Archive for April 2010

Iranian Spy for CIA: Weak West Will Cause War with Iran

April 11, 2010

Iranian Spy for CIA: %u2018Weak West%u2019 Will Cause War with Iran – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

The American-led “engagement” policies towards Iran is going to result in the very war it wants to prevent, according to an Iranian CIA spy. He says the only way to prevent a possible nuclear war with Iran is to attack the country now.

In the meantime, Iran announced Sunday it has started mass-producing a new medium-range anti-aircraft missile that “can destroy modern planes in low and medium altitudes.”

Writing under the pseudonym Raza Kahlil, his book “A Time to Betray” reveals that he began to spy on Iran for the CIA after he was disillusioned by the 1979 revolution and fled the Islamic Republic.

Interviewed by Reza Aslan of the Daily Beast web site, “Kahlil” predicted that if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, which it apparently will do, “The Iranian people are going to pay a very, very heavy price. And you could see major destruction in Iran.”

He reasoned that the West is “dragging out” its attempts to place harsher sanctions on Iran and “is not dealing with it the way they should. One thing they could do very simply is cut off shipping lines—all airspace and shipping lines closed to everything coming into Iran and going out of Iran,” which is an act of war.

“Let it be an act of war.” he said. “You’ve got two choices: Either take out the [Revolutionary] Guard right now, or wait until they have a bomb. It’s a matter of who takes the more serious step. Let it be an act of war and let’s see what Iran does. Give them a deadline. No one has taken a serious stand to see if they will back down, and unless you do, they’re going to become a nuclear-armed state.

“So the decision comes to this, and this is the bottom line: Do we accept Iran as a nuclear-armed state or not? Anything else is just total hot air. It is just one question, do we accept it or not?”

He also explained that there is an illusion among the media and analysts that the Guards are becoming an independent entity. He insisted that they are part and parcel of the Muslim-led country. The Guards are “a big organization…, spread throughout the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Africa,” he maintained. “Basically they want to become a nuclear-armed organization. They will achieve that. They’ll achieve reaching the point where they can put together an atomic warhead.”

Admitting he betrayed “the system” but not Iran, Kahlil said he had access “to a lot of information” by virtue of his position that utilized his expertise in dealing with the infrastructure of the Guards. “I was in a base where one of the intelligence units was also based,” he revealed.

“The majority of the forces are true believers—common people with not much education. And these are mostly from the poorer population. I was among them. I saw them. I lived with them. We went to the front [in the Iran-Iraq War] together….They take orders from the leadership of the Guards, [whose leaders] leaders cannot survive independently if the clerics do not support them. Both need each other. The Guard is under full control of the clerics, as is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“I believe that Ahmadinejad is among the group that believes that we shouldn’t give a damn about the world and just move full speed ahead. That’s the group that is in power now.

“Now just imagine that they have a nuclear bomb. The Saudi kingdom would be in jeopardy. Iraq… forget about it, it’s already under control of Iran. They’re helping the Taliban. In Lebanon, Hezbollah is ruling. Jordan could be in danger, Syria could be empowered, Israel could be threatened day and night, Hamas would be empowered. You could see nuclear proliferation moving into Venezuela. It is going to be unimaginable.” (IsraelNationalNews.com)

Iran to complain to U.N. over Obama nuclear threat | Reuters

April 11, 2010

Iran to complain to U.N. over Obama nuclear threat | Reuters.

(Reuters) – Iran will lodge a complaint with the United Nations about what it sees as U.S. President Barack Obama’s threat to attack it with nuclear weapons, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Obama made clear last week that Iran and North Korea were excluded from new limits on the use of U.S. atomic weapons — something Tehran interpreted as a threat from a long-standing adversary to attack it with nuclear bombs.

“The recent statement by the U.S. president … implicitly intimidates the Iranian nation with the deployment of nuclear arms,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised meeting with military and security officials.

“This statement is very strange and the world should not ignore it since in the 21st century, which is the era of support for human rights and campaigning against terrorism, the head of a country is threatening to use nuclear war.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran would lodge a formal complaint to the United Nations, a move backed by a letter signed by 255 of Iran’s 290 members of parliament.

Obama is pressing other global powers to agree to a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Iran denies.

Reflecting fears of attack on its nuclear sites from the United States or its closest Middle East ally Israel, the defense ministry said Iran had started producing a prototype of an advanced anti-aircraft missile system.

“The Mersad air defense system … is able to destroy modern aircraft at low and medium range altitude,” the ISNA news agency on Sunday quoted Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying.

“The mass production of this product has begun and in the course of the current year a large number of them will be delivered to the armed forces,” he said.

While Iran hopes the development of its own system will make it more self-sufficient in weapons defense, it is also urging Russia to resist Western pressure not to deliver the S-300 missile defense system it has ordered.

On Friday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran’s nuclear program was “irreversible” despite limits on importing foreign technology and the threat of new sanctions, and he unveiled a prototype of an improved centrifuge which would enrich uranium faster than existing models.

