Contributors
PriscillaPenwright
Mel West

4.09.06 Iraq findings leaked by Cheney's aide were disputed

WASHINGTON, April 9 – President Bush's apparent order authorizing a senior White House official to reveal to a reporter previously classified intelligence about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain uranium came as the information was already being discredited by several other officials in the administration, interviews and documents from the time show.

A review of the records and interviews conducted during and after the crucial period in June and July of 2003 also show that what the aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr., said he was authorized to portray as a "key judgment" by intelligence officers had in fact been given much less prominence in the most important assessment of Iraq's weapons capability.

Mr. Libby said he drew on that report, the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, when he spoke with the reporter. However, the conclusions about Mr. Hussein's search for uranium appear to have been buried deeper in the report in part because of doubts about their reliability. [More>>nytimes.com]

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4.08.06 The Iran Plans – Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?

(Article on the internet April 8 for April 17 issue, New Yorker magazine) Seymour M. Hersh posted a lengthy article inquiring into the Bush administration direction with regard to Iran that appears to favor one akin to that employed in Iraq. The hawkish view of the administration, as in the case with Iraq, appears to regard diplomacy and the I.A.E.A negligible and nuclear war with Iran inevitable. Iran's recent missile tests and militant declarations against the US, adding terrorist tactics to its arsenal, is especially a concern to keep in mind when reading Hersh's article. The New Yorker article also addresses tactics by Iran that would involve blocking the strait of Hormuz, where much of the Middle East oil passes, and even attacking oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Iranfocus.com posted a TV grab from Iranian state television of a balistic missile with booster rockets that carried multiple, independently targeted warheads. Other media showed a similar missile without the boosters that had an estimated range of 1,200 miles or 2,000 kilometers. Could the range of the missile with boosters approach ICBM capability, giving it a range to reach Saudi targets? Summaries of the New Yorker article are at khaleejtimes.com (AFP) April 8, "US considers use of nuclear weapons against Iran: Report." and haaretzdaily.com, April 8, "Report: U.S. plans air attack on Iran; IAEA inspectors in Tehran.", many other internet news media world wide, and a reprint at iranfocus.com.

Some extracts from The New Yorker article: The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.

...There is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bushıs ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change. Iranıs President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has challenged the reality of the Holocaust and said that Israel must be "wiped off the map." Bush and others in the White House view him as a potential Adolf Hitler, a former senior intelligence official said. "Thatıs the name they're using. They say, 'Will Iran get a strategic weapon and threaten another world war?'"

...In recent weeks, the President has quietly initiated a series of talks on plans for Iran with a few key senators and members of Congress, including at least one Democrat. A senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, who did not take part in the meetings but has discussed their content with his colleagues, told me that there had been "no formal briefings," because "they're reluctant to brief the minority. They're doing the Senate, somewhat selectively." The House member said that no one in the meetings "is really objecting" to the talk of war. "The people they're briefing are the same ones who led the charge on Iraq. At most, questions are raised: How are you going to hit all the sites at once? How are you going to get deep enough?" (Iran is building facilities underground.) "There's no pressure from Congress" not to take military action, the House member added. "The only political pressure is from the guys who want to do it." Speaking of President Bush, the House member said, "The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision."

...Last month, in a paper given at a conference on Middle East security in Berlin, Colonel Sam Gardiner, a military analyst who taught at the National War College before retiring from the Air Force, in 1987, provided an estimate of what would be needed to destroy Iranıs nuclear program. Working from satellite photographs of the known facilities, Gardiner estimated that at least four hundred targets would have to be hit. He added:

I don't think a U.S. military planner would want to stop there. Iran probably has two chemical-production plants. We would hit those. We would want to hit the medium-range ballistic missiles that have just recently been moved closer to Iraq. There are fourteen airfields with sheltered aircraft. . . . We'd want to get rid of that threat. We would want to hit the assets that could be used to threaten Gulf shipping. That means targeting the cruise-missile sites and the Iranian diesel submarines. . . . Some of the facilities may be too difficult to target even with penetrating weapons. The U.S. will have to use Special Operations units.

One of the military's initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.

