A-O Weekly News Round Up For 9-14-8

Sunday, 14 September 2008 07:09 |

The A-O Weekly News Round Up

For

9-14-8

Editor's note: Make sure you check out our separate article page for coverage on Hurricane Ike's damage to the Texas Coastal region. LINK HERE.

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Illuminist Calls for a Win-Win Deal With Iran

A member of a powerful U.S. political think tank has suggested a two-way trust-building deal as a solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute.

""A loyalty test can reassure both sides. Nuclear negotiators need to understand that Iranian leaders want to maintain loyalty to the promise they made to the Iranian public to uphold Iran's right to uranium enrichment,"" Charles D. Ferguson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in an article published in the The Christian Science Monitor.

""Equally important, Iranian leaders must understand that they need to prove their loyalty to the international legal system in order to preserve the peaceful nature of nuclear programs,"" he added.

Ferguson explained that under such a trust-building agreement, the West would agree to buy Iranian enriched uranium and spent fuel containing plutonium for a competitive price.

This, he said, would create a win-win situation where Iran would profit from its peaceful nuclear program and the West would be sure that Iran has not stockpiled enriched uranium and plutonium.

Iranian officials have been discussing a win-win solution to the nuclear dispute with the West for a long time. They have even drawn up a package of proposals with the aim of paving the way for win-win negotiations with the six world powers.

However, Tehran's package remains unanswered as the U.S. and its allies continue to accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon. Israel and its arch-ally, the U.S., have even threatened Iran with a strike against its nuclear facilities.

Iran says it sees no reason why it should give up its right as an NPT signatory to enrich uranium for civilian use, especially as it faces a nationwide power shortage problem.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has carried out countless routine and snap inspections of Iran's nuclear sites, has confirmed that the country's enrichment activities do no exceed a level of 3.7 percent -- suitable only for the generation of electricity. Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent. LINK HERE to Iranian Sources.

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Israel Asks US For Bombs

Also Wants Air Corridor To Iran

Editor's Note: Something smells here. This appears to be a deliberately leaked story for some hidden agenda. I'll have analysis and insight on this and other related stories in this next edition of The A-O Intelligence Report at The A-O Insider Report.

Israel has asked the United States for a new military weapons package that includes special "Bunker-Buster" bombs for use in airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. Israeli authorities have also asked for the US to open up an air corridor to Iranian air space.

The Israeli request for new military aid have been turned down out of fear that the Israelis would use the weapons to strike Iran, especially when the package included a request to use an air corridor to Iran. More on this story, LINK HERE.

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Olmert To Resign Later This Week

LINK

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US Warned On Pakistan Raids

The National Intelligence Council (NIC), the US intelligence community's focal point for estimating future developments, warned the George W Bush administration last month that a decision to launch commando raids by US troops against al-Qaeda-related targets in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province region would carry a high risk of further destabilizing the Pakistani military and government, according to sources familiar with the intelligence community's response to the issue.

That blunt warning was conveyed to the White House in an oral briefing by a top official of the NIC two or three weeks ago, according to Philip Giraldi, former operations officer and counter-terrorist specialist in the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Operations - now known as the National Clandestine Service - who maintains contacts with the intelligence community.

Another source, who has been briefed by NIC officials on the issue, confirms the NIC message, which represents a consensus in the intelligence community, was conveyed to the Bush administration in August, just as an intense debate over whether to carry out commando raids against al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan was still underway.

The source, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of his contacts with the NIC, said the White House was warned that if US commando raids continued over a longer period of time, the NIC believes they could threaten the unity of the Pakistani military.

US special operations forces based at Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan carried out a helicopter-borne ground raid by commandos in South Waziristan on September 3 which reportedly killed as many as 20 people, most of whom were apparently civilians. Both the New York Times and Washington Post said top officials indicated this was only the beginning of wider campaign of raids against al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in the frontier area of Pakistan.

The Pakistani government lodged a diplomatic protest over the raid, which was the first known incursion into Pakistan by US forces since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, and the Pakistani parliament condemned it in a resolution.

The intelligence community believes US military incursions into Pakistan will benefit political-military organizations allied with the Taliban seeking to destabilize the national government in Islamabad.

There's much more to this story, LINK HERE.

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The End of Plastic

Credit/Debit Cards Coming

LINK

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French Revolt Against President Sarkozy's

Big Brother Spy Computer

LINK

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Putin: No Basis For Cold War

LINK