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Post by Tulameen on Jul 12, 2006 9:58:47 GMT -5
Israel has launched an assault in southern Lebanon using planes, tanks and gunboats, after the capture of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah militants. Roads and Hezbollah outposts were hit and two civilians killed in the incursion, Israel's first into Lebanon since 2000. Fighting is continuing. Israel's PM Ehud Olmert described Lebanon's actions as an "act of war". He said he held Beirut responsible for the fate of the two soldiers and that it would pay a "heavy price". But Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Nubulsi told the BBC his organisation wanted to exchange the soldiers for Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails. He said he was confident Israel would negotiate. The news of the clashes comes as a major Israeli offensive is under way in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in Israel over two weeks ago. Major campaign UN Secretary General Kofi Annan both condemned the Israeli offensive and called for the soldiers' release. Israeli troops entered southern Lebanon to search for the two soldiers, for the first time since Israel ended its occupation of the area six years ago. Several thousand reservists will be deployed along the border, officials say. The call-up signals a large-scale campaign, as operations continue to free the soldier seized in Gaza. The events in Lebanon unfolded as follows: * On Wednesday morning, Hezbollah launched dozens of Katyusha rockets and mortar bombs at the Israeli town of Shlomi and at Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms area * Later Hezbollah said its fighters had destroyed an Israeli tank attempting to cross the border. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there had been a number of casualties * Two civilians were killed when Israeli planes bombed a road bridge on major route though southern Lebanon. Mr Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for Wednesday evening to discuss further action, although he has already ruled out negotiations. "The Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah is a part, is trying to shake regional stability," he said. "This morning's events are not a terror attack but the action of a sovereign state which attacked Israel without any reason." But the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut says the Lebanese government must have been taken by surprise by the capture of the soldiers. It has not reacted so far to the news. Beirut is under intense pressure to disarm Hezbollah, she says, but wants to do so by peaceful means to avoid internal conflict. Hezbollah said it captured the two Israeli soldiers at 0904 (0704 GMT). A statement from the group said the two had been taken to a "safe place". It did not mention whether they were alive or dead or injured. Hezbollah captured three Israeli soldiers in 2000. They died during the operation, but four years later, the group was able to exchange their bodies for 430 Palestinians and Lebanese held in Israeli jails. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5173078.stmPublished: 2006/07/12 14:10:23 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jul 12, 2006 9:56:53 GMT -5
By Alaa Shahine
Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed up to seven Israelis on Wednesday, in what Israel described as an act of war by Lebanon that would draw a "very painful" response.
Israel mobilized a reserve infantry division and Hizbollah declared an all-out military alert.
Two Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a coastal bridge at Qasmiyeh. Four other bridges in the south were hit and five Lebanese were wounded, security sources said.
The sources said the Israeli soldiers had been seized at around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) across the border from Aita al-Shaab, some 15 km (nine miles) from the Mediterranean coast.
The Israeli army confirmed that two Israeli soldiers had been captured on the Lebanese frontier.
Israeli ground forces crossed into Lebanon to hunt for the missing soldiers, Israeli Army Radio said. Hizbollah and the Lebanese authorities said there was no major incursion.
Traffic was thin on roads in the south amid sporadic Israeli shelling of border areas. An Israeli rocket hit a car carrying a crew from Lebanese New Television, wounding all three.
Israeli troops have not struck deep into Lebanon since they withdrew from a southern border strip in 2000 after Hizbollah's Shi'ite fighters waged an 18-year war of attrition against them.
"It is an act of war by the state of Lebanon against the state of Israel in its sovereign territory," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said of Hizbollah's action, threatening a "very painful and far-reaching" response.
Israel is already engaged in an expanding military offensive in the Gaza Strip launched after Palestinian militants captured a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.
"Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the (Arab) prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance ... captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine," the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah said in a statement.
"The two captives were transferred to a safe place," it said, without stating what condition the captives were in.
PRISONER SWAP
A Lebanese political source said Hizbollah was willing to discuss swapping them for prisoners held in Israel. A Hizbollah spokesman refused comment. The group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called a news conference for 5 p.m. (1400 GMT).
In 2004 Hizbollah exchanged a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli troops for more than 420 Arab prisoners. Israel now holds at least three Lebanese prisoners.
Hizbollah said it had destroyed an Israeli tank that had entered Lebanon. Al Jazeera television said a total of seven Israelis had been killed in Wednesday's border violence.
Olmert called a special cabinet session for 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) to discuss further military action.
