Taliban attack on Camp Bastion cannot be viewed as anything other than a huge blow to NATO - six U fighter jets were destroyed with two other jets significantly damaged. In addition , three Coalition refuleling stations were destroyed and six aircraft hangers damaged... Between the attack Saturday and today's insider attack , another six NATO soldiers have been killed.... Additional news items of note pertaining to Libya , Pakistan , Egypt , Syria and Iraq....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/afghanistan-nato-airstrike-women-killed

airstrikes where women and girls collecting firewood are killed just generate more Taliban supporters...

Nato airstrike 'kills eight women and girls' in Afghanistan

Seven victims in hospital as villagers take bodies to provincial governor's office after women gathering firewood are hit

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• Associated Press in Kabul
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 16 September 2012 09.23 EDT

Bodies of women Afghan officials say were killed in the airstrike are brought to a hospital in the Alingar district of Laghman province. Photograph: Khalid Khan/AP

Eight women and girls gathering firewood were killed by a Nato airstrike in Afghanistan early on Sunday, according to Afghan officials.

The coalition says it believes only insurgents were hit. But villagers from Alingar district in the remote Laghman province, east of Kabul, brought the bodies to the governor's office in the provincial capital, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government. "They were shouting 'death to America' They were condemning the attack," Zewak said.

Seven females were taken to area hospitals, some as young as 10, said provincial health director Latif Qayumi.

Nato forces at first said that about 45 insurgents and no civilians were killed in the attack. But spokesman Jamie Graybeal said later that they took the allegations of civilian deaths seriously and were investigating them, though initial reports showed only insurgents were killed.

Air strikes have been a sensitive issue between the Afghan people – who say civilians often end up killed along with or instead of insurgents – and Nato forces who maintain that they are a key tactic against insurgent leaders.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9545508/Ive-been-inside-Camp-Bastion-and-it-seemed-like-the-safest-place-on-earth.html

( It would appear the attackers had support from Afghan personnel - how else might they have obtained US uniforms , known where to go on the base , gotten as far as they did , especially just 19 insurgents ? )

I've been inside Camp Bastion - and it seemed like the safest place on earth

It was supposed to be impregnable – the safest military base in the world. A veritable fortress positioned in the middle of the arid, treeless, empty Helmand desert, isolated but not vulnerable.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

9:30PM BST 15 Sep 2012

It was often said of Camp Bastion that the only correct decision that Britain ever made during its torrid history in Afghanistan was to build the base in the middle of nowhere, with isolation as its primary strength.

Anyone approaching from any direction should be easily spotted, tracked, identified - and, if they pose a threat, destroyed. That was the theory.

But the events of last Friday, when a force of Taliban gunmen managed to move up to and breach the Bastion’s security at around 10.15pm (local time), supposedly without being seen or heard, have sent a shock wave through Nato’s high command.

Initial reports state that the Taliban had been monitoring the eastern side of Camp Bastion for at least two weeks and had been posing as farmers working in a nearby maize plantation.

The attack only ever had one aim. It was a suicide mission designed to demonstrate that the Taliban can attack any Nato installation, no matter how secure.

A five-foot-high hole has reportedly been found in the outer fence which sits adjacent to the main runway. It is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber detonating an explosive vest. One the fence had been breached, around 19 insurgents, many also wearing suicide vests, streamed forward firing rocket propelled grenades and mortars. Two US Marines were killed in the ensuing battle and five aircraft, including US Marine Corps Harrier jump jets and helicopters, were destroyed. A fuel storage tank and a helicopter maintenance tent were also hit and caught fire.

Camp Bastion became operational in April 2006, when the British Army moved into the Helmand badlands on a mission to bring security, assist local construction projects and help the Afghan government extend the rule of law.

In the intervening years, the base has grown in size, to cover around 20 square miles and now includes Bastion 1 and Bastion 2, Camp Leatherneck, home to thousands of US Marines and Camp Shorabak, the main Afghan National Army base in the province.

