UN Human Rights Commission Report details US abuses at Guantanamo

Geneva, what? Wait! its the War on Terror, Torture is okay now!

United Nations Human Rights Commission Report - Situation of Detainees at Guantanamo Bay - Full PDF

BBC NEWS | FBI workers saw Guantanamo abuse

BBC NEWS Americas FBI workers saw Guantanamo abuse

An internal report by the FBI has catalogued a long list of abuses of prisoners held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
At least 26 agency employees say they witnessed inmates being mistreated and subjected to harsh interrogation.

One reported seeing a man whose head was covered in duct tape, another saw detainees chained from hand to foot in the foetal position for up to 24 hours.

The report was released to a US civil liberties group fighting a law suit.

A federal judge has yet to decide whether to accept the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (Aclu) against former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others on behalf of former inmates who say they were abused.

A Pentagon spokesman said the department had a clear policy: "We treat detainees humanely. The United States operates safe, humane and professional detention operations for enemy combatants who are providing valuable information in the war on terror."

Nonetheless, the BBC's Jonathan Beale says the report appears to clearly contradict such assurances, which have also been made by President George W Bush.

'Not new'

In 2004, the FBI asked 493 employees whether they had witnessed aggressive treatment that was not in line with agency policies.

It says it received 26 witness statements detailing abuse that included:


Rooms kept so hot that a detainee was rendered almost unconscious, with a pile of hair next to him that he apparently pulled out
Detainees left for over 24 hours chained to the floor hand and foot in foetal position, with no chair, food or water - most urinated or defecated on themselves
Sleep deprivation interviews with strobe lights and loud music, apparently lasting up to 4 days
A detainee brought into an interview room appearing to have broken fingers and facial injuries
A detainee gagged with duct tape that covered much of his head after reportedly chanting the Koran non-stop
A detainee draped in an Israeli flag in a room with loud music and strobe lights
Many of the allegations are already in the public domain, the FBI said, while stressing that its own personnel were not involved.

The agency's report added that some officials had told FBI agents that the interrogation techniques had been approved at the defence department by officials who included Mr Rumsfeld.

The report does not amount to a criminal investigation, and all the information has been passed on to the Pentagon's inspector general, the FBI said.

It was made in response to a freedom of information request by the Aclu, which has already obtained a number of documented abuse allegations in this manner.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6227325.stm

Published: 2007/01/03 11:50:39 GMT

Wired to report US unwittingly evolved superpathogen in Iraqi combat hospitals

RAW STORY

A drug-resistant bacteria that is infecting wounded US soldiers in Iraq -- and has spread to civilian hospitals in parts of Europe -- accidentally evolved in US military hospitals in Iraq, Wired Magazine will report in a massive expose on Monday, RAW STORY has learned.

The several thousand word expose is set to bring uncomfortable new light to the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii that Pentagon officials previously said was likely a product of Iraqi soil.

"By creating the most heroic and efficient means of saving lives in the history of warfare, the Pentagon had accidentally invented a machine for accelerating bacterial evolution and was airlifting the pathogens halfway around the world," the magazine reveals.

The story will go live online early Monday, newsroom sources say, and appear in February's print edition.

DEVELOPING... FULL STORY

BBC NEWS | Europe | Europe sets up CIA prison inquiry

BBC NEWS - Europe sets up CIA prison inquiry


The European Parliament is setting up a committee to investigate claims that the CIA has been transporting suspects to secret prisons in Europe.
The US has come under pressure over allegations that the CIA ran secret jails for terror suspects abroad and flew some through European airports.

The committee's inquiry will run alongside the investigation by human rights watchdog the Council of Europe.

The 46 members of the new committee are set to be announced on Thursday.

Their mandate will include analysing:


Whether the CIA has carried out abductions, "extraordinary rendition", detentions at secret sites, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners on EU territory or flown prisoners through, to or from member states

Whether such actions violated human rights treaties

Whether there have been detentions of citizens from EU states or candidate countries

Whether EU member states or institutions have been involved in the illegal deprivation of the liberty of individuals.
If any evidence of involvement is found, the parliament could open sanctions proceedings that could lead to the loss of EU voting rights.

