UK trains insurgent assassins in Syria to target President Bashar al-Assad

 

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/12/271736/uk-trains-insurgent-assassins-in-syria/

British special forces are training insurgent assassins in Syria hoping they could remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, British media report.

Troops from Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) alongside paratroopers from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment are operating in Syria giving insurgent assassins training on how to use new weapons and explosives, The Daily Star reported on Sunday.

The newspaper also said that British special forces hope the trained insurgents can assassinate the Syrian President.

Moreover, the British Chief of the Defense Staff, General Sir David Richards, has spoken of contingency plans to deploy British troops to intervene in Syria.

“Obviously we develop contingency plans to look at all these things. It is my job to make sure that these options are continually brushed over to make sure that we can deliver them and they are credible,” Richards told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

This comes as videos are emerging, almost on a daily basis, of foreign-backed armed terrorists in Syria killing civilians and executing army soldiers.

This comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron has revealed plans to facilitate supplying of heavy weapons to terrorists in Syria.

Cameron has also expressed frustration over a European Union arms embargo preventing his government from selling such weapons to Syria, and has vowed to find a way around the ban.

CIA seeks significant expansion of its assassination drone fleet

 

American premier spy agency the CIA has called for a significant expansion of its fleet of assassination drones to bolster the agency’s terror campaign of targeted bombings in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/19/267543/cia-seeks-to-expand-terror-drone-fleet/

American spy agency, the CIA, has called for a significant expansion of its fleet of assassination drones to bolster the agency’s terror campaign of targeted bombings in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

The plan, submitted to the White House by CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Director David Petraeus, would enable the spy agency not only to boost its persisting campaign of deadly strikes against suspected militant areas in Yemen and Pakistan, but also shift the assassination drones to “emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots,” US daily The Washington Post reported on Friday, quoting officials that spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

One American official said the request by Petraeus, a former top military official who commanded US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, reflects a US concern that “political turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa has created new openings for al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” according to the report.

“With what happened in Libya, we’re realizing that these places are going to heat up,” said the official, referring to the September 11 incident at the US Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where four Americans, including the US ambassador to the African country, were killed following a massive anti-US demonstration to protest the release of a film that grossly insulted Muslims and their highly revered Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

No decision has so far been taken about shifting armed CIA assassination drones into the North Africa region but contingency plans are being mapped out, according to the official. “I think we’re actually looking forward a little bit.”

American officials at the White House, the CIA and the Defense Department have refused to comment on the drone expansion proposal, says the daily, and those who did, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Washington officials, says the report, are “particularly concerned” about the emergence of pro-al-Qaeda militants in North Africa, following the downfall of pro-US regimes in Libya and Mali.

Seeking to reinforce their intelligence surveillance in the region, the US has been forced to “rely on small, unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes.”

The CIA, according to the report, also maintains a separate fleet of stealth surveillance drones, the use of which were exposed when one of them was brought down intact in 2011 by Iranian forces while on a surveillance flight over the country. Such drones were also used to monitor “bin Laden’s compound” in Pakistan before a US military assault to kill him, the daily claims.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has promoted collaborations between the CIA and the military in what it advertises as “counterterrorism operations,” leading to “a blurring of their traditional roles,” according to the Post. In Yemen, the CIA routinely “borrows” the aircraft of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to carry out strikes. The joint command is growingly engaged in operations that resemble espionage.

Moreover, says the daily, any decision to extend the reach of CIA’s fleet of armed assassination drones would most likely require the spy agency to establish additional secret bases overseas. The CIA relies on American military pilots to fly the drones from bases in the southwestern US “but has been reluctant to share overseas landing strips with the Defense Department.”

The CIA’s pilotless Predators used in terror strikes over Pakistan are flown out of airstrips along the border in Afghanistan. The agency established a secret base on the Arabian Peninsula when it began its drone attacks over Yemen, even though JSOC drones are flown from a separate facility in Djibouti.

On Wednesday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that contrary to US claims, 80 percent of people killed by US assassination drone strikes in the country are innocent civilians.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament, Malik added that the total of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks conducted by US drones in Pakistan amounted to 336 attacks, killing nearly 2,300 people.

Despite Islamabad’s repeated calls on Washington to end the terror drone attacks, the US government continues its strikes on the tribal regions of the country.

Meanwhile in Yemen, a recent report by the country’s National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms states that over 300 people have been killed in the strikes carried out in the southern regions of the country so far in 2012.

The aerial attacks were initiated by former US President George W. Bush, but have escalated under President Barack Obama.

The United Nations has censured American drone attacks as targeted killings and says they flout international law.

Israel seeks war on Iran to keep lid on 9/11

 

 

By: Dr. Kevin Barrett

http://www.truthjihad.com/

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/20/262683/israel-seeks-iran-war-to-keep-lid-on-911/

Almost every politically-aware person on the planet is puzzled by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's bizarre obsession with Iran. Netanyahu is risking his political career, his reputation, and Israel's future by intervening in the US presidential elections.

He is using all of Zionism's considerable might - including organized crime assets like “Las Vegas Godfather” Sheldon Adelson - to force Obama to attack Iran; or, failing that, to make sure that Obama is defeated by the Zionist puppet Romney. There are even rumors of Israeli-sponsored assassination attempts on Obama.

Even the rabidly pro-Zionist Jewish Daily Forward has editorialized:

“It’s difficult to recall a time when an Israeli prime minister has inserted himself into a presidential election campaign in the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has. It’s even harder to recall a time when a trusted ally openly urged the American president to undertake a questionable, unpopular and highly risky war. We sure hope Netanyahu knows what he’s doing, because the stakes for him - and for the two nations he professes to care about the most - could not be higher.”

