Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

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NUCLEAR ALERT!

MER - MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 6 January 2007:    At a critical time such as this we make use of MER's capabilities even though we have had to suspend most activities and end the weekly TV program.    Some will say it is bluff rather than real.  Others will go so far as to justify the radical cabal of largely Jewish Neocons and Christian Evangelicals who along with the hard-line Zionists have been moving toward this possible doomsday scenario for some time.  
     We have warned for years that the Israelis were determined to bring down Iran one way or another after having helped push the Americans into Iraq and attempted to take over Lebanon; and that they have been working  hard on Washington to directly join them in the next steps.  The Americans have already worked hard to weaken Iran, to sanction Iran, and to position vast American forces to threaten Iran into not fully counter-striking Israel lest the entire country of Iran be destroyed.
     A few years ago MER was practically alone in detailing as it happened the "stealth assassination" of Yasser Arafat.   And indeed just in recent weeks it has come out that a major Israeli journalist, Uri Dan, a close confident of Ariel Sharon, verified before his recent death all that MER reported. 
     Now we issue this NUCLEAR ALERT!   The Israelis are playing an exceedingly dangerous game that could engulf the world in nuclear conflict and religious warfare for decades to come.    The world itself is at a tipping point with the future being decided in these critical days of 2007.   
     Read this report appearing tomorrow in the Times of London and stay tuned to MiddleEast.org where we will do what we can in view of the urgency of today's situation to seriously inform with expert hard-headed analysis and the most truthful insights.

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear

The Sunday Times of London - January 07, 2007

Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock. However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:

·  Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

·  A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

·  A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb

Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resort”, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.

The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.

However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20% of the world’s oil.

Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.”