In 2006, Bastion’s runway consisted of a 100-yard dirt strip, designed to handle three aircraft movements a week. Today it is one of the busiest UK-operated airports and currently handles 600 aircraft a day (18,000 a month), more traffic than Luton, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Leeds-Bradford or Coventry airports.

As the years passed the Bastion, unimpeded by the distant possibility of a Taliban attack, grew in size to the garrison it is today. The camp boasts its own bottling plant capable of producing 15,000 gallons of drinking water a day. It has a field hospital, equipped with two portable x-ray machines, an operating theatre, radiographic equipment, CAT scanner and an intensive care unit capable of treating up to 20 seriously ill patients.

Soldiers routinely jog round the perimeter or work out in one of the many gyms. They can relax in air-conditioned comfort in one of the Naafi bars and can Skype family and friends through the camps various internet sites.

Camp Bastion’s sheer size is breathtaking and its bright runway lights can be seen illuminating the inky black Helmand sky for many miles away.

I have visited Camp Bastion on more than a dozen occasions and have watched the base morph from a small tented village into the international, technologically-sophisticated town it is today. Despite being in the centre of the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, I always felt completely safe, certainly from Taliban attack, and honestly believed there was more chance of being run over by a military vehicle than being killed by insurgents.

In fact the only person that I have known ever to have been injured on the base was a fellow journalist who slipped into an irrigation ditch one dark evening while attempting to walk to the canteen without the aid of a torch.

My faith was based not on blissful ignorance but on Camp Bastion’s impressive security. The entire location is ringed by multiple 30ft high steel fences topped by triple concertina barbed wire, with an inner 30ft high blast wall which encompasses most of the inner camp.

Ground sensors, infrared and thermal imaging cameras, motion detectors and a specially designed radar can supposedly detect human or aircraft movements from 20 miles away.

Watch towers equipped with search lights and manned by heavily armed soldiers are sited every hundred yards or so along the perimeter, which is also patrolled by a specially trained force equipped with guard dogs.

Collectively this dazzling array of surveillance equipment is known as ISTAR – Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. In terms of security it should have been fool proof.

In fact, Bastion’s supposedly unimpeachable security is said to be one of the reason’s why Prince Harry was allowed to serve in Afghanistan but never in Iraq, where virtually every British base, including the main Garrison at Basra airport, was subject to almost incessant rocket attack.

So, given the security, watchtowers, motion sensors and thermal imagery, how did the Taliban manage to pull their most audacious publicity raid to date.

One theory being considered is that the Taliban commander who masterminded the operation was acting on inside information and was given the precise location of a blind spot in the base’s security.

As well as the thousands of troops who live and work on the base, Bastion day-to-day running is supported by “locally employed contractors” known as LECs. Some may have worked on the base for several years and could have easily passed details of the base’s security on to the Taliban. It is also quite possible that a member of the Afghan National Army or the Police might have passed on information identifying potentially-vulnerable points within the camp’s perimeter.

Once the point of attack had been located, the Taliban, according to the Afghan National Directorate of Security, monitored all the movements with the base for at least two weeks before launching the attack.

The Taliban have demonstrated on countless occasions that they can breach supposedly high levels of security. In 2011, the Taliban dugs tunnels into Kandahar Prison in an audacious plan which allowed over 470 insurgents to escape. They have attacked key and supposedly secure areas in Kabul and assassinated political leaders, generals and police chiefs, whose personal security should have been high.

The worry for those responsible for Camp Bastion’s security is what will the Taliban do next. If the insurgents can breach security, could they get close enough to the airfield to shoot down a transport plane loaded with troops? Despite the Taliban death toll, the Bastion attack will be regarded as a success and like the IRA, another insurgent group adept at exploiting security lapses, the Taliban only repeat successes, never failures.