...The Pentagon adviser on the war on terror said that "allowing Iran to have the bomb is not on the table...The bottom line is that Iran cannot become a nuclear-weapons state. The problem is that the Iranians realize that only by becoming a nuclear state can they defend themselves against the U.S. Something bad is going to happen." [Full story>>newyorker.com]

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4.08.06 Lobying cases shine spotlight on family ties

WASHINGTON, April 8 – On December 3, 2003, Aeneas Enterprises opened for business in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, and judging by its bank records, the small consulting company with no listed telephone number was an instant success. Within a month, its records show, Aeneas had taken in $2.3 million from a single client. Aeneas is under scrutiny by the Justice Department and Congressional investigators. Its founder, Robert Abramoff, a lawyer and sometime Hollywood movie producer, is the brother of Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist at the center of a Washington influence-peddling scandal involving several members of Congress.

The company's records show that the $2.3 million was received from another consulting firm, GrassRoots Interactive of Silver Spring, Md., which was established by Jack Abramoff and where he directed some of his huge lobbying fees. Billing statements prepared by Aeneas do not show what service Robert Abramoff provided to warrant millions of dollars in payments from his brother's company.

...Lawyers with detailed knowledge of the Justice Department's investigation, who were granted anonymity because of rules barring public discussion of grand jury evidence, say that so many of the wives of lawmakers and lobbyists have become tied up in the investigation that F.B.I. agents have begun referring to them as "The Wives Club." [More>>nytimes.com]

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4.08.06 Iraqis urge unity as killings continue

April 8 – A car bomb has killed at least six Shia pilgrims south of Baghdad, the latest in a wave of attacks that has prompted a fresh warning against civil war. A police spokesman said the blast near a shrine in the town of Musayib on Saturday also wounded 16 people. Two hours earlier, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), had urged his followers to stand firm against what he called an al-Qaeda campaign to ignite sectarian war with bombings such as the one on Friday that killed at least 70 people in a Shia mosque. [More>>aljazeera.net]

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4.08.06 Suicide attack near NATO-led base in Afghanistan, two Afghans dead

HERAT, Afghanistan, April 8 – A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside a compound for NATO-led troops in western Afghanistan, killing two Afghans in the latest in a string of such blasts, officials said. The explosion just outside the gates of the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in the relatively calm city of Herat was immediately claimed by insurgents loyal to the Taliban government toppled four years ago. [More.>turkishpress.com]

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4.08.06 Beauty queen tries to save Iranian woman from hanging

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) April 8 – A Canadian beauty queen's campaign to save the life of an Iranian teenager is drawing worldwide interest, with more than 7,000 people signing a petition. The petition, addressed to the United Nations and the Islamic Republic of Iran, asks that the death sentence of a young woman named Nazanin be commuted. Amnesty International has said the woman was 17 when she "reportedly admitted stabbing to death one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in Karaj in March 2005." [More>>metimes.com]

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4.08.06 Disclosures are called unrelated to Plame Case

April 8 – The revelation of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's involvement in authorized disclosures of sensitive intelligence information does not undermine Libby's contention that he innocently forgot about conversations he may have had with reporters regarding covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, Libby's attorney said yesterday.

The lawyer, William Jeffress, was responding to allegations by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald in a court filing Wednesday that President Bush authorized Libby to disclose classified intelligence information on Iraq to a reporter. That was done, Fitzgerald alleged, because an angry White House was seeking to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, who claimed in a July 2003 newspaper article that the administration had deliberately distorted intelligence about Iraq. [More.>washingtonpost.com ]

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4.08.06 The deception Bush can't spin

April 7 – Here's an interesting editorial , with a PDF copy of Fitzgerald's court papers, by Joe Conason: Libby's testimony shows that Bush disclosed national secrets for political gain – and makes Bush's statements about finding the leaker ludicrous. If we are to believe the grand jury testimony of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby – as reported by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in court papers ( PDF) – then the president of the United States has been deceiving the country ever since the CIA leaks investigation began in 2003.

Compared with other deceptions that George W. Bush has perpetrated in the years since he promised to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office, this one cannot be spun away as a misunderstanding, a "misunderestimate" or a mistake. From the moment that the Justice Department opened its probe of the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity to the press, Bush insisted that he wanted to find and punish the culprits, especially if any of them were among his White House staff. He claimed to consider the leaking of classified information to be a matter of the utmost seriousness. And he let his press secretary insist repeatedly that the White House had absolutely no idea how this terrible thing had happened.