وكالات
ذكرت صحيفة "صنداي تايمز" البريطانية نقلا عن مصادر عسكرية في إسرائيل أن الجيش الإسرائيلي اعد خطة لتدمير منشآت إيرانية لتخصيب اليورانيوم، بشن ضربة جوية تستخدم فيها سلاحا نوويا تكتيكيا، إلا أن الدولة العبرية نفت ذلك.
ونقلت الصحيفة أمس عن العديد من المصادر العسكرية الإسرائيلية قولها أن سربين تابعين لسلاح الجو يتدربان حاليا لتدمير هذه المنشآت بضربة واحدة.
إلا أن مارك ريغيف المتحدث باسم الخارجية الإسرائيلية وصف النبأ بأنه "غير صحيح".
وقال أن "إسرائيل تدعم تماما جهود المجتمع الدولي لإنهاء البرنامج النووي الإيراني. كما أنها تدعم تماما القرار 1737، وعلى المجلس الدولي أن يكون مستعدا لاتخاذ إجراءات أقسى بحق إيران".
وكانت صحيفة "صنداي تايمز" هي التي كشفت عام 1986 عن ترسانة إسرائيل النووية التي تمتنع الدولة العبرية عن تأكيد أو نفي وجودها.
وأوضحت الصحيفة أن الخطة الإسرائيلية تقضي باستخدام صواريخ تقليدية موجهة بالليزر لفتح "أنفاق" قبل استخدام قنابل ذرية تكتيكية تتمتع بقوة تعادل واحد على 15 من قوة القنبلة التي ألقيت على هيروشيما.
ونقلت الصحيفة عن احد هذه المصادر العسكرية التي طلبت عدم كشف هويتها "ما أن يعطى الضوء الأخضر، سيتم تنفيذ مهمة واحدة، وضربة واحدة لتدمير المشروع النووي الإيراني".
ووصف مسؤول إسرائيلي كبير تقرير الصحيفة ب"السخيف".
وذكر المسؤول الذي طلب عدم الكشف عن هويته "هذه معلومات سخيفة تأتي من صحيفة عرفت في السابق بالعناوين المثيرة التي أثبتت عدم صحتها في النهاية".
وأضاف أن "التفكير في أننا ستشن هجوما على إيران بقنبلة ذرية ونقوم بكشف الهجوم مسبقا للصحيفة، أمر يثير الضحك".
من جانبها حذرت إيران من العواقب الوخيمة التي ستترتب عليها مثل هذه الضربة.
وقال محمد علي حسيني المتحدث باسم الخارجية الإيرانية للصحافيين أن "أي عمل ضد الجمهورية الإسلامية لن يمر بلا رد وسيندم المعتدي على أي عمل مثل هذا بسرعة كبيرة".
ووصف تقرير الصحيفة بأنه "دليل على ضعف العدو ولن يكون له أي تأثير على عزم الجمهورية الإسلامية على مواصلة نشاطاتها النووية".
وتتهم إسرائيل والولايات المتحدة، العدوان اللدودان للجمهورية الإسلامية، إيران بالسعي لامتلاك أسلحة نووية وهو ما تنفيه طهران بقوة وترفض الخضوع لمطالب الأمم المتحدة لوقف عمليات تخصيب اليورانيوم.
ورغم أن مجلس الأمن الدولي وافق على فرض عقوبات على إيران في كانون الأول، إلا أن إسرائيل تسعى إلى اتخاذ خطوات أقسى ضد الجمهورية الإسلامية.
وذكرت الصحيفة أن الخطة الإسرائيلية تستهدف ثلاثة مواقع جنوب طهران هي منشأة تخصيب اليورانيوم في نطنز ومنشأة تحويل اليورانيوم قرب أصفهان ومفاعل أراك الذي يعمل بالمياه الثقيلة.
وكشفت "صنداي تايمز" أن هيئة الأركان الإسرائيلية تخشى أن لا تكون القنابل التقليدية فعالة ضد هذه المنشآت المحصنة، لذلك اختارت استخدام السلاح النووي التكتيكي الذي يسبب انفجارا تحت الأرض، لتجنب الآثار الإشعاعية للتفجير.
والتقى المسؤولون الأميركيون والإسرائيليون عدة مرات للتفكير في شن عمل عسكري، حسب الصحيفة.
وأضافت أن محللين عسكريين رأوا أن الكشف عن تلك الخطط يهدف للضغط على إيران لوقف أنشطتها الحساسة لتخصيب اليورانيوم. وربما يهدف كذلك إلى إقناع الولايات المتحدة بالتحرك و"إعداد" الرأي العام العالمي قبل أن تشن إسرائيل ضربتها ضد الجمهورية الإسلامية.
وقالت المصادر نفسها أن الطيارين الإسرائيليين قاموا في الأسابيع الأخيرة برحلات جوية وصلوا خلالها إلى جبل طارق في إطار تدريبات على الرحلات الطويلة التي تتجاوز مسافتها 3200 كيلومتر ذهابا وإيابا، من اجل بلوغ المواقع الإيرانية.
وتابعت الصحيفة أن ثلاثة خطوط محتملة رسمت لتنفيذ الضربة من بينها خط يمر فوق تركيا.

 Botswana: The Great Betrayal in Iraq

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)

OPINION
January 7, 2007
Posted to the web January 8, 2007

Tanonoka Joseph Whande

I can only imagine what happens to a child when he or she discovers that their parents or role models are a sham. And what about those who spend a lifetime believing in something not only to have their acquired convictions shuttered but so shuttered in the irrevocable international fora?

My respect for America is immense because for almost 12 years Boston and the Berkshires of western Massachusetts were my home. America shielded me as a political refugee student when Ian Smith was violently resisting the advent of Zimbabwe

What I was taught about America is at loggerheads with what America does.

As Saddam Hussein was being led to the gallows, George W. Bush was supposedly asleep after earlier having been evacuated from his ranch in Texas in fear of an advancing tornado (no pun intended). However, Bush issued a statement to the effect that Saddam Hussein's hanging was "an important milestone". Couldn't he just have kept quiet?

"Even though Saddam Hussein was a dictator," wrote Zimbabwean Tawanda Shoniwa on the BBC's 'Have Your Say', "he did not deserve to be killed in the manner he was."

Bush was naive enough to underestimate something called 'public opinion', a dynamic conglomerate of individual opinions of millions of like-minded people.

When Saddam was toppled, the reaction in Iraq was one of jubilation. There were few sympathizers. Then Bush orchestrated a legal fiasco in a pitiful attempt to show the world that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, there was justice and democracy in Iraq because of America's intervention.

