Bhutto Killed in Blast

Benazir Bhutto was killed yesterday afternoon from a combination of a gunshot to the neck and an explosion set off by a suicide bomber.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, facing reelection and with most of the country wanting his head on a platter, denied any involvement claiming it was the work of terrorists. No terrorist group has yet to take credit for the attack....

From Arab News --

Benazir, 54, had just addressed an election rally at Liaquat Bagh (Garden) when a bomber shot her in the neck and blew himself up, killing at least 20 people and injuring scores of others. Hours later riots erupted across the country.

State media and Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party confirmed her death in hospital. “The man first fired at Benazir’s vehicle. Then he blew himself up,” said police officer Mohammad Shahid.

“She was waving to the crowd from the sunroof of her car and then there was a blast,” Benazir’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar told state television. He added that doctors declared her dead at 5:25 p.m. More....

Japanese Star Wars

Here is a little bit of good news - With the help of the U.S. Navy, Japan is working on creating a missile shield. Reaching way high in the sky, the shield will assist in protecting Japan from any North Korean or Chinese missile attacks.

A test of the sea-based SM-3 interceptor system just proved successful....

From Breitbart --

A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer shot down a mock ballistic missile in space over the Pacific Ocean shortly after noon Monday with a U.S.-made interceptor in a test conducted off Hawaii, Defense Ministry officials said.

Experts say the success marks a major step forward for Japan in the buildup of its missile shield, which was accelerated after North Korea's missile launch tests last year. But they also voice concern it could affect the balance of military capabilities in East Asia that includes China and Russia.

The test of the high-tech Standard Missile 3 was the first by a country other than the United States. More....

North & South Korean Generals Duke It Out

Maybe we should have Danny Bonaduce negotiate with North Korea for us....

From Voice of America --

North and South Korean generals scuffled briefly on the second day of high-level military talks at the two countries' border. Tension at the talks is fueled by a decades-old dispute over an international demarcation of the sea border. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

Thursday's inter-Korean military meeting moved from words to physical contact when the North Korean side tried to show reporters a map detailing Pyongyang's proposal for a shared maritime zone.

A South Korean naval officer jumped up from his seat and prevented the North Korean official from showing the information, which the South deems sensitive. A brief physical scuffle and sharp verbal exchange ensued. More....

"Dad of all Bombs" Russia's answer to our "Mother of all Bombs"

Russia successfully tested (click picture for video) a thermobaric bomb that they are calling the "Dad of all Bombs." Through the use of nanotechnology has a blast radius twice as big as our strongest non-nuclear bomb and four times more powerful.

Russia's devastating thermobaric bomb, though not a nuclear bomb, is an air delivered weapon that has the ability to equal the destruction of a nuclear bomb.

This air delivered weapon explodes in an intense fireball combined with a devastating blast. It explodes in a terrifying nuclear bomb-like mushroom cloud and wreaks destruction through a massive shockwave created by the air burst and high temperature.....

Russia's military has successfully tested what it describes as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb.

......the new ordnance, nicknamed the "Dad Of All Bombs" is four times more powerful than the US "Mother Of All Bombs".

"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," Col Gen Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said. More....

But look at the bright side, Matt over at WMD points out that Syria might have Nukes.

Russia claims ownership of North Pole; U.S & Canada laugh at them!

In what has been billed as the first successful trip to the seabed under the North Pole, Russia has created some uproar over its' insinuated claim over the mineral rich area.

Using two mini subs and descending almost 14,000 feet to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, Russia planted a rust proof titanium banner of their flag on the seabed, as a signal of ownership.

The United States and Canada both deride Russia's feeble attempts to claim this territory as comical.

Our State Dept. offered these comments....

"I'm not sure of whether they've put a metal flag, a rubber flag or a bed sheet on the ocean floor," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey....

"I don't think that ... whether they went and spray-painted a flag of Russia on those particular ridges is going to make one iota of difference," Casey said. More...

Canada, which has had long standing rights over the Canadian Arctic, dismissed the attempted land grab as a show....

Canada's top diplomat ridiculed Russia's flag-planting at the North Pole on Thursday, saying the "15th century" stunt does not bolster its disputed claim to the resource-rich Arctic.