Western analysts say Iran has exaggerated progress in the past to bolster domestic pride about its nuclear program and to improve its bargaining position with major powers.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization played down the idea that Iran faced big technical hurdles.

“Iran’s nuclear issue is not a technical issue … we are not in a hurry. Second generation centrifuges will be mass produced in the next few months … in a year we will have prototype cascades of the third generation,” Ali Akbar Salehi told ISNA.

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy and Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

Eternal Islamic Enmity toward the Jews

April 11, 2010

American Thinker: Eternal Islamic Enmity toward the Jews.

By Janet Levy

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Al-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity & The Jews
By Elias Al-Maqdisi and Sam Solomon
ANM Publishers, 2010
216 pp., $17.05
Islam is the only major religion in the world that does not adhere to the Golden Rule to “love they neighbor as thyself” or “do unto others what you would have others do unto you.” Instead, the Koran exhorts Muslim to “slay the unbelievers wherever they find them,” “not take non-Muslims for friends” and “when ye meet unbelievers, smite at their necks.” Mohammed, whose very actions define morality for Muslims, encouraged his followers to deceive kuffars, or non-believers. Islamic doctrine explicitly supports the killing, insulting, torturing, robbing, beheading, enslaving, pillorying, and raping of non-Muslims.
A “Doctrine of Enmity” toward non-Muslims is part and parcel of Islamic practice and belief, with the greatest wrath reserved for the Jews as punishment for their refusal to recognize Mohammed as the final prophet.
In their latest book, Al-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity & the Jews, authors Elias Al-Maqdisi, an expert on Islamic teachings, and Sam Solomon, a former professor of shari’ah law and Christian convert, examine the historical and doctrinal sources of Muslim enmity and the continuing jihad against the Jews and Israel. The work follows their previous book, Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, in which they explain how the hijra (migration) and jihad function today to further worldwide Islamic conquest.
Their important new book exposes the story behind the Palestinian “crisis,” giving readers new insights into the perceptions and actions of the Arab-Muslim world vis-à-vis Israel, popularly maligned as the “Zionist entity.” Al-Maqdisi and Solomon, both raised as Muslims, reveal the truth about the doctrinal foundation of a conflict engineered for Muslim dominance.
The authors detail how, five times daily, observant Muslims worldwide condemn all non-believers in ritual prayers, singling out Jews and Christians. Muslim students readily identify Jews and Christians respectively as “those against whom there is wrath” and “those who are astray,” phrases found in the Koran’s opening Sura (chapter). This veiled cursing of non-believers has occurred for 1,400 years, even amidst duplicitous attempts to appear conciliatory and engage in interfaith dialogue.
Muslim enmity toward Jews is a special, more extreme case than that against other non-believers, Al-Maqdisi and Solomon argue. The dispute with Israel has a religious and moral basis rather than a territorial one. So its presentation as a solvable political crisis over land claims is little more than a smokescreen for an intrinsic, unending jihad against the Jews. The authors draw parallels between Muslim displacement of Arab Jews from Iran, Egypt, the Sudan, Morocco, and Syria in the last century and similar threats facing Jewish (and Christian) populations today in Europe and the Middle East.
In Al-Yahud, the authors reveal how Israel is systematically discredited by the alleged Israeli victimization of Muslim-Palestinians. The so-called Arab-Israeli conflict provides a flash point and platform to advance Islam under cover of a struggle for statehood and “restoration” of “stolen” land. These issues are cloaked in the vernacular of a desperate human rights tragedy; yet, the authors observe, all aid to Arab-Palestinians comes from the non-Muslim world. Fellow Muslims fail to lift a finger to aid their “victimized” brethren. They sabotage efforts to alleviate Palestinian suffering by refusing to accept Palestinians as citizens elsewhere in the Arab world.
While Israelis are denounced as “occupiers” and history is rewritten to deny more than four thousand years of Jewish presence in the land, the reality of terrorist and rocket attacks by Hezb’allah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and Iran are largely ignored. The conflict is presented to the West in terms of Israel’s recent actions — the 1948 “occupation,” 1967 “expansion,” West Bank wall, and “settlement expansion.” Recognition of relentless, decades-long Arab attacks on Israel, Jewish rights to the land, and legitimate national security measures of a sovereign state are all ignored or denied. Academia and the media willingly participate in the deconstruction of Israel and the legitimization of “Palestine.” So the issue appears to outsiders to be over land, when in reality, the present-day enmity toward Israel is based on the Koran’s 7th-century doctrines against the Jews. Modern-day Muslims are seeking to enforce this mandate of the Koran, according to Al-Maqdisi and Solomon.
The authors clarify that expelling Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula is a religious obligation for Muslims. In Sahih Al Muslim, Hadith #3313 — one of six collections of the Islamic prophet Mohammed’s words and deeds — Allah says, “I will expel Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula until there is none but Muslims in it.” As an example of how this religious obligation is translated into modern-day action, the authors cite Al-Qaradawi, one of the most influential Sunni Islamic clerics and the ideological leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently stated, “… and it is a duty of the faithful to obey Allah and his apostle and liquidate the enemies of Allah and, in particular, … who else but the Jews?”  Further, the authors state that Al-Qaradawi justifies Arab-Palestinian suicide bombing of innocent Israelis as a legitimate response to Zionist “occupation.”
Al-Maqdisi and Solomon explain that no man has the power to override Allah and that Islamic doctrine is permanent and immutable. So there is no way out of the predicament but annihilation of the Jewish state. In other words, even if the Arab-Palestinian land crisis were “solved,” jihad would not cease because it is an Islamic duty to completely destroy the Jews. Besides, treaties with non-Muslims — even peace treaties — are invalid over time and contrary to Islam. This is exemplified in the Sura which chronicles Mohammed’s deception, when, in a weak military and political position, he accepted the Jewish tribes of Medina, only to terrorize, murder, and behead them when his fortunes changed.
Mohammed’s atrocities toward the Jews established the precedent for the Sunnah, requiring Muslims to emulate his hatred and enmity toward them everywhere for all time and without exception. The present-day enmity toward Israel is based on the Jews’ refusal to accept Islam, their failure to recognize the supremacy of Mohammed, and their misleading of other non-Muslims regarding the final seal of the prophet (or last prophet). Muslims solidify their claim to Jerusalem through the “Night Vision” or Al-Isra’ wal Mi ‘raaj in the Koran. Although Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, he reportedly was transported in a vision on a winged steed by the angel Gabriel to the “farthest mosque” and led Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in Muslim prayer. According to Muslim belief, in this act, Mohammed declared himself the last prophet, supreme over all mankind. With this verse, Muslims lay a retroactive claim to Jerusalem.
Despite Mohammed’s persistence in persuading the Jews that he was the messiah referred to in their scriptures, the Jews ridiculed him and refused to recognize him as such. This refusal intensified his desire to conquer them and take all their land and possessions. Using this verse, Muslims believe that all of Israel belongs to them and that this indisputable proclamation in the Koran is not subject to negotiation. They are commanded by Allah to fight for Israel, or Islamic land known as “Waqf,” until it is fully “regained” and thoroughly Muslim.
In Al-Yahud, Maqdisi and Solomon refer to another doctrine, the Fitrah Doctrine, which Muslims also use to establish present-day land claims. The Fitrah Doctrine proclaims that all mankind from eternity is Muslim. The proclamation is irrevocable and mandatory and labels anyone who is not in observance of it as having gone astray. Jews in particular are viewed as perverted, and they are purported to be followers of the path of Satan for their refusal to recognize the Prophet Mohammed even though being forewarned in the Jewish scriptures.
These proclamations and doctrines help bolster Islamic attitudes in which any perceived criticisms of Islam or the very existence of non-Muslims within a Muslim society is viewed as an attack against Islam. Non-Muslims, simply by their religious choices, are resisting Allah. Thus, kuffars are considered to be in rebellion and must be “returned” to their Muslim faith by “reversion” or by force (jihad). Jihad is always viewed by practicing Muslims as a defensive move against unbelievers for rejecting Islam. Thus, by their deaths, Islamic martyrs receive exalted status, celebrations, and rewards, having gained favor with Allah.

