Gaza.....anyone for World War Three?

[kbo234]

If Israeli continue with this vile action against Gazans, as it seems they will.

.......If the USA continues to support Israel in these actions as it appears it will.

.......If the UK and Europe by lame pleadings (whose only purpose is to save face at home) maintain support for Israel by default.....

....then where is all this leading?

Surely arab outrage will reach the point where Iran will begin to take an active part in supporting the Gazans. How many more will die before this point is reached. It is sticks, stones and primitive weaponry against the most modern equipment that the USA can furnish.

However, if Iran are drawn in the numbers of dead will surely escalate massively. If Iran attacks, Israel will respond and no one will back down.


Israel cannot handle Iran unless it resorts to using its nuclear weaponry. Therefore it is likely that either this will happen (which will bring the whole world down on top of Israel) or the USA will step in on Israel's side.

If this happens it will not be long before Russia and China make their own calculations and involve themselves in this little local 'conflict' too.


.......anyone for World War Three??

[fish5133]

[TonyGosling]

I trust everyone's had a listen to Myron Fagan's assessment of 'three world wars' allegedly planned to bring about a new world order?

http://www.threeworldwars.com/
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/30794

Also ex US Marine Corps Staff Sargeant Jimmy Massey DID say last year on Venezuelan TV that World War III began with 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.

Link

[Disco_Destroyer]

With fire between Lebanon we now have:-

Israeli troops 'shot at from Syria'
Al Jazeera | January 11, 2009





Israel annexed the Golan Heights after forcing out Syrian troops in the 1967 Middle East war [EPA]


Israeli troops in the occupied Golan Heights have come under small arms fire from Syria, Israeli military officials have said.

No one was injured in the incident on Sunday, but it was been reported to the United Nations force that monitors the area, an Israeli army spokesman said.

"In the afternoon, there were a number of bullets fired from Syria at an Israeli army force doing engineering work near the fence," he said.

"No one was hurt but a vehicle was damaged.

"Forces in the field are examining the incident and a complaint was sent to UNDOF which sent a team there. The circumstances of the incident are still unclear."

The Israeli military spokesman said that Israeli troops did not return fire.

There was no immediate comment on the incident from Damascus.

On alert

Israeli forces along the country's northern borders have been on alert since the aerial and ground assault on the Gaza Strip, that has killed nearly 900 Palestinians, began 16 days ago.

Three rockets were fired from Syria's neighbour Lebanon on Friday, an attack that Israeli and Lebanese officials blamed on Palestinian refugees.

There have been angry protests in Syria, which is home to a number of exiled Palestinian Hamas leaders, over Israel's actions in the territory.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the area although the move has not been recognised internationally.

Syria began Turkish-mediated indirect peace talks with Israel last year. Damascus said it had broken off the negotiation after Israel began to bombard the Gaza Strip.

[Disco_Destroyer]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestini ans

[Disco_Destroyer]

New US media campaign promotes military strike on Iran
By Patrick Martin
12 January 2009
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/usir-j12.shtml
Front-page reports in two leading US newspapers Sunday signal a ratcheting up of US pressure on Iran and the preparation of American public opinion for a new round of US military aggression.


The New York Times published a lengthy article by its chief diplomatic correspondent, David Sanger, a long-time conduit for the concerns of the Pentagon and State Department, purporting to detail discussions between the Bush administration and Israel over the past year about possible air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.


The Washington Post carried a shorter but equally prominent article, written by correspondent Joby Warrick, recounting efforts by Iran to obtain electrical components from US and European suppliers, allegedly for Improvised Explosive Devices to be used against American forces in Iraq.


The provocative character of the Post article is demonstrated in its sensationalistic first sentence, which reads: “The Iranian businessman was looking for high-quality American electronics, but he had to act stealthily: The special parts he coveted were denied to Iranians, especially those seeking to make roadside bombs to kill US troops in Iraq.”


Other than the florid prose, the Post article adds little to the public record provided by a federal court filing last fall in Miami in which the US Department of Justice charged four companies, based in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, with acting as purchasing agents for the Iranian government. The principal company involved, Mayrow General Trading, was shut down by Dubai authorities in 2006.


