Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forward | Top News | Reuters.com

Scientists prepare to move Doomsday Clock forward - Reuters.com

Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:22 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The keepers of the "Doomsday Clock" plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world.

The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, currently is set at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight marking global catastrophe.

The group did not say in which direction the hands would move. But in a news release previewing an event next Wednesday, they said the change was based on "worsening nuclear, climate threats" to the world.

"The major new step reflects growing concerns about a 'Second Nuclear Age' marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing 'launch-ready' status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks," the release reads.

The clock was last pushed forward by two minutes to seven minutes to midnight in 2002 amid concerns about the proliferation of nuclear, biological and other weapons and the threat of terrorism.

When it was created by the magazine's staff in 1947, it was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 17 times since then.

It was as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 following U.S. and Soviet hydrogen bomb tests, and as far away as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the superpowers reached agreement on a nuclear arms reductions.

U.S. denies military plans against Iran, Syria | Top News | Reuters.com

U.S. denies military plans against Iran, Syria - Reuters.com

Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:43 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States denied on Friday it was preparing for military action against Iran and Syria, after President George W. Bush issued a stern warning to them, raising concerns of a spillover from the Iraq war.

Bush, in his speech on Wednesday unveiling his revised Iraq strategy, accused Tehran and Damascus of allowing use of their territory for launching attacks inside Iraq, and vowed "we will interrupt the flow of support."

U.S. lawmakers voiced concern on Thursday the Iraq war could spread to neighboring Iran and Syria if U.S. troops were to chase militants across the border. But U.S. officials insisted the plan was to disrupt supply lines from inside Iraq.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said he wanted to knock down an "urban legend" that Bush was "trying to prepare the way for war with either country and that there were war preparations under way."

"There are not," he told reporters. "What the president was talking about is defending American forces within Iraq."

"There's lots of war gaming," he added. "This notion that somehow the president was announcing as a precursor to planned military action, a planned war against Iran, that's just not the case."

Snow reiterated that Washington was focusing on diplomatic means against Iran over its nuclear program. Western powers say Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it wants nuclear technology for civilian power generation.

The United States has repeatedly accused Shi'ite Iran of meddling in Iraq, where the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority is now in power and sectarian violence is raging. Tehran denies U.S. charges that it supplies Shi'ite militias with weapons.

Bush also said he had ordered an additional aircraft carrier strike group to the region and would deploy Patriot missile defense systems to "reassure our friends and allies" -- steps widely seen as a warning to Iran and Syria.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden bluntly told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday he did not think Bush had the authority to launch attacks against militant networks in Iran and Syria.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US blacklists Iranian state bank

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US blacklists Iranian state bank

The United States has blacklisted one of Iran's largest banks, accusing it of a key role in financing the development of weapons of mass destruction.
A US treasury official said state-owned Bank Sepah was the "financial lynchpin" in Iran's missile procurement network.

The move freezes its assets in the US and bars any US companies or citizens from doing business with the bank.

The US says Iran is working to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

"Bank Sepah is the financial lynchpin of Iran's missile procurement network and has actively assisted Iran's pursuit of missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction," Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.

He said the bank had facilitated Iran's international purchases of material for its missile programme.

Bank Sepah, he said, had been the conduit for a deal with Komid, a North Korean organisation which the US says gave missile technology to Iran.

The blacklisting extends to Bank Sepah's UK-based subsidiary, Bank Sepah International Plc.

In December, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to impose sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment.

The sanctions ban the supply of nuclear-related technology and materials and impose an asset freeze on key individuals and companies.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6246665.stm

Published: 2007/01/09 21:59:18 GMT

BBC NEWS | Europe | Rocket hits US embassy in Athens

BBC NEWS Europe Rocket hits US embassy in Athens

Attackers have fired a rocket at the US embassy compound in the centre of the Greek capital, Athens.
The rocket, fired from street level into the front of the embassy, caused minor damage to the building but no-one was injured.

The US envoy condemned the "very serious attack", as fire engines and police cordoned off the area.

Greece's Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said it was "very likely" a domestic group was behind the attack.

He said police were investigating claims that a left-wing radical group, Revolutionary Struggle, was responsible.

'Windows shattered'

The blast was reported in the early morning at the embassy, which is on one of the main boulevards in Athens.

Police said a rocket was fired at the US eagle emblem at the front of the building.

"A self-propelled explosive was fired at 0558 (0358 GMT) from the surrounding area, causing minor damage to the front windows and the roof," a statement from the Greek public order ministry said.

The rocket landed in a toilet on the third floor of the building, which also houses Ambassador Charles Ries's office.

"I am treating this as a very serious attack," Mr Ries said. "The embassy was attacked in a senseless act of violence."

Mr Ries said the reliability of any claims of responsibility would have to be assessed.

Television pictures showed a mass of emergency vehicles and stationary traffic outside the embassy as the area was sealed off.

Left-wing groups

The US embassy is one of the most fortified and tightly guarded buildings in the region and is frequently the target of protests in a country brimming with potent anti-Americanism, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

In February 1996, it suffered minor damage when unknown attackers - thought to be leftist radicals - fired a rocket at it.

In the past, the far-left November 17 group - now disbanded and whose leaders were jailed in 2003 - attacked Greek, US and other foreign targets, killing more than 20 people.

Revolutionary Struggle - a group which emerged after November 17 disintegrated - is regarded by security experts as Greece's most active terrorist group, our correspondent says.

It has broadly the same left-wing, anarchic anti-capitalist agenda as November 17 and vigorously opposes America's intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the economic and social policies of the current conservative Greek government.

It has carried out a number of bombings and attacks in recent years.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6254399.stm

Blast at U.S. embassy in Greece called ‘terrorism’

AP

The U.S. Embassy in Athens came under fire early Friday from a rocket that exploded inside the modern glass-front building but caused no casualties in an attack police suspect was the work of Greek leftists.

Narrowly missing the embassy emblem, the anti-tank shell pierced the building near the front entrance shortly before 6 a.m., damaging a bathroom on the third room, which houses the ambassador’s office, and shattering windows in nearby buildings.

“We’re treating it as a very serious attack,” U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries said.

Greece’s Public Order Minister said police were examining the authenticity of anonymous phone calls to a private security company claiming responsibility on behalf of Revolutionary Struggle, a militant left-wing group.

“It is very likely that this is the work of a domestic group,” Minister Vyron Polydoras said. “We believe this effort to revive terrorism is deplorable and will not succeed.”

Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for a May 2006 bomb attack on Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, in which nobody was injured.

U.S.-owned banks and companies have often been targeted in small bomb attacks by groups in Greece. But Friday’s incident was the most serious since the 2002 break-up of the far-left November 17 group, which was blamed for several attacks against foreign diplomats and military personnel, including the assassination of a CIA station chief in Athens.