Lamentably but realistically, the authors conclude that there is no Arab-Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but instead, a Muslim-Jewish conflict that dates from the time of Mohammed. They demonstrate through well-researched and extensive citations of passages from Islamic doctrine how the policies of enmity and supremacy have their origin in the Koran and Sunnah, and not in the present-day situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories. They clearly illustrate that throughout Islamic history, treaties with infidels have been employed as temporary deceptive measures to be broken at an advantageous time, in accordance with Allah’s instructions and commandments. Al-Maqdisi and Solomon discouragingly surmise that any Israeli attempts to forge land or peace treaties with Muslims are destined for failure, as has been repeatedly illustrated since Israeli statehood.

The most dysfunctional place on earth

April 11, 2010

The most dysfunctional place on earth.

By Alan Caruba

We now live in a nation that will not name its enemy. Homeland Security wants to eliminate terms like Islamic jihad or terrorism from its vocabulary lest we offend some of the people trying to kill us.

The United States has global enemies of every description. Pretending they don’t exist is an invitation to attack. The most potent of our enemies are found in the Middle East, but for many Americans, trying to “make sense” of those who determine policies in the Middle East is impossible; the region is a giant hall of mirrors, a funhouse filled with guns and bombs.

Recently I had occasion to read a 2004 speech given by Haim Harari. It is quite prescient and rings true today. Harari is a theoretical physicist. From 1998 to 2001 he was the president of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Suffice it to say he is an internationally respected Israeli scientist and educator.

While the audience may have expected him to discuss the situation in Israel, he began by noting that the millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel, nor did Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.

Those who died from the genocide in Sudan where Christians are the target are unrelated to Israel. He reminded the audience that Syria’s former dictator, Assad, did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in one week in El Hamma because of Israel.

Israel was and is a convenient excuse for the bad intentions of those in the Middle East who, when not continually killing one another, have attacked Israel repeatedly over the course of its existence since 1947. Poised on its borders and funded by Iran are two proxy forces, Hezbollah and Hamas. Barring a nuclear attack on Israel, if they succeed the West is next.

