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Posted on 09/11/2004 12:09:10 AM PDT by nwctwx
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There is increased scrutiny entering Mahattan, as well. Especially for trucks driving into the city using the GWB.
War-Games against Iran failed...
War-Gaming the Mullahs
The U.S. weighs the price of a pre-emptive strike
AP
An Iranian reactor: Russia is helping Tehran build this plant in Bushehr
By John Barry and Dan Ephron
Newsweek
Sept. 27 issue - Unprepared as anyone is for a showdown with Iran, the threat seems to keep growing. Many defense experts in Israel, the United States and elsewhere believe that Tehran has been taking advantage of loopholes in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is now within a year of mastering key weapons-production technology. They can't prove it, of course, and Iran's leaders deny any intention of developing the bomb. Nevertheless, last week U.S. and Israeli officials were talking of possible military action—even though some believe it's already too late to keep Iran from going nuclear (if it chooses). "We have to start accepting that Iran will probably have the bomb," says one senior Israeli source. There's only one solution, he says: "Look at ways to make sure it's not the mullahs who have their finger on the trigger."
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After the Iraq debacle, calls for regime change without substantial evidence of weapons of mass destruction are not likely to gain a lot of traction. But if the allegations are correct, Iran is only one of the countries whose secret nuclear programs hummed along while America waged a single-minded hunt for WMD in Iraq. Another is North Korea, which hasn't stopped claiming that it's turning a stockpile of spent fuel rods into a doomsday arsenal. And arms-control specialists are increasingly alarmed by Brazil's efforts to do precisely what Iran is doing: use centrifuge cascades to enrich uranium—with a couple of key differences. Unlike Iran, Brazil has never signed the NPT's Additional Protocol, which gives expanded inspection rights to the International Atomic Energy Agency. And unlike Iran, Brazil is not letting the IAEA examine its centrifuges. If the Brazilians go through with their program, it's likely to wreck the landmark 1967 treaty that made South America a nuclear-free zone. But the White House has shown scant concern about the risk.
The Iran crisis is more immediate in the eyes of the Bush administration, in part because Iran is among the president's "Axis of Evil." Israel, which has long regarded Iran as a more dire threat than Iraq, is making thinly veiled threats of a unilateral pre-emptive attack, like its 1981 airstrike against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. "If the state decides that a military solution is required, then the military has to provide a solution," said Israel's new Air Force chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Elyezer Shkedy, in a newspaper interview last week. "For obvious reasons," he added, "we aren't going to speak of specifics." U.S. defense experts doubt that Israel can pull it off. Iran's facilities (which it insists are for peaceful purposes) are at the far edge of combat range for Israel's aircraft; They're also widely dispersed and, in many cases, deep underground.
But America certainly could do it—and has given the idea some serious thought. "The U.S. capability to make a mess of Iran's nuclear infrastructure is formidable," says veteran Mideast analyst Geoffrey Kemp. "The question is, what then?" NEWSWEEK has learned that the CIA and DIA have war-gamed the likely consequences of a U.S. pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. No one liked the outcome. As an Air Force source tells it, "The war games were unsuccessful at preventing the conflict from escalating."
Instead, administration hawks are pinning their hopes on regime change in Tehran—by covert means, preferably, but by force of arms if necessary. Papers on the idea have circulated inside the administration, mostly labeled "draft" or "working draft" to evade congressional subpoena powers and the Freedom of Information Act. Informed sources say the memos echo the administration's abortive Iraq strategy: oust the existing regime, swiftly install a pro-U.S. government in its place (extracting the new regime's promise to renounce any nuclear ambitions) and get out. This daredevil scheme horrifies U.S. military leaders, and there's no evidence that it has won any backers at the cabinet level.
The NPT has never banned uranium enrichment. That didn't stop the United States, France, Germany and Britain from offering a draft resolution at last week's IAEA Governing Council meeting, demanding that Iran immediately cease such activity. Other council members quickly challenged the provision's legality. Some members of President George W. Bush's own party are throwing up their hands at such clumsy doings. "This administration's nonproliferation strategy consists of flailing around with a two-by-four," says one disgusted Republican elder statesman. And even the administration must realize that its Iran options are limited now by the chaos already overtaking Iraq.
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
http://www.dhs.gov
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0335.xml
The Onion is not a news site.