...We also know that Vice President Dick Cheney was behind Libby's leaking. As one of the most vocal sources of misinformation about Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction during the months leading to the invasion, Cheney was particularly eager to "push back" against Wilson in the spring and summer of 2003. No doubt his zeal intensified with each day that those weapons failed to turn up in occupied Iraq.

And now, thanks to Libby's attempts to obtain classified materials for his criminal defense, we are told that the president played a direct and crucial role in the effort to discredit Wilson. Bush may not have been told that his staffers had leaked Plame's identity, but he certainly knew that they were disseminating classified material to selected reporters to discredit Wilson.

According to Libby's grand jury testimony, the vice president instructed him in July 2003 to tell New York Times reporter Judith Miller about the classified contents of the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, prepared in October 2002. The NIE indicated that Saddam Hussein had indeed been seeking to buy enriched uranium for nuclear weapons from Niger. By leaking that information to the Times, Cheney hoped to discredit Wilson, who had publicly rebuked the White House for exaggerating Iraq's alleged efforts to purchase uranium from Niger.

From Bush to Cheney to Libby?

Testifying before the grand jury, Libby claimed that he had balked initially at Cheney's instructions because the CIA report was classified – and that Cheney told him the president had authorized the leak to Miller. [Full story>>spiegel.de]

Editorial note: All of this leads to the motive President Bush had for invading Iraq which appears to have been for the purpose of securing oil resources and defense contracts that financially benefited his family and associates. After the invasion of Iraq the administration appears to have focused on discrediting Ambassador Wilson to defend the invasion. The Bush administration has, in fact, used tactics of discrediting opponents, such as Senator Kerry in his bid for the White House, and used fear as a means of consolidating power. For instance, by exploiting the "fear of terrorism" and pointing out that President Bush would do a better job in the War on Terror, the Bush administration secured and maintained power. The Bush administration continues with its message of fear, which is a propaganda device used by tyrants (Hitler promoted the fear of Jews, for instance) throughout history. Another propaganda machine, that of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, propagates fear of the US and Israel, i.e., Jews, presuming to increase its power base that way. And then there is al-Qaeda. Now the world faces another problem and must ask the question, "Who would you trust to lead another invasion, of Iran?"

The sad fact is that both Bush and Ahmadinejad may be the problem, and if the two democracies were to recall these two leaders and replace their regimes with responsible administrations the world might become a safer place.

Mel Copeland

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4.07.06 Testimony adds new element to probe of CIA leak

April 7 – The allegation that President Bush authorized the dissemination of secret intelligence as part of an effort to buttress his case for war with Iraq introduces a new dimension to the long-running CIA leak investigation, while posing troubling new political problems for the administration. Until now, the investigation had been about aides to Bush and their alleged efforts to attack the credibility of a vocal administration critic, including by possibly leaking classified information. Bush cast himself as a disinterested observer, eager to resolve the case and hold those responsible accountable. But court papers filed late Wednesday night by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, in the perjury case of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, implicate Bush as knowing about efforts to disseminate sensitive information – and also as orchestrating them.

...The White House refused to comment directly on the court filing, except to point out that Bush's very decision to disclose classified information means he declassified it – an assessment shared by independent legal experts.

A senior administration official, speaking on background because White House policy prohibits comment on an active investigation, said Bush sees a distinction between leaks and what he is alleged to have done. The official said Bush authorized the release of the classified information to assure the public of his rationale for war as it was coming under increasing scrutiny.

..."I served for 13 years on the House intelligence committee, and I know intelligence must never be classified or declassified for political purposes," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "One of the constants in the Bush administration's miserable record on Iraq has been the manipulation of intelligence precisely for political purposes. That has caused our intelligence -- which used to be accepted without question around the world – to be viewed with skepticism by the international community." [More>>washingtonpost.com ; See today's latest claim by the White House, heaping one lie upon another, as liars are known to do: nytimes, April 7, White House tries to quell anger over leak claim" : The White House tried today to quell the furor over the leaking of sensitive prewar intelligence on Iraq, as President Bush's spokesman insisted that the president had the authority to declassify and release information "in the public interest" and had never done so for political reasons. The spokesman, Scott McClellan, said a decision was made to declassify and release some information to rebut "irresponsible and unfounded accusations" that the administration had manipulated or misused prewar intelligence to buttress its case for war...]