The West has tried to ignore this for a very long time. Bombings in Spain and in England, riots in France, fear throughout the Netherlands are all a portent of worse to come if militant Islam has its way. Even Russia has not been exempt.

Of the Middle East, Harari said, “The root of the trouble is that this entire Muslim region is totally dysfunctional by any standard of the world.”

He noted that “These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands, plus Belgium and equal to half of the GDP of California alone.”

There is no such thing as human rights throughout the Middle East. The social status of women is negated by Islam to that of mere chattel.

Harari took note of the “millions of decent, honest, good people who are either devout Muslims or are not very religious, but grew up in Muslim families…The problem is the vast silent majority of these Muslims are not a part of the terror and of the incitement, but they also do not stand up against it.”

Add to this the ceaseless lies and propaganda to which they are exposed from birth about the world and its events, and it becomes easier to understand why they have little real understanding of the world outside the Middle East.

Harari identified four elements of the Islamic war against the West. The first was the use of suicide murder as an instrument of terror. The second was the endless tide of lies told inside the Middle East and repeated by the Western media. The third element was the money that enables the Muslim militants.

Harari cited the most essential factor as “the total breaking of all laws.”

While the present administration seeks to encumber efforts to find these enemies within our borders, to provide legal assistance to those sworn to kill us, to threaten the interrogators who secured information about future attacks, and to close down the Guantanamo facilities where they are detained, our enemies do not feel bound by any laws, international or domestic.

“The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about the role of law in a totally lawless environment.”

Why has the president thwarted delivery of “bunker buster” bombs to Israel? Why is it now U.S. policy to refuse visas for Israeli nuclear scientists seeking to come here to advance their knowledge in physics, chemistry, and nuclear engineering?

That is the quandary in which Israel now finds itself as it wrestles with what action to take against an Iran sworn to annihilate it. It has clearly been abandoned by the present administration and has few real friends among Western governments.

Beyond Israel remains the West itself. Harari warned that we must never surrender to terror. If we continue to find words to obfuscate the threat, we will lose the capacity to address it.

Al Arabiya | Iran unveils faster centrifuges for nuclear work

April 10, 2010

Middle East News | Iran unveils faster centrifuges for nuclear work.

President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was now a "nuclear nation"
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was now a “nuclear nation”

TEHRAN (Agencies)

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said that 60,000 new centrifuges for uranium enrichment will be fixed at Natanz nuclear reactor this year.

Iranian atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the new generation of uranium-enriching centrifuge was capable of enriching uranium six times faster than Iran’s existing centrifuges.

In an address marking National Nuclear Day, Ahmadinejad said Iran was now a “nuclear nation” and that it was Western pressure which had forced it to enrich uranium to the 20 percent level that has sparked growing international concern.


“Nefarious intentions”

They should know that those who sit in glass palaces are wrong to try to deflect Iran’s will
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The United States said that Iran’s unveiling of the new centrifuge for enriched uranium suggests Tehran “has nefarious intentions” in its nuclear program.

“If Iran wants the international community to believe what it says, that it has peaceful intentions with respect to its nuclear program, then Iran has no need for a third generation, or faster centrifuge,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Ahmadinejad’s comments signaled determination to press on with Iran’s nuclear work despite possible new U.N. sanctions sought by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Obama acknowledged that sanctions would not necessarily shift Iran’s behavior, but said sustained world pressure could eventually prompt it to revise its nuclear calculations.

The Iranian President said that any threats from the West against Iran will be met with more determination and reiterated that his government was not seeking an “inhuman” atomic bomb.

“We have said several times that we are honest. We are sure that we are on the right path. But they should know that those who sit in glass palaces are wrong to try to deflect Iran’s will,” the hardliner said.

UN sanctions

These kinds of actions will make Iranians more determined. Four months ago we had no intention of making 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel. But when they talked of threats, we went ahead
Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad’s comments came a day after China joined five other major powers in agreeing to further talks on a new round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

“These kinds of actions will make Iranians more determined,” the president said.

“For example, four months ago we had no intention of making 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel. But when they talked of threats, we went ahead.”

Ahmadinejad gave instructions on Feb. 7 for Iran to begin enriching uranium to the 20 percent level required for a Tehran medical research reactor after long-running talks on a deal for the major powers to supply the fuel failed to bear fruit.

Western governments slammed the move as a significant step towards the 93 percent level required for making an atomic bomb but Iran again strongly denied any military ambition for its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad renewed the denial on Friday but again said Iran was now a nuclear nation.

“We are against nuclear weapons… we consider nuclear weapons to be inhuman,” he said.

“They know the path of the Iranian nation is a path of no return. Our experts have reached a point where no power can create hurdles in the way of Iran getting nuclear technology.

“Today, Iran is a nuclear nation. Whether the ill-wishers accept it or not, it is a nuclear nation and with God’s help it will remain one,” he said to chants of Allahu Akbar (God is greater) from the crowd.

Iran has pursued uranium enrichment at its main plant in Natanz in defiance of three sets of U.N. sanctions and threats of a fourth.