The Lebanese cabinet was also due to hold an emergency meeting at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT), political sources said.
Hizbollah, the only Lebanese faction to retain its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war, is also a political party with 14 members in the Beirut parliament and two cabinet ministers.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch called for the release of the Israeli soldiers, as did the European Union and the United Nations envoy to Lebanon.
But Syria said Israeli actions were to blame for Hizbollah's attack. "Occupation is what provokes the Palestinian and Lebanese people," Vice President Farouq al-Shara told reporters.
SWEETS AND FIREWORKS
Hizbollah supporters set off fire crackers and distributed sweets in the streets of Beirut after the Islamist group issued its claim. Similar scenes were reported across Lebanon.
In Gaza, Israel killed nine members of a Palestinian family in an air strike that destroyed a three-storey residential building where top Hamas commanders were believed to be meeting.
The bombing was among a series of attacks that killed a total of 15 Palestinians as Israeli forces swept into central Gaza on Wednesday, broadening an offensive aimed at freeing a captured soldier and halting cross-border rocket fire.
The Israeli military said the air raid wounded Mohammad Deif, leader of the governing Hamas's armed wing. A spokesman for Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades denied Deif was hurt.
Israel's Gaza offensive is aimed at freeing captured Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit and halting cross-border rocket fire.
Shalit's seizure by Hamas and allied fighters led Israel to launch its first ground attacks in Gaza since quitting the Strip last year. About 71 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Israel has rejected calls from Hamas for a prisoner swap for the 19-year-old tank gunner.
(Additional reporting by Karamallah Daher in Marjayoun, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Dan Williams at Kissufim and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem)
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Post by Tulameen on Jul 11, 2006 13:27:31 GMT -5
All US military detainees, including those at Guantanamo Bay, are to be treated in line with the minimum standards of the Geneva Conventions. The White House announced the shift in policy almost two weeks after the US Supreme Court ruled that the conventions applied to detainees. President Bush had long fought the idea that US detainees were prisoners of war entitled to Geneva Convention rights. The Pentagon outlined the new standards to the military in a 7 July memo. The directive says all military detainees are entitled to humane treatment and to certain basic legal standards when they come to trial, as required by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. It is not really a reversal of policy - humane treatment has always been the standard Tony Snow, White House spokesman The Bush administration has come under intense and sustained international criticism for its treatment of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The military has been using the site to house hundreds of detainees, many believed to have been picked up off battlefields in Afghanistan. When the detention centre was established in 2002, President Bush ordered that detainees be treated "humanely, and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva". His spokesman Tony Snow said on Tuesday that the Pentagon directive did not represent a change: "It is not really a reversal of policy. Humane treatment has always been the standard." Court steps in At the end of June, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the Bush administration did not by itself have the authority to order that the detainees be tried by military commission. It said its decision was based on both US military law and the Geneva Conventions - asserting for the first time in US law that the detainees were entitled to Geneva protections. But the Supreme Court left open the possibility that the detainees could be tried by military commission if Congress established an appropriate legal framework for doing so. The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings on the issue on Tuesday morning, just as news of the new military policy became public. Daniel Dell'Orto, a defence department lawyer who was the first to testify, said there were about 1,000 detainees in US military custody around the world. Guantanamo Bay holds an estimated 450. Mr Dell'Orto did not say where the others were being held. The new Pentagon policy applies only to detainees being held by the military, and not to those in CIA custody, such as alleged mastermind of the 11 September attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Geneva Conventions, which were passed in the wake of World War II, are meant to guarantee minimum standards of protection for non-combatants and former combatants in war. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/5169600.stmPublished: 2006/07/11 16:26:05 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jul 10, 2006 9:30:42 GMT -5
BBC NEWS Israel has rejected criticism that its military offensive in the Gaza Strip is a disproportionate use of force. PM Ehud Olmert said there was no other way to stop "the fear, the shocks, the lack of security" of Israeli civilians facing daily rocket attacks from Gaza. At least 42 Palestinians and an Israeli have died in raids launched after militants seized an Israeli soldier. An exiled militant leader called the Israeli a prisoner of war who must be swapped for Palestinian detainees. "We are for a peaceful, quiet resolution. The solution is simple: an exchange, but Israel rejects that," Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political leader, said at a news conference. It was his first public appearance since Cpl Gilad Shalit's capture on 25 June. Israeli officials blame the Damascus-based Mr Meshaal for masterminding the abduction and have threatened him with assassination. "They talk about one soldier, we have 10,000 detainees [in Israeli jails], including 400 children and 120 women... this is why we are seeking a prisoner exchange," Mr Meshaal said. 