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Editorial note: We now have the White House on record of switching Bush's position on the leak from one of condemning the leak and leakers to that of saying President Bush can declassify information at will. One may wonder about the integrity of an administration that changes its position on matters affecting US security after the fact. This is just one of many actions by the Bush administration that puts George W. Bush above US and international law. Scott McClellan's latest position, that "President Bush made a decision to declassify and release information" should have been stated at the time the damaging information destroying Valerie Wilson's cover was released by the President. That President Bush decided to declassify information that would expose Ms. Wilson's identify and government activities causes some Americans to wonder whether the president has committed a high crime and misdemeanor.

The wikipedia.org definition of treason: In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation or state. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor.

A cause now exists to bring the president and his coconspirators to trial for treasonous activity, it would appear. The principle defers to the motive Bush had for invading Iraq, which has changed from lies about weapons of mass destruction to now bringing democracy to the Middle East, besides fighting the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center. With regard to fighting the terrorists Mr. Bush allowed about 24 members of the bin Laden family to leave the US the day after 9/11. One of the members of the family is reported to have had a retail business through which he laudered money to support Osama bin Laden's activities. Some of the bin Laden family were part of the Carlyle Group along with President Bush I. The Carlyle Group specialized in the aquisition of Defense industries, and with the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 have financially benefited from the war. The enemy of the US was advertised as bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, but curiously bin Laden, who stands 6'4" and should be quite recognizable in Pakistan or Afghanistan has not been caught. A hearing on Bush's connections to the bin Laden family and why US resources were diverted away from the pursuit of Osama bin Laden in favor of invading Iraq is in order. An enemy of the United States can be an organization. And certainly the invasion of Iraq has not been favorable to the US, though the Bush family appears to have financially benefited from it. There is cause for an inquiry. The following appear to be relevant:

judicialwatch.org, April 20, 2005, "FBI protects Osama bin Laden's 'Right to privacy' in document release" :

"Former President George Bush met with King Fahd, right, on a trip to Saudi Arabia last year as part of his work for the Carlyle Group." (NYT, 3/5/01) – from bushwatch.com

WASHINGTON, Judicial Watch, the public interest group that fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act (³FOIA²) in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (³FBI²) has invoked privacy right protections on behalf of al Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden. In a September 24, 2003 declassified ³Secret² FBI report obtained by Judicial Watch, the FBI invoked Exemption 6 under FOIA law on behalf of bin Laden, which permits the government to withhold all information about U.S. persons in ³personnel and medical files and similar files² when the disclosure of such information ³would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.² (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) (2000))

Before invoking privacy protections for Osama bin Laden under Exemption 6, the FBI should have conducted a balancing ³test² of the public's right to disclosure against the individual's right to privacy. Many of the references in the redacted documents cite publicly available news articles from sources such as The Washington Post and Associated Press. Based on its analysis of the news stories cited in the FBI report, Judicial Watch was able to determine that bin Ladenıs name was redacted from the document, including newspaper headlines in the footnoted citations...

rediff.com, November 7, 2001, "Bush's bin Laden link thwarted FBI probe – Report" : A BBC programme aired on Tuesday made a startling revelation that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents probing relatives of the Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden were told to go slow soon after George W. Bush became the president of the United States.

The BBC's Newsnight said Bush at one point had a number of connections with Saudi Arabia's prominent bin Laden family. The programme hinted that US interests in the huge Saudi oil reserves blunted the probe into the terrorist connections of several individuals. Newsnight quoting from several purportedly secret documents said the FBI probe into the September 11 terror attacks unearthed terrorist links of at least two member of the bin Laden family. The programme said it had obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of bin Laden family members living in United States before, as well as after, the terrorist attacks.

Newsnight said Bush made his first million 20 years ago with an oil company partly funded by the chief US representative of Salem Bin Laden, Osama's brother. The programme also revealed that Bush and his father received fees from Carlyle Corporation – a little known company that became one of America's largest defence contractors – in which the bin Ladens held a stake, which was sold off after the September 11 terror attacks.

The president has shown himself to be a compulsive liar. Misleading Congress with one lie is an impeachable offence. An impeachment hearing is in order, to avoid Bush's further jeopardizing US security.

Mel Copeland

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4.07.06 Mosque explosion kills 79 in Iraq

bAGHDAD (AP) April 7 – Suicide attackers wearing women's robes blew themselves up Friday in a Shiite mosque, killing 79 people and wounding more than 160, police said. It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq this year and the second major bombing of a Shiite target in as many days. The US military also said Friday that two American troops were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital. Police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said the blasts were caused by two suicide attackers wearing black abayas at the Buratha mosque, which is affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shiite party.

Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, the preacher at the mosque and one of the country's leading politicians, said there were three assailants. One came through the women's security checkpoint and blew up first, he said. Another raced into the mosque's courtyard while a third came to his office before detonating his bomb, said al-Sagheer, who was not injured. He accused Sunni politicians and clerics of waging "a campaign of distortions and lies against the Buratha mosque, claiming that it includes Sunni prisoners and mass graves of Sunnis." [More>>abcnews.go.com ; See also

aljazeera.net, April 7, "Three bombers hit Baghdad mosque" : ...The bombers were dressed as women in black robes when they attacked on Friday, two inside the mosque and one just outside, a police official said. Some police sources said the bombers were women; others said they were a woman and two men dressed as women...

metimes.com (AFP) April 7, "Triple suicide bombs kill 40 in Baghdad mosque attack" : ...Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr speaks to supporters in the Iraqi city of Kuffa, north of Najaf, on April 7. Sadr demanded that US troops set a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, witnesses said.
(Reuters)...

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4.07.06 Rajashan, India moves to ban religious conversion

JAIPUR, Pakistan, April 7 – A western Indian state passed a controversial bill on Friday prohibiting religious conversions, bringing renewed focus on an issue that has triggered communal violence and been used as a political tool. Authorities in Rajasthan state, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said it was banning religious conversions because they were weakening communal harmony. "Some religious institutions, bodies and individuals are involved in unlawful conversion by allurement or by fraudulent means or forcibly," Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajasthan's interior minister, said. "In order to curb such illegal activities and to maintain harmony, we have enacted a special law." Any breach of the new proposal could be punished with up to five years in prison and a hefty fine, he said. The act was passed by the state lawmakers, but still needs to be ratified by the governor to take effect. [jang.com.pk]

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4.07.06 Bangladesh Islamic bank faces charges of funding militancy

DHAKA (DPA) April 7 – Bangladeshıs biggest bank run under Shariah laws was plunged into turmoil after the governmentıs anti-money laundering investigators found evidence of their allegedly helping fund Islamic militancy in the conservative Muslim country, officials said on Friday. The Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, which has branches and agents across the country, forcefully denied charges of money laundering levelled against the countryıs first Islamic bank, a spokesman said. At least four officials and 12 employees of the bank face criminal charges of money laundering according to media reports. Their imminent arrests created fear and uncertainty among the bankıs staff. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

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4.07.06 Car runs over protestors in France

PARIS (AP) April 7 – A motorist, angry with demonstrators blocking a street in Paris' Left Bank drove into the crowd of students protesting a jobs law on Friday, injuring 10 people. Furious demonstrators overturned the car and tried to drag the driver out before police intervened. The incident near Sorbonne University laid bare some of the intense frustration surrounding the government's new plan for getting more young people working. The incident occurred as protesters disrupted traffic by picnicking on a busy boulevard. They were heading away when a frustrated motorist tried to burst through the crowd. [More>>Jerusalem Post]

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4.07.06 Embers of Mohammed row smolder in Denmark over TV host's headscarf

COPENHAGEN, April 7 – Violent protests over Prophet Mohammed cartoons have died down in the Muslim world but in Denmark, where the drawings were first printed, debate over the role of Islam has flared again, this time over a TV talk show host who wears a Muslim head scarf. Asmaa Abdel Hamid, a 24-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin, is the cohost of an eight-part series on the public DR2 network on the fallout of the cartoons affair that led to violent reactions throughout the Muslim world. Abdel Hamid's appearance on television – the first time that a female TV host has worn a head scarf in Denmark – has led to a flurry of negative reactions from viewers and feminist groups; evidence, say experts, that a wide gap still divides Danes and Muslims. [More>>metimes.com ; See related story, iranfocus.com, April 7, "Iran's police stop 10-year-old girl for 'mal-veiling.'"]

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4.06.06 Libby: Bush himself authorized leak on Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) April 6, 2:38pm – Testimony shows 'president can no longer be trusted,' says Howard Dean. Vice President Dick Cheneyıs former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plameıs CIA identity. But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq. [More>>msnbc.msn.com] See also bbc.co.uk April 6, 17:39GMT, "Bush 'ordered leak,' ex-aide says."]