"Look, this isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and plant flags and say, 'We're claiming this territory'," Foreign Minister Peter MacKay told broadcaster CTV. More...

Iraqi Citizens Suing Companies Over UN Oil-for-Food

I love it!

From Conservative Voice --

Seven Iraqi citizens filed an almost quarter-billion dollar lawsuit. The Iraqi's lawsuit accuses a large European bank and a wheat exporter of corruption in United Nations' oil-for-food program. Both companies have offices in the United States and the lawsuit was filed in New York City.

According to court papers, the lawsuit alleges that the companies BNP Paribas Bank and AWB Limited, the largest goods provider under the oil-for-food program, cheated Iraqi citizens of the Dokuk and Sulaimaniyah areas between1999 and when the US-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

The Iraqi plaintiffs claim that the residents were denied the full benefits that they were entitled to, accusing the companies of transferring money into Saddam Hussein's government and providing other kickbacks to Iraqi officials.

A 2005 U.N. report found that nearly 2,200 companies paid almost $2 billion in kickbacks to Hussein's Ba'athist government.

The plaintiffs should have also named the corrupt U. N. in the lawsuit.

Mr. Peanut forgets his International Blunders

Former peanut farmer & jew-hater, Jimmy Carter, probably our worst President ever, again attacks President Bush. Carter also takes shots at British prime minister Tony Blair.

With peanut shells spewing from his mouth & drinking "Billy Beer", Carter bashes Bush on the Iraq War, international relations, Mid-East policy, global warming, our value system his party is eroding and religion.

Carter who was out promoting his collection of weekly Bible lessons, had this to say to the Associated Press --

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions.

"The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me." More.....

Carter needs to be screened for Alzheimer's disease! For him to criticize H. W., Reagan and Nixon on international relations, shows the peanut of a brain he had, has been shelled!

I guess the delusional Carter thinks his handling of the hostages in Iran and his help in North Korea was good work

Algeria terrorists sought to take Russia specialists hostage

Looks like leaving Al Qaeda alone has really paid off for Russia.

An Al Qaeda linked group recently attacked a convoy of vehicles that was returning from working on oil pipe lines.

Itar-Tass reported --

RABAT, March 4 (Itar-Tass) - Terrorists who attacked Russian specialists in Algeria on Saturday tried to take them hostage, the Algerian newspaper El Khabar reported on Monday.

Four people, including one Russian national and three Algerians, were killed in the attack. According to the newspaper, six more people, including a Russian national and two Ukrainians, were injured.

A car convoy with specialists of the Russian Stroitransgaz Company, engaged in building the Souguer-Hadjret en Nouss gas pipeline to the heat and power station in the city of Hadjret en Nouss, were attacked on Saturday evening. The convoy was accompanied by Algerian police.

Vehicles, carrying 21 Russian specialists back from the work site to their camp, hit a mine on the highway 130 kilometres south-west of the Algerian capital.

The blast was so strong, that the minibus was literally thrown several meters off the road. After that extremists opened fire and tried to take staffers of the Russian company hostage.

In the opinion of analysts, the Salafi Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), the largest
radical organization in Algeria, is responsible for the terrorist act.

The group proclaimed its affiliation to Al Qaeda last September and changed its name into the Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghrib.

US female citizens diagnosed with thallium poisoning in Moscow

Itar-Tass
March 6, 2007

MOSCOW - Doctors of Moscow’s Sklifosofsky Research Institute of Emergency Care assess the condition of US citizens Marina Kovalenskya and her daughter Yana as moderate-to-severe.

An official of Rospotrebnadzor oversight service told Itar-Tass on Tuesday that “doctors are continuing to work, and the women are undergoing necessary treatment”. “There is no new information in this case yet.”

Marina Kovalenskaya, 42, and her daughter, 26, were admitted to hospital with symptoms of acute poisoning on February 24.

Rospotrebnadzor’s official said that the clinical manifestations suggested exposure to a toxic agent. The conclusive diagnosis of thallium poisoning was made on February 26. The patients were given an antidote.

Specialists say that thallium can enter the organism through respiratory organs, the mouth and the intact skin. Elimination of it from the body takes a long time.