To the American president, it was 'a stroke of genius' to go it alone. He invaded Iraq, captured its leader then paraded Saddam in front of live international television cameras, humiliating him in an Iraq court. Months after months, the world was subjected to the spectacle of Saddam's trial. For months on end, the world saw and heard Saddam defiantly answer back. Saddam became a frequent visitor in our living rooms. He was sentenced to death in November 2006. The BBC conceded that the tide had slowly started turning in his favour. Like mass hypnosis, the Stockholm Syndrome was settling in. November became the bloodiest in Iraq since his capture.

The Stockholm Syndrome is "a psychological response...in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger in which the hostage has been placed." The Oxford dictionary describes it as "feelings of trust and affection felt...by a victim towards a captor." This is why people root for the underdog, whether fond of him or otherwise. This is why people cheer for the 'bad guy' in those awful wrestling matches.

"I lived through the bloody war that Saddam started with Iran," wrote Iranian Alireza Pahlavani. "Still, I am not happy with Saddam's execution."

The Stockholm Syndrome got its name from a 1973 bank robbery in Norrmalmstorg, in Stockholm, Sweden, in which bank employees who had been held hostage for six days became emotionally attached to their captors.

And after only eight weeks of capture, newspaper heiress, Patricia Hearst, helped her captors, the Symbionese Liberation Army, to rob a bank.

However, the most recent example of the syndrome is that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch, who was abducted by Wolfgang Priklopil when she was only 10. After eight years of capture and living in a basement cell, she 'escaped' in August 2006 when she was 18. Upon hearing that her captor had committed suicide by jumping onto the path of an oncoming train on the day of her escape, Kampusch broke down. She tearfully told her rescuers right there that Priklopil was "part of my life".

And so here we are with mixed reactions to Saddam's demise. Why? He was up against the biggest odds and against the greediest and richest country. The mere fact that America captured and then allowed its proxies to put Saddam on trial and then hang him turned this whole political episode into an unpalatable political tragedy. Not that Saddam did not deserve to die for what he did, but because the way in which "justice" was meted out was totally askew.

"I feel saddened by the death of Saddam," said Pakistani Nafeesa Zafar, "not because he deserved to live but because it took place under US occupation of Iraq."

Iraq was an American mistake right from the start, especially if we consider who supported and armed Saddam against Iran in the early 80s. The people who did so are the same ones who just killed him.

Sure, there are people we do not like to have around. Leaders who murder children while they supposedly clean up our cities. Tyrants who rape and kill innocent citizens. Dictators like Mugabe, Museveni and all the filthy dirty autocrats of their ilk deserve maximum punishment for killing defenseless citizens.

But I have never been able to dance and cheer at the killing of a person, regardless of how loathsome they may be. I do not think I ever will. I intensely disliked Laurent Kabila, for both national and personal reasons, but I was dismayed to witness my compatriots celebrating his death in the streets of Harare before riot police intervened to deny them their freedom of expression.

While we pray for natural causes to please come to our rescue in Zimbabwe, I would not cheer to see Mugabe, Museveni or Taylor dangling at the end of a thick rope, deserving it as they may. Good riddance, yes, but I'd not cheer.

U.S. Urges China To Reconsider Oil Deal With Iran

January 10, 2007 -- The United States has urged China to reconsider a $16 billion deal with Iran on the development of oil and gas fields.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said the United States had raised its concerns with the Chinese government over the memorandum of understanding signed last month between Iran and the China National Offshore Oil Corp.

The deal was signed shortly before the UN Security Council, including permanent member China, voted last month to impose limited economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

 Aide: PM asks China's President to keep up pressure on Iran  

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday met with Chinese President Hu in Beijing to argue Iran's nuclear plans could destabilize the Middle East and urge China to continue pressuring Iran.

China closed ranks with Western powers last month in a United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran that could be stepped up if Iran ignores a 60-day deadline to stop enriching uranium, a process that could be used to make nuclear warheads.

The prime minister's aides said that in Olmert's meeting with Hu he hoped to hear a Chinese pledge to keep up pressure on Iran, which insists its atomic ambitions are peaceful but whose virulent rhetoric against Israel has raised war fears abroad.