'No re-occupation' Israeli aircraft have launched fresh attacks, including strikes on a suspected weapons depot in Gaza city and a car carrying militants in Khan Younis. Two people - both militants - died in the attack on a car, while an unidentified man was killed in another attack on a car in the Shejaya area of Gaza. We have no particular desire to topple the Hamas government. We have a desire to stop terrorists from inflicting terror on the Israeli people Ehud Olmert Separately, a 15-month-old baby wounded in an Israeli air strike near Khan Younis on 21 June died on Monday of his injuries, medical sources said. Overnight, Palestinian militants also fired two Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza border. "I think that once the Qassam shooting will be stopped and the terrorist actions against innocent civilians will be halted altogether, there will be no need for any Israeli action in Gaza," Mr Olmert told foreign journalists in Jerusalem. On Sunday, he told ministers the offensive was not a re-occupation of Gaza, but would continue for as long as it took to secure the release of 19-year-old Cpl Gilad Shalit, captured two weeks ago, and stop cross-border rocket attacks. On Friday the European Union condemned "the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defence Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated". Mr Olmert responded on Monday: "Can one measure the anxiety, the fear, the shocks, the lack of security of tens of thousands of people living day in and day out for almost a year under the constant threat of missiles shot at them? "When was the last time that the European Union condemned this shooting and suggested effective measures to stop it? We were waiting and waiting and waiting." Hamas policy Israeli forces have withdrawn from parts of northern Gaza they seized last week, but they remain east of Gaza City and in the south of the Gaza Strip. Hamas says Cpl Shalit is alive and being well-treated, and it is demanding Israel release women and children among the 9,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Mr Olmert ruled out any negotiations with the Hamas led-Palestinian government, calling the militant group a "terrorist bloody organisation". But he also denied trying to topple the democratically elected Palestinian government. "We have no particular desire to topple the Hamas government as a policy. We have a desire to stop terrorists from inflicting terror on the Israeli people," he said. Since Cpl Shalit's capture, Israeli forces have re-entered Gaza, bombed its infrastructure and arrested Hamas Cabinet ministers and threatened to assassinate other leaders. Israel withdrew settlers and the troops who protected them from Gaza last September after a 38-year presence. Since then Palestinian militants have frequently launched home-made Qassam missiles at Israeli population centres - often without causing injuries. The attacks are usually described as revenge for Israeli military action. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5164258.stmPublished: 2006/07/10 11:15:56 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jun 30, 2006 11:24:01 GMT -5
Al Qaeda leader calls on Bush to return body of 'great knight' (CNN) -- An audio message posted Friday on an Islamic Web site purports to be the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, grieving over the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and taunting President Bush. Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who masterminded hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was killed June 7 in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad. He was al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. On the tape, bin Laden addresses President Bush directly and demands that the U.S. return al-Zarqawi's body to his family in Jordan. "I say to Bush, you should deliver the body (of al-Zarqawi) to his family, and don't be too happy. Our flag hasn't fallen, thanks be to God. It has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam," bin Laden says in Arabic. (Watch what's on the taped message -- 4:02) "We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, until we drain your money and kill your men and send you home defeated, God willing, as we defeated you before, thanks to God, in Somalia." The U.S. government has never given a public accounting of what happened to al-Zarqawi's body after the autopsy. "I say to your agent (King Abdullah) in Jordan, stop your tyranny. You have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive, don't stand in his way now." Jordanian courts convicted and sentenced al-Zarqawi in absentia after he admitted to the November 11, 2005, triple hotel bombings in Amman that killed 60 people and injured scores, mostly Jordanians. Although CNN cannot independently verify that the voice in the message is bin Laden's, several experts have told CNN it appears to be. Another section of the message says, "Our dear Muslim nation, we were deeply saddened by the passing of our loved ones, Abu Musab and his companions, but we were very happy that their souls have flooded these great battles as they were defending the Islamic law." Al-Zarqawi was killed "following a hateful American raid," the al Qaeda leader says. Bin Laden refers to al-Zarqawi as "one of our greatest knights and one of our best emirs (leaders)," and adds, "We were very happy to find in him a symbol and role model for our future generations." In the message, bin Laden refers to al-Zarqawi by his given name -- Ahmed al-Khalayleh -- a sign of respect. The audio message, which last 19 minutes, 32 seconds, is imposed over a split screen, with a still photo of bin Laden on one side and a video of al-Zarqawi on the other. On Wednesday, the Web site, which often posts messages, statements and videos from al Qaeda, posted a note saying it was expecting a message "soon" from bin Laden. The site posted a nearly identical notification last Thursday on behalf of al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The following day, a videotape was aired on the Arab network Al-Jazeera in which al-Zawahiri said he was grieving the death of al-Zarqawi. (Full story) The last audio Web site message purportedly from bin Laden was May 23, when he said that neither Zacarias Moussaoui nor any of the prisoners held at the U.S. Navy detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had anything to do with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A federal jury sentenced Moussaoui to life in prison without parole for his connection to 9/11. He was not charged with direct involvement in the plot. The French citizen of Moroccan descent pleaded guilty to six counts of terrorism conspiracy related to the attacks. CNN's Octavia Nasr contributed to this report. Find this article at: www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/30/binladen.tape/index.html
