Israeli troops in the West Bank arrested more than 30 senior Hamas members Thursday, the army said, including a Cabinet minister, legislators and mayors.
The Palestinian president condemned the arrests, saying they would hinder his efforts to restore a truce with Israel, and Washington expressed concern about the detentions. Hamas threatened to retaliate with attacks inside the Jewish state.
The arrests reflected an Israeli decision to target the Hamas political leadership — but not necessarily with the lethal airstrikes it has staged over the past week on targets linked to the Hamas military arm.
Israeli aircraft staged attacks during the day and into the night, mainly on Hamas training bases and command posts. A huge plume of black smoke rose over Gaza City after an afternoon attack, but there were no serious injuries, Palestinian medics said.
Full Story: YAHOO NEWS
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War. Show all posts
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq
WASHINGTON, April 26 — George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, has lashed out against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in a new book, saying they pushed the country to war in Iraq without ever conducting a “serious debate” about whether Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States.
The 549-page book, “At the Center of the Storm,” is to be published by HarperCollins on Monday. By turns accusatory, defensive, and modestly self-critical, it is the first detailed account by a member of the president’s inner circle of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the decision to invade Iraq and the failure to find the unconventional weapons that were a major justification for the war.
“There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” Mr. Tenet writes in a devastating judgment that is likely to be debated for many years. Nor, he adds, “was there ever a significant discussion” about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.
Mr. Tenet admits that he made his famous “slam dunk” remark about the evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But he argues that the quote was taken out of context and that it had little impact on President Bush’s decision to go to war. He also makes clear his bitter view that the administration made him a scapegoat for the Iraq war.
A copy of the book was purchased at retail price in advance of publication by a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Tenet described with sarcasm watching an episode of “Meet the Press” last September in which Mr. Cheney twice referred to Mr. Tenet’s “slam dunk” remark as the basis for the decision to go to war.
“I remember watching and thinking, ‘As if you needed me to say ‘slam dunk’ to convince you to go to war with Iraq,’ ” Mr. Tenet writes.
As violence in Iraq spiraled beginning in late 2003, Mr. Tenet writes, “rather than acknowledge responsibility, the administration’s message was: Don’t blame us. George Tenet and the C.I.A. got us into this mess.”
Full Story: NY TIMES
The 549-page book, “At the Center of the Storm,” is to be published by HarperCollins on Monday. By turns accusatory, defensive, and modestly self-critical, it is the first detailed account by a member of the president’s inner circle of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the decision to invade Iraq and the failure to find the unconventional weapons that were a major justification for the war.
“There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” Mr. Tenet writes in a devastating judgment that is likely to be debated for many years. Nor, he adds, “was there ever a significant discussion” about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.
Mr. Tenet admits that he made his famous “slam dunk” remark about the evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But he argues that the quote was taken out of context and that it had little impact on President Bush’s decision to go to war. He also makes clear his bitter view that the administration made him a scapegoat for the Iraq war.
A copy of the book was purchased at retail price in advance of publication by a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Tenet described with sarcasm watching an episode of “Meet the Press” last September in which Mr. Cheney twice referred to Mr. Tenet’s “slam dunk” remark as the basis for the decision to go to war.
“I remember watching and thinking, ‘As if you needed me to say ‘slam dunk’ to convince you to go to war with Iraq,’ ” Mr. Tenet writes.
As violence in Iraq spiraled beginning in late 2003, Mr. Tenet writes, “rather than acknowledge responsibility, the administration’s message was: Don’t blame us. George Tenet and the C.I.A. got us into this mess.”
Full Story: NY TIMES
Thursday, April 26, 2007
SENATE PASSES WITHDRAWAL LEGISLATION
The Senate today gave final approval to a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by next March.
President Bush has pledged to veto the bill, and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino promised this morning he would act "very soon."
The Senate approved the measure by a 51-46 vote, a day after the House passed the bill by 218-208, brushing aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats.
"It is time to end the loss of American lives and to begin to bring our soldiers home," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said on Senate floor this morning. "For the sake of our troops we cannot repeat the mistakes of Vietnam and allow this to drag on long after the American people know it's a mistake."
Today's vote completes work on the rarest of bills: legislation to try to end a major war as fighting still rages. Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency.