Iran’s bomb-making plutonium facilities close to completion

April 10, 2010

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

Arak heavy water reactor nearly finished

Iran had plenty to celebrate on its National Nuclear Day Friday, April 9. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled the new “third generation” centrifuge which he claimed was capable of six times the speed of the machines in current use in Natanz and there and then proclaimed Iran a nuclear power.
He had three more reasons to crow:
1. Iran’s first atomic reactor at the southern town of Bushehr began its main and final test at high temperatures after eight months of test runs. If all the components of the Russian-built 1000-megawatt plant work smoothly, the reactor will finally go into full operation in June or in August at the latest after years of delays.
Mahmoud Jafari, who heads the project, said all parts are working well and there is no reason why the plant should not start producing electricity before the end of this year. On March 18, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin also said Bushehr would go on stream this summer.
debkafile‘s military sources report that the spent fuel rods from this reactor will soon be providing Iran with an easy and plentiful source of weapons-grade plutonium.

2. So too will the Arak heavy water plant which Iran has been building secretly southeast of Tehran in violation of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Work there was discovered this week to have advanced by leaps and bounds and brought the project close to completion, against all estimates that the reactor would not be ready before 2015.
Our military and intelligence sources note that Arak and Boushehr will combine to provide Iran with the large quantities of plutonium for nuclear warheads. This fissile material has advantages over enriched uranium in its accessibility from heavy water and light water reactors, its smaller size for a nuclear explosion, and its use in smaller and lighter nuclear warheads for delivery by smaller missiles.
A former IAEA official, John Carlson, once warned that large light water reactors “of the sort Iran is building at Bushehr can produce 330 kilograms of near-weapons grade plutonium – enough to make more than 50 crude nuclear bombs.” The process of separating plutonium from spent fuel “employs technology little more advanced,” he said, “than that required for producing dairy products or pouring concrete.”
3.  Jafari also announced on the occasion of National Nuclear Day that Iran had uncovered in the central province of Yazd large new deposits of uranium ore plentiful enough to make Iran independent of foreign imports for both its military and civilian needs.
debkafile‘s political sources add: These three breakthroughs on Iran’s road to a nuclear weapon are radical enough to put Tehran in the driving seat in negotiations with the 5+1 Group (five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) over its illicit production of enriched uranium and their offer to process it outside Iran as a compromise gesture.
Iran has shown the world it no longer needs outside help for reprocessing uranium up to the critical 20 percent level, which is a short jump to weapons grade and the fissile core of a nuclear bomb. Tehran has made good use of every second allowed by the US-led world powers’ lame efforts to dissuade it from its nuclear goals by means of partly-effective sanctions, attractive incentives and diplomatic engagement, a policy which gained momentum after Barack Obama became US president.
Even this week, he was still telling Tehran that the door to diplomacy still stood open.

Iran and the bomb

April 10, 2010

Iran and the bomb – Bennington Banner.

Don Keelan


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]]>Friday April 9, 2010

While the health care debate had the Congress and PresidentObama focused on this one issue, a considerable amount of international turmoil was boiling over elsewhere.

The president’s desire to have an administration that would deal with world issues in a more gentle, kinder and engaging manner was just not going to be the case. He had wished for his presidency to be void of the belligerence of his predecessor. In his first year in office he went around the world delivering speeches (and apologies) that his dealing with foreign issues would be much different. The question now is — did anyone listen? For starters, China hasn’t.

The tensions between us and that economic/military juggernaut are escalating on a daily basis. President Obama will be fortunate if he can escape the year without having to deal with a major trade war with China. There’s a war going on with China today, but it’s not with another country, it’s with a company — Google — and it has turned ugly.

And on the other side of the world, in the Middle East, the administration’s goal of kick-starting the peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis has been derailed. Counter to what had been asked of them by the administration (and the U.N. and E.U.), the Israel government is continuing to build 1,600 apartments in East Jerusalem. Headlines in a recent story on this topic read, “Israel rejects U.S. call to stop building.” So much for closer ties and


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dialogue.It also did not help the fostering of closer Israel/U.S. relations when the president did not invite the Israeli prime minister for dinner during the week of March 21. After a private meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Mr. Obama left the oval office and Netanyahu was left to fend for himself.

These issues, as well as others, are sideshows to what is the “main issue” or as Alan Dershowitz wrote in the March 27 Wall Street Journal, “the gravest threat faced by the world today.” Professor Dershowitz was referring to the probability that Iran will soon have a nuclear bomb. The Harvard professor has not been alone in calling this issue out — I hope that the administration is listening.

The March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, notes on its cover “After Iran gets the bomb,” and then proceeds to devote 17 pages of the magazine to the issue as to what it means to the world, if indeed, Iran produces a nuclear bomb(s).

The authors of the Foreign Affairs’s article, James Lindsay and Ray Takeyh, note, “even if Washington fails to prevent Iran from going nuclear, it can contain and mitigate the consequences of Iran’s nuclear defiance.”