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Post by Tulameen on Jun 30, 2006 10:55:09 GMT -5
BBC NEWS The US military has opened a probe into the alleged killing of an Iraqi family by US soldiers, military officials say. Five soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a woman and killing her and three members of her family, an unnamed official told AP. The probe "will encompass everything that could have happened that evening," said a US military spokesman. The news follows a series of investigations into alleged abuses of Iraqis by coalition forces. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5133996.stmPublished: 2006/06/30 14:37:17 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jun 30, 2006 10:53:38 GMT -5
BBC NEWS By Katya Adler BBC News, Beit Lahia, Gaza Beit Lahia in northern Gaza is a poor, dusty and overcrowded town, like all communities in the Gaza Strip. Now it is preparing for war. Battered-looking cars and donkeys pulling carts negotiate their way with difficulty around mounds of sand piled in the streets. It is a miserable attempt by local residents to stop the most powerful army in the Middle East. People here think it is just a matter of time before Israel's tanks come rolling in. They took up positions in southern Gaza earlier in the week. Rafat al-Kilem, a shopkeeper in Beit Lahia told me he worries constantly about his wife and small children - so much so that he is moving out of their family home to his father's house in central Gaza. Breaking point People are jumpy and a bit bleary eyed in Gaza at the moment. They're not getting much sleep. Israeli jets fly low over this narrow strip of land at night, causing sonic booms. They're not dangerous but they are petrifying, sounding like large explosions. This is all part of Israel's campaign to pressurise Palestinian leaders - it wants its captured soldier back and for Palestinian militants to stop firing crudely-made rockets at Israeli towns - but to Gazans it feels like collective punishment. Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip. No food, bottled water or fuel supplies are coming in. There are frequent power cuts. Israeli helicopter gunships took out Gaza' power station on Tuesday night. Shopkeepers here say they're selling-out of candles and batteries. Israel has taken measures like these before and shortages were already widespread in Gaza before this week's incursion, though for different reasons. Tough times The international community turned off the donor tap in March after the militant Hamas movement formed the Palestinian government. Now the situation here has undoubtedly got worse. Israel says it is prepared for a sharp, severe and extended military campaign. There has been no bloodshed so far but armed Palestinian groups say they'll fight Israeli soldiers in the streets. Gazan families worry about getting caught in the crossfire. Most here say they support Sunday's attack on an Israeli military post by Palestinian militants but that they wish they hadn't brought a captive Israeli soldier - and all this trouble - back with them to Gaza. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5131228.stmPublished: 2006/06/29 21:36:44 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jun 13, 2006 21:21:42 GMT -5
US President George W Bush is returning home after a surprise trip to Baghdad - his first since November 2003. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was only given a five-minute warning before meeting the guest for talks at the US embassy in the fortified Green Zone. "Iraq's future is in your hands," Mr Bush told the Iraqi prime minister. The American president had been chairing talks in the US on future policy in Iraq and had been due to speak to Mr Maliki via videophone. Correspondents say the trip comes amid a rare mood of optimism in the White House about events in Iraq. Last week saw the killing of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the appointment of ministers in the Iraqi government for defence, security and the interior. "When America gives its word, it will keep its word" US President George W Bush The Bush administration sees these developments as real progress and hopes they will buttress the credibility of Iraq's new government, the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says. But in further unrest, at least 16 people have been killed in a wave of blasts in the northern city of Kirkuk. In other developments: * The new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, has reportedly vowed to defeat "crusaders and Shias" in Iraq, according to an internet statement * The judge in the trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein brings to an end the defence phase * A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows 48% of Americans say they believe the US could probably or definitely win the war in Iraq, up from 39% in April. Tight security At Baghdad airport Mr Bush boarded a helicopter for the short trip to the US embassy. The leaders discussed the next steps for Iraq in talks with their advisers and the Iraqi Cabinet. Mr Bush told reporters afterwards that Iraq was part of the US "war on terror" and would continue to receive Washington's support. "When America gives its word, it will keep its word," he said. "It's in our interest that Iraq succeeds." For his part, Mr Maliki said he hoped the suffering of Iraq would come to an end and all foreign troops would return home. Mr Bush also thanked the US military for their "sacrifice" during his visit. He travelled to Baghdad amid the same exceptional security and secrecy that surrounded his trip to meet US troops in November 2003. Most foreign leaders have made their visits to Iraq unannounced because of the security threats. Baghdad crackdown The trip came as Mr Maliki launched a security crackdown in Baghdad to try to build momentum following the death of Zarqawi in a US air strike. Measures include a curfew from 2100-0600 and a ban on all vehicle traffic on Friday lunchtimes to try to curb attacks during Friday prayers. Earlier on Tuesday a wave of car bomb attacks claimed at least 16 lives in Kirkuk. Correspondents say the concern is these attacks are part of the revenge promised by al-Qaeda in Iraq for the death of Zarqawi. Mr Bush has pledged that the group's new leader will be "brought to justice". Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5076038.stmPublished: 2006/06/14 01:48:59 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on May 23, 2006 23:34:31 GMT -5
