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Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Iran: The Invisible Revolution. During the U.S. presidential campaign, debate over Iran policy received unprecedented attention. The reasons are multifold. With Iran on the verge of developing both nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capability, Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the Iranian threat, especially when confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei lead televised chants of "American will be annihilated," as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati did last June. American concern over a nuclear Iran is multifold. The danger is not necessarily that Iran would conduct a nuclear first strike, although former president Ali Akbar...

Protest in Taipei against US arms deal Purchase will trigger weapons race with China and force cuts in welfare, demonstrators claim TAIPEI THOUSANDS of protesters marched through Taiwan's capital yesterday, urging the government to scrap a massive US weapons package that they said would trigger an arms race with China and squeeze social welfare. Holding banners reading 'Our money, your war', 'Want peace, no war', protesters ranging from veterans to unemployed workers and children joined the march to the Presidential Office. Organisers had expected more than 10,000 people to take part in the rally, but police estimated a turnout of...

A Clackamas County prosecutor has been suspended without pay for two weeks after he admitted using office equipment to print an affidavit in which he called Sen. John Kerry a liar. But the district attorney's office said Friday that Alfred French will not be disciplined for lying about an interoffice affair to his then-boss in the 1990s. French, who was put on leave Aug. 26 amid complaints about the commercial and his acknowledgement that he lied about the affair, will return to work Oct. 4, according to a press release from District Attorney John Foote's office. French will retain his...

Russia Says It Can Hit Militants Abroad Photo: AP Russia has the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad, Russia's defense minister said Sunday, citing the school hostage crisis. He said Moscow and the United States see eye to eye on fighting terrorism. Sergei Ivanov did not say what countries might be possible targets for a strike, but Russian officials in the past have said Chechen separatists have bases in nearby Georgia, and Moscow has had friction with that country's pro-U.S. government over the issue. President Vladimir Putin has blamed international terrorism for the school hostage crisis...

North Korea bans tourists from China HONG KONG - A scathing article in China slamming North Korea for being an irresponsible and ungrateful troublemaker has led to Pyongyang barring Chinese tourists, Japanese and Hong Kong media have reported. The article, published in the latest issue of the semi- official bi-monthly Strategy And Management, castigated North Korea, which has few friends, for not showing gratitude for China's support during times of trouble. Researcher Wang Wen zhong from a Tianjin academy wrote: 'Often, North Korea would disregard friend- ship and show no sense of responsibility when dealing with international issues, and this...

/begin my translation <Beheading of a S. Korean> Exploding Demands to Military for Retaliation (Seoul: Yonhap News) Hwang Dae-il reporting After the news of Kim Seon-il(age:33)'s murder by Iraqi Resistance Group spread over the country, the website of Ministry of Defense was flooded with messages urging retaliation. Especially, some posters were so consumed with rage that they vent their hatred against not only the terrorist group which murdered Mr. Kim, but also Iraq as a country and the Iraqis as a whole. A guy whose handle name is 'I am a corporal, too' exhorted, "Wipe out everything in Iraq, to...

I saw Bob Beckel on Hannity & Colmes the other night when Oliver North was in for Sean Hannity. Beckel stated unequivocally that Kerry would go to the UN for permission to retaliate if there was another 9/11 style attack on the US. I went to the Fox website but could not find a transcript. Anyone have this? Thanks in advance.

Last Update: 15/03/2004 04:06 IAF strike in Gaza City targets two Hamas weapons factories By Aluf Benn, Baruch Kra and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service The Israel Defense Forces spokesman early Monday confirmed that air force helicopters carried out strikes against targets in Gaza City, Israel Radio reported. The army said two buildings were targeted, which had been used by Hamas to manufacture arms and Qassam rockets, as well as mortar shells. The buildings were located in the Zeitun and Nasser neighborhoods of the city. Palestinian officers searching through the rubble of a Gaza City Hamas weapons factory...

Sean Hannity's book "Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism" has just been released this week, and it offers explosive revelations about Sen. John Kerry. The Fox News Channel star and nationally syndicated radio host has unearthed a letter Kerry wrote harshly criticizing President Reagan for his retaliation against terrorist leader Moammar Gadhafi. Specifically, the Massachusetts Democrat objected to a retaliatory strike by President Ronald Reagan against the Libyan dictator in 1986. In a never-before-published letter written shortly after Reagan ordered the strikes, Kerry complained that Reagan had overreacted to the bombing by Libyan terrorists of a Berlin...