Acute thallium poisoning presents itself as the onset of symptoms within a day or two – nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and breathing difficulty. Hair loss, swelling of mouth mucous membranes and fissures at corners of the mouth are seen in two-three weeks.

Police quell anti-Kremlin march

Dozens of protesters clubbed, detained in St. Petersburg

Sunday, March 04, 2007
Dmitry Lovetsky
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Police clubbed protesters and dragged them into waiting buses yesterday in response to a defiant demonstration against the Kremlin in the heart of President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.

Several thousand members of liberal and leftist groups chanted "Shame!" as they marched down St. Petersburg’s main avenue to protest what they said was Russia’s rollback from democracy. The demonstration, called the March of Those Who Disagree, was a rare gathering of the country’s often fractious opposition.

It was at least the third time police have moved in to break up an anti-Kremlin demonstration in recent months. More.....

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein - oops!

March 2, 2007
Reposted from Ohio News Now

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

"We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.

No more F-14 parts

Pentagon stops F-14 parts sales amid Iran concerns

Wed. 31 Jan 2007 Iran Focus
By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had stopped selling surplus parts for the F-14 fighter jet, saying it was the "right thing to do" given U.S. congressional concerns that some parts could land in the hands of Iran.

Iran, facing strong Western opposition to its nuclear program, is the only country still flying the F-14 since the U.S. military retired the plane in July.

Iran bought the two-seat, twin-engine jet -- also called the Tomcat and made famous in the 1986 movie "Top Gun" -- in the 1970s when it was a U.S. ally.

The Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency said it halted sales of certain sensitive F-14 parts in February 2006 but the ban now covered all F-14 parts until the government completed a comprehensive review of what to do with them.

"It was the right thing to do," said Dawn Dearden, spokeswoman for the Pentagon agency, citing what she called "the situation in Iran.

"Western governments accuse Iran of seeking to build atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge, saying it wants only to make electricity.

The Pentagon's move took effect on Friday and came after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that gave buyers for Iran access to the aircraft parts.

The agency, which did not disclose details of those incidents, formerly held liquidation sales of surplus parts.

The earlier halt in sales affected what the agency called "unique" F-14 parts and those "deemed critical to F-14 operations" that could be used for other aircraft.

Dearden said about 60 percent of the roughly 76,000 parts for the F-14 were general aircraft hardware that could be sold safely to the public without restrictions, but that even those sales would be halted for now.

She said the Pentagon planned to destroy some 10,000 components unique to the F-14 and was reviewing what to do with 23,000 parts that could be used for other aircraft.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and member of the Senate intelligence committee, has written legislation to eliminate all Pentagon sales of F-14 parts.

"I'm glad that the Pentagon is shutting the door on these weapons sales. National security, however, demands that we lock it," Wyden said. "The only way to ensure that America doesn't arm Iran is for the U.S. to permanently stop selling these weapons parts.

"Wyden's bill would also ban previous buyers of surplus F-14 parts from exporting them to third parties.

The Government Accountability Office has issued several reports in recent years raising concerns about the lack of adequate security in the Pentagon's property sales.

For instance, its undercover investigators found several sensitive excess items, including 12 digital microcircuits used in F-14s, were improperly sold to the public.

Full text of Bush’s statement on Lebanon violence

Iran Focus

Jan. 30 - The following is the full text of a statement by United States President George W. Bush over the recent violence in Lebanon:

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

January 29, 2007

President Bush Disappointed by Recent Violence in Lebanon

I am deeply disappointed by the recent violence and bloodshed on the streets of Lebanon. It is all the more troubling that the violence occurred while Lebanon's legitimate leaders and friends were gathered together in Paris to help secure a peaceful and prosperous future for the country. Lebanon's friends have pledged a total of $7.6 billion at the International Conference on Support for Lebanon. I will ask Congress for $770 million to contribute to this cause. With this pledge, total U.S. support for Lebanon since last summer's conflict, including the $230 million pledged at the Stockholm conference last August, will equal approximately $1 billion. This is a strong symbol of the American people's support for and commitment to the future of Lebanon.