Bush urges Israel on peace talks US President George W Bush has urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resume direct talks with Palestinians. Mr Bush said he believed a settlement could still be reached with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and condemned the militant group Hamas. However he told the visiting Mr Olmert that his "bold ideas" on a unilateral West Bank pullout could be a key step. Mr Olmert said Israel reserved the right to leave while retaining major population centres if talks failed. Mr Bush said he believed a negotiated settlement could still be reached between Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "I believe, and Prime Minister Olmert agrees, that a negotiated final status agreement best serves both the Israelis and the Palestinians and the cause of peace," he said. The US president made a distinction between Mr Abbas, who he said "speaks out for peace", and the militant group Hamas "who does not". Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist, must abandon terror, must accept all previous agreements George W Bush Hamas, which has formed a government after winning parliamentary elections in January, does not recognise Israel and has rejected calls for a permanent end to violence. Mr Bush said a settlement should be based on the roadmap plan for Middle East peace agreed in 2002 - which speaks of the existence of two democratic states. 'Concession' For his part, Mr Olmert said he would exhaust all options for a negotiated agreement before setting Israel's final borders. He is proposing a withdrawal from the West Bank, involving tens of thousands of settlers, as part of a plan to unilaterally redraw the borders of the Palestinian territories. But the Israeli prime minister reiterated he would not negotiate with Hamas until it "renounced terrorism" and recognised Israel's right to exist. "Despite our sincere desire for negotiations, we cannot wait indefinitely for the Palestinians to change," he said. The US administration will favour what Mr Olmert is after ... to put the Hamas government in a weaker position Said Abdelwahed, Gaza However Mr Olmert made what appeared to be a significant concession on the subject of Mr Abbas, the BBC's Justin Webb says. The US wants Mr Olmert to pursue talks with Mr Abbas, bypassing Hamas, and Mr Olmert said he would try, our correspondent says. On Iran, Mr Bush emphasised US commitment to a diplomatic solution, but reiterated his pledge to come to Israel's aid in the event of an attack. Mr Olmert praised US efforts to seek UN action against Tehran, but said now was the "moment of truth". "It is not too late to prevent it from happening," he said, referring to a nuclear-armed Iran. 'Facts on the ground' The meeting in Washington is the first between the two leaders since Mr Olmert was sworn in earlier this month. In 2004 Mr Bush appeared ready to allow Israel to retain large settlement blocs within the West Bank, calling some major settlements "facts on the ground". All Israeli settlements within land occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war are judged illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Mr Olmert, under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, played a key role in last year's withdrawal of Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Ahead of the meeting, Israel arrested the head of the military wing of Palestinian Islamic group Hamas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Ibrahim Hamad was wanted for alleged involvement in a string of attacks, including a suicide bombing at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, where American civilians were among the victims. Mr Olmert will also meet Vice-President thingy Cheney and House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, and address a joint session of Congress. He has met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5006900.stmPublished: 2006/05/23 23:51:31 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on May 23, 2006 23:32:14 GMT -5
'Bin Laden' denies Moussaoui roleAn audio recording supposedly of Osama Bin Laden denies Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted over the 9/11 attacks, was involved in the operation. The message said to be from the al-Qaeda leader came from a five-minute audio file on an Islamist website. The man said he had personally assigned 19 attackers and "brother Zacarias" was not one of them. Earlier this month, a US court jailed Moussaoui for life without parole for his role in the attacks. "I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission," the voice said, in a reference to the 19 hijackers of 11 September 2001. "Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No 20 in the group, as your government claimed," he said. Moussaoui confessed because of pressure caused by over four years in prison, he said. Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, pleaded guilty in April 2005 to six charges of conspiracy over the hijacking attacks on New York and Washington. Clear statement The man in the recording also said that none of the Guantanamo Bay detainees were connected to the attacks. An unidentified US counterterrorism official told the Associated Press news agency that the US was aware of the message and there was no reason to doubt its authenticity. If verified, the recording would be the third statement by Bin Laden this year. On 23 April, Arab satellite TV al-Jazeera broadcast a tape purportedly from Bin Laden in which he said the West was at war with Islam. In a tape released in a similar way in January, Bin Laden warned of further attacks on the US. The new audio recording would also be one of the al-Qaeda leader's clearest statements on his operational involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks, correspondents say. But the importance of this recording does not lie in the veracity or otherwise of its claims, says the BBC's Adam Brookes. It lies in the fact that it is a reminder both to the Americans and to Bin Laden's sympathisers worldwide that he remains alive, at large and a political player, our correspondent says. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5010764.stmPublished: 2006/05/24 00:04:08 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on May 18, 2006 20:59:47 GMT -5