As for the Times article, it provides new details about US-Israeli relations, as well as about US covert operations against Iran, which reportedly involve efforts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear enrichment program by supplying faulty equipment through third parties and also through the practice of cyber-warfare against Iranian computer systems.


But the article has the character less of an exposé than a semi-official declaration of the US government, sanctioned by both the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration, represented in both cases by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the first Pentagon chief to be carried over from one administration to its successor.


Times correspondent Sanger not only bases his account on interviews with US and Israeli military and intelligence officials, he acknowledges submitting to what amounts to government censorship, declaring, “Several details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the request of senior United States intelligence and administration officials, to avoid harming continuing operations.” This admission suggests that the article was pre-approved and “planted” by the US government.


The article portrays the Bush administration and Gates, in particular, as opposed to Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, partly because they could not accomplish the goal of destroying the Iranian program and partly because of the likely backlash throughout the Middle East, especially in Iraq, where 140,000 US troops would be prime targets for any Iranian retaliation.


The article states that the Israelis approached the Bush administration early last year with three requests to facilitate air strikes on Iran: a supply of deep-penetrating bombs, equipment for refueling bombers in the air, and permission to use US-controlled Iraqi airspace.


According to Sanger, while stalling on the bombs and equipment, the White House flatly refused over flight permission, fearing the consequences for the US position in Iraq. He writes: “At the White House and the Pentagon, there was widespread concern that a political uproar in Iraq about the use of its American-controlled airspace could result in the expulsion of American forces from the country.”


The ongoing discussions between Washington and Jerusalem on whether and how to attack Iran have been the subject of multiple articles over the past five years by Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker magazine, based on leaks from Pentagon and CIA sources. Sanger adds little that is new in this area.


The Israeli technical preparations for air strikes on Iran have been quite open, including well-publicized military exercises last summer over the Mediterranean, in which Israeli warplanes simulated a bombing mission of the same length as a direct flight to Natanz, Iran’s main nuclear research and uranium enrichment facility.


Israel has completed purchase of 90 F-16I fighter-bombers from the US, which can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, (flying east from Israel through Jordan and Iraq), as well as two new Dolphin submarines from Germany that could fire nuclear-armed warheads against Iran, in addition to three similar vessels already in service.


Iran has sought to parry these moves by upgrading its air defense capabilities, buying 29 new Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia in 2007, and seeking delivery of an even more advanced Russian surface-to-air missile, the S-300. Israeli and US officials have sought to pressure Moscow not to deliver that weapons system.


There is a sinister side to Sanger’s discussion of US covert operations against Iran. Towards the end of his article, he singles out a top Iranian nuclear scientist, noting that one goal of the US activities was to “keep the pressure on a little-known Iranian professor named Mohsen Fakrizadeh, a scientist described in classified portions of American intelligence reports as deeply involved in an effort to design a nuclear warhead for Iran.”


What kind of “pressure” is Sanger talking about in this chilling passage? The naming of this scientist is tantamount to a threat by the US (and Israeli) intelligence services that Fakrizadeh could be targeted for assassination.


On a broader political level, what does the US military-intelligence establishment hope to accomplish by injecting the question of military action against Iran into public debate only nine days before Barack Obama takes the oath of office?


One passage in the article suggests that it represents an effort both to pressure the Obama administration to take action on Iran, and to begin the process of preparing American public opinion for such action. Sanger writes:


“Since his election on Nov. 4, Mr. Obama has been extensively briefed on the American actions in Iran, though his transition aides have refused to comment on the issue. Early in his presidency, Mr. Obama must decide whether the covert actions begun by Mr. Bush are worth the risks of disrupting what he has pledged will be a more active diplomatic effort to engage with Iran. Either course could carry risks for Mr. Obama. An inherited intelligence or military mission that went wrong could backfire, as happened to President Kennedy with the Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba. But a decision to pull back on operations aimed at Iran could leave Mr. Obama vulnerable to charges that he is allowing Iran to speed ahead toward a nuclear capacity, one that could change the contours of power in the Middle East.”