On Wednesday, China's Prime Minister told Olmert during their meeting in Beijing Wen Jiabao that China is opposed to Iran becoming a military nuclear power, but Tehran has the right to develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

The Chinese premier was quoted as saying that China understands Israel's existential concerns stemming from the Iranian program, and stressed that Beijing is opposed to anti-Semitism in all its forms as well as to calls to disregard the past suffering of the Jewish people.

However, Wen said that there is a "correct" way of dealing with this, and pointed to the UN Security Council and to independent decisions of individual countries to apply pressure on Iran.

At the start of their meeting, the Chinese premier asked Olmert to deliver a positive message to Israel: that Israel was a very close friend of China.

"I look forward to exchanging views with you, Mr. Prime Minister, on how to further promote China-Israel relations and our friendship and cooperation, as well as on the Middle East issue," he said.

Most of the meeting was dedicated to the development of economic ties between the two countries and blocking the Iranian nuclear threat.

Prior to Olmert's visit to Beijing, China invited Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, for talks.

Wen said China told Larijani that it is inconceivable for Iran to ignore the rules and decisions of the international community, and stressed that Beijing would not accept such behavior.

"I heard many surprising and positive things regarding the Iranian issue," Olmert later told the press.

"China made it absolutely clear that it opposed an Iran with a nuclear bomb," he added.

Olmert was received with full military honors at the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese Parliament, facing Tiananmen Square.

The military band played the national anthems. During a dinner in the prime minister's honor, the Chinese orchestra played four Israeli songs, including Jerusalem of Gold.

"Every song had meaning and the Chinese thought and prepared the program," one of Olmert's aides said.

"They always tell us that we should not mention Jerusalem in diplomatic talks, because of the sensitivity of the subject, and here we are listening to Jerusalem of Gold in Beijing. This was very exciting," he added.

China's Minister of Commerce, Bo Xilai, and Prime Minister Wen, expressed great interest in Israeli Research and Development, and in water desalination and purification technology.

Wen recalled a visit he had made to a desalination plant in Ashkelon. Xilai told Olmert that for China, "water is as important as oil."

Olmert and his hosts agreed to raise the value of bilateral trade between the two countries from the current level of approximately $4 billion per year to $10 billion by 2010.

 Bush says mistakes made, will send 21,500 more troops to Iraq

By The Associated Press

President George W. Bush acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he erred by not ordering a military buildup in Iraq last year and said he was increasing United States presence in Iraq by 21,500 troops to quell insurgency.

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me," Bush said.

The buildup puts Bush on a collision course with the new Democratic U.S. Congress and pushes the American troop presence in Iraq toward its highest level. It also runs counter to widespread anti-war passions among Americans and the advice of some top generals.

"If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home," Bush said. But he braced Americans to expect more U.S. casualties for now and did not specify how long the additional troops would stay.

In addition to extra U.S. forces, the plan envisions Iraq's committing 10,000 to 12,000 more troops to secure Baghdad's neighborhoods - and taking the lead in military operations.

Even before Bush's address, the new Democratic leaders of Congress emphasized their opposition to a buildup. "This is the third time we are going down this path. Two times this has not worked," Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House of Representatives, said after meeting with the president. "Why are they doing this now? That question remains."

There was criticism from Republicans, as well. "This is a dangerously wrongheaded strategy that will drive America deeper into an unwinnable swamp at a great cost," said Senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and potential Republican presidential candidate.

Senate and House Democrats are arranging votes urging the president not to send more troops. While lacking the force of law, the measures would compel Republicans to go on record as either opposing the president or supporting an escalation.

Usually reluctant to admit error, Bush said it was also a mistake to have allowed American forces to be restricted by the Iraqi government, which tried to prevent U.S. military operations against fighters controlled by the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful political ally of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The president said al-Maliki had assured him that from now on, "political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated."

The president's address is the centerpiece of an aggressive public relations campaign that also includes detailed briefings for lawmakers and a series of appearances by Bush, starting with a trip Thursday to Fort Benning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East a day after appearing Thursday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at hearings on Iraq convened by the Democrats.

As Bush spoke for 20 minutes from the unusual setting of the White House library, the sounds of protesters amassed outside the compound's gates occasionally filtered through.