From " The Australian" :
Iraqi scientist spills secrets
From correspondents in Washington
24sep04
AN Iraqi scientist-turned-author says the most significant pieces of his country's dormant nuclear program were buried under a lotus tree in his backyard, untouched for more than a decade before the US-led invasion in 2003.
But their existence, Mahdi Obeidi writes in a new book, is evidence that the international community should remain vigilant as other countries try to replicate Iraq's successes before the 1991 Gulf war to develop components necessary for a nuclear weapon.
In The Bomb in my Garden, Obeidi details fallen Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's furious, and then abandoned, quest for a nuclear bomb.
"Although Saddam never had nuclear weapons at his disposal, the story of how close Iraq came to developing them should serve as a red flag to the international community," Obeidi writes with his co-author Kurt Pitzer.
The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of the book, to be released Sunday.
Obeidi details his research through nearly a quarter-century under Saddam, including the designs for key components and prototypes for nuclear production, buried in a plastic drum next to his rose garden.
Probably just two of Saddam's most trusted deputies knew the whereabouts of the research, he says.
While only the former president knows fully why he didn't restart his nuclear program, Obeidi believes Saddam may have realised the scope of the massive undertaking.
United Nations inspectors had dismantled the program, removed the enriched uranium stockpiles and exposed Iraq's international network of suppliers. And Saddam was making a mint off the UN's oil-for-food program, while increasing his control over a population reliant on him for basics such as flour, Obeidi says. To get caught importing components needed to produce a nuclear weapon, the scientist says, would have ended the program.
Yet Saddam kept his Iraq Atomic Energy Commission running, apparently without weapons programs, as late as 2003.
"All we had left was the knowledge in our heads and the documents buried in my garden," Obeidi writes.
In an upcoming report, US weapons inspectors with the Iraq Survey Group are expected to conclude that Saddam had intentions of reinvigorating his weapon's programs, but no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Obeidi, 60, was the creator of Iraq's centrifuge, a key component in one method of enriching bomb-grade uranium. He considers it the most dangerous piece of nuclear technology because related advances make it possible to conceal uranium enrichment programs inside one warehouse.
Obeidi and his colleagues were able to travel the world in the 1980s, collecting centrifuge research and components for their work from scholars and private companies in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, France, England and elsewhere. Then, Saddam had yet to become an enemy to the West.
By the late 1980s, Iraq was making breakthroughs. However, the international help dried up as Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The UN arrived after Saddam's 1991 defeat, intent on taking apart his weapons programs.
To hide signs of uranium enrichment then, Obeidi describes a massive demolition and reconstruction program he led to remove everything from the top soil to the coffee makers at his former centrifuge lab.
After the 2003 invasion, Obeidi attempted to take the nuclear secrets buried in his garden to US authorities. He describes disorganisation as the CIA and military intelligence wound up fighting over him.
Only after extensive negotiations involving former UN weapons inspector David Albright, who was in Washington, did Obeidi turn over all of his information.
Today, the US government has brought he and eight family members to the East Coast. For security, the family's location is not disclosed.
Looking back, Obeidi struggles to find words to describe how he could arm Saddam, whose government at one point kept him from his family for six months so he could work and left them fearing the walls had ears.
He says it was a matter of national pride and scientific pursuit, but more than anything, it was fear: "The idea of dozens of nuclear bombs in Saddam's hands is horrifying in retrospect."
FOX NEWS.com
http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133281,00.html
Feds Concerned U.S. Terror Attack in Works
Thursday, September 23, 2004
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON — Federal officials are increasingly concerned that a terrorist attack is being planned for the weeks prior to the Nov. 2 presidential election."
That was a good summary.
Thanks.
Death is personal, but murder is not.
You watched 2 murders.
There's more like that on the 'net.
You learned more about jihad by watching those
videos than any link to an article I could ever post.
You learned a lot about the mindset of the terrorists.
You now understand why we don't negotiate with terrorists.
Bottom line: I understand your feelings.
I feel the same way.
It's what you learned today from watching those videos
that makes you more knowledgeable than you were on the
subject of America's enemies.
Do you need to watch more of these videos?
NO. You will never forget the 2 videos you watched.
That's my opinion.
God bless you LilyBean.
"All the indicators are there."