Polydoras said Greece “strongly condemns” the attack.

“We believe it is a symbolic act,” he said. “It is an attempt to disrupt our country’s international relations.”

Police cordoned off streets around the heavily guarded building after the explosion, stopping traffic in much of central Athens for more than three hours. Emergency services scrambled to the embassy building, which is a frequent destination for protest groups.

Investigators were examining what they believed was the device used to fire the rocket shell from a construction site near the embassy.

“This is an act of terrorism,” Police Chief Asimakis Golfis said. “There was a shell that exploded in the toilets of the building … It was fired from street level.”

Ambassador Ries said the building was not occupied at the time and the damage was minimal. The embassy is now a crime scene and will remain closed until further notice, he said.

“There can be no justification for such a senseless act of violence,” said Ries, who added that there had been no warning.

Authorities were searching nearby apartment buildings and a nearby hospital for evidence.

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis visited the embassy after the blast.

“I came here to express the solidarity of the Greek people following this deplorable action,” she said.

“Such actions in the past have had a very heavy cost for the country. … The Greek government is determined to undertake every effort to not allow such phenomena to be repeated in the future.”

Giorgos Yiannoulis runs a kiosk near the embassy. “I heard a loud bang; I didn’t realize what was going on,” he said.

It was the most serious attack on the mission since 1996, when November 17 carried out a rocket attack against the embassy that caused minor damage and no injuries.

Polydoras said police would set up a special task force, headed by a former counterterrorism chief who eradicated the November 17 group in 2002. The group was blamed for killing 23 people — including U.S., British and Turkish officials — and dozens of bomb attacks.

Several obscure militant groups have appeared since the November 17 members were arrested. Radical groups Revolutionary Struggle and Popular Revolutionary Action have been blamed for the bombings of three government ministries in 2005.

In 2003, a special court gave multiple life sentences to November 17’s leader, chief assassin and three other members. Lesser sentences were given to 10 others.

Iranians captured inside Iraq

Bush strategy aims at insurgent support

By Robin Wright and Nancy Trejos
The Washington Post

ARTICLE


U.S. troops launched two raids on Iranian targets in Iraq yesterday, following through on President Bush's vow to confront and break up Tehran's networks inside Iraq. Five Iranians were detained, and vast amounts of documents and computer data were confiscated, according to U.S., Iraqi and Iranian officials.

The two raids are part of a new U.S. intelligence and military operation launched last month against Iran, U.S. officials said. The United States is trying to identify and detain top officials of the Revolutionary Guards' al-Quds Brigade operating in Iraq. The al-Quds Brigade is active in arming, training and funding militant movements, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, throughout the Middle East.

"Throughout Iraq, operations are currently ongoing against individuals suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraqi and Coalition forces," the headquarters of the U.S.-led Multinational Force said yesterday.

While the public focus is on Iraq, the administration is now devoting as much time on plans to contain Iran as on a strategy to end Iraq's violence, U.S. officials said.

Last month, U.S. forces nabbed two senior Iranians - Brig. Gen. Mohsen Chirazi and Col. Abu Amad Davari - in the first round of raids. Chirazi is the No. 3 in the al-Quds Brigade and the highest-ranking Iranian ever held by the United States.

Both of yesterday's raids were in Irbil, a northern Kurdish city. One was carried out at 3 a.m. on the Iranian Liaison Office, which is used by Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a local headquarters, U.S. officials said. Kurdish officials said U.S. troops landed by helicopters. Then they disarmed the security guards, broke through the gate, entered the building and detained six men, Iranian officials told the Iranian News Agency. One was later released.

The other raid was at the Irbil airport, where U.S. forces tried to detain people until local Kurdish troops intervened - and almost ended up in a confrontation with U.S. troops, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

"A massacre was avoided at the last minute," he said. A U.S. official confirmed that the incident nearly resulted in U.S. and Kurdish allies firing at one another.

The Irbil raid reflects one of the genuinely new additions to the U.S. strategy in Iraq. Bush said Wednesday that the United States will now "seek out and destroy the networks" arming and training U.S. enemies. He also announced that he is ordering another aircraft carrier and supporting ships to the Persian Gulf bordering Iran, in a show of naval force.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace charged yesterday that Iran was "complicit" in providing weapons designed to kill American troops. "We will do all we need to do to defend our troops in Iraq by going after the entire network, regardless of where those people come from," he said at a press conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Rice outlined a carrot-and-stick strategy, offering to meet with her Iranian counterpart "anytime, anywhere" to discuss "every facet" of U.S.-Iran relations - with the condition that Tehran suspend its program for enriching uranium, which can be used for nuclear weapons as well as energy. Until that time, she said, the United States will "use all our power to limit and counter the activities of Iranian agents who are attacking our people and innocent civilians in Iraq."

Rice effectively dismissed a key recommendation of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan panel that last month called for the administration to launch a dialogue with both Iran and Syria to help stabilize Iraq. She told reporters that Tehran and Damascus should not "be paid" to end their "destabilizing behavior," and that such a move would both demoralize friends and embolden enemies across the Middle East.

But the new U.S. policy to confront Iranians in Iraq has already sparked divisions within the administration. The Pentagon wanted to hold the two top al-Quds officials for questioning, but the State Department backed an Iraqi request to deport them. They were sent home in a week.

The Kurdish government had approved the Iranian Liaison Office,which provided consular services, and which Iran wants to upgrade to a formal consulate, the Iraqi foreign minister said. U.S. forces did not consult in advance with the Iraqi government, which is now trying to establish procedures and agreements for future operations, he said. "This is a very, very dangerous thing," he said.

Iran's foreign ministry summoned Iraqi and Swiss diplomats to protest and demand an explanation, according to Iran's mission to the United Nations. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran. Tehran claims the five men detained are all diplomats, which both Iraq's foreign minister and U.S. officials deny

FBI Hosting Hollywood Writers, Encouraging Counter-Terrorism Propaganda Films

FBI seminar hosts H'wood scribes

hollywood reporter

FBI memo to Hollywood: If it's not too much trouble, could you please portray our counterterrorism efforts with a bit more realism?

Hoping for an answer in the affirmative, the FBI hosted its first workshop for screenwriters Wednesday at the Federal Building in Westwood.

"FBI -- Crime Essential for Writers" played well with the standing-room-only audience of executives and writers from several major and minor studios. Enthusiastic attendees had more questions than time allowed answers for, and few if any left the four-hour event early.

The FBI, more so than even the Department of Homeland Security, is the primary agency designated to investigate terrorism in the U.S., and the terrorist threat it is most focused on comes from radical Islam, FBI special agent Greg Wing said.