The Jewish Daily Forward has good reasons to wonder whether Netanyahu knows what he's doing. The editorialist cites polls showing that the American people strongly oppose attacking Iran, even if war breaks out between Iran and Israel and only US intervention could save Israel! These polls show that American voters no longer give a damn whether Israel, which has chosen to live by the sword, finally dies by the sword. As Dave Lindorff observes, Netanyahu's mad obsession with pushing the US into yet another unwanted war for Israel “may have fundamentally undermined the long-standing 'special relationship' between the US and Israel.”

And still Netanyahu continues on this seemingly suicidal course. He even orders the Mossad and its CIA assets including Gladio veteran Terry Jones to unleash a rabidly anti-Islam film, spammed into the faces of every Muslim on the planet via millions of dollars of computer server time and intelligence agency expertise - an obvious attempt to fan the flames of Islamophobia and pave the way to a US war on Iran for Israel. Obama, who is on record saying he hates Netanyahu and that Netanyahu is a liar, and who knows that Netanyahu manufactured the “Innocence of Muslims” crisis to try to get Romney elected, responded by refusing to meet with Netanyahu in New York, and going on the David Letterman Show instead. A more blatant snub could hardly be imagined.

So, what in the world is Netanyahu really up to? Does he actually believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, even though the CIA has certified that it does not?

Of course, he doesn't really believe such nonsense. Even hard-line Israeli strategists admit that Iran appears to be only developing nuclear expertise, not actual weapons. Furthermore, Iran has not attacked another nation in centuries.

Since the “nuclear crisis” is a hoax (like alleged Iraqi WMD in 2003), then what is the real reason for Netanyahu's Iran obsession? Is it the Iranian government's support for anti-Zionist resistance groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and its calls for an end to Zionism through free and fair elections?

Perhaps. Iran's open commitment to principled anti-Zionism represents the nearly unanimous position of the people of the Middle East, who have never accepted the genocidal Zionist entity as a legitimate state. Israel has been able to bully every other government in the region into shameful silence. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not be silenced. Threats to level Iran with bombs seeks to send a message to future Middle Eastern governments: Do not give a voice to your people's resistance to Zionism, or else!

But while starting a war might seek to punish Iran for its anti-Zionism, such a war would carry terrible risks for Israel. In the impossible event that all goes well for Israel on the battlefield, the suffering of the people of Iran would probably shame the world into turning against Zionism even more sharply than the world turned against apartheid in the 1980s.

But there is no guarantee that things would go well for Israel on the battlefield. Iran has the capability to riddle Israel with rocket attacks, or even to take out Israel's Dimona nuclear facility and perhaps render Israel and much of the surrounding region permanently uninhabitable. And Israel does not have the capability to seriously damage Iran's nuclear energy program without US help. If the US intervened on the side of Israel, Iran could shut the Straits of Hormuz, and possibly sink many, if not all, of the ships there with Sunburn missiles, driving gasoline prices over USD 10 a gallon and paralyzing the world economy. Additionally, Iran has the capability to massively attack the US bases that surround it, killing thousands, if not tens of thousands, of US soldiers. A US president, especially one who dislikes Netanyahu and puts America's interests ahead of Israel's, would be very unlikely to help Netanyahu attack Iran.

Given that a war on Iran is an all-loss proposition for Israel, why is Netanyahu fanatically fanning the flames of war, to the extent that even his American Zionist cheering section is baffled and embarrassed by his behavior?

Some question Netanyahu's intelligence, arguing that he is just a furniture salesman who has been promoted far beyond his level of competence. While there may be some truth to this - I certainly wouldn't want to overestimate Netanyahu's intelligence - I don't think he's quite that stupid. I think Netanyahu has a very good reason to prefer war with Iran, despite all its risks, to peace. I think he does know what he's doing.

Netanyahu needs the 9/11-triggered 100-years-war on Islam to continue for the very good reason that if it does not, the State of Emergency still in place in the US will be lifted, and Americans, unencumbered by the National Security restrictions of wartime, will quickly learn what really happened on September 11th, 2001. That possibility poses a very real existential threat to Israel - and to Netanyahu.

As Alan Sabrosky, former Director of Strategic Studies at the US Army War College, told Press TV: “I have had long conversations over the past two weeks with contacts at the Army War College, at the Headquarters Marine Corps, and I have made it absolutely clear in both cases that it is 100 percent certain that 9/11 was a Mossad operation. Period. If Americans ever know that Israel did this, they are going to scrub them off the earth.” And even if Israel were “scrubbed off the earth” peacefully through a one-state solution, Netanyahu would certainly hang for his role in the 9/11 attacks.

Unfortunately for Netanyahu and Zionism, Dr. Sabrosky isn't the only US National Security insider leaking the truth about 9/11. A very large number of military and intelligence people have come forward.The two biggest recent leaks are revelations by CIA asset Susan Lindauer that the CIA had detailed foreknowledge of 9/11 and attributed the controlled demolitions of the three NYC skyscrapers to “those goddamned Israelis”; and the assertion by Gwenyth Todd, who worked beside Richard Clarke on the National Security Council, that Clarke (who was publicly fired from an earlier job for being an Israeli spy) is the top suspect as hands-on controller of 9/11 from the US end. Yes, you heard that right: Richard Clarke's colleague on the National Security Council, Gwenyth Todd, suspects Clarke of masterminding and running the 9/11 attacks. If Todd and other high-level sources are right about this, Clarke's book title Your Government Failed You is an understatement.

Some of the same high-level sources who point to Richard Clarke as the US boss of the Israeli-instigated 9/11 false flag operation also claim that President Obama, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dempsey, and other powerful Americans are considering exposing the truth about 9/11 during a second Obama term. In other words, Obama's re-election could put Israel out of business, and get Netanyahu hanged from the nearest lamp-post.