All those who seek a peaceful, constitutional solution to the crisis in Lebanon deserve the support of the international community, but those responsible for creating chaos must be called to account. While Lebanon's friends seek to help the Lebanese government build a free, sovereign, and prosperous country, Syria, Iran, and Hizballah are working to destabilize Lebanese society. Their goals are clear. They foment violence in order to prevent the establishment of a Special Tribunal in response to former Prime Minister Hariri's assassination, to prevent full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for Hizballah's disarmament, and to bring down Lebanon's democratically elected government, in violation of its constitution. The United States will continue to support Lebanon's government as it seeks a peaceful and prosperous future for all the people of Lebanon.

Hugo & Fidel

Cuba TV Shows Castro Meeting With Chavez
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer / Fox News

HAVANA — Cuban state television Tuesday showed a video of a healthier looking Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saying his recovery was "far from a lost battle," in the first images of the ailing leader in three months.

Cubans watching the video being shown repeatedly on nightly television news as they sat in open cafes and restaurants said the images reassured them about Castro's health.

The broadcast came six months after Castro stunned the nation with a July 31 announcement that he had undergone intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding power to his younger brother Raul.

The date that Tuesday's video was taken could not be immediately confirmed. In it, Chavez said the two-hour private meeting took place on Monday and ended at 3 p.m. on Jan 29. In Caracas, a presidential spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, confirmed that Chavez made a one-day visit to Havana on Monday.

In the latest video, Chavez said he found his friend to be "of good humor, with a good face and in good spirits." He said the pair discussed a variety of issues, including the world's energy crisis, and that Castro showed "much clarity, as always in his ideas and analysis."

Who's the Pariah?

Saudi King - Iran putting region in danger

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia told an Iranian envoy this month that Shi'ite power Iran was putting the Gulf region in danger, in a reference to Iran's conflict with Washington over Iraq and nuclear policy, a newspaper said.

In the interview in Kuwait's al-Seyassah on Saturday, King Abdullah also issued a veiled warning to Iran to quit what he said were efforts to spread Shi'ism in the Sunni-dominated Arab world.

The United States and its key ally Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of "interference" in Iraq, through backing Shi'ite militias and parties.... "The dangers it (Iranian government) could fall into will fall upon all of us." More...

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Egyptian state paper attacks Iranian policies

CAIRO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The editor of Egypt's most prestigious government newspaper said Iran was trying to spread Shi'a Islam in Arab countries that have no Shi'ites in an attempt to recreate an Iranian empire in the Middle East.

In a front-page editorial in al-Ahram on Friday, editor Osama Saraya accused the Iranian government of infiltrating hundreds of thousands of Iranians into Iraq.

Saraya, whose newspaper usually reflects government thinking. Continued Iran is working actively towards spreading Shi'ite doctrine even in countries which do not have a Shi'ite minority, for reasons...which have political dimensions, More...

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Iran a source of tension in Afghanistan's western Herat

by Sylvie Briand HERAT, Afghanistan, Jan 25, 2007 (AFP) - The influence of Iran is a source of tension between Shiites and Sunnis that recently exploded into deadly violence in Afghanistan's western city of Herat, residents say.

It is even seeing some Shiites lean towards the hardline Taliban movement waging an insurgency that occasionally shatters the city's calm, some say.

Herat, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the Iranian border, has long been under Persian influence: even today most women prefer the chador to the burqa, the markets are filled with Iranian products, and mosques are financed by Tehran. More...

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Iran nearing satellite launch

Iran Focus Iran has converted a 30-ton ballistic missile into a satellite launch vehicle that will be used to send a satellite into space soon, a move that could have wider security implications, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reported.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, spoke about the upcoming launch to religious students and clerics in Qom.

The launcher is a version of the Shahab 3 missile that has a range of 800 to 1,000 miles, the magazine said, citing unidentified U.S. agencies. A missile of its kind could reach Saudi Arabia and as far west as Turkey.

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Lebanese PM blames Iran, Syria for deadly protest

Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's embattled premier has pinned the blame on Iran and Syria for a Hezbollah-backed nationwide opposition strike during which three people died, in remarks published here Wednesday.

Lebanon has "been paying the price of imposed decisions coming from outside countries, like Iran and Syria," Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told Japan's Kyodo News. More...

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Jordan king urges Iran to avoid 'rattling' stability in region

AMMAN, Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II called on Iran to avoid "rattling stability" in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, in an interview published Wednesday.