With that in mind, Wing, along with an undercover agent who asked that his identity not be revealed, presented a whirlwind history of Islam, beginning with Sunni-Shiite hostilities in 682 AD.

The major terrorist group aligned with Sunni Muslims is al-Qaida, while Hezbollah, "the best terrorist organization there is," are Shiite Muslims, the undercover agent said.

He showed flags and logos of terrorist groups and explained that the colors of turbans worn by terrorism suspects could have significance. He also showed photos and video of al-Qaida training camps and torture rooms and pictures of unfortunate Americans who had been captives there. He showed photos of the suicide bombers who killed 17 U.S. sailors aboard the USS Cole in 2000 and pictures of the house where they built their bombs.

The undercover agent played phone messages from passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which went down in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, and inspired the film "United 93." He also played audio from the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 11, the airplane Mohamed Atta flew into the World Trade Center that day.

"Amazing," attendee Dave DiGilio said after the event.

DiGilio wrote the film "Eight Below" and created the upcoming ABC series "Traveler," about a couple of graduate students who might have been framed for a terrorist attack. He said his show portrays both "the good and the bad" about the FBI.

"Seeing the extent of the organization, and the passion and intellect of the agents, was impressive," he said after the event. "They're very creative. It's not the way they're usually portrayed."

Quite the point, which is why FBI public affairs specialist Betsy Glick helped create the workshop. She said that last year the FBI helped lend authenticity to 649 projects, usually films, TV shows and books.

Michael Kortan, section chief for the office of public affairs, gave attendees a brief lesson in the history of the FBI in film and TV, beginning with the 1935 James Cagney movie " 'G' Men," which he said was one of the first gangster movies to tell a story from the FBI's perspective.

Shortly thereafter, J. Edgar Hoover conceived of something he called "The Dillinger Rule" -- the FBI had great stories to tell, so Hollywood ought to tell them, and make sure that the FBI were the good guys. And he wanted to know about anything FBI-related that Hollywood had in the works.

The 1965 Disney film "That Darn Cat!" really had Hoover on edge, Kortan said, because he feared that a film about an allergic agent assigned to follow around a cat would make the FBI look a tad silly, a reputation the bureau didn't need during the tumultuous 1960s.

Too often, Kortan said, the FBI is seen on film, unrealistically, as heavy-handed, bumbling and antagonistic toward other law-enforcement agencies. Of course, Hollywood isn't always unfriendly to the bureau.

Witness "The Silence of the Lambs," for example. The 1991 film earned Jodie Foster the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of FBI agent Clarice Starling, and Kortan credited the movie for some of the FBI's success in recruiting women.

"This is half the reason people get in writing -- to live vicariously and absorb the details," said attendee Luke McMullen, who wrote an episode of "Alias" and is developing a project called "Samurai Girl."

FBI agents also showed off a map of the 779 real investigations of potential terrorist activity ongoing in Los Angeles and photos of a list of possible targets that included Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood sign and Disneyland. They also showed photos of some of the equipment the FBI will have on hand as they stake out the 64th annual Golden Globe Awards on Monday.

Hollywood has been considered a potential target of Islamic terrorists since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the FBI warned that a major film studio might be next.

Special agent George Steuer recalled Wednesday how FBI agents met with studio heads back then to tell them, "Hey, you're in this fight on terrorism."

He said the threat emanated from telephone and e-mail intercepts between suspected terrorists. Although the FBI sifts through about 300 terrorism leads a day, the one against film studios was initially deemed credible after some corroboration and background checks. Details, though, remain classified.

"Eventually we vetted it and decided that there were no links here, just overseas chatter," he said.

Nevertheless, the studios were encouraged then to beef up their security measures. Some, including Disney and Warner Bros., quickly hired FBI agents on their security staffs.

Steuer, who has been helping Hollywood with FBI requests for five years, said he was in Baghdad in 2005, witnessing the locals buying and selling pirated copies of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" the day it was released theatrically, making the point that the FBI is uniquely aware of Hollywood's influence even in a war zone.

Speaking after the symposium, the undercover FBI agent whose identity is protected said he purposely avoids Hollywood's treatment of modern terrorism, staying away from such movies as "World Trade Center" and "United 93" as well as TV programs like "The Path to 9/11."

"Movies don't come close," he said. "We lived a very traumatic event. It's never far from my heart."

His primary message to screenwriters? "Keep the FBI out of politics," he said. "Don't tag me Republican or Democrat. Don't suggest the FBI was better or worse under this president or that one. What we care about is protecting American lives."

Bill O'Reilly Gets Crazy

O'Reilly uses textbook prapaganda techniques. Sunsara Taylor has alot of guts to get on his show, and tell the truth.

Somalia terror 'funded in Britain'

Guardian UK

The Foreign Office is investigating reports of British casualties in US air strikes on al Qaida suspects in Somalia.

The attacks came amid claims that support for the Islamic militant movement had come from the UK.

Meanwhile, the United Nations' new secretary general Ban Ki-moon voiced fears on Wednesday that the air strikes could increase hostilities and harm civilians.

Following days of fierce fighting in the African country, the United States launched a series of air strikes against Islamic extremists it suspects of having links to al Qaida.

Ethiopia's prime minister has said that many international terrorists had been killed, injured or captured in the fighting - including Britons.

"Notwithstanding the motives for this reported military action," Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas said, "the secretary general is concerned about the new dimension this kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible escalation of hostilities that may result."

Somalia's deputy prime minister has claimed that much of the funding for the Islamist militants was coming from Britain and that some of their fighters were British and American passport holders.

There was also condemnation from British-based Islamic groups of the US intervention in the conflict.

Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia, a largely Muslim country, last month to prevent an Islamic movement from ousting the weak, internationally recognised government from its lone stronghold in the west of the country.

Leaders of the Islamic movement have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war in Somalia, and al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden's deputy has called on militants to carry out suicide attacks on the Ethiopian troops. There were reports at the weekend that British passport holders were involved in the fighting, which has claimed scores of lives.

Gates calls for buildup in troops

boston globe

Asks Bush for 92,000 more by 2012



WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said yesterday that he wants President Bush to increase overall US ground forces by nearly 100,000 over the next five years, the largest military build up since the end of the Cold War.


At a White House press conference, Gates laid out a broad blueprint for a larger Army and Marine Corps to bolster an American force the Pentagon says is stretched thin by repeated deployments to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the wider war against Islamic extremists.

"I am recommending to [the president] a total increase in the two services of 92,000 soldiers and Marines over the next five years -- 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines," Gates said, with Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, beside him.