No wonder Netanyahu is “overplaying his hand” by doing everything he can to get rid of Obama. And no wonder Netanyahu is desperately trying to throw gasoline on the “clash of civilizations” fire and trigger war with Iran. A huge Middle East war, no matter how destructive, would maintain the wartime State of Emergency in the US and impeded the inexorable revelation of America's biggest state secret: That American traitors, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Richard Myers, and others, helped Israel blow up the World Trade Center, bomb the Pentagon, and kill 3000 Americans on 9/11.

--------------

 

Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist, is one of America's best-known critics of the War on Terror. Dr. Barrett has appeared many times on Fox, CNN, PBS and other broadcast outlets, and has inspired feature stories and op-eds in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and other leading publications. Dr. Barrett has taught at colleges and universities in San Francisco, Paris, and Wisconsin, where he ran for Congress in 2008. He currently works as a nonprofit organizer, author, and talk radio host. He is the co-founder of the Muslim-Christian-Jewish Alliance, and author of the books Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie (2007) and Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters (2009). His website is http://www.truthjihad.com/

 

US insists on Assad’s overthrow

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hold a joint press conference following meetings in the Swedish capital Stockholm on June 3, 2012.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/03/244493/us-insists-assad-overthrow/

The United States says any political solution in Syria should result in the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a press conference in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Sunday, "Assad's departure does not have to be a precondition, but it should be an outcome” of any such political solution, AFP reported.

Her comments came hours after Assad addressed Syria's parliament, saying that Damascus would keep fighting the armed gangs sabotaging security in the country, while it is still ready for dialog with its opponents.

Clinton has also asked Russia to join international efforts to increase pressure on Assad. She spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone at the weakened.

"My message to the foreign minister was very simple and straightforward," she said, adding, "We all have to intensify our efforts to achieve a political transition and Russia has to be at the table helping that to occur."

Moscow has been opposing calls for foreign intervention in the country, and has so far blocked two United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Assad's government.

The unrest in Syria began in March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of Assad's government.

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters, but Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

The President's kill list

Source: Press TV (US Desk)
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/244340.html

What is wrong with the President sitting in a room, looking at lists and portraits of people-a Somali man, a seventeen-year-old girl, an American citizen-and deciding whom to kill? That, according to long and troubling articles in both the Times and Newsweek, is a job Barack Obama has assigned himself. His aides, notably John Brennan, his counter-terrorism adviser, portray it as a matter of taking responsibility-if we are going to assassinate someone, or call in a drone strike to take out a camp in Yemen, the President should make the call-as if our only alternative were some sort of rogue operation, with generals or C.I.A. agents shooting at will. But responsibility involves accountability, which is something, in this case, that appears to be badly lacking. Obama has not taken on a burden, but instead has given the Presidency a novel power.

The "kill list" story is a reminder of how much language matters, and how dangerous it is when the plain meaning of a word is ignored. Each might include a mini-glossary: "baseball cards," for the PowerPoint slides with the biographies and faces of targets; "Terror Tuesday," meetings where targets are sorted out; "nominations" for death-marked finalists; "personality strikes" that aimed to kill a person, and "signature strikes" that went after a group of people whose names one didn't know because of the way they seemed, from pictures in the sky, to be acting. (From the Times piece, written by Jo Becker and Scott Shane: "The joke was that when the C.I.A. sees 'three guys doing jumping jacks,' the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp, said one senior official.") Signature strikes were also known as TADS, for terrorist-attack-disruption strikes, or just as "crowd kills." Both articles explore Obama's halting efforts to confine signature strikes to Pakistan, rather than Yemen and Somalia, and how he ultimately didn't, really. This is the kind of attack that, in one incident mentioned by Daniel Klaidman in his Newsweek piece, led to "persuasive" reports of dozens of women and children dying. A lawyer who saw that on "Kill TV," the feed that let the military and lawyers watch strikes, said later, "If I were Catholic, I’d have to go to confession."

More disturbing than childish names for brutal things are the absurd meanings ascribed to more sober terms. The key ones are "civilians and combatants," and "due process."

How do you minimize civilian casualties in a conflict? Ask a military planner or human-rights organization or just a sensible person and each might come up with a list of tactics, plans, litmus tests. And there were apparently elements of that in the White House's conversations. But ask a sophist or, as it happens, the C.I.A., and you might get this suggestion: change the definition. As the Times described it, Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.

In other words, if we thought that you were someone we should kill, and we did kill you, and you look to be the right age to be cast as an extra in a spy movie, you were guilty. Does that mean that, if a house is hit and the bodies of a father, mother, teen-age boy, and middle-school-aged girl are found entangled with each other, two are combatants and two are civilians?

These words are important because of the argument that we have to act to protect ourselves: there is a terrorist on a screen; hit him now. But how are we deciding who a terrorist is? In some cases, we don’t even know the names of people we're killing, in countries where we are not actually at war. In others, we do know their names, and don't care who dies with them. (In one strike, in which the identity of the man was known, according to the Times, Obama made a deliberate decision to kill his wife and in-laws along with him).

The method we have built, over a couple of hundred years, for sorting out questions of guilt and innocence and probable cause, is due process. And that may be the most degraded phrase of all.

The Obama Administration has sought and killed American citizens, notably Anwar al-Awlaki. As the Times noted, "The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel prepared a lengthy memo justifying that extraordinary step, asserting that while the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process applied, it could be satisfied by internal deliberations in the executive branch." In other words, it's due process if the President thinks about it. One wonders how low the standard for "internal deliberations" are-if it might be enough if Obama mulled it over while walking his dog. And if an American whom the President decides is a threat can be assassinated in Yemen, where Awlaki was hit, why not in London, or Toronto, or Los Angeles? (Awlaki's teen-age son, an American citizen who had not been accused of anything, died in a separate strike).

