WarSclerotic

Obama’s Security Breach In Libya Is Ignored By American Media « CBS DC.

As the liberal American press and ultra-liberal bloggers inundate the Internet and newsprints with criticisms of what Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential challenger to President Barack Obama, said about Obama during the Libyan attacks and murders, throngs of foreign press and few American outlets tell the real story involved with the White House’s role in the incidents that we now know could have been prevented.

After the American media grabbed and held the pro-Obama headlines against Romney’s comments and took Obama’s “Romney shoots first and aims second” quote to iconic proportions, the rest of the world is reporting that the Obama administration knew about the planned-attack on the Benghazi, Libya Embassy where four Americans, including United States Ambassador Christopher Steven was murdered.

That strong allegation needs to be “the story”, not the political-trouncing of Mitt Romney, a man who has nothing to do with the White House, the U.S. Embassy, or the deadly and non-deadly attacks on our United States Embassy’s around the world. “The story” obviously involves the White House and the president within – Barack Obama – not the Massachusetts challenger.

The reporters and bloggers who have made Mitt Romney the story – instead of the attacked-United States Embassy, the innocent Americans who were attacked, and the White House with its president in abstention as he continually treks the campaign trail regardless of the duties left behind in Washington, D.C. – are guilty of letting another American tragedy remain buried.

All attention must be given to the more-than-strong suggestions that the Libyan attack didn’t “just happen” to have happened on September 11 – the commemorative day of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City – but were planned well-in-advance.

While the movie trailer of “Innocence of Muslims” may have added fuel to the venom’s fire regarding the protests throughout the Middle East, the murderous attack on the U.S. Embassy and its American occupants in Benghazi, Libya was no accident – simply orchestrated by a few who had no plan or memory of 9/11.

Reports from a number of knowledgeable sources are being widely-circulated regarding the United States State Department’s having received knowledge of the attack in Benghazi as early as September 9 – two days before the four Americans were killed. That’s “the story”. There were also similar reports that the attack in Cairo was revealed prior to its occurrence. The knowledgeable sources report that no warning was given to persons in the U.S. Embassies in Cairo or Benghazi after the State Department was warned. In Libya, there were approximately 30 people in the main consulate building who could have been warned but weren’t.

Additionally, Wanis el-Sharef, Libya’s deputy interior minister, told the Associated Press that the heavily armed militants “used” a protest of an anti-Islam film as a “cover” in their deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy while screaming “God is great!”

Yet, American reporters and bloggers waste their printed space writing about their belief that Mitt Romney stepped on Obama’s toes with a political misspeak.

So what!

That is no reason to ignore – or totally replace – “the story”. And anyone who doesn’t realize that has no business reporting or blogging whatsoever. Save the “OMG, a politician dissed another politician” for a slow news day. And the way things are going in this country, there is no clear sign of a slow news day coming anytime soon. There’s a story here, and it’s being ignored by people who wouldn’t challenge President Barack Obama and his White House if their lives depended on it. And, ironically, their lives may depend on reporting “the story” instead of their worthless “Romney piece”. It’s absolutely maddening and totally ludicrous that they are ignoring “the international story”.

If for no other reason, in the name, honor, and memory of United States Ambassador Christopher Steven, information management officer Sean Smith, private security guard and former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, and security personnel Glen Doherty, allow “the true story” to be told.

About Scott Paulson

Scott Paulson writes political news and commentary for CBS Local and Examiner.com and teaches English at a community college in the Chicago area. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.

Iran claims its nuclear facilities could now survive enemy ‘missile attacks and raids’ | The Times of Israel.

Tehran’s nuclear chief blames IAEA for explosion last month at Fordo underground enrichment facility, slams Israel’s nuclear arsenal

Fereydoun Abbasi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, delivers a speech at an IAEA conference in Vienna on Monday (photo credit: AP/Ronald Zak)

VIENNA — Iran’s nuclear chief said Monday that “terrorists and saboteurs” might have infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency in an effort to derail his nation’s atomic program. He also said his country’s nuclear facilities could now survive enemy attack.

In an unprecedentedly harsh attack on the integrity of the UN organization and its probe of allegations that Tehran is striving to make nuclear arms, Fereydoun Abbasi spoke of a recent explosion at a particularly sensitive Iranian enrichment facility.

“Terrorists and saboteurs might have intruded the agency and might be making decisions covertly,” Abbasi said, in a speech to an IAEA conference in Vienna. Citing what he said was an example of sabotage last month at an underground enrichment plant, he said IAEA inspectors arrived to inspect it shortly after power lines were blown up.

Abbasi said that the explosion had caused the power supply to the Fordo facility to stop. ”Does this visit (by IAEA inspectors) have any connection to that detonation?” he asked.

Abbasi’s comments were the first mention of the alleged sabotage attack. He did not elaborate on the damage caused. Iran has repeatedly accused the US and Israel of trying to sabotage its nuclear program, by killing scientists, sending viruses into its computer systems and other actions.

The enrichment facility at Fordo, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Tehran, is of particular concern to Israel because it is buried deep into a mountainside to protect it from attack.

Abbasi also attacked Israel’s nuclear program in his comments to the IAEA’s 155-nation general conference, saying that “the Zionist regime’s nuclear weapons constitute a threat to international peace and security.”

He denied that the Islamic Republic was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, saying that “to liberate Palestine from the hands of the Zionist occupiers, there is no need to use nuclear weapons. The solution is democracy and holding a referendum among the original inhabitants of Palestine.”

Iran has often warned that any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities would trigger a devastating response, and on Monday Abbasi suggested that even such a strike would not succeed in slowing down his country’s nuclear program. He said without elaboration that experts have “devised certain ways through which nuclear facilities remain intact under missile attacks and raids.”