But the expansion will not be cheap, quick, or easy. Recruiting, training, and equipping new soldiers and Marines will cost tens of billions of dollars, and it will take years before they will have an effect on current military operations, senior Pentagon officials said yesterday.

And perhaps the biggest challenge will be finding enough volunteers.

To meet its current recruiting goals, the Army has relaxed some standards, accepting more recruits who don't have a high school diploma or general equivalency degree, and allowing older men and women to join. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has also substantially increased enlistment bonuses and launched a multi million-dollar advertising campaign to draw more young people to the recruitment office.

"I think it will be a hell of a challenge" to find 92,000 recruits, said Alan Gropman , a retired Air Force colonel who teaches at the National Defense University in Washington. "That's a very large number. It will be impossible if you don't raise pay and other benefits. But if we are going to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, then we are going to need a bigger Army."

Gates said yesterday that the expansion plan will begin with permanently adding 30,000 soldiers to the active-duty Army, currently numbering about 480,000, and adding 5,000 Marines, which currently number about 175,000.

"Then we propose to build up from that base in annual increments of 7,000 troops a year for the Army and 5,000 for the Marine Corps until the Marine Corps reaches a level of 202,000, and the Army would be at 547,000," Gates said.

Officials said Bush is on board with the proposal, which is expected to draw widespread support in Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans have tried to persuade the White House for years that the military needs to grow.

The plan was seen yesterday as a repudiation of the vision of former secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who for years resisted calls by members of both parties and the advice of retired generals to expand the military to handle missions in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as anti terrorism operations around the world.

"I just wish it would have been done a lot sooner," said Representative Jo Ann Davis , a Virginia Republican and ranking member of the House Armed Service Committee's military readiness panel. " I believe that we're asking our military to do much more now than we've ever asked of them. And for that reason, I think that growing the force is very necessary."

The plan was also well received among the troops at Fort Benning, Ga., where Bush spoke after the White House meeting yesterday. Soldiers applauded when the president told them he believes "it's important to increase the end strength of the United States Army so it can remain engaged."

A senior military official who briefed reporters at the Pentagon yesterday said the expanded force probably wouldn't be ready for overseas missions until at least early 2009. He said that more ground forces would "set us up for the long fight" in Iraq and elsewhere.

While the expansion will take time, Gates said, "it is important that our men and women in uniform know that additional manpower and resources are on the way."

The Army currently recruits an average of 80,000 new soldiers every year to maintain its troop levels, and military officials were confident they could meet higher recruiting goals.

The Army estimates that it spends about $1.2 billion to train and equip 10,000 soldiers. Expanding the Army and Marine Corps will also require more recruiters, who have struggled recently to attract enlistees.

Even Gates, who left his presidency of Texas A&M University to take the helm of the Pentagon last month, told senators that the prospect of serving repeated tours in Iraq had turned off many of the quality high school and college students the Pentagon wants.

Donald Vandergriff , a retired Army major and Georgetown University professor, said yesterday that any expansion must feature a clarion call from the commander in chief urging young people to serve -- a tough sell when polls show popular support for both the Iraq war and Bush are low.

"He has never asked the public to sacrifice and serve in the military," Vandergriff said.

Vandergriff, who specializes in military personnel and manpower issues, also questioned whether the military would sacrifice quality for quantity when filling the ranks of a larger ground force.

"I am really concerned that we have this PowerPoint mentality that numbers equals success," Vandergriff said. Even if the Army and Marine Corps can meet the new goal, he added, soldiers "have to be competent."

Still, one Pentagon adviser who asked not to be named said the country has to make the plan work. "The more you learn about the current [military] readiness the more your stomach turns," the adviser said.

For now, the Pentagon will have to rely on more frequent deployments of current troops and its new authority to order part-time National Guard soldiers to active duty more often.

"The faster they can get these new units in place the better they will be," the Pentagon adviser said. "Constant deployments have brought the Army to near collapse."

Arrests during Gitmo protest inside courthouse

They had federal judge's permission — until they waved signs

The Associated Press
Updated: 3:24 p.m. ET Jan 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - Cindy Sheehan and other peace activists marched to the Cuban military zone wrapping around the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, demanding the United States close its prison for terror suspects five years after the first detainees arrived.

A dozen protesters walked along a lonely highway connecting the Cuban city of Guantanamo to the military zone. The women in the group tied pink and yellow flowers to the barbed-wire fence marking the start of the zone, a Cuban minefield with 4½-mile road leading to the entrance of the U.S. base. The protesters were not allowed past the fence.

“What I’ve read happens in this prison makes me sick to my stomach,” said Sheehan, who became an anti-war activist after her 24-year-old son Casey died in Iraq. “I’m calling for the cycle of violence to stop now, to close this prison.”

Also among the marchers was Asif Iqbal, a British Muslim who spent 2½ years at the prison. He expressed support for those still inside.

“Every day, every minute, they are in our thoughts,” the 25-year-old said. “These are human beings, they have some right to justice, too.”

Abuse allegations fuel outrage
The U.S. military is holding about 395 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban, including about 85 who have been cleared to be released or transferred to other countries. The military says it wants to charge 60 to 80 detainees and bring them to trial.

Critics say the camp, where most of the prisoners face indefinite incarceration, is an affront to democratic values. Allegations of abuse have fueled worldwide outrage.

The military says the detention center is vital to the fight against terrorism and that instances of abuse have been investigated and the perpetrators disciplined. The detention camp commander, Adm. Harry B. Harris, says aggressive interrogation tactics are no longer used.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the United States to close the prison, echoing an appeal made last year by his predecessor, Kofi Annan.

“I understand that today is the fifth anniversary of Guantanamo’s prison,” Ban said a news conference. “Like my predecessor, I believe that prison at Guantanamo should be closed.”

Demonstrations in several cities around the world marked the fifth anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at Guantanamo.

In Washington, about 100 protesters were arrested inside a federal courthouse. The group — which had a permit for a demonstration outside the courthouse — sang and chanted as they were led away.

About 100 people protested outside the U.S. Embassy in London, wearing orange inmate outfits. Three “guards” wearing green camouflage shouted orders for them to stand up or kneel down. Similar demonstrations took place in Greece, Hungary and Italy.

Woman travels from Mideast for protest
U.S. Army Col. Lora Tucker, a spokeswoman for the detention center, said the military had no plans to acknowledge the Cuban protest Thursday or increase security at the gate, which is located at a distance from the prison camp on the other side of a hill.

“Nothing changes for us based on a demonstration being held somewhere in Cuba,” she said, adding that Thursday was “a normal work day” at the naval base.

Zohra Zewawi, the mother of British detainee Omar Deghayes, traveled from the United Arab Emirates with another son, Taher Deghayes, to join the protest. She says her son had been tortured and blinded in one eye since he was imprisoned in September 2002 and still has not been charged.