This suggests that Obama is being put on notice: Back down from ongoing plans for sabotage or military action against Tehran, and he could face a “Who lost Iran?” campaign in the media. Not that Obama needs much encouragement.


Only two months ago, on the eve of the election, the Times editorial page noted that “inside Washington’s policy circles these days-in studies, commentaries, meetings, Congressional hearings and conferences-reasonable people from both parties are seriously examining the so-called military option …”


One report cited then by the Times was produced by the Bipartisan Policy Center, co-founded by former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle, now an Obama cabinet nominee. That report, which declared that “a military strike is a feasible option and must remain a last resort,” was co-authored by Dennis Ross, Obama’s top Middle East adviser, recently named a top aide to Hillary Clinton in the Obama State Department.

[Disco_Destroyer]

Israeli army masses along Lebanon border 14 Jan 2009 Israel deploys military units along the border with Lebanon amid growing concerns that the assault on Gaza was the onset of a multi-front war. Nineteen days after the start of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese daily Al Safir reported Wednesday that southern Lebanon had witnessed the build-up of Israeli armored vehicles - tanks, military vessels and Apache helicopters - along the border.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82287&sectionid=351020202

Big US arms shipment to Israel - for Iran attack?
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/unusually-large-us-weap ons-shipment-to-israel-are-the-us-and-israel-planning-a-broader-middle -east-war-by-michel-chossudovsky/

[Disco_Destroyer]

So does this mean wait til Obama is in so that no one can play the Race Card??

[fish5133]

[Disco_Destroyer]

[conspiracy analyst]

If the zionazis continue their war in Gaza they have to occupy it and kill many more people than they have so far.
1.5 million with nowhere to go will fight with all their means at their disposal.
The same happened in Lebanon many years ago.

Militarily the goals of the israelis are similar to Hitlers. Each Palestinian has to have a gun pointed at his head to conform. But their aren't enough Israelis to do this.

Generalising the war will bring about Israels defeat much quicker.
Using nuclear weapons cannot be a realistic option without Chinese and Russian involvement.

Obama has placed an ex-Israeli in government. Is this to sellout Israel or to generalise the war?

Time will tell. Soon we will know.

[Linda]

If any one thinks Obama is going to save the middle east from all out war with Israel, Gaza, Iran, think again.

Obama has appointed Hilary Clinton as State secretary. She is all for WAR with Iran and will do everything to make sure it happens.

Obama is on the side of Israel as he is told what to do. He will be the biggest disappointment to the American People and the world.

I doubt he will do a second term in office.

[Disco_Destroyer]

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/israel-launches-campaig n-against-elbaradei/
Israel launches campaign against ElBaradei
Posted on February 27, 2009 by dandelionsalad
Propaganda Alert

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
27 February, 2009

1) Olmert warns Iran over nuclear plant
2) Barak: Time needed to deal with Iran slipping through our fingers
3) Livni: The weapon smuggling organized by Iran is one of the central problems
4) Israel launches campaign against UN nuke watchdog chief
5) Israeli Atomic Energy Commission: IAEA is ineffective
6) Israeli response to Amnesty International report
7) Jerusalem Post: The Iran-Israel nuclear endgame is now much closer

_________________

“We are a strong country, a very strong country, and we have at our disposal (military) capacities the intensity of which are difficult to imagine. We have deployed enormous efforts to reinforce our deterrence capacity. Israel will be able to defend itself in all situations, against all threats, against all enemies. I cannot say more but believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”

[Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, public radio, 26 February 2009] [1]

“Time is slipping through our fingers, and what is needed is a two-pronged course of action which includes ironclad, strenuous sanctions against the Iranian regime and a readiness to consider options in the event that these sanctions do not succeed.”

[Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, 25 February 2009] [2]

“The weapon smuggling organized by Iran is one of the central problems in the region. If the weapon smuggling to Gaza continues - Israel will have no other option than to initiate another defensive operation. That is why the international community must exhaust all the legal and operative means at its disposal to put an end to the arms smuggling”

[Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, meeting with the Cypriot Foreign Minister Kypriano, 25 February 2009] [3]

__________________

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1067072.html

excerpts from: Israel launches campaign against UN nuke watchdog chief

by Yossi Melman, Haaretz, 26 February 2009

Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) recently intensified its attacks on the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei. [...] The AEC now hurries to respond to ElBaradei’s interviews, in which he often speaks of Israeli in critical tones. The latest expression of this new policy is a letter to be published this week in the latest issue of the American weekly magazine, Newsweek, written by the AEC spokeswoman Nili Lifshitz.

_________________

http://www.newsweek.com/id/184754/output/print

Israel on the IAEA’s Ineffectiveness

Newsweek, 23 February 2009

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei (”On Nukes, Tread Softly,” Feb. 9), has failed to persuade Syria to allow a visit by the IAEA’s inspectors to three sites suspected to be part of Syria’s covert nuclear program. He has also failed in his feeble demand for a proper investigation of Syria’s bulldozing the wreckage and the cleanup operation at the Dair Alzour site, where Syria is suspected of constructing a North Korean nuclear reactor in clear violation of its Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement with the agency. Instead, ElBaradei lashes out at the state of Israel. Unfortunately, this has become a common practice by the director of the IAEA in his efforts to divert attention from his failure to conduct a vigorous and conclusive investigation amid mounting evidence of gross violations of international obligations under the NPT by some of its Middle Eastern members.

Nili Lifshitz, Spokeswoman
Israeli Atomic Energy Commission
Tel Aviv, Israel
______________________

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2009/Spokes man+statements/Israel_response_Amnesty_International_report_23-Feb-200 9.htm

excerpt from: Israeli response to Amnesty International report

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, 23 February 2009

(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson)

In response to questions by the media, following is the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs response to Amnesty International’s report on use of weapons in Operation Cast Lead:

Initial study of the report indicates that it presents a biased version of the events, and does not adhere to professional criteria and objectivity.

__________________

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410719930&pagename=JPos t%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

excerpt from: The Iran-Israel nuclear endgame is now much closer

by Edwin Black, Jerusalem Post, 26 February 2009

In recent days, four key developments have clicked in to edge Iran and Israel much closer to a military denouement with profound consequences for American oil that the nation is not prepared to meet.

__________________

Notes:

[1] AFP: Olmert warns Iran over nuclear plant
AFP, 26 February 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCpL1iCM2OCmOC-4dvs x5nrBog2A

[2] Barak: Time needed to deal with Iran slipping through our fingers
by Ofri Ilani, Haaretz, 25 February 2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo =1066855

[3] FM Livni meets with Cypriot FM Kypriano
Israeli Foreign Ministry website, 25 February 2009

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2009/Press+ releases/FM-Livni-meets-with-Cypriot-FM-Kypriano-25-Feb-2009.htm

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see
Empire: Israel and the US
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/empire-israel-and-the-u s/
Iran on Dandelion Salad
http://wordpress.com/tag/iran-on-dandelion-salad/
Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation
http://wordpress.com/tag/israel-palestine-gaza-occupation/
Iran Israel US Nukes
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/iran-israel-us-nukes/

[Thermate911]

Not wishing to deflect from the import of this excellent post but...

... Nili_Lifshitz? You couldn't make it up could you? Reminds me of Megawati Sukarnoputri and her anti-environmental energy policies ;-)

http://www.daylife.com/words/Nili_Lifshitz/quotes/all/1

Nietzsche? Life? 'The State we're in'? Hmm...

[kbo234]

If this were true (see article below) it would surely be a most significant development. What do y'all think?

Support of Israel Not a U.S. Interest

by David Lev – IsraelNN.com February 22, 2009

A flurry of reports over the weekend said that the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, considered a sharp critic of Israel, is to be named to a top intelligence post in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Chas W. Freeman Jr., who was U.S. ambassador in Riyadh from 1989-1992, is set to be named chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which has a strong influence on the content of the intelligence briefings presented to the President (and puts together the National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, which in 2007 dissuaded the Bush regime from attacking Iran). The Council chairman is also often called on to give direct briefings to the President.