The authors, who are senior officials at the Council on Foreign Affairs, conclude that, “containment could buy Washington time to persuade the Iranian ruling class that the revisionist game it has been playing is simply not worth the candle.”

They even believe that by waiting, Iran might change. I don’t think so — maybe the Obama administration does?

However, I’m not in any position to question the wisdom of the two experts from the Council on Foreign Affairs — I’ll leave that to Professor Dershowitz. He noted that Iran could use its nuclear arsenal to bomb Israel — Iran has previously stated that it wants Israel wiped off the map. Iran could also transfer the bombs to existing terrorist organizations, and let them do Iran’s bidding. Dershowitz also feels that Iran just by having WMD’s could be a menace by “constantly threatening Israel with nuclear annihilation.”

It was reported in the March 21 New York Times: “Obama’s message to Iran renews offer for dialogue.” The president was seeking (second time he has done so) to engage the Iranian government in diplomatic talks. A day later it was reported in the Wall Street Journal:

“Iran’s supreme leader sharply denounced the U.S. on Sunday, in a chilly response to an overture by President Obama for better cultural ties with Iran. Iran believes that the U.S. is being deceptive.”

In my Jan. 9 column I had written that President Obama should pay closer attention to what was going on in Iran. I also suggested that the president read Martin Gilbert’s book the “Wilderness Years” on how Winston Churchill had warned the world about the rise of Nazism. I wish to add another author’s warning, Professor Dershowitz’s, “Nevertheless, it is (Neville) Chamberlain (the British Prime Minister in 1939) who has come to symbolize the failure to prevent Hitler’s ascendancy. So too will Mr. Obama come to symbolize the failure of the West if Iran acquires nuclear weapons on his watch.”

U.S.: Iran’s new centrifuges show its ‘nefarious’ intentions – Haaretz – Israel News

April 10, 2010

U.S.: Iran’s new centrifuges show its ‘nefarious’ intentions – Haaretz – Israel News.

Ahmadinejad points at a sample of the 3rd generation of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
(AP)

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the U.S. must now conclude Iran has “nefarious” intentions with its nuclear program, referring to the new centrifuges the Islamic Republic unveiled on Friday.

Iran unveiled a third generation of domestically built centrifuges Friday as it accelerates a uranium enrichment program that has alarmed world powers fearful of the nuclear program’s aims.

The new machines are capable of much faster enrichment than those now being used in Iran’s nuclear facilities, and Iranian officials praised the advancement as a step toward greater self-sufficiency in the face of international sanctions targeted at choking off the nuclear work.


Crowley said Iran’s latest “chest thumping” about its nuclear capabilities could strengthen the push for UN sanctions. He said a peaceful nuclear program would have no need for faster centrifuges.

“We have to conclude that Iran has nefarious intentions with its nuclear program and that’s expressly why we continue to work with the international community on additional measures, sanctions, to show Iran that there is a consequence for its failure to meet its obligations,” he said.

Later on Friday, the U.S. warned about the threat of al-Qaeda pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities.

“We know that terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, are pursuing the materials to build a nuclear weapon and we know that they have the intent to use one,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said.

During a ceremony marking Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pulled back a white curtain to reveal one of the tall, cylindrical machines to a crowd of assembled dignitaries. The display capped months of announcements about the development of the new machines.

Ahmadinejad declared there was no way back for Iran’s nuclear work despite opposition from the United States and other world powers, though he insisted it had only peaceful aims like power generation.

Iran would remain a nuclear state, he said, “whether enemies want it or not.”

President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday of a new American nuclear policy enraged Iran’s leaders because the guidelines classify Iran as a potential target for a nuclear attack. Obama’s policy included pledges to reduce America’s nuclear arsenal, refrain from nuclear tests and not use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them.

Iran and North Korea were not included in that pledge because they do not cooperate with other countries on nonproliferation standards.

Ahmadinejad called the promised arsenal reduction “a show and a big lie” aimed at allowing Washington to keep the bulk of its weapons. The policy would only encourage nations to seek a nuclear military option, he said.

“When you threaten, you are encouraging other nations to prepare it,” Ahmadinejad said.

The new generation of centrifuges, which spin uranium gas at extremely high speeds to purify it, will allow Iran to produce fuel for as many as six nuclear power plants, the president said.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the machines were 10 times more powerful than ones now in use and had passed all necessary mechanical tests.

The machines are at the core of Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Enrichment technology is of concern to the international community because it can be used to generate fuel for power stations or material for nuclear bombs.

The United States and its allies suspect Iran’s civilian work is a cover for developing a weapons capability. With more advanced centrifuges, Iran can more rapidly amass enriched material that could be turned into the fissile core of warheads, should Tehran choose to do so.

Ahmadinejad said Iran would not go down that path.

“We oppose the atomic bomb; we have announced it many times,” he said. Those pursuing the bomb were foolish because “the era of superiority based on the A-bomb is over,” he added.

Iran’s first nuclear power plant is to be inaugurated later this year in the southern port of Bushehr with the help of Russia. Iran says it plans to build some 20 nuclear power plants.

Ahmadinejad also announced that Iran aspired in the future to export nuclear technology.