Taher Deghayes carried a large color photograph of Omar that said “justice for my brother.” One American protester wore an orange jumpsuit and a black hood.

Adele Welty, whose firefighter son, Timothy, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said she empathized with the prisoners’ mothers. She called on Americans to urge Congress to demand “an end to the unjust incarceration of your fellow human beings.”
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16580352/

Technology giving police more power to spy on us

azstarnet

Tucson police have a new law-enforcement tool: a car-mounted license-plate scanner. Similar to a radar gun, it reads the license plates of moving or parked cars — 250 or more per hour — and links with remote police databases, immediately providing information about the car and owner.

On the face of it, this is nothing new. Police have always been able to run a license plate. The difference is they would do it manually, and that limited its use. It simply wasn't feasible for police to run the plates of every car in a parking garage or every car that passed through an intersection. What's different isn't the police tactic, but the efficiency of the process.

Technology is fundamentally changing the nature of surveillance. Years ago, surveillance meant trench-coated detectives following people down streets. It was laborious and expensive and was used only when there was reasonable suspicion of a crime. Modern surveillance is the policeman with a license-plate scanner, or even a remote license-plate scanner mounted on a traffic light and a policeman sitting at a computer in the station.

It's the same, but it's completely different. It's wholesale surveillance. And it disrupts the balance between the powers of the police and the rights of the people.
Wholesale surveillance is fast becoming the norm. Automatic toll-collection systems record when individual cars pass through toll booths. We can all be tracked by our cell phones. Our purchases are tracked by banks and credit-card companies, our telephone calls by phone companies, our Internet surfing habits by Web site operators.

The effects of wholesale surveillance on privacy and civil liberties are profound; but, unfortunately, the debate often gets mischaracterized as a question about how much privacy we need to give up in order to be secure. This is wrong. It's obvious that we are all safer when the police can use all techniques at their disposal. What we need are corresponding mechanisms to prevent abuse and that don't place an unreasonable burden on the innocent.

Throughout our nation's history, we have maintained a balance between the necessary interests of the police and the civil rights of the people.

The search-warrant process, as prescribed in the Fourth Amendment, is such a balancing method. So is the minimization requirement for telephone eavesdropping: The police must stop listening to a phone line if the suspect under investigation is not talking.

For license-plate scanners, one obvious protection is to require the police to erase data collected on innocent car owners immediately and not save it. The police have no legitimate need to collect data on everyone's driving habits. Another is to allow car owners access to the information about them used in these automated searches and to allow them to challenge inaccuracies.

We need to go further. Criminal penalties are severe in order to create a deterrent, because it is hard to catch wrongdoers. As they become easier to catch, a realignment is necessary. When the police can automate the detection of a wrongdoing, perhaps there should no longer be any criminal penalty attached. For example, both red-light cameras and speed-trap cameras should issue citations without any "points" assessed against the driver.

Wholesale surveillance is not simply a more efficient way for the police to do what they've always done. It's a new police power, one made possible with today's technology and one that will be made easier with tomorrow's.

And with any new police power, we as a society need to take an active role in establishing rules governing its use. To do otherwise is to cede ever more authority to the police.

The Real Agenda Of The Global Elite In Somalia

steve watson infowars.net

Neocons are backing the same warlords that slaughtered US troops in 1993



This week has seen the latest example of the US power elite bombing a broken-backed country in the name of the global 'war on terror'. The phantom menace of 'Al Qaeda' has again provided a pretext for the further destruction and destabilization of struggling state, this time Somalia, in order that the Western elite power-mongers can move in and control its valuable resources.

The Bush Administration is essentially asking us to expect to believe that it is bombing a country in an attempt to kill three terrorists– Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 people, and accomplices Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Talha al-Sudani.

The Somali government has today claimed that four more airstrikes have been carried out, killing more innocent people. The US has denied this. Also today, a senior Somali politician said US troops were needed on the ground to fight a Muslim extremist threat.

Monday's strike reportedly killed around 200 people, including Canadian and British citizens.

Critics of the action have said it could misfire by creating strong Somali resentment and feeding Islamist militancy. Analysts fear that US interfering and backing of one Somali faction against another could ignite an Iraqi-style insurgency across a swath of East Africa.

There is no doubt that this is a part of the escalation of the wider war of aggression planned and executed by the neoconservatives who published their Project For the New American Century before they came to power.

"Before this, it was just tacit support for Ethiopia. Now the U.S. has fingerprints on the intervention and is going to be held more accountable," said Horn of Africa expert Ken Menkhaus. "This has the potential for a backlash both in Somalia and the region."



The truth is that, once again, the terror myth is being promulgated as an excuse to unleash violence against a largely innocent Muslim population, and one that has struggled for a peaceful existence for decades.

As prominent blogger Kurt Nimmo has stated:

"In other words, it was a turkey shoot, and the targets were not necessarily “al-Qaeda” but rather members of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), Muslims who not long ago ruled Somalia under the Shariah, or Islamic law. CBS does not bother to mention the fact ICU was popular in Somalia, a Muslim nation."

Last December, the popular ICU lost control of the country after a short lived form of peace. The UIC had controlled Mogadishu and other areas of the country after defeating several local warlords who held Somalia in the grip of terror since the collapse of central rule in 1991. The Islamists had succeeded in defeating the warlords primarily through rallying people to their side by creating law and order through the application of Shariah law, which Somalis universally practice.

15,000 Ethiopian troops, with U.S. backing, invaded in an illegal war of aggression and ousted the IUC leaders who fled to the southern-most tip of the country.

Many Somalis in areas controlled by the UIC welcomed the security and order that the Islamists brought to the country. The Bush Administration is playing on reports that the Islamists are 'Taliban like' and is lumping them in with 'Al Qaeda' terrorists.

But the UIC does not appear to be a monolithic organization and seems split between moderates who want peace and dialogue and more right wing Muslims who want to impose Muslim Sharia law. In any case neither have the means or the desire to commit an almighty Jihad against the West, they are simply concerned with creating some kind of law and order within Somalia.

The US response has been to provide major funding to the warlord groupings, via the Ethiopian army, that are opposed to the UIC. Before bombing the hell out of villages on Monday, the Bush Administration has long been providing backing to ruthless killers intent on keeping Somalia in civil strife because it benefits each warlord's plundering rule to keep the nation carved up.

These are the same marauding warlords who drove out American forces in 1993, killing and maiming 18 US troops in the streets then dragging their bodies around in celebration.



Many of these warlords were part of the puppet regime transitional "government" that had been organized in Kenya in 2004. But the "government" was so devoid of internal support that it had to turn to Somalia's arch enemy, Ethiopia, to maintain control.