Abbasi rebuked the United States at the meeting, reflecting Iran’s determination to continue defying international pressure aimed at curbing its nuclear program and nudging it toward cooperation with the IAEA inspection.

The unyielding speech underlined concerns raised by Israeli leaders who say that both diplomatic efforts and economic penalties have failed to move Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been urging the US administration to set “red lines” that, if crossed by Iran, would trigger US-led military action.

In the past week, Netanyahu has urged President Barack Obama and other world leaders to state clearly at what point Iran would face a military attack. But Obama and his top aides, who repeatedly say all options remain on the table, have pointed to shared US-Israeli intelligence that suggests Iran hasn’t decided yet whether to build a bomb despite pursuing the technology. They argue that, were Iran to begin speeding toward a bomb, there would still be time for action beyond toughened sanctions already in place.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Tehran “poses a threat not just to Israel but to the whole world.”

Despite her strong criticism of Iran, she also said political solutions “have not been exhausted” when it comes to negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear advances, and urged the international community to continue down the avenue of diplomacy and dialogue.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear arms, and Abbasi, an Iranian vice president whom the agency suspects may have been involved in nuclear weapons research, again insisted on Monday that his country’s nuclear program is aimed only at making reactor fuel and doing medical research.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran … has always opposed and will always denounce the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

Tehran has long dismissed suspicions that it may re-engineer its uranium enrichment program from making reactor fuel to produce nuclear warheads and says accusations that it has worked secretly on nuclear arms are based on fabricated US and Israeli intelligence. It also frequently accuses the IAEA of anti-Iran bias in its push to ensure that all of Tehran’s nuclear activities are peaceful. But Abbasi’s comments Monday were the harshest attack to date on the agency itself.

Abbasi said that anti-Iran elements are helped by the agency, even when it reports what it sees “truthfully and with absolute honesty,” because “this information is easily accessible to saboteurs and terrorists through IAEA reports.”

However, Iran now can “ward off threats by targeting … cyber-attacks, industrial sabotage and use of explosives,” he said, without elaborating.

Abbasi said US pressure on Iran is the equivalent of an attack on all developing nations’ nuclear rights. He called US-led sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and financial transactions “the ugly face of colonization and modern slavery.”

“A state which has used nuclear weapons is not eligible to be present at the Board of Governors,” he said, questioning the right of the United States to sit on the 35-nation IAEA board that makes agency policy.

Meanwhile, statements critical of Iran on Monday were voiced in more traditional terms similar to that heard at previous IAEA meetings.

US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu accused Tehran of continuing “a decade-long pattern of evasion regarding questions over the nature of its nuclear program, including those related to possible military dimensions of its nuclear activities.”

A European Union statement warned of “deep concerns about possible military dimensions” to Iran’s nuclear program.

IAEA head Yukiya Amano said Monday that the independent body would hold further talks with nuclear talks with Iran “despite the lack of progress so far,” in an effort to clarify its concerns about the regime’s illicit atomic program.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu Sunday, and he was to meet EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday as the IAEA talks continue.

Iran’s foreign minister: Israel can’t attack against us, and it knows it | The Times of Israel.

Salehi dismisses Jerusalem’s threats against Tehran as ‘empty,’ calls for restored relations with Egypt

Iranian Foreign Minister Akbar Ali Salehi (photo credit: CC-BY Parmida76, Flickr)

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Tuesday that Israel is not going to attack Iran because, if it could, it would have geared up to do so quietly rather than publicly discussing it.

“Israel can’t carry out an attack against such a big country [like Iran], and it knows that,” Salehi said. He called Israeli warnings about a possible strike “empty.”

He made the comments during his first interview on Egyptian national TV, Israel Radio reported.

Salehi also said his country’s neighbor, Azerbaijan, would not assist Israel in carrying out any attack on Iran. Israel and the Caspian country signed a weapons deal worth over $1.6 billion in February. It included drones, anti-aircraft weapons and missile defense systems.

The foreign minister used the interview to reiterate that Iran wants to normalize relations with Egypt. He said it was waiting for an official response to its proposal to reestablish diplomatic ties, severed in 1980 after the Islamic revolution.

Also on Tuesday, the IAEA said it would be ready for more talks with Iran soon. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, said that international meetings with Iran should take place despite the previous lack of progress, and that IAEA inspectors still seek to gain access to the country’s nuclear sites.

The head of Iran’s nuclear program Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani criticized the IAEA for a second day in succession on Tuesday, reiterating the accusation that members of the group were behind electrical outages at Iran’s underground uranium enrichment site in Fordo last month. On Monday, in acknowledging that an explosion occurred at Fordo last month, he noted that inspectors arrived soon after, accused the IAEA of being compromised by “terrorists and saboteurs,” and claimed some countries had too much sway in the organization.

On Monday, Abbasi suggested that even if Israel or the US did strike at Iran’s nuclear sites, this would not slow his country’s nuclear program. He said without elaboration that experts have “devised certain ways through which nuclear facilities remain intact under missile attacks and raids.”

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili were set to meet in Istanbul later Tuesday. The meeting is unofficial and part of an effort to restart stalled negotiations over Tehran’s atomic program.

The last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers — the UN Security Council members Russian, China, France, the US, and the UK, plus Germany — was held in July but ended with no progress after Tehran refused to grant international inspectors access to key nuclear sites.

Cyber clues tie US to Middle East comput… JPost – International.

IAEA dodges Iranian ‘terrorism’ … JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

Richard Cohen: The price of Obama’s leading from behind – The Washington Post.

By Richard Cohen, Tuesday, September 18, 2:20 AM