Seeking to support claims of nuclear self-sufficiency, Salehi, the nuclear chief, said Iran recently examined a uranium deposit in the center of the country with “a remarkable reservoir.”

That runs counter to the belief that Iran does not have significant deposits of raw uranium, making it dependent on imports.

Iran has two known uranium enrichment plants and announced in February that it plans to start construction this year on two more facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from attack.

Iran says it will install more than 50,000 centrifuges at its main enrichment facility in the central town of Natanz. Currently they have installed about 9,000 there.

The U.S and Israel have not ruled out a military option for stopping Iran’s nuclear program if diplomacy and sanctions fail.

“Any hand from any point in the world will be cut before extending against the Iranian nation,” Ahmadinejad said Friday.

During the ceremony Iran also displayed dummy fuel disks made of copper instead of aluminum and uranium. That marked a step toward enriching uranium to a higher level of 20 percent for a medical research reactor in Tehran. Higher levels of enrichment are worrying to the international community because it brings Iran closer to possible production of weapons-grade material

New AJC Survey Shows U.S. Jews Sharply Divided Over Obama Approach on Iran

April 10, 2010

New AJC Survey Shows U.S. Jews Sharply Divided Over Obama Approach on Iran — NEW YORK, April 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —.

NEW YORK, April 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As President Obama prepares to host the leaders of more than 40 countries at a nuclear summit in Washington, a new AJC survey shows that a majority of American Jews are deeply divided over how the president is handling the threat of Iran‘s nuclear program. According to the just-concluded AJC 2010 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 47 percent approve the president’s strategy, 42 percent disapprove, and 11 percent are unsure.

A full 68 percent of U.S. Jews believe there is either “little” or “no” chance of sanctions and diplomacy curbing Iran‘s nuclear ambitions. Fifty-three percent would support, and 42 percent oppose, U.S. military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, while 62 percent would support, and 33 percent oppose, Israeli military action.

President Obama’s overall performance as president won an approval of 57 percent, with 38 percent disapproving, a little more than a year after he assumed office. Exit polls in the 2008 election showed that President Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote.

Conducted annually since 1990, AJC’s surveys often are cited as the most authoritative barometer of American Jewish opinion on a range of issues.

“If past is prologue, some ideologically-driven groups will cherry pick the results that buttress their particular claims, but the richness and depth of the survey data offers a multifaceted – and, therefore, complex – picture of American Jewish thinking on the key international affairs and domestic policy challenges facing the United States,” said AJC Executive  Director David Harris. “While some issues generate a strong consensus, others reveal deep divisions, a pattern that has emerged consistently in these AJC surveys over the years.”

On the economy, health care, and homeland security, Obama scores somewhat higher ratings among Jews than the general American population. Fifty-five percent approve, and 42 percent disapprove, of the president’s handling of the economy; 50 percent approve, while 48 percent disapprove, of his handling of health care; and, on his handling of homeland security, 62 percent approve, and 33 percent disapprove.

Regarding the Obama Administration’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations, 55 percent approve and 37 percent disapprove. In the 2009 AJC Annual Survey, 54 percent approved and 32 percent disapproved. On a related question, 57 percent approve of the Netanyahu government’s handling of Israel-U.S. relations, while 30 percent disapprove.

Asked to characterize U.S.-Israel relations today, 63 percent answered “somewhat positive,” with a further 10 percent describing them as “very positive.” In the 2009 survey, 70 percent said “somewhat positive” and 11 percent “very positive.”

In terms of the wider region, there is majority support – 62 percent – for President Obama’s decision to deploy an additional 30,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Arab-Israeli Peace Process

On the Arab-Israeli peace process, the AJC survey reveals near unanimity among American Jews in insisting that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state in any permanent peace agreement. As in 2009, 94 percent of those surveyed favor that proposition. The new survey shows support is firm across all denominations — 90 percent among Orthodox Jews, 99 percent among Conservative Jews, 98 percent among Reform Jews, and 93 percent among those who describe themselves as “just Jewish.”

American Jews are almost evenly split on the establishment of a Palestinian state, with 48 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed.

On the future of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, 8 percent say all, and 56 percent say some, should be dismantled as part of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. The remaining 34 percent say none of the West Bank settlements should be removed.

Regarding the future of Jerusalem, 61 percent believe that Israel‘s capital should remain a united city under Israeli sovereignty, while 35 percent say Israel should be willing to compromise in the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians.

The survey shows deep suspicion of Arab intentions remains widespread among American Jews. Seventy-five percent of respondents agreed that the “goal of the Arabs” is the destruction of Israel. Eighty percent rejected the proposition that Israel could achieve peace with a Hamas-led Palestinian government.

American Jews and Israel

In terms of personal feelings, a clear majority of American Jews have a strong bond with Israel. Those who feel “very close” make up 30 percent of respondents, while a further 44 percent feel “fairly close.”  In all denominations, well over 50 percent say they are either “very” or “fairly” close to Israel. The attachment is particularly pronounced among Orthodox Jews, 77 percent of whom define themselves as “very close” to Israel.

