Here

Iraq suicide blast kills seven

Sunday's Last Throws

Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 17 were wounded in a suicide bomb blast in central Tikrit on Sunday, an Iraqi army source said.
The suicide bomber blew up a truck loaded with explosives at the entrance to an Iraqi army base in Tikrit, some 180 kilometers north of Baghdad.
Despite the violence, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with Time magazine released on Sunday that the insurgency in Iraq is "losing steam" while "rather quiet political progress" remains on track.

ok Condoleezza , if you say so

UPdate .. on operation "losing steam"

AT least 39 people have been killed in attacks across the country overnight, including the region where Australian soldiers are based, as Iraq's president announced a series of meetings of political leaders to negotiate issues holding up completion of the new constitution Here

Another US marine killed in Iraq

I have just Picked this story up coming out of the United States Central Command

August 7, 2005
Release Number: 05-08-08
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARINE KILLED BY SUICIDE ATTACK

CAMP FALLUJAH

Iraq – A Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) was killed in action August 6 by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. The incident took place during combat operations near Al Amiriyah, Iraq.

The name of the deceased is being withheld and will be released by the Department of Defense after the next of kin have been notified

Angry Outsiders Boosting al-Qaida's Ranks

They had roots in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Jamaica: the suspected al-Qaida foot soldiers in Britain were immigrants or were children of immigrants - a new breed of recruits that underscores the changes in the organization since the Sept. 11 attacks, say experts studying the London bombings.

you can read the full article Here and some snippets below


"Al-Qaida version 1.0 is functionally dead," said Jerrold Post, a founding director of the CIA's Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior. "Al-Qaida version 2.0 is almost more an ideology. ... It's an adaptive organization responding to a crisis."

"Diaspora communities are the main resources for this global jihad," Post told The Associated Press. "(Their families) left for a better life, but they really have not been able to fully integrate with the recipient societies that they have immigrated to."

Jenkins said al-Qaida recruiters are very good at spotting the vulnerable - often young men undergoing personal crises - whether drugs, crime, joblessness, poverty or a spiritual hunger. They are offered an ideology that explains the difficulties and provides a new mind-set.

"This is the way cults recruit," Jenkins said. "To a certain extent ... this is the way armies recruit."

"The thing that holds it together is the ideology itself," he said of al-Qaida's decentralized structure. "How do you attack an ideology? It's very rough to do."

If not impossible if you ask me .

This is in interesting article thanks go to lg-domain for the heads up

Did Saudi Arabia warn Britain of London attack

A British newspaper reports that Saudi Arabian officials claimed they warned Britain that a terror attack on the United Kingdom was being planned weeks ahead of the July 7 bombs.

The Observer quoted one security official in Riyadh as saying that information was passed to MI5 and MI6, the secret security and intelligence services.

And the Sunday Telegraph quoted the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, Prince Turki al-Faisal, as saying that details of a possible plot to attack London believed to have been obtained from terror suspects under interrogation in the desert kingdom had been given to British intelligence.

9/11 Group Says White House Has Not Provided Files

The New York times is reporting that the White House has failed to turn over any of the information requested by the 10 members of the disbanded Sept. 11 commission in their renewed, unofficial investigation into whether the government is doing enough to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil.

The members said that the Bush administration's lack of cooperation was hindering a project that was otherwise nearly complete.

"It's very disappointing," Mr. Kean(the former Republican governor of New Jersey) said of the administration's failure to cooperate with the group. "All we're trying to do is make the public safer."

Full story here

Roadside bombs 'Machine manufactured in Iran'

The US military is reporting that 'many of the new, more sophisticated roadside bombs used to attack American and government forces in Iraq have been designed in Iran and smuggled over the border'

But just as troubling is that the spread of the weapons seems to suggest a new and unusual area of cooperation between Iranian Shiites and Iraqi Sunnis to drive American forces out.

In my view if these two factions are joining forces then the problems in Iraq are even greater then we already believe

"These are among the most sophisticated and most lethal devices we've seen," said a leading officer. "It's very serious."

"The devices we're seeing now have been machined," said a military official who has access to classified reporting on the insurgents' bomb-making abilities. "There is evidence of some sophistication."

American officials say they have no evidence that the Iranian government is involved. But defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the new United States ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, complained publicly this week about the Tehran government's harmful meddling in Iraqi affairs.

"There is movement across its borders of people and material used in violent acts against Iraq," Khalilzad said last week.

But some Middle East specialists discount any involvement by the Iranian government or Hezbollah, saying it would be counter to their interests to support Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgents, who have stepped up their attacks against Iraqi Shiites. These specialists suggest the arms shipments are more likely to be the work of criminals, arms traffickers or splinter insurgent groups.

Iran rejects EU nuclear incentives

Iran has rejected the European Union's proposals for incentives in return for a suspension of nuclear fuel work as unacceptable.
"The Europeans' submitted proposals regarding the nuclear case are not acceptable for Iran," the official IRNA news agency on Saturday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
"The proposals are unacceptable because Iran's right to enrich uranium is not included," he said.

Full story Here