BBC NEWS By Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic correspondent A little over a month ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proudly announced that Iran had joined, as he put it, those countries which have nuclear technology. He was speaking in the wake of a series of successful experiments in which Iranian scientists had taken uranium hexafluoride gas, introduced it into a small number of centrifuges, and produced a small quantity of low enriched uranium. The message was simple. Iran's enrichment programme was under way and there would be no going back. But Iran's technical capabilities may not be quite as advanced as they would have the world believe. Western diplomatic sources have told the BBC that there is a very strong probability that the uranium hexafluoride gas used in these experiments was not made by the Iranians at all. They say that it may well have come from a small stock of material sold to Iran by China back in 1991. This sale took place just before China itself joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty regime; hence before it was bound by the strict export controls that the treaty demands. Indeed, diplomats say that it was China's decision to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency of this sale a few years later, that helped to start the process of unravelling what the Iranians were really up to. Nuclear experts say that, in many ways, it is not surprising that Iran should use the Chinese material in its initial experiments. Iran is widely believed to have had some problems with impurities in its own production of uranium hexafluoride gas. Hence it would be logical to use the good quality Chinese material to test out its enrichment machinery. Whether or not the experiments also used Iranian-manufactured feed-material is unknown. 'Propaganda move' The Iranian move clearly had great propaganda value. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is clearly proud of the Iranian scientists' achievements. But there may also have been a clear political purpose: to demonstrate that the Iranian enrichment programme is now a reality and to put down a marker that in the event of any future deal, Iran's right to conduct at least some enrichment activity will have to be acknowledged. Think tanks and policy experts have produced a variety of plans to resolve the nuclear row with Iran. Increasingly these do tend to allow the Iranians the right to limited enrichment activities: bowing, if you like, to the "fact" that Iran has seemingly already mastered the necessary technology. The uncertainty surrounding Iran's technical progress underscores the broader questions about its overall nuclear ambitions. Iran, of course, strenuously denies having any desire to develop a nuclear bomb. But opinion differs as to how long it might take the Iranians to develop a "break-out" capability: that is to have a sufficiently capable civil enrichment capacity to allow them to renounce their treaty obligations and to push at full speed for a bomb. And the uncertainty also highlights another fact, admitted by Western officials at least in private - that their hard intelligence on Iran's nuclear programme is as limited as their knowledge of Iraq's nuclear activities prior to the 2003 US-led invasion. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4995350.stmPublished: 2006/05/18 17:25:10 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on May 18, 2006 20:58:14 GMT -5
BBC NEWS Doubts over Iran nuclear capacity Doubts have been raised about how technically advanced Iran's nuclear programme is, after it emerged Tehran may have used material from China. Western diplomatic sources told the BBC the material used in Iran's recent uranium enrichment experiments probably came from materials supplied in 1991. That was before China joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and before it was bound by its export controls. Iran recently announced it had been able to produce enriched uranium. This was despite calls from Western powers to suspend the programme because of fears it could lead to the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran may have used stocks of high-quality uranium gas - or uranium hexafluoride gas - from China to speed up a breakthrough in enrichment, diplomats say. This allowed them to proclaim Iran's enrichment programme was under way. 'Impure' material Nuclear experts say Iran has had some problems with impurities in its own production of the material. So it would be logical to use the good quality Chinese material to test out its enrichment machinery, says the BBC's Jonathan Marcus. The Iranian move had great propaganda value, but it may also have had a clear political purpose: to demonstrate that the Iranian enrichment programme was a reality, our correspondent says. It may also have put down a marker that in the event of any future deal, Iran's right to conduct at least some enrichment activity would have to be acknowledged, he adds. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4994828.stmPublished: 2006/05/18 16:39:16 GMT © BBC MMVI
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Post by Tulameen on Jun 10, 2005 10:35:01 GMT -5
Considering how I've been feeling for the past couple of weeks, I wonder if someone has been testing something like this here....