Human Rights Watch has said it has circumstantial evidence suggesting that the CIA transported suspects captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania - both of which have denied the claims.

Germany denied any role in the abduction of its national Khaled al-Masri, who says he was seized by US intelligence agents in 2003 and taken to Afghanistan, where he was held for five months and mistreated.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington would never condone torture, without categorically denying that some terror suspects were transported through or held in Europe.

The committee's first interim report is due in four months' time.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4623602.stm

Published: 2006/01/18 13:10:54 GMT

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight Home | CIA role claim in Kennedy killing

BBC NEWS CIA role claim in Kennedy killing

New video and photographic evidence that puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of Robert Kennedy's assassination has been brought to light.


The evidence was shown in a report by Shane O'Sullivan, broadcast on BBC Newsnight.

It reveals that the operatives and four unidentified associates were at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles in the moments before and after the shooting on 5 June, 1968.

The CIA had no domestic jurisdiction and some of the officers were based in South-East Asia at the time, with no reason to be in Los Angeles.

'Decoy'

Kennedy had just won the California Democratic primary on an anti-War ticket and was set to challenge Nixon for the White House when he was shot in a kitchen pantry.


THE CIA CONNECTION


A 24-year-old Palestinian, Sirhan Sirhan, was arrested as the lone assassin and notebooks at his house seemed to incriminate him.
However, even under hypnosis, he has never been able to remember the shooting and defence psychiatrists concluded he was in a trance at the time.

Witnesses placed Sirhan's gun several feet in front of Kennedy but the autopsy showed the fatal shot came from one inch behind.

Dr Herbert Spiegel, a world authority on hypnosis at Columbia University, believes Sirhan may have been hypnotically programmed to act as a decoy for the real assassin.

Evidence

The report is the result of a three-year investigation by filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan. He reveals new video and photographs showing three senior CIA operatives at the hotel.


What were they doing there? It's our obligation as friends of Bob Kennedy to investigate this
Paul Schrade

Three of these men have been positively identified as senior officers who worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA's Miami base for its Secret War on Castro.
David Morales was Chief of Operations and once told friends:

"I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard."

Gordon Campbell was Chief of Maritime Operations and George Joannides was Chief of Psychological Warfare Operations.

Joannides was called out of retirement in 1978 to act as the CIA liaison to the Congressional investigation into the JFK assassination. Now, we see him at the Ambassador Hotel the night a second Kennedy is assassinated.

Memory


Monday, 20 November would have been Bobby Kennedy's 81st birthday. In Los Angeles, his son Max has just broken ground on a new high-school project in memory of his father on the old Ambassador Hotel site.
Paul Schrade, a key figure behind the school project, was walking behind Robert Kennedy that night and was shot in the head. He believes this new evidence merits fresh investigation:

"It seems very strange to me that these guys would be at a Kennedy celebration. What were they doing there? And why were they there? It's our obligation as friends of Bob Kennedy to investigate this."

Ed Lopez, a former Congressional investigator who worked with Joannides in 1978, says:

"I think the key people at the CIA need to go back to anybody who might have been around back then, bring them in and interview them, and ask - is this Gordon Campbell? Is this George Joannides?"

This report was shown on Newsnight on Monday, 20 November, 2006.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/6169006.stm