These are not far-fetched concerns. The Times quoted Michael Hayden, who served as the director of the C.I.A. under George Bush:

"This program rests on the personal legitimacy of the president, and that's not sustainable," Mr. Hayden said. "I have lived the life of someone taking action on the basis of secret O.L.C. memos, and it ain't a good life. Democracies do not make war on the basis of legal memos locked in a D.O.J. safe."

As Jane Mayer has written in The New Yorker, drone strikes, as opposed to ground troops, bring with them a comforting illusion of distance. Picturing Obama going through the lists in a bright office in Washington shows where that daydream leads, and how deceptive it can be. A drone-based conflict may, in the short run, keep some troops from harm, but it may also take the debate about war and peace out of the public sphere and into what is, in political terms, a much darker space.

Brennan and other officials interviewed by the Times and Newsweek said that Obama had enormous faith in himself. It would be more responsible, though, if he had less-if he thought that he was no better than any other President we've had or ever will. The point isn't just the task, or burden, he takes on, but the machine he has built for his successors to use.

Perhaps, just to suggest a range, he could picture each of the Republican contenders from this past season being walked through the process, told how it works, shown some of those video clips with tiny people and big explosions, and taking it for a test drive. Never mind whether Obama, in particular, sighs or loses sleep or tosses a coin when he chooses a target: What would it mean for a bad, or craven, or simply carelessly accommodating President to do so? In the end we are not really being asked to trust Obama, or his niceness, but the office of the Presidency. Do we?

Anglo-French drone files stolen

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/228282.html

Highly secret documents related to the Anglo-French project aimed at building Europe’s assassination drones have been stolen at the Gare du Nord station in Paris.

A briefcase containing highly confidential documents relating to the Anglo-French assassination drone project has been stolen from a senior French executive.

The senior executive from Dassault Aviation, a French manufacturer of military jets, was on his way to London when two people, possibly linked to “a highly-sophisticated operation by a spy agency” as described by the French police, stole the documents.

Britain and France agreed to carry out a joint project aimed at building a new generation of assassination drones, known as Male (medium altitude long endurance) drones, by 2020.

British arms giant BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation are to launch the joint venture so that the new assassination drones will fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the US and Britain’s so-called “War on Terror.”

British anti-arms campaigners have severely criticized the Anglo-French project as they describe the assassination drones as “the latest ‘must have’ weapon system” that Britain is “desperate” to build.

“Drones are the latest ‘must have’ weapon system and it is important they say, that the UK keeps up with the US and Israel in this key market,” said Drone Wars UK in a statement.

'Iran wants assassins brought to justice'

Head of Iran's Islamic Coalition Party Mohammad-Nabi Habibi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221598.html

A senior Iranian politician has called for the prosecution of the masterminds and perpetrators of the terrorist attacks against Iranian scientists.

“The people's demand is the punishment of the agents behind the assassination [who are] both inside the country and abroad,” Mohammad-Nabi Habibi, the secretary general of Iran's Islamic Coalition Party said Wednesday, referring to the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.

The assassination was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks over the past few years that have claimed the lives of Iranian scientists, including those who had either met with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors or were mentioned in the agency's reports as nuclear scientists.

Habibi said Iran's cooperation with the agency was being exploited because the names of Iranian scientists are passed onto Mossad, CIA and MKO terrorists which use this information to carry out assassinations.

“Iran must reconsider its cooperation with the agency,” he added.

On January 11, Ahmadi Roshan, the deputy director of marketing at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, was targeted by an unknown motorcyclist who attached a sticky bomb to his car near Allameh Tabatabaei University in northeastern Tehran.

Ahmadi Roshan was immediately killed as the result of explosion, and his driver, who had sustained wounds, succumbed to his injuries a few hours later in hospital.

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to sway the UNSC to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran. They have also repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike.

This is while in November 2011, some of the US presidential hopefuls called for conducting covert operations ranging from assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists to launching a military strike on Iran as well as sabotaging Tehran's nuclear program.

The calls for assassinations are not idle threats as a number of Iranian scientists have been assassinated over the past few years. Professor Majid Shahriari and Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi are among the victims of these acts of terror.

On November 29, 2010, Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi were targeted by terrorist attacks; Shahriari was killed immediately and Dr. Abbasi, the current director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, only sustained injuries.

Iran says as the UN Resolution 1747, adopted against Tehran in March 2007, cited Abbasi's name as a "nuclear scientist," the perpetrators were in a position to trace their victim.

According to reports, Ahmadi Roshan had recently met with IAEA inspectors, a fact which indicates that the IAEA has leaked information about Iran's nuclear facilities and scientists.

How US Leviathan shrinks freedoms

A view of the White House, the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221505.html

A major American daily highlighted numerous Washington policies adopted since September 11, 2001 that severely reduce civil liberties in the name of national security.

The article, published in the January 14 edition of the Washington Post blasts the annual US government reports that censure rights abuses in other countries, and lists 10 recent US laws that seriously undermine individual rights and freedoms, most notably the recent National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Barack Obama on December 31, 2011, allowing for the indefinite detention of citizens.

According to the article, US intelligence and judicial procedures have introduced over the past ten years laws and regulations that grant Washington the authority to openly undermine the very principle of liberty in the country and abuse civil liberties that have long served as America's pretexts to launch human rights publicity campaigns against its perceived foes.

Assassination of US citizens

President Barack Obama has extended former President George W. Bush's order to kill "any citizen considered a terrorist or an abettor of terrorism." The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki last year is the latest example of a US citizen falling victim to the practice.