So why are the US power elite funding sectarian warlords in Somalia and now bombing Islamist areas of the country?

Because the control of Somalia via puppet government, just like in Iraq, is a key factor in the Neocon plan to "shrink the non-integrating gap" of the new world order, as Thomas Barnett's 'New Map' of the world has it.

As with Iraq, the real agenda is to obtain a direct foothold in a highly strategic region. The Horn of Africa is newly oil-rich, and lies just miles from Saudi Arabia, overlooking the daily passage of large numbers of oil tankers and warships through the Red Sea.

link to full map

Not surprising then that multiple US warships and Ticonderoga-class cruisers are now stalking the coastline off Somalia and routinely sending intelligence-gathering flights over the country. The location is also prime in order to be able to instantly mobilize forces for any conflict with Iran at the drop of a hat.

The American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips also hold concession rights in Somalia. According to the Los Angeles Times, “corporate and scientific documents disclosed that the American companies are well positioned to pursue Somalia’s most promising potential oil reserves the moment the nation is pacified,” - i.e. kill the "Islamofascists" and install a weak and pandering government that could never control its own resources well enough to compete with the Western global elite.

“Somalia is of geostrategic interest to the Bush administration, and the focus of operations and policy since 2001,” writes Larry Chin. “This focus is a continuation of long-term policies of both the Clinton administration and the George H.W. Bush administrations. Somalia’s resources have been eyed by Western powers since the days of the British Empire.”

“A new US cleansing of Somalian ‘tyranny’ would open the door for these US oil companies to map and develop the possibly huge oil potential in Somalia,” notes F. William Engdahl. “Yemen and Somalia are two flanks of the same geological configuration, which holds large potential petroleum deposits, as well as being the flanks of the oil chokepoint from the Red Sea.”

Of course the American public will simply be told that we're after 'Al Qaeda' because of 9/11, and they will buy it again. No matter that operatives involved in the African bombings at the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were admittedly working for the CIA. Nah, that's a side issue, LOOK AMERICA, Al Zawahiri said Somalia is Islamofascist, so we gotta bomb the hell out of it and control it's oil - just get used to it.

Defense Dept. warns about Canadian spy coins

Tiny transmitters found on contractors with classified security clearances

The Associated Press
Updated: 5:45 a.m. ET Jan 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - Money talks, but can it also follow your movements?

In a U.S. government warning high on the creepiness scale, the Defense Department cautioned its American contractors over what it described as a new espionage threat: Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside.

The government said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.

Intelligence and technology experts said such transmitters, if they exist, could be used to surreptitiously track the movements of people carrying the spy coins.

The U.S. report doesn’t suggest who might be tracking American defense contractors or why. It also doesn’t describe how the Pentagon discovered the ruse, how the transmitters might function or even which Canadian currency contained them.

Further details were secret, according to the U.S. Defense Security Service, which issued the warning to the Pentagon’s classified contractors. The government insists the incidents happened, and the risk was genuine.

“What’s in the report is true,” said Martha Deutscher, a spokeswoman for the security service. “This is indeed a sanitized version, which leaves a lot of questions.”

'A lot of mysterious aspects'
Top suspects, according to outside experts: China, Russia or even France — all said to actively run espionage operations inside Canada with enough sophistication to produce such technology.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it knew nothing about the coins.

“This issue has just come to our attention,” CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion said. “At this point, we don’t know of any basis for these claims.” She said Canada’s intelligence service works closely with its U.S. counterparts and will seek more information if necessary.

Experts were astonished about the disclosure and the novel tracking technique, but they rejected suggestions Canada’s government might be spying on American contractors. The intelligence services of the two countries are extraordinarily close and routinely share sensitive secrets.

“It would seem unthinkable,” said David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. “I wouldn’t expect to see any offensive operation against the Americans.”

Harris said likely candidates include foreign spies who targeted Americans abroad or businesses engaged in corporate espionage. “There are certainly a lot of mysterious aspects to this,” Harris said.

'Pretty advanced technology'
Experts said such tiny transmitters would almost certainly have limited range to communicate with sensors no more than a few feet away, such as ones hidden inside a doorway. The metal in the coins also could interfere with any signals emitted.

“I’m not aware of any (transmitter) that would fit inside a coin and broadcast for kilometers,” said Katherine Albrecht, an activist who believes such technology carries serious privacy risks. “Whoever did this obviously has access to some pretty advanced technology.”

Experts said hiding tracking technology inside coins is fraught with risks because the spy’s target might inadvertently give away the coin or spend it buying coffee or a newspaper. They agreed, however, that a coin with a hidden tracking device might not arouse suspicion if it were discovered in a pocket or briefcase.

“It wouldn’t seem to be the best place to put something like that; you’d want to put it in something that wouldn’t be left behind or spent,” said Jeff Richelson, a researcher and author of books about the CIA and its gadgets. “It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.”

Canada’s largest coins include its $2 “Toonie,” which is more than 1-inch across and thick enough to hide a tiny transmitter. The CIA has acknowledged its own spies have used hollow, U.S. silver-dollar coins to hide messages and film.

The government’s 29-page report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.

In another case, a film processing company called the FBI after it developed pictures for a contractor that contained classified images of U.S. satellites and their blueprints. The photo was taken from an adjoining office window.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16572783/

Interview with Bush Senior from 30 Sept 2001

War on terrorism

George Bush Snr, former President of the United States
George Bush discussed war on terrorism

BBC Breakfast With Frost Interview with George Bush Snr, former President of the United States, 30 September 2001

Excerpt:

FROST: And in terms of your phrase: "a new world order", now we have a situation where President Putin of Russia is being very helpful, they're even talking about joining Nato, could this be, in fact, the beginning of that new world order?

GEORGE BUSH SNR: Well I think - I think we ought to clarify what new world order is. I think there is a better world without potential superpower conflict and that new order has permitted a lot of countries to begin to make their democracies more effective, indeed you look around instead of one monolithic Soviet Union you have a lot of countries who have free elections and free markets. So I think we're seeing - saw the beginning, after Desert Storm of a new world order. But today that order is being challenged by this scourge of terrorism. And I think that we are saying a new world order, you made the key point on it because Russia is working with us, indeed in Desert Storm they, for the first time, we were together in the United Nations on resolutions but it's hard to say hey things are better, we've got a new world order when you've seen the horrible attack that took place in New York the other day, it affects every single country. And so it's going to take a while to perfect a new world order but I'm very hopeful that 20 years from now we're going to say - look there is a lot more peace, a lot more democracies, a lot more free trade, a lot more market, you know, open markets.

Bush To Try To “Bring The Public Back” To The War

KWTX CBS


(January 10, 2007)--President Bush's overriding goal in his speech to the nation Wednesday night is to "bring the public back" to the war in Iraq, The White House says.