Interestingly, given the widespread discussion of a generational divide on Israel, the AJC survey shows that younger American Jews feel a greater closeness toward Israel when compared to their elders. Forty percent of those under the age of 40 feel “very close” and 30 percent feel “fairly close.” Among those aged between 40 and 59, 24 percent feel “very close” and 46 percent feel “fairly close.” And, among those aged over 60, 34 percent feel “very close” and 47 percent feel “fairly close.”

Global Anti-Semitism

The survey also revealed an acute concern among U.S. Jews of anti-Semitism:

  • 98 percent believe it to be a problem in the Muslim world, the overwhelming majority — 87 percent — defining it as “very serious.”
  • 95 percent of respondents believe anti-Semitism to be a problem in Europe, with more than half — 51 percent — defining it as “very serious.”
  • 91 percent think anti-Semitism is a problem in the United States, with 25 percent defining it as “very serious” and 66 percent as “somewhat of a problem.”
  • 91 percent of respondents believe that over the next several years, anti-Semitism will either remain at current levels or increase.

The full survey, which contains additional policy questions and tracks American Jewish perceptions of key countries, is available at www.ajc.org/survey2010. For comparative purposes, past AJC surveys can be accessed at www.ajc.org/survey.

The 2010 survey was conducted for the AJC by Synovate (formerly Market Facts), a leading research organization. Respondents were interviewed by telephone between March 2 – March 23, 2010; no interviews took place on the Sabbath. The sample consisted of 800 self-identifying Jewish respondents selected from the Synovate consumer mail panel. The respondents are representative of the United States adult Jewish population on a variety of measures. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Israel could opt for nuke strikes on Iran – UPI.com

April 10, 2010

Israel could opt for nuke strikes on Iran – UPI.com.

Israeli Air Force induction ceremony for Heron TP

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 8 (UPI) — U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, may have signed a landmark arms-control treaty, but a U.S. think tank is suggesting Israel could resort to using tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities.

Whether this is all part of a U.S. effort to crank up the pressure on Iran to be more compliant on the nuclear issue by using scare tactics or if the right-wing government in Israel is actually inclined to resort to nuclear weapons is almost impossible to discern.

But one day after the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington released a report on March 26 noting that “some believe that nuclear weapons are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels,” The New York Times reported Iran was suspected of preparing to build two more uranium enrichment plants.

And just to ram the message home, on March 28, the Times’ Sunday edition ran an analysis headlined “Imagining an Israeli Strike on Iran.”

The 208-page report, by veteran Middle East analysts Anthony Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan, argued that Israel’s air force does not have the firepower to knock out the Iranian facilities and that low-yield tactical nuclear warheads would be the only way to destroy them.

Israel, of course, has made no comment on this at all, in line with its policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear arsenal, believed to total some 600 warheads, bombs and artillery shells.

Nor does it discuss its inventory of Jericho II — and probably some Jericho III — ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. These are placed in heavily fortified silos in the Judean Hills and near two or three Israeli air bases.

But if Israel elected to launch a nuclear strike, it is likely that the Jerichos would be the chosen means of delivery.

They would eliminate Israeli casualties, of which there would be an appreciable number if the air force was thrown at Iran’s heavily protected nuclear infrastructure, and the loss of valuable strike aircraft.

One assessment estimated Israel would need 90-100 long-range F-15I and F-16I aircraft for such strikes, of which around 20 percent would be lost.

In an assessment in March 2009, Toukan estimated that 42 Jericho IIIs, with 1,650-pound conventional warheads, would be needed to “severely damage or demolish” Iran’s core nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak.

That, according to most estimates, would be enough to set back Iran’s nuclear arms project by two or three years.

But it would also run the risk of retaliatory attacks on Israel, either with Iran’s Shehab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missiles — Tehran has threatened to unleash 600, although there’s no evidence it has that many — or using local proxies Hezbollah and Hamas.

Israel could also use its three German-built Dolphin-class submarines, reportedly adapted to launch nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, firing from the Arabian Sea to add to the mayhem.

Little is known about the Jericho III, but it is believed be a three-stage, solid-fuel missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a minimum range of 2,980 miles.

Israel has never even hinted at using nuclear weapons against Iran.

President Shimon Peres, who played a key role in creating Israel’s nuclear capability in the 1950s and 60s, has declared the Jewish state “will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.”

The Americans have repeatedly warned Israel not to mount unilateral pre-emptive strikes against Iran because that could drag the United States into another war.

Obama’s new version of U.S. nuclear strategy unveiled Tuesday significantly narrows the circumstances in which Americans would employ nuclear arms. But it does allow their use against rogue states like Iran.

While that’s hardly a green light for Israel, former Central Intelligence Agency official Philip Giraldi notes: “Israel is fast becoming a pariah nation … Like South Africa, the Israeli response to criticism has been to become more reactionary … waging unending war against its neighbors to maintain cohesion against foreign enemies.

“There is a certain danger in isolating the Israelis too much as it … might influence a dangerously unstable government to take action that might include exploiting its nuclear arsenal in search of Armageddon.”