Jun 10, 9:40 AM EDT
Israel may use sound weapon on settlers
By AMY TEIBEL Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's Gaza Strip evacuation - a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea.
Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown.
The army employed the new device, which it dubbed "The Scream," at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head. A military official said the device emits a special frequency that targets the inner ear. Exposure for several minutes at close range could cause auditory damage, but the noise is too intolerable for people to remain in the area for that long, he said.
Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of his sensitive position, said the device hasn't been tested on subjects for hours at a time, so he couldn't discuss effects from prolonged exposure.
He said there was no direct connection between the recent introduction of "The Scream" and the forcible removal of settlers who resist evacuation orders, which is to begin in mid-August. But he didn't rule out the possibility of using it to root out settlers if persuasion fails.
The other official said "The Scream" could be used if protesters march on Gaza settlements or take up military positions.
"The whole issue of non-lethal is viewed from a desire not to get into a situation where soldiers are in distress and the consequences would be harsher than expected," he explained.
He said the military is still evaluating the device's debut performance in the field.
John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank in Alexandria, Va., said he believed last Friday's demonstration was the first case of such technology making it out of the laboratory and into the field. He said the U.S. and possibly China and Russia are developing acoustic weapons.
"I'm not aware of any other agency that is actively using it at this point," Pike said.
The military offered few details on the device, but Pike said he assumed it worked on very low frequencies that set off resonance in the inner ear. He said he was unaware of potential damage besides possible hearing loss.
Though the military refused to comment, Pike said the device probably sends its sound waves out in a specific direction, protecting the soldiers behind it.
"Most governments don't face large-scale demonstrations with a potential for lethal violence," he said. "So I think I would look to Israeli security forces to be an innovator in the non-lethal arena, simply because of the unique challenges it faces in the crowd control arena."
The military officials said Israel is constantly trying to bring new non-lethal weapons into the field but wouldn't disclose details. Its current arsenal includes tear gas as well as rubber-coated steel bullets, which have caused dozens of Palestinian fatalities.
Critics say Israel, with all its military technology savvy, should have done more in the years since the first Palestinian uprising began in 1987 to develop non-lethal weapons for use against hostile Palestinian masses.
Troops often turn to live fire, sometimes against teenage Palestinian stone-throwers. Police, too, used deadly force in October 2000 to put down rioting by Israeli Arabs at the start of the second Palestinian uprising. Thirteen Israeli Arabs were killed in those riots, and a commission of inquiry found that police used excessive force.
Israel's B'Tselem human rights group says Israeli security officers don't come equipped to police protests. "Although they could have anticipated they would have to disperse crowds, they didn't equip themselves with non-lethal means," spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said.
Weapons they do have, such as rubber-coated bullets, are misused - fired, for example, at too close a range, Michaeli said. The rubber-coated bullets can be lethal from close range.
Pike said the reason there aren't more non-lethal weapons available worldwide is because it is difficult to achieve both safety and effectiveness.
"The number of things that are genuinely effective at crowd control and substantially less lethal than lethal weapons - it's a pretty short list," he said.
Weapons like pepper gas wouldn't put off a determined crowd, Pike said. Something like sticky foam might keep people out of a building, "but if I'm talking about controlling a mob in a city square, it just doesn't enter into play," he said.