The speech will be carried live at 8 p.m. Wednesday on CBS and News Ten.

The crux of the president’s plan is a fresh infusion of US troops at a time when most Americans want those troops to start coming home.

White House spokesman Tony Snow says the president knows he must overcome widespread doubt and restore public confidence and support for the mission.

The president is expected to call for up to 20,000 additional troops to be sent into Iraq to bolster forces in the still volatile Anbar Province and in Baghdad, where thousands of soldiers from Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division are serving as part of Multinational Division Baghdad.

He'll also call for reconstruction aid, diplomacy and benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet.

Many Democrats oppose sending in more troops.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises a vote on any proposed troop increase, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's hoping for a bipartisan measure that would declare, "We don't support this escalation of the war."

Mr. Bush is also expected to acknowledge mistakes in Iraq.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett says the president will say that it was a mistake not to have more US or Iraqi troops fighting the war at the beginning.

The president also will say that the terms under which US troops carried out earlier operations "were flawed."

Bartlett made the rounds of the morning talk shows ahead of Mr. Bush's prime-time address from the White House.

Bartlett says Mr. Bush agrees with the "vast majority" of Americans who are not satisfied with the progress being made in Iraq, so he will spell out what he intends to do about it.

The president's plans include pumping a billion dollars into Iraq's economy.

It's all Iran's fault afterall....

US forces storm Iranian consulate

US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized five members of staff.

The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.

The US military had no immediate comment on the raid, which comes amid high tension between Iran and the US.

The Bush administration accuses Iran of helping fuel violence in Iraq, as well as trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran strenuously denies both charges, countering that US military involvement in the Middle East endangers the whole region.

A local TV station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans had left.

Irbil lies in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled north, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) from the capital Baghdad.

Reports say the Iranian consulate there was set up last year under an agreement with the Kurdish regional government to facilitate cross-border visits.

Pressure

Iranian media said the country's embassy in Baghdad had sent a letter of protest about the raid to the Iraqi foreign ministry.

One Iranian news agency with a correspondent in Irbil says five US helicopters were used to land troops on the roof of the Iranian consulate.

It reports that a number of vehicles cordoned off the streets around the building, while US soldiers warned the occupants in three different languages that they should surrender or be killed.

In December, US troops detained a number of Iranians in Iraq, including two with diplomatic immunity who were later released.

Thursday's raid came as US President George W Bush unveiled his new strategy in Iraq, which included increasing troop numbers and a commitment to stop Iranian support for "our enemies in Iraq".

BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the raid could signal a ratcheting-up of pressure on the Iranians, in line with the rhetorical thrust of his speech.

Meanwhile in the Iraqi capital, the five off-duty policemen were killed in an ambush in the western al-Khadra neighbourhood, hospital officials said

Security sources said another man was killed wounded in an attack on a money changer in downtown Baghdad.

In the restive Anbar province, the US military said that one of its troops was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bombing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6251167.stm

Published: 2007/01/11 11:46:24 GMT

Bangor Makes It Illegal to Smoke in Cars

BANGOR, Maine (AP) -- The Bangor City Council approved a measure Monday that prohibits people from smoking in vehicles when children are present.

When the law goes into effect next week, Bangor will become the first municipality in Maine to have such a law. Similar statewide measures have been adopted in Arkansas and Louisiana and are under consideration in several other states.

People who smoke with children present in the confined space of a car or truck might as well be deliberately trying to kill those children, said City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, who is a smoker.

"Let's step up to the plate and lead; our children are worth the fight," she said.

The ordinance, which was approved by a 6-3 vote, applies to any motor vehicles on any public roads within the city. Violators face fines of up to $50.

An amendment that was added Monday to the original proposal makes the violation a primary offense, rather than a secondary offense. That means police can pull over vehicles if they see somebody smoking with anybody under 18 in the vehicle; if it were a secondary offense, police would have to stop the vehicle for some other reason, such as speeding.

Several residents, doctors and representatives from the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and the Fusion Bangor development group spoke in favor of the ordinance.

Pediatrician Robert Holmberg said the evidence is "incontrovertible" that exposure to cigarette smoke causes medical disorders in children, including asthma, bronchitis, ear infections and heart disease.

"Children are the most in need of the protection by public policy, because they can't protect themselves," he said.

But the ordinance also had its critics.

Councilor Susan Hawes, who voted against the law, said the police department should devote its energy to more important issues. There's already too much government intervention in people's lives, she said.

Aaron Prill of Bangor told the council that the ordinance was a "feel- good option" that was not intended to protect children but rather to "moralize" against smokers. Most smokers have enough common sense not to smoke around children, he said.

Fighting Continues in Somalia; Gov't Soldier Killed

washington post

Nairobi, Jan. 10 -- Fighting continued Wednesday in the Somali capital Mogadishu and in the southern part of the country, two days after a U.S. warplane attacked alleged al-Qaeda (the keyword here is alleged) terrorists there.

In Mogadishu, at least one government soldier was killed and several others were wounded after gunmen ambushed military posts manned by Ethiopian troops and forces loyal to the interim Somali government, a local news service reported. In the south, two heavily armed local militias clashed in Bergani. Residents also reported continued airstrikes in the region where the Ethiopian air force has been attacking Islamic militias, and where the American airstrike occurred overnight Sunday.

A Somali official told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the U.S. military had told him the attack killed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who is considered the mastermind of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa.

But military officials in Washington declined to provide information about any casualties from the strike. And Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali official who said he received the news in a U.S. military briefing, said Wednesday that he had not received any further updates.

Mohammed, and two other suspects linked to the embassy bombings that killed 225 people, are believed to be among the remnants of the Islamic Courts movement whose leaders fled south from Mogadishu in the face of Ethiopian attacks late last month, taking refuge in into an area of thick forests, swamps and rural villages along the Indian Ocean coastline.

The United States has accused Islamic Courts leaders of sheltering the three embassy bombing suspects, but the degree to which the suspects wielded influence within the Courts has remained sketchy.

The U.S. attack was greeted with rage in Mogadishu, where many Somalis see the transitional government as a pawn of the Ethiopians and the United States, and where many fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts are thought to have gone underground.

The Islamic Courts movement was widely popular for the security it brought to the capital, even if ordinary Somalis, who tend to adhere to a moderate version of Islam, were uncomfortable with the harsh social restrictions that the Courts imposed --the Courts frowned upon singing, for instance.

"I am angry," Ahmed Weli Mohamed, 37, a biology teacher, said on Tuesday. "I am very, very angry . . . Even if there are terrorists, there are maybe two or three people, but hundreds of people are killed. Is this logical? It's inhumanity. We feel we are not considered human beings. Americans don't respect us as humans."