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4.06.06 US forces capture 'Zarqawi aide'

April 6 – A senior aide to al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been captured, the US military has announced. Mohammed Hila Hammad Obeidi – also known as Abu Ayman – was captured during an operation in southern Baghdad by US and Iraqi forces, the military said in a statement. Ayman was wanted for a series of hostage killings, assassination attempts and roadside bombings, as well as the kidnapping of Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena. He was caught on March 7 but the announcement was delayed until DNA tests confirmed his identity, the military said. According to the US, Ayman was an aide to the Chief of Staff of Intelligence in Saddam Hussein's government and has also led the Secret Islamic Army, a militia group operating in Babil province. The Sgrena kidnapping attracted further attention after her release when US soldiers at a roadblock shot dead an Italian secret service agent moving her to safety. Abu Qatada, an alleged lieutenant of Abu Ayman, was captured by the US military in December last year. [aljazeera.net ; See also bbc.co.uk, April 6, "Top insurgent 'caught in Baghdad']

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4.06.06 Najaf car bomb kills at least 10

April 6 – A car bomb has killed at least 10 people and injured about 30 others in Najaf, southern Iraq, officials say. Police said the blast happened about 300m (330 yards) from the Imam Ali shrine, which is among the world's most sacred sites for Shia Muslims. It comes amid deadlock over the formation of a government, thought to be partly responsible for fuelling an increase in sectarian violence. Tensions have risen since the bombing of a key Shia shrine in February. The attack on the shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, set off a wave of violence between Iraq's Shia and Sunni communities. Thursday's blast is the first serious bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf in many months. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

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4.06.06 'Gospel of Judas' surfaces after 1,700 years

April 6 – An early Christian manuscript, including the only known text of what is known as the Gospel of Judas, has surfaced after 1,700 years. The text gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him, scholars reported today. In this version, Jesus asked Judas, as a close friend, to sell him out to the authorities, telling Judas he will "exceed" the other disciples by doing so. Though some theologians have hypothesized this, scholars who have studied the new-found text said, this is the first time an ancient document defends the idea.

The discovery in the desert of Egypt of the leather-bound papyrus manuscript, and now its translation, was announced by the National Geographic Society at a news conference in Washington. The 26-page Judas text is said to be a copy in Coptic, made around A. D. 300, of the original Gospel of Judas, written in Greek the century before.

Terry Garcia, an executive vice president of the geographic society, said the manuscript, or codex, is considered by scholars and scientists to be the most significant ancient, nonbiblical text to be found in the past 60 years. "The codex has been authenticated as a genuine work of ancient Christian apocryphal literature," Mr. Garcia said, citing extensive tests of radiocarbon dating, ink analysis and multispectral imaging and studies of the script and linguistic style. The ink, for example, was consistent with ink of that era, and there was no evidence of multiple rewriting. [More>>nytimes.com ; See also bbc.co.uk, April 6, "'Gospel of Judas' to be revealed." and nationalgeographic.com to read portions of the document.]

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4.06.06 update, 4.05.06 Iran tests "top secret" missile

TEHRAN (AP) April 5 – Iran said Wednesday it has successfully test-fired a "top secret" missile, the third within a week, state-run television reported. The report called the missile an "ultra-horizon" weapon and said it could be fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters. The tests come during war games being held by the elite Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program. On Tuesday Iran said it had tested a second new radar-avoiding missile, which is a surface-to-sea missile equipped with remote-control and searching systems, the state-run television reported Tuesday. On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a missile that it said can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Since the war games began Friday, the country also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes. The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch of Iran's military, have been holding their maneuvers – code named the "Great Prophet"– since Friday, touting what they call domestically built technological advances in their armed forces.[Jerusalem Post ; See also:

telegraph.co.uk, April 5, "Iran raises tensions with a show of strength," : ...Ivan Oelrich, vice-president of the Federation of American Scientists, said: "It is conceivable they have a multiple warhead capability but this is not very sophisticated. Though three missiles heading for the same target makes it harder for missile defence, the warheads will not have their own guidance systems and the missiles will carry a lower payload. It would be difficult to target effectively with them"...

