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Muslim peoples excel at expelling imperial powers by terror and guerrilla war. So wrote Patrick J. Buchanan six months before Operation Iraqi Freedom. "They drove the Brits out of Palestine and Aden, the French out of Algeria, the Russians out of Afghanistan, the Americans out of Somalia and Beirut, the Israelis out of Lebanon," he reminded us. Lacking institutional memory, Congress is blissfully unaware the history now being written on Capitol Hill will add yet another chapter -- "they also drove the Americans out of Iraq." And the scenario is eerily reminiscent of how Congress ensured a U.S. defeat in...

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10:29 3 Arab states in gulf say would allow Israel to enter airspace to attack Iran (Haaretz)

Excerpt - Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon. A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military...

INDONESIA: MUSLIM GROUP ENDORSES IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.384806082&par=0 Abdul Khalik, 9 Feb. (AKI/Jakarta Post) - Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation, Muhammadiyah, has expressed its support for Iran's nuclear programme, urging Jakarta to reject any UN Security Council resolution that would undermine the right of the Iranian people to nuclear energy. "We fully support the Iranian nuclear programme, and we hope it will be able to continue to resist pressure from the US," Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsudin told reporters Thursday after meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia Behruz Kamalvandi at the Muhammadiyah office in Jakarta. He said he had conveyed Muhammadiyah's...

A defiant Iran today reportedly took a further step towards the fulfilment of its nuclear ambitions and doubled its capacity to enrich uranium.In a move likely to exacerbate fears that the nation is intending to make atomic weapons Tehran has activated a second network of centrifuges thereby increasing two-fold its ability to enrich uranium, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA). The reported move comes as a strong message to the UN Security Council as it works on a draft resolution that would impose limited sanctions on the Islamic republic because of its refusal to meet a deadline in...

Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who developed the Muslim world's first nuclear bomb and later confessed to leaking weapons technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, is battling prostate cancer, the government said Tuesday. The announcement could lead to renewed calls for Pakistan to let the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency question the 70-year-old scientist over his international black market dealings a request that Pakistan's government reiterated it would refuse. Khan was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month following a routine examination, according to a Ministry of Information statement that gave no details about his condition. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim...

My Enemy's Enemy: The Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History -- the Arming of the Mujahideen by the CIA In the early summer of 1980, Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson walked off the floor of the House of Representatives into the Speaker's Lobby, a rich, wood- paneled room that stretches along the full length of the House floor. A Teletype at one end spewed out stories from AP, UPI and Reuters. Wilson was a news junkie, and he reached down and began reading a story datelined from Kabul. The article described hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Afghanistan as...

ThreatsWatch Home About TW NewsBriefs Main Archives Categories RSS RapidRecon Main Archives RSS InBrief Main Archives RSS PrincipalAnalysis Main Archives RSS Commentary Main Archives RSS MultiMedia :Issues in Depth: Iran, Plutonium and Assessing the Threat What Is Not Known Is More Troubling Than What Is Known By Steve Schippert With all of the discussion surrounding Iran’s largely clandestine nuclear program concerning the enrichment of uranium, it is prudent to consider plutonium, which the Iranians have already produced quantities of by their own admission. A developing system of nuclear power plants, as Iran insists its goals are, has no use...

CIA asked Dutch govt not to act against A Q Khan September 09, 2005 11:40 IST Last Updated: September 09, 2005 11:51 IST Former Dutch Premier Ruud Lubbers has said that the Netherlands government, in 1975 and in 1986, had refrained from acting against disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadir Khan following requests from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, media reports said. A Q Khan transferred centrifuges to N Korea Dutch newspapers, Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad, and Radio ARGOS quoted Lubbers as saying that BVD, the Dutch intelligence agency, had also asked the ministry of economic affairs in 1975, then...

The Bush administration has given up on the battle against Iran’s nuclear armament. This is the meaning of Washington’s decision to back the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA’s board vote Monday, June 13, to reappoint Mohamed ElBaradei as agency director for a fifth term. Israel thus finds itself alone in the ring with the Iranian nuclear menace. Nothing now remains to stop Tehran attaining its goal of a nuclear bomb or bombs by the end of 2006 or early 2007 - except for the extreme eventuality of direct Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The question is what brought about...