Published: 2006/11/21 12:23:29 GMT

MP says Iran bars 38 U.N. atomic inspectors: agency

MP says Iran bars 38 U.N. atomic inspectors: agency

Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:27 AM ET
By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has barred 38 inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), from entering the country, an Iranian politician was quoted by Iran's ISNA news agency on Monday as saying.
The agency said the move was a "first step" in limiting cooperation with the IAEA, in line with a demand made by parliament after U.N. sanctions were imposed on Iran a month ago over its disputed nuclear program.
IAEA inspectors make routine checks of Iran's nuclear sites. Last year Iran, retaliating for growing Western pressure on it to halt nuclear activity, temporarily denied visas to some inspectors and curtailed the frequency of visits to facilities by inspectors already in the country.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build atom bombs, while Tehran insists it aims to generate electricity.
"Iran has decided not to give entry permission to 38 inspectors from the IAEA and has announced this limitation to the IAEA officially," the head of parliament's Foreign Affairs and National Security Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said.
"The nationality of those who were barred is not the main basis for us," he told ISNA, without giving any further details.
Iranian government officials were not immediately available for comment. They had said earlier Tehran would continue basic cooperation with IAEA inspections and had no intention to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty over the new sanctions.
IAEA officials said they were checking the report.
EFFECT ON IAEA MONITORING UNCLEAR
It was not clear whether the reported curbs on inspectors might handicap the IAEA's monitoring of Iran's Natanz enrichment plant, where Tehran plans soon to increase fuel production to "industrial scale" from the current experimental operation.
Asked about the report, a senior diplomat familiar with IAEA operations told Reuters, "There is not much of a drama here", but declined further comment.
Diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said Iran had the right to reject any inspector it wanted and that such a step was not prohibited by its safeguards accord with IAEA. They said other IAEA member states had barred inspectors in the past.
The U.N. sanctions imposed on December 23 ban transfers of sensitive materials and know-how to Iran's nuclear and missile programs over its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process that can yield fuel for power stations or material for bombs.
In response, Iran's parliament passed a bill obliging the government to revise its cooperation level with the IAEA.
ISNA described the move announced on Monday as "a first step to limit Iran's cooperation with the IAEA".
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was defiant in a speech to parliament on Sunday, saying the U.N. resolution against Tehran would not affect Iran's nuclear policies "even if they issue 10 more of such resolutions".
Ahmadinejad's firebrand rhetoric has drawn increasing public criticism from his Iranian opponents, particularly since the resolution was passed.
His critics say his anti-Western slogans are driving the country needlessly toward an economically damaging confrontation with world powers and diplomatic isolation.
The president does not have the final say in state matters in the Islamic Republic. This is held by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

U.S. watches for cultivation sites of 'Pepsi jihad' -- The Washington Times

U.S. watches for cultivation sites of 'Pepsi jihad' -- The Washington Times

By Shaun Waterman
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published January 22, 2007


U.S. law-enforcement and intelligence officials say they are taking steps to monitor and combat the spread of Islamist extremism and support for a violent holy war against the West among a "Pepsi jihad" generation of young Muslims in the United States.
At a hearing last week, officials from the CIA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security told lawmakers that the United States had less of a problem with "homegrown" Islamist terrorists than Europe did because of its history as a nation of immigrants.
"I think the American historical experience ... with bringing in various groups and giving them, frankly, more opportunity than they might have enjoyed elsewhere has helped us immeasurably in this regard," CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Despite that, Phillip Mudd from the FBI's National Security Branch said, the ideology of extremist Islam -- and its attendant support for violence against the West in general and the United States in particular -- was spreading in the United States.
"The commonality we have [with Europe] is people who are using the Internet or talking among friends who are part of what I would characterize as a Pepsi jihad. ... It's become popular among youth, and we have this phenomenon in the United States."
Charlie Allen, the head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security, said the department reorganized its intelligence analysts late last year and "created a branch focused exclusively on radicalization in the homeland [that] is studying the dynamics of individual and organizational radicalization."
He said the United States did not have "the alienation and the de facto segregation that we see in some places in Europe," but that nonetheless there were "pockets of extremism" in the country.
He said the branch would create state-by-state and regional assessments this year "of the means and mechanism through which radicalization manifests throughout the United States."
He added that another factor present in many of the successful "homegrown" Islamist attacks in Europe -- the Madrid and London transit bombings being the classic examples -- was a leader directing would-be terrorists to training facilities.
"Frequently, we see a charismatic leader ... who selects people for further education, perhaps overseas, particularly into South Asia."
The question of the role played by al Qaeda's central command in Pakistan in providing support and direction for so-called "homegrown" plots in Europe has vexed analysts since the Madrid rail bombings in March 2004.
"While the incidents might be homegrown and the recruitment base, if you will, can often be second-generation immigrants who have a Muslim background, we've always found some kind of linkage back to" al Qaeda's leadership, said Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte.
Mr. Allen noted that the Homeland Security Department had a unit dedicated to demographic analysis of immigrant communities in the United States, which might, wittingly or not, harbor networks of criminals or human smugglers that terrorists could exploit.
The unit will fuse intelligence and law-enforcement reporting to "assess patterns in which migrant communities -- and likely associated extremists -- may or could travel to and establish themselves within the homeland." The unit aims to "provide strategic warning of mass migration to the United States and likely exploitation by illicit actors."