Israel's past efforts to develop non-lethal crowd dispersal weapons included a gravel-spewing machine introduced and quickly abandoned during the first Palestinian uprising.
© 2005 The Associated Press.
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Post by Tulameen on Apr 28, 2005 10:52:51 GMT -5
Putin Hardens Line on Iranian Nuclear Program Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:37 AM ET
By Maria Golovnina
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardening his line toward Iran's nuclear program, said Thursday Tehran needed to do more to assure the world it was not trying to build atomic weapons.
Putin, at a news conference in Jerusalem, said Tehran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia -- which agreed to supply the material to Iran's Bushehr plant -- "does not seem to be enough."
He said that in addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control."
Iran has long denied accusations it is secretly seeking nuclear arms and has received strong backing from Putin, who sees cooperation with the Islamic Republic as a way to strengthen Russia's role in the Middle East.
In February, Moscow and Tehran signed the fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington, which believes Iran could use Russian know-how to make nuclear weapons.
On the eve of his visit to Israel, the first by a Kremlin leader, Putin proposed hosting a Middle East peace conference in Moscow later this year.
The offer was swiftly rejected as premature by Israel and the United States. Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Channel One television that Putin did not raise the proposal in talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
After greeting Putin in Russian, Sharon said: "I am certain this meeting will deepen the relations between Israel and Russia."
Sharon has said peacemaking under a "road map" promoted by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations would be on hold until the Palestinians began dismantling militant groups in the plan's first phase.
'NOT THERE YET'
"In the second stage of the road map, there is an international conference. But we are not there yet -- we are far from it," a senior Israeli official said.
Earlier, the Palestinians said such a meeting could help prepare for statehood talks they hope to hold after Israel's planned Gaza pullout in no more than four months' time.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington: "We believe there will be an appropriate time for an international conference, but we are not at that stage now and I don't expect that we will be there by the fall."
Putin's proposal appeared to be part of his wider plan to revive Moscow's Cold War influence in the Middle East -- a status Russia lost after the Soviet collapse. He was due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank Friday.
Putin also took fire from Israeli President Moshe Katsav over a Russian missile deal with Syria.
"Israel is still forced to fight terrorism and the Russian missiles could limit our ability to (do so)," Katsav told a joint news conference, referring to Israel's fears the weapons could wind up in the hands of Lebanese militants on its border.
Nonetheless, Katsav called Putin a friend of Israel and both leaders stressed the need to speed up a joint effort to fight terrorism and anti-Semitism in Russia and elsewhere.
Putin said the Strelet missiles involved in the deal were vehicle-mounted, short-range and could not be turned into shoulder-launched missiles. He said Russian inspectors would be able to carry out spot examinations of the systems.
Addressing Israeli concerns over Iran, Putin said Russian collaboration with Tehran's nuclear program was "within the boundaries of peaceful purposes." Israel is believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.
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© Reuters 2005
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Post by Tulameen on May 16, 2006 0:48:26 GMT -5
Chavez: Tehran Not Seeking Nukes BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 15--The European Union is preparing to make a ’bold’ offer to Iran, including possible security guarantees, to persuade Tehran to curb its atomic plans, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said Monday. Javier Solana made the comment ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers including the so-called EU-3--Britain, France and Germany--tasked with trying to defuse the West’s diplomatic standoff with the Islamic state. “It will be a generous package, a bold package, that will contain issues relating to nuclear, economic matters, and maybe, if necessary, security matters,“ Solana said. “We are preparing a package (so) that it will be difficult for them to say no if what they really want is energy,“ he said. The United States is seeking sanctions from the UN Security Council but it has failed to win support for the move and has given its European allies “a couple of weeks“ to draft a fresh approach. The EU, whose package must also satisfy Russia and China, has until May 19--when negotiators from the Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany meet in London--to complete its work. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said on Monday that he does not believe Iran’s nuclear program is a front for secret efforts to produce an atomic bomb. “I don’t believe that the United States or anyone else has the right...to prohibit that a country has nuclear energy,“ Chavez said at a news conference with London’s mayor. “How many countries in the world have nuclear energy? Unfortunately, Venezuela doesn’t have it.“ Chavez added, “I’m certain the Iranians are not developing a nuclear weapon.“ Chavez, who is on a private visit to Britain, also repeated a warning that any military strike against Iran would send the price of crude oil soaring above US$100 a barrel. The current rate is around US$70 a barrel. www.iran-daily.com/1385/2563/html/
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