<p>ISTANBUL -- The allegations can be heard almost everywhere in Turkey now, from farmers' wives eating in humble kebab shops, in influential journals, and from erudite political leaders: American troops have raped thousands of Iraqi women and young girls since ousting dictator Saddam Hussein.</p>

Hamas to be exempt from Israeli retaliation strikes By Ravi Nessman in Jerusalem 27 December 2003 Israel will target and kill Palestinian militants in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis, senior security sources said yesterday. The suicide bombing on Thursday came minutes after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three Islamic Jihad militants and two civilians. The attacks ended a relatively calm period in the conflict and threatened tentative steps to renew peace talks. Shaul Mofaz, the Defence Minister, and his officials decided yesterday to target militants from Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation...

FRENCH fears of being ostracised by America for opposing the war in Iraq were highlighted yesterday as commentators reacted angrily to the terrorist alert that led to the cancellation of six transatlantic flights over Christmas. Many French newspapers interpreted the alert as the latest episode in what Le Monde described as the “masked war” between France and the US. They said after being kept in the dark over the agreement for Libya to surrender its weapons of mass destruction, France had been implicitly designated as the weak link in the fight against terrorism. A total of six flights between Paris...

<p>"We must reach a consensus in this country that our responses should go beyond passive defense to consider means of active prevention, pre-emption and retaliation. Our goal must be to prevent and deter future terrorist acts, and experience has taught us over the years that one of the best deterrents to terrorism is the certainty that swift and sure measures will be taken against those who engage in it. We should take steps toward carrying out such measures."</p>

Attacks against Iraqis 'increase' Vehicles packed with explosives struck police stations on Saturday Attacks on American troops in Iraq have declined in recent weeks, but strikes against Iraqis are up, officials say. At the same time, US forces have stepped up attacks on suspected insurgents, US administrator Paul Bremer and General John Abizaid said. "The security situation has changed," Mr Bremer said, adding that this had come about because the US was now taking the fight to the enemy. Mr Bremer said the attackers would not stop Iraqis from working with the US. "They have failed to intimidate the...

Oct. 4, 2003 IDF retaliation restricted by Yom Kippur By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN The lights were burning late on the second floor of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv Saturday night as IDF brass, security service heads and the Defense Minister weighed possible reactions to the Haifa suicide attack. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz convened the meeting after IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon held a previous assessment with top generals and prepared possible options for retaliation. The sense in the defense establishment was that no actions would be taken against Arafat and would focus on intensifying the crackdown on...

Did The White House Leak The Name Of A CIA Operative For Political Retaliation? By Chuck Baldwin Food For Thought From The Chuck Wagon October 2, 2003 Syndicated columnist and CNN Co-Host, Robert Novak, is reporting that someone in the Bush administration has compromised the identity of an undercover CIA operative, and the motive appears to be political retaliation. According to CNN, the person identified as the CIA agent is the wife of former Ambassador to Iraq, Joseph Wilson. Wilson has criticized the Bush administration for deceiving the American public by claiming Iraq had imported supplies of uranium for the...

The city government in New York has filed separate lawsuits in a local court against India and three other countries for failing to pay property tax, totalling more than 100 million dollars. The city governemnt filed separate lawsuits in a local court against India, Turkey, Philippines and Mongolia for failing to pay property tax. New Delhi's share exceeds 16 million dollars. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that his city government had filed the lawsuits in Manhattan State Supreme Court against the four countries which own property in Manhattan (one of New York City's five boroughs), and have failed to pay their...

Chairman Shteinitz: According To Our Schedule, Not Theirs Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuval Shteinitz, a resident of Haifa, told Arutz-7 today that he agrees with the decision made last night not to do anything and to essentially wait until after the Iraqi war: "I don't like this pattern of 'they attack, we attack.' What, when we thwart 40 attacks in the period of a few weeks, we do nothing, and then when one attack finally succeeds, suddenly we retaliate? There is a Palestinian Authority, and its people, that is waging a war against us,...

ICONOCLAST DAILY NOTEBOOK.... Heart of Darkness.... February 3, 2003: The so-called "war on terrorism" is really a war of civilization vs. barbarism. The war thrust upon us by Islamo-fascists is a war against science, rationality and knowledge, and in favor of theocratic ignorance. As usual, the failure of such utopian fanatics requires a scapegoat; and that scapegoat is, not surprisingly, the Jews. The widespread reaction in the Arab world to the space shuttle disaster could not be clearer. It was cheered as divine punishment for our support of Israel and the Jews. The backward Arab world reacted with primitive superstitious...

An Israeli retaliation By Ze'ev Schiff WASHINGTON - The possible Israeli reaction to an Iraqi strike was included in the list of issues at the Bush-Sharon meeting. The Israeli interest requires preliminary clarifications about the possibility of certain scenarios, and the Americans don't want to be surprised by Israel, just as the Iraqis don't want to be surprised. Washington understands from Israeli representatives that it won't respond automatically to any Iraqi strike, but does not plan to ignore Iraqi attacks under any circumstances. Highlighting this was the testimony delivered by strategist Anthony Cordesman to the Senate, when he said that...