U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran

global research (korea times)

U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.

"I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005.

"You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank.

"We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, White said.

"I'm much more worried about the consequences of a U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear infrastructure," which would prompt vigorous Iranian retaliation, he said, than civil war in Iraq, which could be confined to that country.

President George W. Bush has stressed he is seeking a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

But he has not taken the military option off the table and his recent rhetoric, plus tougher financial sanctions and actions against Iranian involvement in Iraq, has revived talk in Washington about a possible U.S. attack on Iran.

The Bush administration and many of its Gulf allies have expressed growing concern about Iran's rising influence in the region and the prospect of it acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Middle East expert Kenneth Katzman argued "Iran's ascendancy is not only manageable but reversible" if one understands the Islamic republic's many vulnerabilities.

Tehran's leaders have convinced many experts Iran is a great nation verging on "superpower" status, but the country is "very weak ... (and) meets almost no known criteria to be considered a great nation," said Katzman of the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service.

The economy is mismanaged and "quite primitive," exporting almost nothing except oil, he said.

Also, Iran's oil production capacity is fast declining and in terms of conventional military power, "Iran is a virtual non-entity," Katzman added.

The administration, therefore, should not go out of its way to accommodate Iran because the country is in no position to hurt the United States, and at some point "it might be useful to call that bluff," he said.

But Katzman cautioned against early confrontation with Iran and said if there is a "grand bargain" that meets both countries' interests, that should be pursued.

NY court: FBI might have violated First Amendment in efforts to take down conspiracy film

AP

NEW YORK – An effort by the FBI and federal prosecutors to remove a short fictional film about a military takeover of New York City from the Internet may have violated the First Amendment, a federal appeals court said Friday.
But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a lower court was still correct to toss out a lawsuit brought against an FBI agent and a federal prosecutor by a web hosting service operator and Michael Zieper, who wrote, directed and produced the film. The appeals court said in a written opinion that the FBI agent, Joseph Metzinger, and the assistant U.S. attorney, Lisa Korologos, were immune from the lawsuit because it would not have been clear to a reasonable officer in their position that they were doing anything wrong.
Metzinger and Korologos got involved Nov. 8, 1999, when the New York Police Department faxed information to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force about the film, “Military Takeover of New York City.”

The film includes various shots of Times Square as an unseen narrator who purports to be a military officer briefs other members of the military about plans for a military takeover of Times Square on New Year's Eve 1999.

The appeals court said Metzinger and Korologos were free to ask filmmaker Zieper and Web site operator Mark Wieger to take the film down – but Metzinger went too far when he said that FBI agents were heading to Zieper's home and he could not stop them.

“A reasonable juror could conclude that some of the defendants' actions here did cross the sometimes fine line between an attempt to convince and an attempt to coerce,” the appeals court wrote.

While Metzinger spoke in a polite and non-threatening tone, and did not refer to criminal statutes or legal consequences, he never made it clear that Zieper's actions were lawful or that he would not face consequences for making the video public, the court said. It cautioned public officials “to make sure that the totality of their actions do not convey a threat even when their words do not.”

Metzinger told Wieger he was worried the film could incite a riot. Wieger blocked web access to the film beginning Nov. 15, 1999, but restored it 11 days later.

Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors in New York, said the government had no comment.