Bush's approach amounts to a huge gamble on al-Maliki's willingness - and ability - to deliver on promises he has consistently failed to keep: to disband Shi'ite militias, pursue national reconciliation and make good on commitments for Iraqi forces to handle security operations in Baghdad.

"Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents," Bush said. "And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have."

He said American commanders have reviewed the Iraqi plan "to ensure that it addressed these mistakes."

With Americans overwhelmingly unhappy with his Iraq strategy, Bush said it was a legitimate question to ask why this strategy to secure Baghdad will succeed where other operations failed. "This time we will have the force levels we need to hold the areas that have been cleared," the president said.

While Bush put the onus on the Iraqis to meet their responsibilities and commit more troops, he did not threaten specific consequences if they do not. Iraq has missed previous self-imposed timetables for taking over security responsibilities.

Bush, however, cited the government's latest optimistic estimate. "To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November," the president said.

Still, Bush said that "America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act."

Resisting calls for troop reductions, Bush said that "failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States. ... A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring the."

But Bush warned that the strategy would, in a short term he did not define, bring more violence rather than less.

"Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue, and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties," he said. "The question is whether our new strategy will bring us closer to success. I believe that it will."

Bush's warning was echoed by Senator John McCain, a Republican and a leading proponent of a troop increase. "Is it going to be a strain on the military? Absolutely. Casualties are going to go up," the senator said.

Bush said he considered calls from Democrats and some Republicans to pull back American forces. He concluded it would devastate Iraq and "result in our troops being forced to stay even longer."

But he offered a concession to Congress - the establishment of a bipartisan working group to formalize regular consultations on Iraq. He said he was open to future exchanges and better ideas.

The latest increase calls for sending 17,500 U.S. combat troops to Baghdad. The first of five brigades will arrive by next Monday. The next would arrive by February 15 and the reminder would come in 30-day increments.

Bush also committed 4,000 more Marines to Anbar Province, a base of the Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaida fighters.

 U.S. and Iraqis Hit Insurgents in All-Day Fight

The fighting raged less than 1,000 yards from the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses both the American command and the Iraqi government. It was the latest episode for the troubled neighborhood around Haifa Street, where major campaigns have repeatedly been initiated to rid the area of insurgents, only to have them re-infiltrate.

Iraqi officials said that at least 50 militants were killed Tuesday, but the Americans said they could not provide a count.

Problems in other contested areas across Baghdad came to a crisis point in the fall, causing American commanders to abandon a major push to regain control of the city, and setting off a policy review that led to the changes President Bush will announce in a speech to the nation on Wednesday night.

The president is widely expected to call for 20,000 to 30,000 more soldiers in Iraq, with many coming to Baghdad to help quell the sectarian fighting.

American commanders have said the strategy will emphasize an evenhanded approach in Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, something that they acknowledge has evaded them as they have worked with Iraq’s Shiite-led government in recent months.

The fighting on Haifa Street, a broad two-mile boulevard that cuts through the heart of the capital, began nearly a week ago as an attempt to secure the safety of citizens caught in the middle of the fighting and ended with pitched battles in the street. It is a reminder of how difficult the Baghdad mission will be.

The American crackdown on Tuesday came on the fourth day of intense fighting in the neighborhood of tightly packed, high-rise apartment buildings that was the home of many top-ranking government officials and Baath Party loyalists while Saddam Hussein was in power. American soldiers continued to patrol the area through the night, and an American military spokesman said they would stay there until the situation was firmly under control. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the neighborhood well after sunset.

An American military officer familiar with the operation said that it was part of an effort to stabilize Baghdad, but was not directly linked to the president’s new security plan.

However, the location of the fight has particular significance.

Nearly two years ago, after much bloodshed and toil, the American military wrested control of the area from insurgents.

Haifa Street, the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, used to be called Purple Heart Boulevard by American soldiers. More than 160 soldiers from the First Battalion of the Ninth Cavalry were wounded trying to secure the area. By the spring of 2005, they had largely done so, and it was trumpeted as a signal success.