"We wish to see positive and balanced relations between Iraq and Iran, and between Arab countries and Iran," the monarch told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, also carried by Jordan's Petra news agency.

"We believe that Iran must refrain from seeking to rattle stability in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq and any other part of the region so that we can make progress towards building such relations," he said. More...

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Great way to defend your country again John! After all these years and still a traitor!

So I guess in a couple days, we will get the "real" explanation of what he meant! Another apology and explanation is no longer sufficient.

John Kerry is the PARIAH!

King

It's About Time!

Troops authorized to kill Iranian operatives in Iraq
Fri. 26 Jan 2007 Iran Focus

Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writer

The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according to government and counterterrorism officials with direct knowledge of the effort.

For more than a year, U.S. forces in Iraq have secretly detained dozens of suspected Iranian agents, holding them for three to four days at a time. The "catch and release" policy was designed to avoid escalating tensions with Iran and yet intimidate its emissaries. U.S. forces collected DNA samples from some of the Iranians without their knowledge, subjected others to retina scans, and fingerprinted and photographed all of them before letting them go. More...

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Catch and Release? You would think they are fishing!

Here we are worried about escalating tensions with a country that is a sworn enemy of the United States. maybe they would think twice about meddling if they have their agents sent back in body bags.

If anybody, in anyway, shoots, or tries to harm one of our soldiers or Marines, our troops should be allowed to fire back at will with the use of every weapon at their disposal.

It is about time we took the handcuffs off our troops and let them kick some muslim ass. Rules of engagement and assessing threat should not be done from behind a desk in Washington.

King

Planning for Iran

U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran
Fri Jan 19, 2007 Reuters

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

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

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

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

A satellite image shows the Natanz facility with circles marking the fighting positions used to fend off a ground attack.

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This one scares me! We are not done in Iraq and we might need to further expand our military actions. Our soldiers and Marines, while the finest fighting force ever, are only human.

What worries me is that Iran has been making friends with other known enemies of the United States. They are already infiltrating into Iraq to support the insurgency there.

I can envision, Iran, Iraq and Syria teaming up against the United States in the Middle East with North Korea supporting them and waiting in the wings.

We have Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales, all sworn enemies of the United States and friends with Iran to the south. We also know that Russia is in support of Iran and has supplied Iran with nuclear weapon technology.

The threat we face is real! The threat we face will not go away by ignoring it. Unfortunately, I do not think there will be diplomatic resolution to this threat. Diplomacy does not appear to be on the agenda of any of the countries listed above.

I think our country needs to infiltrate and support the students/dissidents in Iran. They are continually getting louder and louder. It appears this may be the only non-violent option we have. There are some internal groups in Iran that want change, we need to strengthen their efforts.

The other thing that emboldens these countries is how when we are only in the planning stage of our options and we have the new Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Senator Rockefeller (D) already attacking the President.

Even though the Intelligence Committee heard testimony from John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, that an emboldened Iran was casting a shadow across the Middle East and could decide to send Hezbollah operatives on missions to hit American targets.

It is actions like this that show other countries, we do not have the will to stand up against them. These terrorists are not stupid and are fully aware of the recipe it takes to beat the United States. That recipe is, we are our own worst enemy.

General Patton said - “It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.”

Coalition Statement on Iranian's Arrest

Full text of Coalition statement on arrest of Iranians in N. Iraq
Sun. 14 Jan 2007 Iran Focus

London, Jan. 14 – The following is the full text of a statement issued by the United States-led forces in Iraq on the arrest of five Iranian citizens in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil. In the statement, the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) charged that the arrested individuals were tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). More....

MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ

COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTERBAGHDAD, Iraq

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Eye for an Eye

“An eye for an eye” – Iran hands out gruesome punishment
Wed. 27 Sep 2006 Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 27 – An Iranian court in the north-eastern city of Mashad sentenced a man to have one of his eye’s gouged out as punishment for blinding another man during a scuffle, state-run press reported.

The defendant, identified only by his first name Amir, was sentenced by the court to have his left eye gouged out, the hard-line daily Quds wrote in its Tuesday edition. It added that Amir was found guilty of blinding a man identified as Mehdi in one eye during a scuffle they had in the open.