Indefinite detentions

Earlier, Washington signed a practice into law that allows for the incarceration of 'terrorism suspects' by the military forces or upon a presidential order without a trial. Despite wide criticisms against the practice, the White House insists that it will oppose efforts to challenge such authority in federal courts.

Arbitrary justice

Obama maintains the Bush-initiated practice of deciding whether a person should stand trial in the federal courts or in a military tribunal. This is while the system is being widely 'ridiculed' across the world for its lack of basic due process protections.

Warrantless searches

The US president has acquired a sweeping power to order surveillances without justification, including the authority to order companies and organizations to provide the government with information on citizens and conduct searches of everything from business documents to library records.

Secret evidence

The US government has officially made itself entitled to resort to 'secret evidence' to detain individuals and use such evidence in federal and military courts.

It has also used 'national security' as the pretext to dismiss the cases against the United States, contending that the government cannot reveal classified information even to the affected party.

Secret court

The government has extended the scope of its authority to use the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to bring the individuals deemed to be aiding or abetting hostile foreign governments or organizations to trial.

The powers also allow for secret searches of individuals who are not part of an identifiable terrorist group.

War crimes

The Obama administration has insisted that it would not allow the CIA employees to be investigated or prosecuted for waterboarding terrorism suspects during the Bush administration.

The current administration has also reportedly urged foreign governments not to allow any investigation into the war crimes by Bush officials to proceed in their respective countries.

Immunity from judicial review

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have pushed for immunity for companies that conduct warrantless surveillance of citizens. The efforts have deprived the American citizens of their right to challenge the violation of their privacy.

Continual monitoring of citizens

The White House has succeeded to assert its claim that it is authorized to employ GPS devices to monitor all the activities of targeted citizens without a need for court order or review.

Extraordinary renditions

The US government has made itself authorized to transfer both US citizens and noncitizens to a third party country to avoid the legal consequences of torture on American soil. The practice is called by critics as "torture by proxy."

On September 11, 2001, a series of coordinated attacks were carried out in the United States, leaving almost 3,000 people dead.

Many American individuals and organizations still question the official line on what exactly happened on 9/11. Many of them believe that the attacks were either partly or entirely an inside job.

The US, under the Bush administration, invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after claiming that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by members of al-Qaeda harbored by the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The US also attacked Iraq in 2003 claiming that the Middle Eastern country was in possession of weapons of mass destruction; however, after invading the country, the claim proved to have been baseless.

'Russia will not brook attack on Iran'

Outgoing Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220920.html

Russia has warned that it would consider any NATO military action against Iran a 'direct threat' to its national security.

"Iran is our neighbor, and if Iran is involved in any military action, it's a direct threat to our security," Russia's outgoing ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters in the Belgian capital Brussels on Friday.

"We are definitely interested in the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But at the same time, we believe that any country has the right to have what it needs to feel comfortable, including Iran."

The comments come one day after the secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, warned about the Israeli lobby's efforts to drag the United States into a military confrontation with Iran.

"There is a likelihood of a military conflict escalation, to which the Americans are being pushed by Israel," Patrushev said in an interview with Interfax on Thursday.

In addition, on Wednesday an Iranian scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, was killed in a terrorist attack. In the incident, a motorcyclist attached a magnetic bomb to his car near a building of Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran.

Ahmadi Roshan was the deputy director of marketing at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility.

The terrorist attack took place shortly after Iran reached an agreement with the P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany -- to hold negotiations in Turkey.

The US, Israel, and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the United Nations Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.

They have also repeatedly threatened to launch a military strike against.

In November 2011, some US presidential candidates said operations should be carried out against Iran, such as assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, sabotage of Tehran's nuclear program, and even a military strike on the country.

The calls for assassinations are not idle threats as a number of Iranian scientists have been assassinated over the past few years. Professor Majid Shahriari and Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi were victims of these acts of terror.

On November 29, 2010, Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi were targeted in terrorist attacks. Shahriari was killed immediately, but Abbasi, the current director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, sustained injuries but survived.

Iran says UN Resolution 1747, which was approved in March 2007, cited Abbasi's name and identified him as a "nuclear scientist," which helped the attackers target their victim.

According to reports, Ahmadi Roshan had recently met International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Iran says the IAEA has leaked information about Iran's nuclear facilities and scientists.

'Sketchy IAEA report sets stage for war'

According to a 2009 Wikileaks cable, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano asserted that "he was solidly in the US court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220902.html

A former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director has spoken out against the agency's recent report on Iran's nuclear program, saying he does not want to see another war waged based on “recycled, discredited data.”

“In the 24-page document, intended for a restricted distribution but widely available on the Internet, all but three of the items that were offered as proof of a possible nuclear-arms program are either undated or refer to events before 2004,” Robert Kelley wrote in an article titled “Nuclear Arms Charge against Iran Is No Slam Dunk” on the Bloomberg website on Wednesday.

Of the remaining three, he added, two are attributed only to two member states, “so the sourcing is impossible to evaluate.”

Kelley said the remaining allegation was in fact a revival of a two-page document, “purporting to come from Iran,” which the IAEA received in 2009.

“Mohamed ElBaradei, who was then the agency's director general, rejected the information because there was no chain of custody for the paper, no clear source, document markings, date of issue or anything else that could establish its authenticity. What's more, the document contained style errors, suggesting the author was not a native Farsi speaker. It appeared to have been typed using Arabic, rather than a Farsi, word-processing program.”

The IAEA released its latest report on Tehran's nuclear program on November 8, claiming that Iran has been engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, which “may still be ongoing.”