President Bush has pledged to veto the bill, and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino promised this morning he would act "very soon."
The Senate approved the measure by a 51-46 vote, a day after the House passed the bill by 218-208, brushing aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats.
"It is time to end the loss of American lives and to begin to bring our soldiers home," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said on Senate floor this morning. "For the sake of our troops we cannot repeat the mistakes of Vietnam and allow this to drag on long after the American people know it's a mistake."
Today's vote completes work on the rarest of bills: legislation to try to end a major war as fighting still rages. Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
GIULIANI WARNS OF 'NEW 9/11' IF DEMS WIN
MANCHESTER, N.H. - - Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.
But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.
“If any Republican is elected president - - and I think obviously I would be the best at this - - we will remain on offense and will anticipate what (the terrorists) will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.
The former New York City mayor, currently leading in all national polls for the Republican nomination for president, said Tuesday night that America would ultimately defeat terrorism no matter which party gains the White House.
“But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?” Giuliani said. “If we are on defense (with a Democratic president,) we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”
Full Story: The Politico
But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.
“If any Republican is elected president - - and I think obviously I would be the best at this - - we will remain on offense and will anticipate what (the terrorists) will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.
The former New York City mayor, currently leading in all national polls for the Republican nomination for president, said Tuesday night that America would ultimately defeat terrorism no matter which party gains the White House.
“But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?” Giuliani said. “If we are on defense (with a Democratic president,) we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”
Full Story: The Politico
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Warplanes disguised as UN planes: Report
SUDAN'S government is using airplanes disguised as United Nations craft to carry out bombings in the conflict in Darfur, a newspaper citing a United Nations report said today.
The confidential UN report also said Sudan was violating UN Security Council resolutions by flying arms into the region.
The Times' story includes photographs from the UN report of a Sudanese armed forces plane. UN investigators said it had been whitewashed and had "UN'' stenciled on its wing and bombs laid out beside it.
It said that this and other planes were being disguised and used to bomb villages and transport cargo in Darfur, where bloody civil violence has caused a humanitarian crisis.
More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed and at least two million others displaced in Darfur since 2NEWS>COM>AU003.
Full Story: NEWS.COM.AU
The confidential UN report also said Sudan was violating UN Security Council resolutions by flying arms into the region.
The Times' story includes photographs from the UN report of a Sudanese armed forces plane. UN investigators said it had been whitewashed and had "UN'' stenciled on its wing and bombs laid out beside it.
It said that this and other planes were being disguised and used to bomb villages and transport cargo in Darfur, where bloody civil violence has caused a humanitarian crisis.
More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed and at least two million others displaced in Darfur since 2NEWS>COM>AU003.
Full Story: NEWS.COM.AU
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Caches of nitric acid seized in Baghdad
U.S. troops said yesterday that they had found two large caches of nitric acid a highly corrosive substance with chemical weapons potential in abandoned houses used by Sunni insurgents in western Baghdad.
Other chemically laced bombs used in terrorist attacks recently have been spiked with chlorine.
Acting on a tip from neighbors, members of the Stryker Brigade's Alpha Company found 31 barrels of nitric acid Saturday in the walled-off front yard of a house that had been raided less than two weeks earlier.
Members of the same company were clearing another abandoned house a few hundred yards away when they found an additional two 5-gallon containers of nitric acid.
They also discovered four 50-pound bags of an unknown powder, artillery casings filled with the powder, several buckets for mixing, zinc oxide and benzene.
Nitric acid "is one of the chemicals used to make homemade explosives," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Wallace, battalion medic for the 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry regiment of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade.
Full Story: THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Other chemically laced bombs used in terrorist attacks recently have been spiked with chlorine.
Acting on a tip from neighbors, members of the Stryker Brigade's Alpha Company found 31 barrels of nitric acid Saturday in the walled-off front yard of a house that had been raided less than two weeks earlier.
Members of the same company were clearing another abandoned house a few hundred yards away when they found an additional two 5-gallon containers of nitric acid.
They also discovered four 50-pound bags of an unknown powder, artillery casings filled with the powder, several buckets for mixing, zinc oxide and benzene.
Nitric acid "is one of the chemicals used to make homemade explosives," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Wallace, battalion medic for the 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry regiment of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade.
Full Story: THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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