Maravot News 4.04.06 articles "Iran tests second new radar avoiding missile – updated information" and 4.03.06 (Maravot editorial update) 3.31.06 "Iran says it has successfully test-fired a missile able to avoid radar." These articles show photos of two ballistic missiles, one underwater missile and one flying boat. One of the ballistic missiles has at least two boosters, indicating that it has extended range and payload over the ballistic missile shown in media reports, such as that in today's Jerusalem Post and telegraph.co.uk, and abcnews.go.com (AP) stories.]

iranfocus.com, 9.05.05, "Iran's suicide bombers to stage "readiness" maneuvers" – (This has been an ongoing tactic of Iran. We cite this article to illustrate the extent of it) : ..."Of the 400 well-trained members of martyrdom-seeking groups, dozens will be taking in the exercise on the heights near Karaj reservoir (west of Tehran)"...

iranfocus.com, 4.05.06, "Iran test-fires new cruise missile."

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4.06.06 Sumatran elephants face extinction

April 6 – The number of Sumatran elephants in parts of Indonesia has dropped by 75 per cent in the past six years, raising the possibility they could become extinct in the near future, according to an environmental group. WWF Indonesia said the decline in Riau province – on Indonesia's largest island of Sumatra – is mostly due to the rapid conversion of forest habitat into palm oil and paper plantations. As a result, conflicts between humans and elephants have risen, with 45 elephants either shot or poisoned since 2000 and 16 people killed by the animals.

Hundreds more elephants were captured and removed from forest areas, often dying in captivity. The remaining populations number less than 400 in Riau, down from 709 in 1999. "This escalating situation not only spells disaster for elephants but is also a huge problem for Riau's local people," WWF said. "Without improved management, elephants could face extinction in another five years." [More>>independent.co.uk; See the source of this story, eyesontheforest.or.id, press release April 4, 2006, with interactive map on the complete destruction of the forests on Riau]

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4.05.06 Sappers detonate bomb in West Bank; 2 Qassams slam into Israel

April 5 – Border Police sappers on Wednesday detonated a 15-kilogram bomb placed on a road leading to the settlements of Itamar and Elon Moreh, near the West Bank city of Nablus. Also on Wednesday, two Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, landing near Sderot in the western Negev. There were no reports of casualties or damage. Israel Defense Forces responded to the rocket attacks with artillery fire on the northern Gaza Strip. Earlier in the day, an IDF officer was wounded in the course of an operation to arrest wanted Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus. [More>>haaretzdaily.com]

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4.05.06 Pakistan troops clash with fighters

April 5 – Pakistani security forces and pro-Taliban fighters have clashed for a second day near the Afghan border, leaving four soldiers and 16 fighters dead, a military spokesman said. A further 19 fighters were captured in Wednesday's fighting in the Shawal area of North Waziristan, said Major General Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman. Eight fighters and four soldiers were killed late on Tuesday after fighters attacked a military base in Mana, about 50km (30 miles) west of the main town of Miranshah. Eight more fighters died in clashes on Wednesday, Sultan said. [More>>aljazeera.net]

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4.05.06 Hamas cabinet meets after 'two-state solution' UN letter

GAZA CITY, Gaza (AFP) April 5 – The new Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet was holding its first regular meeting on Wednesday after its foreign minister made an unprecedented Middle East peace overture in a letter to UN chief Kofi Annan. The letter by Mahmoud Al Zahar, which referred to a "two-state solution", was expected to dominate discussions in Gaza City among the new ministers, many of whom participated via video link as a result of an Israeli-imposed travel ban. Zahar refused to comment to reporters as he entered the meeting. His fellow ministers also remained tight-lipped.

Alvaro de Soto, the UN's special envoy for the Middle East, confirmed that Annan had received a letter from Zahar. "We only received the letter at headquarters yesterday and we are still studying it so I have no comment," he told reporters in Jerusalem. In his letter Zahar said that the new Islamist government was "looking for freedom and independence side-by-side with our neighbors." [More>>metimes.com]

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4.05.06 Video shows dead US pilot being abused in Iraq

April 5 – A video has surfaced purporting to show the burning body of an American pilot being dragged by Iraqi insurgents away from the wreckage of a helicopter. The blurry images were posted on the internet today in the name of the "Mujahidin Shura Council", an umbrella group of five extremist organizations, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, that was reportedly formed in January. The council, which is believed to have been created to sideline Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, said the images were proof that its military wing had shot down the helicopter. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

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4.05.06 China to close all small coal mines