Iran dismissed the report as "unbalanced, unprofessional and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure mostly by the United States.”

Having already lobbied for the imposition of four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, the US and its allies have since used the recent IAEA report to slap even stricter unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

On New Year's Eve, US President Barack Obama signed into law fresh economic sanctions against Iran's Central Bank in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution.

The European Union followed suit with its foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton threatening Tehran with continuing sanctions. “I expect Iran will realize that we will continue with sanctions. EU members are discussing further sanctions right now,” she said.

The EU foreign ministers are expected to hold a meeting later this month on January 23 to discuss proposed embargo on Iran's oil exports.

The IAEA report has more alarmingly led to calls from various US and Israeli corners for a military strike against Iran.

On December 20, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed that Iran was one year away from building an atomic weapon, threatening that Washington will take every step “necessary” to stop Tehran's nuclear program.

Less than a week later, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said the US military is ready to launch a military strike against Iran, if occasion necessitates.

With the upcoming US presidential election, the Republican candidates have similarly heightened the anti-Iran rhetoric, in an apparent bid to win Zionist votes.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials have also recently stepped up their war rhetoric against Iran. On November 21, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned the "time has come" to deal with Iran. Israeli President Shimon Peres also threatened on November 6 that an attack against Iran is becoming "more and more likely."

The former IAEA director said he is “speaking up” about the flawed IAEA report, “because, as a member of the IAEA's Iraq Action Team in 2003, I learned firsthand how withholding the facts can lead to bloodshed.”

“Having known the details then, though I was not allowed to speak, I feel a certain shared responsibility for the war that killed more than 4,000 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis. A private citizen today, I hope to help ensure the facts are clear before the US takes further steps that could lead, intentionally or otherwise, to a new conflagration, this time in Iran,” he said.

Iran blasts US, UK for Nuclear Scientist assassination

On Wednesday, January 11, 2012, scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed in a terrorist attack in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220809.html

Iran's Foreign Ministry has blasted the US and UK governments for their obvious roles in assassinating Iranian scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan in two strongly-worded protest notes.

Ahmadi Roshan was assassinated on Wednesday, after an unknown motorcyclist attached a sticky bomb to his car near Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran, killing him instantly.

The note to the UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists that immediately followed the remarks of head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) John Sawers, who discussed the launch of intelligence operations against Iran.

The note read that Iran's Foreign Ministry "voices its strong protest to the outcome of the mentioned British approach and underscores that the Uk is responsible for such acts of terror."

In October 2010, Sawers accused Iran of pursuing clandestine nuclear activities, adding the country's nuclear program cannot be halted through "conventional diplomacy."

"Stopping nuclear proliferation cannot be addressed purely by conventional diplomacy. We need intelligence-led operations to make it more difficult for countries like Iran to develop nuclear weapons," Sawers said.

In November 2010, shortly after Sawers remarks, terrorists detonated bombs attached to the vehicles of Dr. Majid Shahriari and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi, both professors at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, in separate locations.

Shahriari was killed immediately while Abbasi and his wife sustained minor injuries and were released from hospital shortly afterwards.

In a separate note addressed to the US government, sent via the Swiss Embassy which represents the US in Iran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said diplomatic notes from Tehran about evidence of American support for anti-Iran terrorist groups have remained unanswered or have been met with Washington's approving silence.

"Based on credible evidence and reliable intelligence, this terrorist operation [on January 11] was carried out with the guidance, support, and planning of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the direct complicity of its elements. Thus the direct responsibility (of the terrorist attack) lies with the (US) government."

The note stressed that based on international law and conventions the US government must be answerable.

The note further warned the US government to immediately end terrorist operations targeting the lives of Iranian citizens.

"The Islamic Republic reserves the right to follow up on the issue accordingly," the note concluded.

'Qatari Emir survives assassination'

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197587.html

The Qatari Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has reportedly survived an assassination attempt in Qatar's capital, Doha.

According to Egypt's al-Fajr newspaper, unknown gunmen attacked the Qatari Emir's motorcade near his palace on Monday.

The Egyptian newspaper said Sheikh Hamad has reportedly been injured in the attack and was taken to hospital, adding that eight of the Emir's bodyguards were killed in the incident.

Al-Fajr says a media blackout has been imposed on the incident with Qatari officials refusing to comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Qatar Abdollah Sohrabi has denied Sheikh Hamad's assassination report, saying that the Emir is currently in the French capital, Paris.

Sheikh Hamad has ruled the Persian Gulf state since 1995. He came to power after deposing his father in a palace coup and was crowned on June 2000.

Pakistan foils Zardari assassination plot

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183231.html

Pakistani security forces have arrested eight people on suspicion of plotting to assassinate President Asif Ali Zardari.

The arrests were made in Islamabad and Punjab province, Xinhua reported late on Saturday.

According to local media, the security forces initially became informed about the plan on May 21 through a wiretap.

They arrested four of the suspects in Islamabad and another four in different areas of Punjab province on Saturday. The detainees have reportedly been moved to an undisclosed location.

A senior officer of the Islamabad police department involved in the investigation of the case confirmed the report. The police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said two of the suspects are “key leaders” of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan.

Reports say the suspects had planned to target Zardari during his visit to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

Many of the president's meetings after the funeral service for his father, Hakim Ali Zardari, who died on May 24, were also cancelled due to security reasons.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have vowed to avenge the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden through attacks on high-ranking government officials and military, police, and security forces in Pakistan.

Scores of people have been killed and dozens injured in attacks launched by the two groups in Pakistan since bin Laden's death.

A US attack in the city of Abbottabad allegedly killed bin Laden on May 2 (May 1 Washington time).