Tuesday’s operation, directed by elements of the Stryker Brigade of the First Cavalry Division and Iraqi Sixth Army Division, occurred after a series of events that, taken together, demonstrated the complexity of the fight for American forces and the maze of competing interests they are trying to navigate.

It also suggests that even if the Americans try to deal evenhandedly with Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents, which is expected to be a central theme of President Bush’s plan, their efforts could end up inadvertently benefiting one party or the other.

Shiites are clearly ascendant throughout Baghdad, systematically taking over Sunni neighborhoods, often using the intimidation of death squads to achieve their goals. But the area around Haifa Street has remained a Sunni bastion.

For the past two years, it has been relatively quiet, but in recent months, as the sectarian fighting has intensified, Iraqi and American military officials suspected it was being used as a base of operations for insurgents concentrating on the Shiite civilian population and American forces.

The violence in the area started to increase markedly after the recent arrest of a senior member of the leading Shiite militia group, the Mahdi Army, who had been operating near the area, according to an American military official.

The arrest, the official said, created an opening for Sunni insurgents, and they began aggressively singling out Shiites who had relocated south from the neighborhood of Kadhimiya, the official said.

On Saturday, 27 bodies were dumped in the Sheik Marouf neighborhood on Haifa Street. They were Shiites, four with their throats slit and the rest shot in the head, according to an Iraqi government official.

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When the Iraqi police went to investigate and collect the bodies, they were attacked, according to witnesses and government officials. The Iraqi Army was called in and was also attacked, so finally the Americans were called in.

For residents, the situation was already bleak and getting worse, with no electricity for days and armed men taking control of lawless streets.

But the Sunnis in the area were still hostile to the Iraqi security forces, largely viewed as agents of the Shiite-led government.

“People were disgusted and were enraged by the activity of the security forces,” one resident said.

Late Saturday night, Iraqi government officials and witnesses said that Sunni insurgents had set up a fake checkpoint and were pulling Shiites from their cars and executing them, even, some claimed, stringing three bodies from lampposts.

“Some of my friends told me they saw some of the bodies hanging from lampposts,” said Jabbar Obeid, 39, who lives in the area.

American officials said Tuesday that while many people were being executed in the area, they found no evidence of people being hanged on lampposts. Many Sunni residents said the claims were nonsense, and had been aimed at inciting more sectarian violence.

On Sunday, Sunni organizations and politicians began condemning the government’s security clampdown.

“Day after day, the sectarian crimes against the Sunnis in their neighborhoods in Baghdad are continuing,” said Adnan Dulaimi, a member of the largest Sunni bloc in Parliament. The government’s actions over the weekend were a “barbarian attack” aimed at clearing the neighborhood of Sunnis, he said in a statement.

In fighting in the neighborhood on Sunday, eleven Iraqi Army soldiers were killed when they ran out of ammunition, Iraqi officials said.

American military officials said that by then they already had solid evidence to suggest that Sunni insurgent leaders were using the neighborhood as a base of operations. They said that the fighters were organized and sophisticated, and included trained snipers and insurgents from foreign countries.

One Sunni resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, confirmed as much, saying that insurgents had taken over to such a degree that a top-ranking official of Al Qaeda had even seized control of the Rafadin bank, set up an Islamic court and began handing out death sentences.

The American and Iraqi forces completed their assault plans at 4 a.m. Tuesday, and before dawn began approaching Haifa Street from different locations around the city, swiftly closing in on Talaa Square in the center of the neighborhood.

About 6:30 a.m. they had reached the square and began arresting suspects. In all, American and Iraqi officials said, they would take some 15 people into custody, including 7 Syrians. Nearly as soon as they began making arrests, they came under heavy bombardment from small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and indirect fire, probably mortars, according to an American military official. As the fighting intensified, insurgents began moving to the rooftops in order to shoot at the armored American attack vehicles on the roads below.

To deal with the gunmen on the rooftops, rather than fighting for control of entire buildings, the Americans called in Apache helicopters and fighter jets, the official said.

The neighborhood is densely packed, making it difficult to strike targets from the air, and the fighter jets were used to “make a show of force,” according to the military official, in an attempt to frighten the gunmen from the rooftops.

