US Rushes Delivery of Precision Bombs to Israel
July 22, 2006 NY Times
There was 'relatively little debate' prior to the shipment of an expedited order of precision guided bombs to Israel the NY Times quotes American Officials as saying.
David S. Cloud (NY Times) goes on to write:
Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.
The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.
Saudi Arabia Pledges $1.5 Billion in Aid to Lebanon
July 26, 2006 Katherine Schrader, AP
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pledged $1.5 Billion in aid to rebuild Lebanon, the U.S. pledged $30 Million worth of blankets and medical kits.
Thousands Protest IDF Bombing of Lebanon in Tel Aviv
July 23, 2006 Haaretz
Anti-War protests occurred in Tel Aviv today, more than 2,500 people attended according to Haaretz. Arab organizations (Hadash and Balad) and the zionist left joined to protest the attack on southern Lebanon. Protests included anti-Bush slogans.
Israeli Attack on Lebannon Planned and 'Pitched to US' more than a Year Ago
July 21 , 2006 San Francisco Chronicle
All Israel needed was an excuse to attack, and they found one when Hezbollah terrorists killed 8 Israeli's and 'kidnapped' two. This also happened after the 'matermind' of the NYC Holland Tunnel Plot was arrested in Beirut, Lebanon (See July 9th story below).
Gerals Steinberg, political science professor at Bar-llan University, is quoted as saying, "Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared. In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli withdrawal, when it became clear the international community was not going to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling missiles and attacking Israel. By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board."
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service, alledges that: More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.
In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range missiles, bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.
The Latest Terror Plots: More Reason to Fear?
July 9 , 2006 NY Times / June 30, 2006 CBS/AP
Paul Krugman, NY Times Op Ed columnist, responded to the Wall Street Journal's accusation that The Times has treasonous intentions. The Wall Street Journal's Political Editor is quoted as being,"“shocked,” saying that “I don’t know anybody on the news staff of The Wall Street Journal that believes that.”
The Sears Tower Plot: 7 men accused of plotting to destroy the Sears Tower and other FBI buildings and the overthrow the U.S. government. Prosecutors say they have video of the members pledging allegiance to Osama Bin Laden, and pledged to be loyal to "the path of holy war until God's word is exalted" . In addition they claim to have video footage of the proposed targets taken by the defendants. What is not noted in some stories is that the FBI informant led the men in the pledge of allegiance to Bin Laden, in addition the informant provided a video camera for members to film each target with.
The New York Holland Tunnel Plot: The FBI says that none of the 8 suspects (The 'Mastermind' apprehended in Beirut, Lebanon, and the other 7 in 5 countries and 2 continents-none had as of yet been charged (as of July 7th) had accumulated any explosives, or bomb making material, nor had they performed any reconnaissance.
Mr. Chertoff, current Secretary of Homeland Security, said,"The distance between planning and actual operations is a very short distance ...Sometimes, that causes skeptics to say the threats are not really serious," he said. "But mixing a bomb in a bathtub does not require rocket science."
As the NY Times Eric Lipton astutely recognizes in both cases,"suspects have been apprehended before they lined up the intended weapons and the necessary financing or figured out other central details necessary to carry out their plots". Lipton quotes Martin Stolar, a NY defense lawyer, ''Talk without any kind of an action means nothing. You start to criminalize people who are not really criminals.''
See the NY Times Select Story here.
NY Times July 7, 2006 story on Holland Tunnel Plot.
June 3, 2006 NPR ; July 4, 2006 NY times
"Alec Station", codename for the Bin Laden Unit at the CIA, was shutdown sometime late last year according to intelligence sources in a NY times article and on NPR.
Richard Clark, former White House Counter Terrorism Chief is quoted by NPR as saying, "I don't believe Bin Laden represents a threat" reiterates an administration and CIA belief that Bin Laden has no real control of worldwide terrorist activity.