Facts behind Libya invasion exposed

General Richards (L) and Defence Secretary Liam Fox arrive for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180274.html

NATO military intervention in Libya is becoming a full scale war as predicted by various anti-war organizations and security analysts around the world.

After just two months into the conflict, the western alliance has gone from enforcing a “no-fly zone” on Libya to a “no-drive zone” and ultimately to “let's assassinate Qaddafi”.

The head of the UK armed forces, General Sir David Richards has urged the NATO to destroy Libya's infrastructure in accordance with what the Libyan despot is doing to his own people and his own country.

The western military invasion of Libya has run into a stalemate with more than 2,000 bombing raids by the US, Britain and their allies, and the western powers are facing another disaster in the third Muslim country they have attacked in the last decade.

General Richards has made it clear included in the aims of the escalation he is proposing would be the killing of Colonel Qaddafi.

This is yet another evidence that a war for regime change -- which is illegal under international law - has been disguised as a humanitarian intervention to "protect" the Libyan people.

The Iraq "shock and awe" experience shows what destruction of Libya's infrastructure will mean for the Libyan people -- countless deaths, essential facilities in ruins, and the collapse of public services.

It is outrageous that a military officer like General Richards can make such overtly political statements. How long is it before he is calling for ground troops to invade Libya?

A war opposed by the majority of the British public has no end in sight.

This is while that the British were promised the invasion would be over in weeks and would -- according to the government -- "cost tens, not hundreds of millions".

British MPs have got into the habit of supporting wars of aggression against foreign countries, with disastrous consequences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But now is the time for MPs to represent the majority view of those who elected them to parliament, by voting to stop the bombing of Libya and to end the NATO intervention.

Saudi diplomat assassinated in Karachi

Pakistani security guards and police stand guard at the entrance of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Karachi after a grenade attack on May 11, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180132.html

A Saudi diplomat has been assassinated by unknown assailants in a drive-by shooting near the Saudi consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

The Saudi diplomat was onboard a vehicle with diplomatic plates when two motorcycle riders opened fire at his car at a crossroads, Pakistani police in Karachi told AFP on Monday.

"The consulate employee died of multiple bullet wounds on the spot," said Karachi police chief Fayyaz Leghari.

"The attackers fled on the motorbike," he further explained.

The recent assassination marks the second offensive on Saudi interests in Pakistan's largest city in less than a week.

The attack came in the wake of a grenade attack on the Saudi consulate on Wednesday which left no damage or casualties.

The Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Aziz al-Ghadeer, confirmed the attack but did not give details on the rank of the slain diplomat. A Pakistani Home Ministry official, however, said the man was a junior officer.

"We condemn this attack. No one who carries out this kind of attack can be a Muslim," the Saudi ambassador said.

Pakistani officials say the attack is a possible reaction to the US killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama announced that bin Laden was killed by US forces on May 1 in a hiding compound near Islamabad.

A US official later announced that bin Laden's body was abruptly buried at sea, falsely boasting that his hasty burial was in accordance with the Islamic law, requiring burial within 24 hours of death.

However, burial at sea is not an Islamic practice and Islam does not have a decree on a burial timeframe.

US officials also claimed their decision of the sea burial was made because no country would accept his remain, without elaborating on which countries were actually contacted on the matter.

Analysts, however, have raised serious questions as to why US officials did not allow for the application of a DNA test to officially confirm the identity of the corpse before the quick sea burial.

Furthermore, Obama announced in a televised interview that he decided not to publish "disturbing imaged" of bin Laden's dead body to avert "a national security risk" and due to concerns that it might be used as a "propaganda tool."

Lebanon hails Hezbollah revelations

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah



Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138103§ionid=351020203


Lebanese politicians have hailed evidence presented by Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah on Israel's involvement in the murder of late Premier Rafiq Hariri.

"There is valuable evidence and is worth taking it into consideration," leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun told al-Manar TV, Naharnet news portal reported.

On Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah presented aerial reconnaissance footage of areas frequented by Hariri, including where he was assassinated in February 2005.

The popular resistance leader said this proved Israel was tracking Hariri's movements to assassinate him.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said the evidence "opened the door wide on how the assassination took place."

The Druze leader called on the March 14 coalition to avoid entering into a standoff with other parties.

"We all want to know the truth but not in a way that would change its course and take the country to strife," he said.

"We have to remember that what led to this disaster was (Security Council) resolution 1559. In order for it to be implemented, it was imperative to kill Hariri," the Lebanese politician stated.

Naharnet cited an article in the Lebanese daily newspaper al-Akhbar on Tuesday, saying Israeli media stopped Nasrallah's live broadcast when al-Manar aired footage allegedly intercepted from Israeli surveillance planes of the Lebanese territory prior to Hariri's assassination.

Pro-peace Afghan Muslim cleric killed

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=126752&sectionid=351020403

A popular Muslim religious leader who has been pushing for peace in eastern Afghanistan is assassinated along with two members of his family.

Cleric Rahman Gul was killed on Sunday along with his brother and another relative in the Chapa Dara district as they were returning to their homes, police in Kunar province said.

The killing is the latest in a series of assassinations targeting Afghan government figures and others aligned with the international forces.

Gul was chief cleric in his district and a member of a clerical council for eastern Afghanistan. In recent days, he has been stressing the importance of "peace and stability" across the country.

Elsewhere, two NATO soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

According to official announcements, 2009 was the deadliest year for foreign troops with a total of 520 US-led soldiers killed in action.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country.

Dubai calls for Netanyahu prosecution over terror

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119693&sectionid=351020202

Dubai police say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be prosecuted should it be determined that the regime had been behind the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

The emirates' police Chief Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said Sunday that the world will "witness significant steps in the prosecution of criminals" who masterminded the assassination of al-Mabhouh in his hotel room last month.