Amir, who is currently languishing in jail, was also sentenced to 74 lashes and prison time.

The phrase “An eye for an eye” is very stringently adhered to in Iran’s Islamic law.

-- Yeah Right, sure looks like you can negotiate peace with these types of people!

King

Hugo & Friends Part II

Iranian embarks on Latin American tour to forge anti-US ties
Sat. 13 Jan 2007 Iran focus

CARACAS, Jan 13, 2007 (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is locked in a tense standoff with the United States, embarks on a Latin American tour here Saturday as he arrives for talks with his ideological "brother," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The trip will also include visits to Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, countries controlled by governments critical of Washington.

Ahmadinejad has heaped praise on Chavez for his outspoken support of Iran's disputed nuclear program, which the US and European governments say is part of a project to build atomic weapons.

Facing sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council over its uranium enrichment work and the threat of international isolation, Iran is keen to demonstrate it has backing among a number of leftist leaders in Latin America.

Chavez is the most vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its hardline president, with both men calling each other "brother" and relishing their status as fierce opponents of Washington's influence.

"Hugo is my brother," Ahmadinejad said during his last visit to Venezuela in September, when the two leaders inaugurated a joint oil well. "Hugo is the champion of the fight against imperialism." MORE...

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Iran targets Iraqi nationalists
Fri. 13 Oct 2006 Iran Focus

London, Oct. 13 – A prominent Iraqi politician was gunned down along with 10 of his aides on Thursday in a television station in eastern Baghdad by gunmen wearing police uniforms.

Gunmen raided the offices of Shaabiya satellite channel at 7 am local time and killed Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah, the leader of the National Justice and Progress Party (NJPP) and head of the channel’s board of directors, Hassan Kamil, Shaabiya’s executive director said.

Recently-established Shaabiya, which is owned by the NJPP, had in recent weeks begun test broadcasts. Kamil said that the masked gunmen in police uniforms arrived at Shaabiya’s headquarters in Baghdad’s Zayouna District in seven vehicles and killed security guards and staff most of whom were asleep in their beds.

The NJPP is a secular party which has been very vocal against Iranian meddling in Iraq. Its leader Nasrallah was recently interviewed by an Iranian opposition satellite channel in which he condemned Iranian support for sectarian violence and defended the presence of Iran’s main opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK or PMOI), in Iraq.

The several thousand-strong MeK has been based in Iraq for more than two decades. Women play a prominent role in its leadership and the group’s secretary general is a British-educated woman called Seddigheh Hosseini.

In June, Iraqi media reported that 5.2 million Iraqis had signed a declaration in support of the group’s presence in Iraq. More...

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Iran's ex-Revolutionary Guards chief wants back top brass job
Sat. 13 Jan 2007 Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 13 – The former chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who resigned his position with the hopes of establishing a political has announced that he wants back his former military post, according to a government-run Persian-language website.

As one of only a handful of IRGC commanders to shoulder the rank of Major General, Mohsen Rezai led the elite military force for over a decade before stepping down in 1997.

Rezai told the North Korean ambassador to Iran in May 2006, “The next decade is the decade of the demise of the American empire”. Weeks earlier, he had said that a nuclear Iran would dominate 17 Muslim countries in the Middle East. More....

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Top Iran official says U.S. at impasse in Iraq
Sat. 13 Jan 2007 Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, – A top Iranian official who was once the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Friday that the United States had reached an impasse in Iraq and that its new strategy for security there would fail as well.

"All of the U.S.'s plans and plots have reached an impasse and they will continue to reach dead-ends", Brigadier General Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr said in comments that were carried by the official news agency IRNA.

Referring to the adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council which imposed sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear non-compliance, Zolqadr said, "The U.S. has miscalculated". More....

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This why WE must support President Bush and the troop build up. How one cannot see the war in Iraq and the War on Terror are one in the same is astounding. These above articles show why "WE cannot afford to fail in Iraq"!

The issues and threats we face today, are much larger than just the War in Iraq. Our known enemies are now starting to meet and form alliances. They are coming together for a common cause - Destruction of the United States!

Our enemies do not care if a person is democrat or republican, the only know we are American. The only way we will be successful is to come together as a country, as Americans!

King