Typical of Freeman's viewpoints is a statement he made in a speech before the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs in 2007, in which he more or less blames international terrorist acts on Israel:

"American identification with Israeli policy has also become total. Those in the region and beyond it who detest Israeli behavior, which is to say almost everyone, now naturally extend their loathing to Americans. This has had the effect of universalizing anti-Americanism, legitimizing radical Islamism, and gaining Iran a foothold among Sunni as well as Shiite Arabs. For its part, Israel no longer even pretends to seek peace with the Palestinians; it strives instead to pacify them. Palestinian retaliation against this policy is as likely to be directed against Israel's American backers as against Israel itself. Under the circumstances, such retaliation – whatever form it takes – will have the support or at least the sympathy of most people in the region and many outside it. This makes the long-term escalation of terrorism against the United States a certainty, not a matter of conjecture."

Freeman also is a strong advocate of talking to Hamas, which he says "is the only democratically-elected government in the Arab world." In his speech, Freeman said that "Hamas is showing that if we offer it nothing but unreasoning hostility and condemnation, it will only stiffen its position and seek allies among our enemies. In both cases, we forfeit our influence for no gain."

Freeman says that Israel must be pressured to accept the American point of view, which does not coincide with its own. "We must talk with all parties, whatever we think of them or their means of struggle. Refusal to reason with those whose actions threaten injury to oneself, one's friends, and one's interests is foolish, feckless, and self-defeating. That is why it is past time for an active and honest discussion with both Israel and the government Palestinians have elected, which – in an irony that escapes few abroad – is the only democratically-elected government in the Arab world."

In another speech Freeman said:

"We destroyed the Iraqi state and catalyzed anarchy, sectarian violence, terrorism, and civil war in that country... Meanwhile, we embraced Israel's enemies as our own; they responded by equating Americans with Israelis as their enemies. We abandoned the role of Middle East peacemaker to back Israel's efforts to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations. We wring our hands while sitting on them as the Jewish state continues to seize ever more Arab land for its colonists. This has convinced most Palestinians that Israel cannot be appeased and is persuading increasing numbers of them that a two-state solution is infeasible. It threatens Israelis with an unwelcome choice between a democratic society and a Jewish identity for their state. Now the United States has brought the Palestinian experience – of humiliation, dislocation, and death – to millions more in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel and the United States each have our reasons for what we are doing, but no amount of public diplomacy can persuade the victims of our policies that their suffering is justified, or spin away their anger, or assuage their desire for reprisal and revenge."
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130066

Note – February 26, 2009

Freeman’s selection has subsequently been confirmed and the Zionist Organization of America is already urging President Obama to rescind his appoinment as head the National Intelligence Council. Whether Obama complies remains to be seen but Freeman could prove a thorny problem for the Zionists.

[Disco_Destroyer]

Iran warns Obama's government: "Quit talking like Bush" 27 Feb 2009 Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee didn’t attend the latest U.N. Security Council meeting on Iraq. But the moment the 3-hour session was over the Iranian delegation was circulating a strongly worded letter from Khazaee that had a very clear message for the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama: Stop talking like Bush.
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/?p=2689

US repeating old Iran lies at UN 26 Feb 2009 Iran's UN envoy has criticized the new US ambassador, who accused Tehran of supporting terrorism and attempting to develop nuclear weapons. In a speech to the UN Security Council during a session on Iraq, Susan Rice said once the US withdraws its troops from Iraq, it would 'seek an end to Iran's ambitions to acquire an illicit nuclear capacity, and its support for terrorism'.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=86904&sectionid=351020101
http://www.legitgov.org/

[Disco_Destroyer]