Aden Fine, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, said the decision shows that even if “government officials government officials use a polite tone and don't directly issue threats, they can violate an individual's First Amendment rights.”

Top Senate Democrat Warns Bush Not to Attack Iran Without Congress' Approval

Top Senate Democrat Warns Bush Not to Attack Iran Without Congress' Approval

Friday , January 19, 2007

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.

"The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking congressional authorization," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the National Press Club.

The administration has accused Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs and contributing technology and bomb-making materials for insurgents to use against U.S. and Iraqi security forces.

President Bush said last week the U.S. will "seek out and destroy" networks providing that support. While top administration officials have said they have no plans to attack Iran itself, they have declined to rule it out.

This week, the administration sent another aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf — the second to deploy in the region. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the buildup was intended to impress on Iran that the four-year war in Iraq has not made America vulnerable. The U.S. is also deploying anti-missile Patriot missiles in the region.

The U.S. has accused Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iran would not back down over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is being developed only to produce energy.

Reid made the comments as he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke to the National Press Club on Democrats' view of the state of the union four days before Bush addresses Congress and the nation. His remarks were the latest Democratic display of concern about the possibility of military action in Iran and Bush's power to launch it.

Last week, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., challenged the president's ability to make such a move. In a letter to Bush, Biden asked the president to explain whether the administration believes it could attack Iran or Syria "without the authorization of Congress, which does not now exist."

Meanwhile, Lee Hamilton, the Democratic co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday that the U.S. must try to engage Iran and Syria in a constructive dialogue on Iraq because of the countries' influence in the conflict.

The Bush administration, and several members of Congress, say they oppose talks with Iran and Syria because of their terrorist connections. Bringing the two countries into regional talks aimed at reducing violence in Iraq was one of the study group's recommendations.

"Do we have so little confidence in the diplomats of the United States that we're not willing to let them talk with somebody we disagree with?" Hamilton asked.

Chavez to U.S. Officials: 'Go to Hell'

Chavez to U.S. Officials: 'Go to Hell'

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:11 a.m. ET Jan 22, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show Sunday, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

The tirade came after Washington raised concerns about a measure to grant the fiery leftist leader broad lawmaking powers. The National Assembly, which is controlled by the president's political allies, is expected to give final approval this week to what it calls the "enabling law," which would give Chavez the authority to pass a series of laws by decree during an 18-month period.

On Friday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Chavez's plans under the law "have caused us some concern."

Chavez rejected Casey's statement in his broadcast, saying: "Go to hell, gringos! Go home!"

He also attacked U.S. actions in the Middle East.

"What does the empire want? Condoleezza said it. How are you? You've forgotten me, missy ... Condoleezza said it clearly, it's about creating a new geopolitical" map in the Middle East, Chavez said.

In typical style, Chavez spoke for hours Sunday during his first appearance on the weekly program in five months. He sent his best wishes to the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, his close ally and friend who has been sidelined since intestinal surgery last summer.

Other comments ranged from watching dancing Brazilian girls wearing string bikinis at a recent presidential summit to Washington's alleged role in the hanging of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"They took out Saddam Hussein and they hung him, for good or worse. It's not up to me to judge any government, but that gentleman was the president of that country."

Holding up a newspaper with a photograph of him gazing at a string bikini-clad Brazilian dancing samba during a summit last week in Rio de Janeiro, Chavez laughed and said: "I didn't know where to look ... It was truly a thing of beauty."

Chavez, who was re-elected by a wide margin last month, has said he will enact sweeping reforms to remake Venezuela into a socialist state. Among his plans are nationalizing the main telecommunications company, CANTV, and the electricity and natural gas sectors.

He said Sunday his government will not pay the market value for CANTV, but rather will take into account debts to workers, pensions and other obligations including a "technological debt" to the state. CANTV, partially owned by U.S.-based Verizon Communications Inc., was privatized in 1991.

The president's opponents accuse him of using his political strength to expand his powers.

Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense since Chavez was briefly ousted in a 2002 coup that he claimed the U.S. played a role in. The Bush administration has repeatedly denied being involved, although it recognized an interim government established by coup leaders.