The general said the investigation is internationally underway to identify the criminals who were behind the operation.

Khalfan assured that the Israeli prime minister and Mossad Chief Meir Dagan "will be together at the head of an international wanted list" should it be determined that the regime was behind the terror operation.

He had formerly said that Dubai police were in possession of dozens of items of incriminating evidence against the terror squad which attest to Mossad's involvement in the operation.

The police released photos and information of 26 suspects in the terror, most of them European passport holders, saying they were Mossad agents carrying fake documents.

Israeli and European media last week reported that Netanyahu had authorized the assassination of the Hamas commander in a meeting with Mossad's chief in early January in Tel Aviv.

Lieberman is Dying to Say it

Source: Al Jazeera
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/02/23/lieberman-dying-say-it

When Europe's blood pressure went up over the use of fake European passports in the assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, changed his line from ambiguity to deniability. There is no proof of Israeli involvement, he retorted. And that is that.

My guess is that Lieberman had to 'cut the ambiguity' because the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, does not want to further exacerbate tensions with its European allies against the backdrop of continued illegal Jewish settlements and a deadlocked 'peace process'.

But Lieberman, the eccentric former nightclub bouncer, is dying to take responsibility for the assassination of Israel's "enemy combatant" to borrow from the Pentagon's dictionary.

Or, to paraphrase one of Hollywood's epics, A Few Good Men, " ... he's pissed off that he has to hide behind all this ... he wants to say that he made a command decision and that should be the end of it".

Lieberman loves to boast

An immigrant from Moldova who made his way to become Netanyahu's bureau chief in the mid-1990s, Lieberman made a name for himself in Israeli politics by calling in 1998 for the bombing of the Aswan Dam in retaliation for Egyptian support for the then Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Lieberman reportedly called in 2002 for the transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their homeland, claiming that there is "nothing undemocratic about transfer".

The following year, the head of the Yisrael Betainu Party called for thousands of Palestinian prisoners to be shipped to the Dead Sea and drowned there.

In 2006, he called for the assassination of Arab members of the Knesset who met with members of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

And in 2008, Lieberman told Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, to "go to hell".

Spineless allies

Alas, none of Israel's spineless allies would provide Lieberman with the opportunity to cough it up or tell them to go to hell; none would come out in the open or in private to question the minister or put the heat on Israel to come clean.

Lieberman is right not to bother. As he told his British counterpart, David Miliband: "If someone would present information beyond articles in the media, we would relate to it ... but since there is no such information, there is no need to deal with the matter."

Instead, the British foreign minister pleaded with Lieberman in the most timid of ways. He asked kindly and politely for Israeli "cooperation" with an investigation into the use of forged British passports.

Miliband even tried appeasing arguably the most extremist leader in Israel - who supports the continued illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian and Syrian territories - by suggesting that Israel's cooperation is important because it has the most to gain from applying the rule of law in the Middle East!

Other Europeans were less timid, but just as indirect. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, condemned the assassination and European foreign ministers condemned forging their passports, but no mention of Israel whatsoever, and no attempt to open serious and frank dialogue with it over the assassination that could put Europeans and European security at risk.

So, as expected, the visit ended with Avigdor Lieberman flatly rebuffing David Miliband's request for cooperation with the investigation and instead ridiculing journalists for watching too many Hamas Bond movies.

Proving the need for proof

It is not the Bond movies that influence journalists, but every day news.

Europe and the US are more than willing to accuse Iran of developing a nuclear weapons programme with no proof, but hide behind the lack-of-proof excuse to avoid calling out Israel over forging passports and carrying out extra judicial assassinations.


They justify their escalation with Iran on the basis of 'mounting evidence', when it is at best circumstantial, but avoid confronting Israel over a far less dangerous accusation, when all the circumstantial evidence leads to the Mossad.

When was proof so important for Western powers to act or even to go to war? Did the Nato allies have proof of Osama bin Laden's and al-Qaeda's role in the 9/11 attacks before (or after) invading Afghanistan, or Taliban complicity with the attack? Osama bin Laden's boasting at a later date hardly counts for proof.

Or, did they have proof of chemical weapons for the invasion of Iraq? Or did they need proof when it could be just as easily manufactured?

As for proof of Mossad's activity, generally Israel's policy of ambiguity covers those acts it carries out, not the ones it would not. In other words, Israel uses denial when it does not want to give the impression it carried out an attack, but when it uses ambiguity, as Lieberman did immediately after the attack, it usually means it did.

In the words of the hero of A Few Good Men, Europe needed to shake Lieberman, "put him on the defensive and lead him right where he is dying to go".

'Netanyahu authorized Dubai assassination'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119118§ionid=351020202


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly authorized the assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh early January in Tel Aviv.

According to a report published by Times Online Netanyahu held a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan in early January inside the briefing room of the headquarters of the spy agency where "some members of a hit squad" were also present.

Citing Mossad sources, the report said "as the man who gives final authorization for such operations, Netanyahu was briefed on plans to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh."

Sources said Mossad had received intelligence that the Hamas commander was planning a Dubai trip and they started preparing for an operation to assassinate him.

"The team had already rehearsed, using a hotel in Tel Aviv as a training ground without alerting its owners," according to the report.

Thanks to Dubai's extensive system of CCTV cameras, the work of the assassination team was revealed.

Dubai police released the identities of 11 people carrying European passports, including six Britons, three Irish and two French and German, who allegedly were Mossad agents carrying fake European documents.

Interpol has issued "red notices" for the 11 suspects to help find and arrest them anywhere in its 188 member countries.

Dubai police also threatened earlier to arrest Netanyahu, if it determined that Mossad was behind the assassination.