A High-Risk Nuclear Stakeout The U.S. took too long to act, some experts say, letting a Pakistani scientist sell illicit technology well after it knew of his operation. By Douglas Frantz, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Nuclear warhead plans that Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan sold to Libya were more complete and detailed than previously disclosed, raising new concerns about the cost of Washington's watch-and-wait policy before Khan and his global black market were shut down last year. Two Western nuclear weapons specialists who have examined the top-secret designs say the hundreds of pages of engineering drawings and handwritten notes...

Feb. 9, 2005 21:27 | Updated Feb. 9, 2005 21:46 Diplomats: US lobbying to oust ElBaradei from IAEA By ASSOCIATED PRESS The United States is lobbying allies in a bid to oust the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, perhaps as early as the end of the month, diplomats and officials said Wednesday. The diplomats and officials from Western governments also told The Associated Press that – anticipating that present European diplomatic efforts will fail – Washington plans to ratchet up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program when the International Atomic Energy Agency meets Feb. 28. Washington,...

Last Update: 24/01/2005 19:25 Dagan: Egypt, Syria have nuclear programs, as well as Iran By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service The head of the Mossad intelligence service, Meir Dagan, warned Monday that there are signs that several Middle East states other than Iran - including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria - are at varying stages of development of nuclear programs. Dagan, reviewing the security situation for the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, also warned that the atomic threat posed by Iran will soon reach the point of no return in a nuclear arms race. The Mossad chief...

Iran: Saudi Arabia has nuclear weapons Teheran, Iran, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Iranian sources said the country has discovered Saudi Arabia has access to nuclear weapons and technology, the Middle East Newsline reported Sunday. The sources said Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed an agreement in 2003 that stated Pakistan would assist the Arab kingdom in the deployment of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems. Teheran University Professor Abu Mohammad Asgarkhani said in an address that Iran required a nuclear weapon following Pakistan and Saudi Arabia's acquisition of atomic weapons.

ISLAMABAD—A top US intelligence official interrogated Dr A. Q. Khan during his recent visit to Islamabad early this month to verify the authenticity of the information supplied by Pakistan to the US on nuclear proliferation, reliable sources told The Nation Tuesday. The US embassy neither denied nor confirmed the information, but Pakistani officials dismissed it summarily. George Tenet, the CIA chief, had a debriefing session with Dr Khan on February 12 in Islamabad, sources said. The debriefing session was arranged following Bush administration’s assertion to have a direct contact with Dr Khan. Within 48 hours after the debriefing session Dr...

WASHINGTON: The famous African explorer Dr David Livingstone might have been impressed, even if the agenda was suspect. Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear proliferator-hero Abdul Qadeer Khan traversed the breadth of Africa in his hey day as a nuclear salesman , going to as romantic a getaway as Casablanca in Morocco and as remote an outpost as Timbuktu in Mali.   US officials might dearly like to get hold of Khan’s travel agent, or simply his itinerary, since he seems to have pretty much charted his own course during his profligate proliferating days. According to accounts now surfacing in the Pakistani media,...

A London accountant has described how Pakistan's disgraced nuclear hero Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan visited the West African state of Mali on three occasions between 1998 and 2000. Abdul Ma'bood Siddiqui accompanied A.Q. Khan on three mystery trips  between 1998 and 2000. Their final destination was Timbuktu, a remote outpost in the desert that has always been a magnet for explorers and adventurers from around the world. The mystery behind the visits has deepened following recent revelations that Khan is also the owner of a small hotel in the town that he has named after Hendrina, his Dutch-born wife and...

WASHINGTON – As the Pakistani nuclear proliferation story widens, U.S. intelligence officials say top atomic scientists from that country met with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. Two former senior Pakistani nuclear scientists who were based in the Afghan town of Kandahar met Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden several times before the fall of the Taliban. They were later detained and questioned on their return to Pakistan. Last week, after it became clear that Pakistan was the center of what has become known internationally as the "nuclear bazaar," President Pervez Musharraf agreed to pardon nuclear scientist Abdul...

Southeast Asia Indonesia makes plans to build nuclear plant JAKARTA - The Indonesian government plans to build its first nuclear power plant in 2016, with a capacity of 600 megawatts, to meet a growing demand for power, an official said. Electricity and energy utilization director general Yogo Pratomo said that based on a study by the Batan Atomic Research Center, the project is highly feasible. Yogo said the plan is being discussed between government agencies but the people and the environment need to be prepared to accept the project as a profitable one. Indonesia has been long ready with human...