Several European diplomats have expressed concern that the U.S. airstrikes will only destabilize Somalia further, and in a statement on Wednesday, African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare joined in the criticism, saying he is "concerned" and urging "all actors to refrain from any action likely to complicate the current situation."

U.S. military officials say they have not conducted additional strikes since the attack that occurred late Sunday (early Monday, Somali time). Air activity since then, they say, likely comes from the Ethiopian military.

But Hassan, chief of staff to Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, said he believed the United States was still involved, and some local residents interviewed Wednesday said they thought the planes flying over the area were American.

In Mogadishu, reports circulated that as many as 50 people, many of them civilians, were killed in the attack by a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship. U.S. officials said they are fairly certain that at least one targeted individual was hit; they said they had no information about civilian deaths in the strike along the Kenyan border.

Several officials suggested that stories reaching Mogadishu of many deaths and continuing U.S. attacks had confused the airstrike with ongoing operations in the area by Ethiopia's military, including helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. But it was impossible to confirm independently any of the widely differing accounts in Mogadishu or in Washington.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed Tuesday that a single airstrike occurred on Sunday, targeting "what we believe to be principal al-Qaeda leadership." Officials said that no further information would be released until U.S. personnel could assess directly the results of the strike and identify any dead.

Direct U.S. access to the area, where fleeing Islamic fundamentalist forces are being pursued on the ground and from the air by the Ethiopians, is viewed as problematic but necessary.

A principal target of the airstrike was Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese who U.S. officials have said is a longtime associate of Osama bin Laden and a key figure in an East African al-Qaeda cell based in Somalia. He is considered the financier behind the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Other targets included Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, two other al-Qaeda operatives said to be responsible for the embassy bombings; Somali fundamentalist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the former head of a militant group accused of links to al-Qaeda in the 1990s; and several other Somali Islamic leaders described as terrorists.

"I don't think anybody has packed up and gone home," another official said of U.S. operations in the area.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was moved into the Indian Ocean near the Somali coast to provide assistance, if needed, to the AC-130 on Sunday, and to use its aircraft to pinpoint the location of targets on land or sea. Four other U.S. naval vessels from the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet are in the area.

News of the airstrike made shop owner and retired Somali soldier Hussein Farah Guley, 56, recall the early 1990s, when U.S. troops were part of a U.N. force that monitored a cease-fire in the country. Among the many foreigners killed by warring Somali clans during that period were 18 U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force soldiers, who were attacked in Mogadishu after a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in 1993.

"The Somalis, they will get angry," Guley said, "and if they see anyone from the outside, they will kill them."

Gedi's transitional government, which U.S. officials said gave permission for the airstrike, is perceived by many Somalis as having interrupted a months-long period of unusual calm. The government is also seen as being too closely aligned with its leadership's clan and with outsiders, particularly Ethiopia and the United States.

Somalis have already begun to express anger toward Ethiopian troops. Tuesday night, a former police building in the capital, now occupied by the Ethiopians, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a speeding car. One Ethiopian and one Somali soldier were killed, and three civilians were injured.

The United States is leading an effort to deploy an African peacekeeping force to replace the Ethiopians, and it is pressing Gedi's government to open talks with Islamic leaders who are seen as moderates. No progress was reported on either front yesterday. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said a possible U.N. force is also being "actively discussed."

Democrats Beef Police State With 9/11 Commission Bill

Political "opposition" also helping Bush gain traction for Iran military strike.

prisonplanet



House Democrats have passed a piece of legislation that was crafted on the back of recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission in their 2004 final report. The bill is a tonic for big government, increased federalization of America, and mandates expansion of no fly lists, terror watch lists and further government surveillance of American citizens.

While the HR 1 bill contains some welcome provisions, including a redress of grievance process for passengers unfairly delayed or refused boarding for flights and a re-commitment to the Geneva conventions, it's largely a nightmare for opponents of big government in that it vastly increases funding and scope for Homeland Security, FEMA and further federalizes law enforcement.

The legislation takes its cue directly from the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission report, which has been widely debunked by researchers and whistleblowers as a self-appointed whitewash that was harnessed to bury important questions about the impossibility of the official story behind 9/11. Hyping the threat of terror beyond its reasonable capacity, ignoring the reality that peanut allergies and lightning strikes kill more Americans than terrorists, Commission leaders Kean and Hamilton encouraged a broad range of measures that only accelerate the authoritarian surge towards a police state in America. They include;

- Homeland Security identity checkpoints on American roads and highways;

- Mandated biometric iris and finger scanning systems for all Americans at airports;

- Creation of a biometric national ID card for all American citizens;

- Expansion of "no-fly" and "watch lists" to prevent more Americans from traveling (even though such lists have been ridiculed time and time again for flagging completely innocent people including Senators and children);

- Increased special screening of all passengers at airports (greasing the skids for invasive body scanners that capture a naked image of the passenger to be implemented as standard);

- Federal takeover of publicly owned communication systems such as radio;

- Increased government surveillance of Americans' financial records and activities;

- Domesticating the CIA to watch American citizens;

- Government-wide sharing of information and centralization of databases containing information about American citizens.

All of these recommendations were embraced by the 9/11 Commission and many of them are contained within the bill introduced by the Democrats that has already passed the House.

Meanwhile, on the geopolitical front Israel has resolved to use its powerful lobbying network to arm twist recalcitrant Democrats and media moguls into supporting military action against Iran. Retired Gen. Oded Tira recently admonished, "As an American air strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help (Bush) pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and U.S. newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure."

He continues, "Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran." Thus, Israel and its U.S. lobbying arm "must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran."

Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has also called upon Israel to "immediately launch an intense, international public relations front" aimed at the U.S. to sell the necessity of war.

Noted author and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan warns us that "A propaganda campaign, using Israeli agents and their neocon auxiliaries and sympathizers, who stampeded us into war in Iraq, is being prepared to stampede us into war on Iran."

However, it doesn't appear that leading Democrats will take much convincing before pledging their loyal support for the next chapter of imperial suicide.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recently assured readers of the Jerusalem Post in Israel that the Democrats were fully prepared to back the use of force against Iran and this sentiment is shared by a cadre of leading luminaries including Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Bilderberg endorsed 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards and even darling of the left Barack Obama.

While Americans are placated by promises that Democrats will "symbolically" oppose President Bush's insane troop surge for Iraq, while they actively fund the entire venture through the power of the Congressional purse, the roadmap to Iran is being dutifully upheld by those who came to power vowing change yet are showing all the signs of reverting to type and lining up to salute the continued frog march towards world war three, while ensuring the further downfall of America into a police state at home.