'Israel seriously considering military action against Iran' 05 Mar 2009 Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a report by top US political figures and experts released Wednesday. The report also says Israel's time frame for action is growing shorter, not only because of Iranian advances, but because Teheran might soon acquire upgraded air defenses and disperse its nuclear program to additional locations.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236103158937&pagename=JPos t%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Tehran missiles 'can hit Israel' 05 Mar 2009 Iranian missiles can now reach Israeli nuclear sites, a top Iranian military commander said yesterday. "Today, Iran has missiles with the range of 2,000km, and based on that all Israeli land including that regime's nuclear facilities are in the range of our missile capabilities," Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said in comments carried by the ISNA news agency.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=244895&Sn=WORL&IssueI D=31350

US sanctions 11 firms tied to Iran bank 04 Mar 2009 The Obama administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 11 companies tied to an Iranian bank that the United States and others say is helping to fund Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The penalties announced by the Treasury bar any transactions between the firms, which are either owned by or linked to Iran's Bank Melli or its subsidiaries, and US citizens and freeze any assets the firms may have in US jurisdictions.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236103146931&pagename=JPos t%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

war war and more war:

Pakistan poses global security worry, says top US official 04 Mar 2009 The top US diplomat in Kabul warned yesterday that Pakistan posed a bigger security challenge to America and the world than Afghanistan, as Islamabad grappled with the latest terrorist attack on its soil and the escalating Taliban 'insurgency' on its north-western border. Christopher Dell, who currently runs the US embassy in Kabul, was speaking in the aftermath of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore and the news that Pakistani Taliban groups had formed a common front to attack Nato troops in Afghanistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/pakistan-global-security-t hreat

Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision 03 Mar 2009 A collision between U.S. and Russian satellites in early February may have been a test of new U.S. technology to intercept and destroy satellites rather than an accident, a Russian military expert has said... Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Leonid Shershnev, a former head of Russia's military space intelligence, said in an interview published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper on Tuesday that the U.S. satellite involved in the collision was used by the U.S. military as part of the "dual-purpose" Orbital Express research project, which began in 2007. Orbital Express was a space mission managed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a team led by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090303/120392490.html

Pakistani police 'were warned' of terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers 04 Mar 2009 Pakistani police have been accused of having strong intelligence well in advance of yesterday's terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team but failing to deploy forces along the team's route. Opposition politicians and Pakistani media made the claims as the Sri Lankan team arrived home for treatment in Colombo and to reunite with relieved relatives.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25137439-25837,00.h tml

Pakistan declares: 'We are at war' --Pakistan in shock [?] after masked gunmen ambush Sri Lankan cricket team, leaving seven people dead and six players injured 04 Mar 2009 Pakistan declared that it was in a "state of war" after masked gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan cricket team as they were on their way to play a Test match, injuring six players and their English assistant coach as well as killing seven Pakistanis. The spectacular military-style raid in Lahore bore marked similarities to the assault in Mumbai last year, which left 172 people dead.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistan-declares-we-are- at-war-1636827.html

'Suspected' U.S. Airstrike Kills 7 in Pakistan 02 Mar 2009 Suspected U.S. missiles killed seven people in a Taliban stronghold in Pakistan on Sunday, officials said. The missile strike underscored the Obama administration's unwillingness to abandon a Bush-era tactic, despite persistent Pakistani protests. The missiles landed in Murghiban village in the South Waziristan tribal region and wounded three people, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/01/AR2009 030101890.html

and for some good news

Iran "not close" to nuclear weapon: Gates 01 Mar 2009 Iran is not close to having a nuclear weapon, which gives the United States and others time to try to persuade Tehran to abandon its suspected atomic arms program, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday. "They're not close to a stockpile, they're not close to a weapon at this point, and so there is some time," Gates said on NBC television's "Meet The Press."
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5201Y920090301

Russia hails new US tone on missiles 04 Mar 2009 Russia and the US yesterday dismissed suggestions of a "quid pro quo" deal on Washington's missile defence plans for central Europe. But, speaking after it was revealed that Barack Obama had sent Dmitry Medvedev a letter discussing the topic, the countries' presidents stressed improved prospects for co-operation.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/30e333f0-085d-11de-8a33-0000779fd2ac.html

Thanks
http://www.legitgov.org/