Michael Scheuer, a past head of the unit, and an outspoken critic of the administrations/CIA's policy with respect to Bin Laden told the NY times, "This will clearly denigrate our operations against al-Qaida....These days at the agency, bin Laden and al-Q aida appear to be treated merely as first among equals."
See NY times Select Story here.
US Updating Non-Nuclear Bombing Plan for Iran
May 16, 2006 The Herald (UK)
Sources inside the Pentagon say the US is updating its' non-nuclear contingency plans to bomb Iran. The UK paper "The Herald" reports: "The main plan calls for a rolling, five-day bombing campaign against 400 key targets in Iran, including 24 nuclear-related sites, 14 military airfields and radar installations, and Revolutionary Guard headquarters.....The alternative to an all-out campaign is a demonstration strike against one or two high-profile targets such as the Natanz uranium enrichment facility or the hexafluoride gas plant at Isfahan." Staging B2 bomber strikes from RAF Fairford (in Gloucester,UK) on Tehran have been ruled out due to current opposition.
Top EU CIA Official Says Bush Went to War for Policy & Ignored Intelligence
April 23, 2006 CBS News, 60 Minutes
Tyler Drumheller, 26 year veteran of the CIA and top EU official, says the Bush Administration picked and chose which intelligence information it needed to sell the war in Iraq to Americans and the world. In an interview with CBS News 60 Minutes Drumheller says of the Administration, ""The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy."
The 60 Minutes piece tied together the Niger Yellow cake Uranium story, and Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame story asserting that the information presented by the Bush Administration to the United Nations and United States citizens (State of the Union) was known by the US Intelligence community to be false and that claims by the British government were unsubstantiated. Ed Bradley writes:On March 7, 2003, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency announced that the Niger uranium documents were forgeries. The Bush administration went to war in Iraq 12 days later, without acknowledging that one of its main arguments for going to war was false.
As of today neither Britain, nor the United States have provided any evidence that Iraq had an active Nuclear program, let alone had the basic materials needed to enrich Uranium.
Military Officers Threaten to Resign if use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons not Taken out of Iran Planning
April 8, 2006 The New Yorker-Seymour Hersh with Progressive Report Comments
Hersh writes, "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 Union of Concerned Scientists estimates the yield of this weapon to be 60 times that of the Nagasaki or Hiroshima bombs dropped on Japan, and thousands of deaths after the use of such a weapon on Natanz (Iran's main centrifuge plant). Dr. Kurt Gottfried, Chairman, Union of Concerned Scientists, writes on April 11th:
"The use of such a weapon would create massive clouds of radioactive fallout that could spread far from the site of the attack, including to other nations. Even if used in remote, lightly populated areas, the number of casualties could range up to more than a hundred thousand, depending on the weapon yield and weather conditions.
“Threatening to use nuclear weapons against Iran provides the strongest of incentives for nuclear proliferation, since it would send the message that the only way for a country to deter nuclear attack is to acquire its own nuclear arsenal. The administration cannot have its cake and eat it, too—it cannot have a viable nuclear non-proliferation policy while continually expanding the roles for its own nuclear weapons.”
Hersh continues: The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning. Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran—without success, the former intelligence official said. “The White House said, ‘Why are you challenging this? The option came from you.’ ”
The Pentagon adviser on the war on terror confirmed that some in the Administration were looking seriously at this option, which he linked to a resurgence of interest in tactical nuclear weapons among Pentagon civilians and in policy circles. He called it “a juggernaut that has to be stopped.” He also confirmed that some senior officers and officials were considering resigning over the issue. “There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries,” the adviser told me. “This goes to high levels.”
Hersh continues: A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.” See above Wolf Blitzer interview from CNN
Bush, Rumsfeld and Scott McClellan have responded to Hersh's article in similar fashion as the critics prior to the start of the Iraq War, calling such talk "wild speculation".
CIA Disbands Bin Laden Unit 