Since then, Chavez has consistently accused the U.S. of conspiring to oust him and often asserts the CIA is working to destabilize his government. U.S. officials have denied trying to overthrow Chavez, but they have labeled him a threat to democracy.

Criticizing excessive consumption and self-indulgence, Chavez also announced plans in his broadcast to raise domestic gasoline prices and approve a new tax on luxury goods such as private yachts, second homes and extravagant automobiles.

He did not give details on the gas price hike, which he said would not affect bus drivers who provide public transportation, or the luxury tax. He said revenue from the new measures would be put toward government social programs.

Venezuela is one of the world's leading petroleum exporters and gasoline now costs as little as 12 cents a gallon due to government subsidies.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16730314/

Iran announces new missile tests

Iran announces new missile tests

Ahmadinejad dismisses impact of U.N. sanctions on country's economy

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:50 p.m. ET Jan 21, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran - Determined not to budge under pressure, Iran announced new tests of short-range missiles Sunday, and hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed criticism that the country’s economy has been hurt by U.N. sanctions imposed for its suspect nuclear program.

The missile tests come as the U.S. Navy is sending a second aircraft carrier to the volatile Persian Gulf. U.S. officials said the USS John C. Stennis, which arrives in Mideast waters in a matter of weeks, is meant as a warning to Iran.

The deployment appeared to alarm some in Iran’s hardline leadership, including a member of a powerful cleric-run body who warned last week that Washington plans to attack, possibly by striking Iranian nuclear facilities. U.S. officials have long refused to rule out any options in the faceoff with Tehran, but say military action would be a last resort.

Stressing Iran’s preparedness, state television said the Revolutionary Guards planned to begin three days of testing the short-range Zalzal and Fajr-5 missiles Sunday. It could not be confirmed if the exercise had begun near Garmsar city, about 60 miles southeast of Tehran.

“The maneuver is aimed at evaluating defensive and fighting capabilities of the missiles,” the report quoted an unidentified Guards commander as saying.

Last year, Iran held three large-scale military exercises to test what it called an “ultra-horizon” missile and the Fajr-3, a rocket that it claims can evade radar and use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously.

An ongoing U.S. concern
Though U.S. officials suggest Iran exaggerates its military capabilities, Washington is very concerned about Iranian progress in developing missiles. Some of its missiles are capable of hitting U.S.-allied Arab nations and Israel, which Ahmadinejad has called to be wiped off the map.

The United States, which led military maneuvers of its own in the Persian Gulf in October, also accuses Iran of supporting militants in Iraq’s sectarian bloodshed and is trying to rally Arab allies to isolate the Tehran regime.

Iran’s new maneuvers are the first since the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions last month over Ahmadinejad’s defiance of its demand that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment. The sanctions ban selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of secretly developing atomic weapons in violation of its treaty commitments. Tehran has repeatedly denied that, saying its program is solely for the peaceful purpose of developing nuclear technology to generate electricity.

Ahmadinejad has remained defiant, saying Iran has the right to conduct uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors but also provide material fuel for atomic bombs.

Tough talk has critics in Tehran
But the president’s tough talk has come under criticism from both ends of Iran’s political spectrum. Some reformists and conservatives have accused Ahmadinejad of focusing too much on fiery anti-Western rhetoric and not enough on domestic issues, including the economy.

Ahmadinejad strongly defended his economic policies Sunday, and said again that sanctions would not deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program.

“The (Security Council) resolution was delivered dead. Ten more similar resolutions will not affect our economy and our policy,” he said in a speech broadcast live on state TV as he delivered the budget for the new year.

“Falsely, they want to imply that we have had costs in this regard,” the president said, apparently referring to recent news stories in the West that said prices for food and other basic goods have risen in Iran since the sanctions were imposed in late December.

Iranians have been hit hard by inflation, which the government says is running at 11 percent a year and independent Iranian economists estimate as high as 30 percent. Unemployment also is a problem, with the government saying the jobless rate is 10 percent while experts put it at 30 percent.

Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment, but he has faced increasingly fierce criticism in recent weeks for his failure to meet those promises.

Lawmakers call for economic change
In presenting his budget for the fiscal year that begins March 21, he defended his domestic and economic policies. “The government has completely controlled the prices of some food stuffs, such as bread, gas, water and electricity,” he said.

About 150 Iranian lawmakers have signed a letter calling on Ahmadinejad’s government to reconsider its draft budget for next year, arguing it overestimates oil revenues in a falling world market. Roughly 80 percent of Iran’s revenues come from oil exports.

Ahmadinejad said Sunday the budget took account of a possible further drop in oil prices, but he gave no specifics.

“We assume enemies want to damage us by decreasing the price of oil,” he said. “So we have reduced dependency on oil revenue.”
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16731194/

Flight ban for anti-Bush T-shirt

Flight ban for anti-Bush T-shirt

A passenger barred from a Qantas airlines flight for wearing a T-shirt depicting US President George Bush as a terrorist has threatened legal action.

Allen Jasson said he was sticking up for the principle of free speech by challenging the decision by the Australian flag carrier.

Mr Jasson was stopped as he was about to board the flight from Melbourne to London last Friday.

Qantas said the T-shirt had potential to offend other passengers.

The T-shift features an image of President George W Bush, along with the slogan "World's Number One Terrorist".

'Principle'

The 55-year-old computer specialist, who lives in London, had encountered difficulties with the same T-shirt on an earlier Qantas flight in December.

After clearing the international security checks at Melbourne Airport, he reportedly approached the gate manager to congratulate him on the company's new-found open-mindedness.

At that point, Mr Jasson was ordered to remove the T-shirt after being told it was a security threat and an item which might cause offence to other passengers.

He was offered the chance to board the flight wearing different clothing, but refused.

"I am not prepared to go without the t-shirt. I might forfeit the fare, but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech," he told Australian media.

A Qantas spokesman defended the airline's decision, saying: "Whether made verbally or on a T-shirt, comments with the potential to offend other customers or threaten the security of a Qantas group aircraft will not be tolerated".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6285971.stm

Published: 2007/01/22 09:45:06 GMT

Missile shield 'threatens Russia'

Missile shield 'threatens Russia'

BBC NEWS

Russia has criticised a decision by the US to expand its embryonic missile defence shield to the Czech Republic and Poland.

A senior Russian military commander said the plan was "an obvious threat".

On Sunday the US asked for permission to build a missile defence base on Czech territory - a move backed by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Washington says it needs interceptor missiles in Europe to stop attacks by states like Iran or North Korea.

It hopes to build a radar station in the Czech Republic and to site interceptors in Poland.

It is very doubtful that elements of the national US missile defence system in eastern Europe were aimed at Iranian missiles
Lt Gen Vladimir Popovkin,
Russian space forces
But Moscow insists that the installation of US missiles in countries close to its western border would change the strategic balance in Europe.

Lt Gen Vladimir Popovkin, commander of Russia's space forces, said Moscow would interpret the move as a military threat.

"Our analysis shows that the deployment of a radar station in the Czech Republic and a counter-missile position in Poland are an obvious threat to us.

"It is very doubtful that elements of the national US missile defence system in eastern Europe were aimed at Iranian missiles, as has been stated," he said.

Political issues

Mr Topolanek, the Czech prime minister, has welcomed the US request.

"We are convinced that a possible deployment of the radar station on our territory is in our interest," he said at the weekend.


"It will increase security of the Czech Republic and Europe."

However, Mr Topolanek could face a struggle having the plans approved by both houses of the country's parliament.

His three-party, centre-right governing coalition recently won a vote of confidence, but controls just 100 of 200 seats in the lower house.

There is domestic opposition to the scheme in the Czech Republic, with reports that 200 protesters rallied against the missile defence plans in Prague on Monday.

The US has already built missile interceptor sites in Alaska and in California, but says it needs to expand into Europe to counter growing threats from further afield.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6286289.stm

Published: 2007/01/22 11:22:15 GMT

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