For more than an hour on Tuesday morning, the fighter jets could be seen sharply dropping below the cloud cover, swooping low over the neighborhood’s roofline, engines roaring, and then pulling up steeply and zooming out of sight, high into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Apaches attacked the insurgents’ positions, unleashing a barrage of fire that rocked the neighborhood for hours.

Ali Housin, 56, a resident, said he saw the helicopters direct fire at a cemetery where insurgents were hiding, the resulting explosions blowing out the windows of his home.

Shortly after noon, the aerial assault had largely ended, but scattered clashes continued and could be heard late into the night. Residents reported American armored vehicles patrolling the streets after dark and Iraqi Army soldiers moving to secure control of the rooftops.

The Americans reported no casualties, and early reports indicated that two soldiers in the Iraqi Army had been wounded.

American officials insisted that the information they had on the insurgents in the area was very detailed, and that they had been careful to try to ensure that they were not being used as pawns by the Shiite-dominated government, emphasizing that in recent days they had conducted similarly aggressive raids in Shiite neighborhoods.

"الوطن" حصلت على كامل التفاصيل من شهود عيان وذوي الإرهابيين

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ـ الأجهزة الأمنية اوقفت الصحفيين ومنعتهم من العمل ووقعتهم على تعهدات مالية بعدم تكرار فعلتهم!

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عباس يرفض تورط زكي بعلاقات شخصية مع آل الحريري

شوكت لأبي موسى:"فتح/الإنتفاضة" تشكل ثغرة في جدار سوريا الأمني

ـ حسن نصر الله أكد لأبي موسى تلقي العملة والعبسي اموالا من بهية الحريري واسامة بن لادن

ـ دمشق طلبت التحقيق مع العبسي لتهريبه عناصر في القاعدة عبر اراضيها فأعلن "فتح الإسلام"

6/1/2007

منصور يحاول احتواء الخلاف مع طهران داعيا لحوار متكافئ معها

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واشنطن تبحث تشكيل حكومة تكنوقراط عسكرية في العراق أو حكومة برلمانية برئاسة اياد علاوي

9/1/2007

في حوار تناول جميع قضايا الساعة مع نائب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة "حماس"1/2

أبو مورزوق: هنية أصبح مرشحنا الوحيد لرئاسة الوزراء ونرفض حكومة مستقلين

ـ حوار عمان لن يبدأ من حيث انتهينا وبعث العلاقات مع الأردن أولا ضروري لنجاح وساطته

ـ نتوقع فتح الأبواب العربية أمام العلاقات مع "حماس" بعد فشل المراهنة على انهيار شعبيتها عبر الحصار

ـ ادانتنا للغرائزية في اعدام صدام حسين لا تعني اقرارنا لأفعاله..موقفنا قد لا يعجب ايران والكويت

ـ اميركا فشلت في إعادة رسم الخارطة السياسية للمنطقة وفقا لمصالحها وإخراج حزب الله من المعادلة

ـ ايران تبحث عن مصالحها في العراق..الظروف التاريخية والمذهبية تحكم الكثير من تصرفاتها

ـ حزب الله مع المقاومة في العراق لكن تأثيره هناك أقل مما يعتقده الناس..اجتهادات المراجع غير متطابقة

6/1/2007

في حوار تناول جميع قضايا الساعة مع نائب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة "حماس"2/2

أبو مرزوق: لا مشروع ولا قيادة وطنية واحدة للشعب الفلسطيني

ـ الفلتان الأمني والحصار هدفهما ازاحة "حماس" أو تغيرها لصالح المشروع الذي هزم في الإنتخابات

ـ الأميركان احيانا يشجعون واحيانا يعترضون على الإتصالات الأوروبية مع "حماس".. لم تنقطع في أي يوم

ـ الإتحاد مع الأردن تقرره عمان ومن يكون  في موقع المسؤولية في الدولة الفلسطينية حين قيامها

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ـ هنية لم يطلع الدول العربية على الورقة السويسرية.. لم نرد عليها ومحمود عباس أخذ نسخة منها

6/1/2007

في كلمة القيت باسمها بمهرجان استنكاري لإعدام الرئيس العراقي

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ـ صدام رفض مساومة الأميركان..ابقاء قواعدهم وإنهاء المقاومة مقابل اعادته رئيسا

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