George Bush Calls Iran 'Leading Terror Sponsor'

President George W Bush has condemned Iran as the foremost threat to global security as he attempted to rally Gulf states behind a tougher line against the Islamic Republic during a tour of the region.

In a keynote speech in Abu Dhabi President Bush said it was time to confront an Iran that supported terrorism and defied the United Nations to pursue secret nuclear research.

"Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror," he said. "It sends hundreds of millions of dollars to extremists around the world while its own people face repression and economic hardship at home.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late."

A new twist in the row over an incident in which Iranian patrol boats were reported to have threatened to blow up US Navy vessels in the Gulf put the White House on defensive yesterday. While naval leaders briefed the president that the encounter was "deadly serious," the respected Navy Times newspaper reported that a ham radio operator known as Filipino Monkey, not the Iranians, could have issued the provocative threat.

As the Iranian boats "swarmed" the US patrol, radio operators intercepted a warning: "I am coming to you. You will explode after a couple of minutes."

Jeffery James, commander of one of the vessels involved, the destroyer USS Hopper, said the source of the threat was less important than its timing and the Iranians behaviour. He said: "Whether it was coincidental or not, it occurred at exactly the same time that these boats were around us and they were placing objects in the water so the threat appeared to be building."

But an official in Teheran called on the US to apologise for a failed attempt to "fool" its allies. "The Americans have lost face again," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. "They tried to bring it up at the same time as Bush was travelling to the region to paint Iran in a bad light. But their plans fell flat."

The US leader flies to Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh today for crucial talks on King Abdullah's ranch. The Saudi government has already signalled misgivings over Mr Bush's approach.

Its long-serving foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal last week cautioned that Saudi Arabia would not act as a launching pad for any attack on Iran. "We will listen with interest to any issue raised by President Bush," he said. "(But) Saudi Arabia is a neighbour of Iran in the Gulf, which is a small lake. We are keen that harmony and peace should prevail among states of the region."

Riyadh is braced for some of the most significant diplomatic traffic it has seen in decades. French and American flags line the roads to the airport in honour both of Mr Bush and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Sarkozy has made clear he shares Mr Bush's distrust of Teheran and its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The French leader plans to offer pro-Western Middle East states access to civilian nuclear power technology during an overlapping 3-day visit.

The head of the world nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad Elbaradei announced yesterday that Iran had agreed to clear up its outstanding queries on high speed centrifuges used to enrich uranium. "Agreement was reached on the timeline for implementation of all the remaining verification issues specified in the work plan," an IAEA statement said after a visit to Teheran by Mr Elbaradei.

"According to the agreed schedule implementation of the work plan should be completed in the next four weeks."

Yes, Iran is the leading terrorist sponsor. Iran presents a sponsor of, and a threat from, terrorism to America and to the world.

And that's a fact.

And here is another fact.

That terrorists now have operations in Mexico.

Yes, Islamic terrorists. And, criminal terrorists. And communist and socialist terrorists. And fanatical nationalists who want to make part of America a Hispanic nation type terrorists.

And while Mexico, that is the government, isn't NOT a sponsor of terrorism, and certainly isn't a terrorist threat to the WORLD, much less the United States - yet ...

. . . there is no question in my mind, that in the communities in which my friends live, in which I call home, and all over many parts of the United States - I see, we see, that there is an increasing crime wave that has been, and is ever becoming more frightening, a plague that is terrorizing our neighborhoods and is driven firstly by gangs which are not Afro-American centric but are Hispanic centric and whose power and money and membership is driven by illegal alien culture that comes over the border of Mexico.

And that isn't the only thing coming over the border of Mexico.

And, just last week, even at a time of very bad weather, I was in one part of Concord California, and I have never seen, and have noticed a dramatic increase in what is obviously illegal aliens standing around, not just ones waiting for some day job but ones obviously associated with gang membership, and I have a question -

. . . what is going to happen when the economy eventually, and is starting to, takes a down turn? What is going to happen went the economy of California, or the nation for that matter - perhaps goes into a recession, or just goes into the toilet?

Then what? What's going to happen?

What are all these "folks who do the work Americans won't do" going to do?

Because they are many. Lots. Lots. Lots.

I will tell you what is going to happen.

They are going to be more than just a few in numbers that are going to put a gun in your face is what is going to happen.

We are already being effected. It is scary, and it is not imagination.

What is being done about it?

Every day, another day goes by - it gets worse.

Crime is an issue that I am waiting for one, or any of the Republican candidates to run with.

Crime is an issue. The pundits on television may not know it yet. They may not talk about it. Politicians may cover it up.

But is is an issue. I would recommend that any Republican who thinks they want to defeat a Hillary or Obama get on this issue and talk about it.

It is very good that Republicans are now talking about illegal immigration. They need to also talk about the link between that and crime. Yes, some have - I want the LEADING candidates to talk about that, and to talk about crime in general.

What is Bush doing about it?

He won't even talk about it.

Actually, I sort of got "off subject" a bit here, but ... in regards to the Iranian threat and terrorism in general I started thinking about Rudy this morning, who isn't doing so well in the polling. And ...

. . . I just got done watching Giuliani being interviewed on FOX News Sunday, and you know the more I think about it the more I am interested in his positions. I think it’s just a matter of listening to him carefully. Absolutely I am voting for Mitt Romney in the primary, but would very much back Rudy if selected by fellow Republicans. Right now, I see five major Republicans, being I am still counting Giuliani as one of the top tier and I don’t care what the polls say, and we have Romney (who I believe is leading in delegates), McCain, Thompson and Huckabee.

What I LIKE about Rudy is, I DO hear him talk about CRIME as an issue. From listening to him today, and from the debates, I feel he WILL be tough on Iran and the Islamic terrorists which is the number one concern of mine. Again, he also talks about crime and his approach to crime solving, and his successes in the past in his leadership dealing with crime. Now, I am a right-winger, and being so I might have certain preconceived ideas about issues – for example how to deal with the honest illegals who are not criminals. And, despite my negative feelings about some of the things Rudy discusses in this manner, I guess I still need to be reasonable about this and listen carefully to what he is saying.

He does have a very good point he has mentioned in the debate(s) – from his experience in New York fighting crime, what you do NOT want to do is make those illegals, those who are not part of the criminal element other than having broken our immigration laws. AFRAID to want to cooperate with officials when investigating a crime or criminal activity. And that includes domestic disputes, which can also be violent and lead to behaviors that pose a problem to the community. I have to be honest to myself – and listen to what he is saying.

Yes, I think has some good answers to these discussions about terrorism, and he also talks about crime, and I think his answers and positions regarding illegal immigration are reasonable.

Good job, Rudy on FOX News Sunday this morning! You were “under the gun” and facing some rather “wanna’ get under your skin” type questions from the host, but you did a GREAT job!

If you really want to know what is happening, find the on-line Police scanner for your area.

I knew a lot of it, but have been shocked at what has happened to San Diego.

Google has links to the other towns and the codes, which you really don’t need, a knife is a knife and a gun is called a gun.

“I am holding 5 at gunpoint, send backup”, you will understand.

I listen to #1 scanner.

http://www.scansandiego.net/cgi-bin/index.pl

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