OPINION: I agree.
TRIVALLEY HERALD.com: "SHIPPING CONTAINER WAS TAKEN FROM BERKELEY LAST WEEK" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The truck driver parked his rig at East Shore Highway and Page Street in Berkeley and walked away at 6:30 a.m., Sept. 2, returning soon after to find the truck and container gone. Authorities are asking anyone who has seen a white 1993 Freightliner truck, hauling a gray, 40-foot Maersk Sealand container with blue lettering, to call Berkeley police. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the case. FBI Special Agent LaRae Quy said the bureau notified FBI headquarters, all its field offices and the Army.) (Last Updated September 10, 2004) (Read More...)(Note: This url may expire.)
NY POST.com: "APPLE 'TERROR BY FUEL TRUCK' TIP" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda plans to use fuel-laden trucks to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building and one of the tunnels to New Jersey between Sept. 24 and Oct. 10, an anonymous tipster recently warned federal authorities. Homeland security officials took the tip seriously enough to pass it on to the Police Department and other government agencies this week, law-enforcement sources told The Post. Private security and law-enforcement officials in New Jersey were also contacted after the federal agency received the tip that Osama bin Laden's terror group aimed to strike at the two New York landmarks as well as either the Holland or Lincoln tunnel.") (September 4, 2004) (Read More...) (Note: URL may expire.)
HIGHWAYISAC.org - Alerts: "BOLO - STOLEN TANKER - NEW JERSEY (BOLO SNIPPET: "The following gasoline tank trailer was stolen from TK Transport Terminal in Pennsauken, New Jersey, between 4/8/2004 – 4/12/2004 and is still at large This vehicle remains a serious concern to Homeland Security Officials, in reference to the bulletin issued regarding Tanker and Rental Truck IED(s) as a threat mentioned in the HSAS elevation to Orange on August 2, 2004. FRUEHAUF Four compartment tank trailer with 11 x 24.5 aluminum wheels on NEW air-ride suspension – new installation painted gray. There are 4 aluminum wheels mounted on outside position and 4 steel wheels mounted on inside position. Trailer has 2 hose tubes on both sides of tank. Landing gear painted red. Safety control box on right side near landing gear painted red. All tires are new Michelin Recaps XZE-SA. Owned by Penn Tank Lines, Inc, 300 Lionsville Station Rd.Chester Springs, PA 19425.Phone:(484) 713-1500 Capacity (total of 4 compartments): 9,200 gallons Serial No. # 1H4T04320GK014902 NJ Tag T-852SC NJ Motor Fuel Tag 15148. Please keep in mind: The trailer can be re-painted, re-tagged, and re-numbered at this point, be vigilant with tanker inspections related to this BOLO.") (Updated on September 13, 2004) (Read More...)
See Bell, this is what I mean about watching your neighborhood!
I have been intensively researching ISNA because I was so angry on labor day weekend they had their 3 day conference here. Wonder how long Cat has been on the no fly list. ISNA is very bad news!
Why would a cleaning crew be allowed to touch the "deep fryer" or the "adjacent stove?"
It seems to me the cooking apparatus should be hands off from the cleaning crew.
That cleaning should be done by the staff doing the cooking, before, during and after cooking meals.
Bell, see you have no idea what a good find this link is!
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/mainarchive/000195.php?page=2
We've been researching and finding out much about Muzzamil Siddiqui and I later found out so has Ritz Katz
OK from your link:
Proof of what Bush is saying extremists 'want' Kerry:
MWU! Poll
Muslim organizations will issue an endorsement for
George W. Bush 26.9%
John Kerry 38.8%
Ralph Nader 12.7%
No one this time 21.6%
Total Votes: 536
It sure is. It was a revelation to see that Stevens was there, at least twice.
And having read that he was forbidden to ever visit Israel again, beginning in I think 1990, because he was bringing in mucho money to Hamas, it made me think that he as a celebrity might have been getting a pass coming here and bringing who knows what.
Thankfully no longer is he allowed in. Probably with very good reason.
Good, I'm glad it's useful. I don't know what to think about the guy who runs that site. But it makes me sad to see young naive Americans converting to islam. (I think that's his story, from what I could tell.)
Thanks DL have been getting these for quite awhile
What test do you need for internal parasites?
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