In 2007, I flew out of Camp Bastion in a Chinook helicopter, laden with so many troops it was standing room only. We landed in a cloud of dust in Patrol Base Inkerrman, then the most attacked British camp in Helmand. After we touched down the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Anglians, told me that he believed that Nato was always “one day away” from disaster in Afghanistan.

That observation is as true today as it was then. Last Friday’s attack could have been a disaster for Nato, Instead it was a wake-up call.

and....

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Taliban+claim+their+lethal+attack+Camp+Bastion+target+Prince+Harry/7249285/story.html


HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Prince Harry was the target of a dramatic Taliban attack on Britain’s “impregnable” headquarters in Afghanistan, the terror group claimed Saturday.
The perimeter of Camp Bastion was breached by 19 Taliban attackers armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons in a well-planned raid that shocked senior officers.
It was the largest Taliban assault on the base so far.
Two American marines were killed and five aircraft were damaged or destroyed before Western soldiers, led by British troops, killed 18 of the raiders and took one prisoner.
The Taliban rushed to claim a propaganda victory, saying they were intending to kill Britain’s Prince Harry, an Apache helicopter gunner and pilot based at Bastion.
They also said they had been inspired to seek revenge by an American-made film that insults the prophet Mohammed and which has prompted attacks on Western embassies in the Middle East.
Qari Youssef Ahmadi, the Taliban’s spokesman, said: “We attacked that base because Prince Harry was also on it and so they can know our anger. Thousands more suicide attackers are ready to give up their lives for the sake of the Prophet.”
The attack comes just days after the Taliban announced it was launching “Harry Operations” to kill or wound the prince.
The statement was dismissed by Britain’s Ministry of Defence, which said it was “entirely predictable” that the Taliban would claim that the Prince was the primary target even though he was nowhere near the assault. A senior officer said: “This was a determined attack which achieved its aim of getting global press coverage. They are masters of propaganda.

“But they are deluded if they really think they can storm Camp Bastion and kill or seriously injure Prince Harry. The attack was never going to succeed but in reality that was never really its aim.”
A major security review was under way last night into how such an assault could be launched on the base, home to 28,000 personnel. The camp is surrounded by the latest fortifications and defences.
The attack began under cover of darkness at about 10 p.m. local time on Friday when 19 Taliban gunmen forced their way through the outer perimeter wire. One report said they approached in Toyota pickup trucks.
Some reports suggest that a two-metre-wide hole was blown through a fence when a Taliban fanatic set off a suicide vest to the east of the base, close to the main runway.
The remaining fighters poured into the base firing mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles. They damaged or destroyed as many as five aircraft.
A fuel storage tank and a helicopter maintenance tent were also damaged.
Smoke was still rising from the site the morning after, according to footage released by the Taliban which they claimed was of the Helmand perimeter.
It is still not clear whether the gunmen broke into the main base or were confined to the outer perimeter.
British troops were first on the scene and helped to repel the insurgents in a gun battle lasting more than five hours.

Several British airmen were wounded in the firefight but none of the injuries was classed as serious.
Senior defence sources said the Taliban gunmen had posed as farmers in a nearby corn plantation.
It is understood that Afghan authorities believe the Taliban monitored activity on the eastern side of the camp for at least two weeks before launching the suicide mission.
Sources said several fighters detonated their suicide vests as British troops approached them, injuring some military personnel.
The attack is now the subject of a major investigation in which senior officers will want to know how the Taliban was able to attack what is supposed to be one of the world’s most secure military bases.
There was deep concern over the fact that the attack had even been launched.
Camp Bastion, which is the size of a town, is ringed by 10-metre-high fences topped with multiple coils of barbed wire. Large areas of the base are also protected by a 38-kilometre long, 9-metre high concrete blast wall interspersed with watch towers equipped with floodlights and manned by heavily armed troops.
The camp in the central Helmand desert is completely isolated, with the exception of a few small farms close to the eastern perimeter.
All approaches to the base are carefully monitored and the British protection force is equipped with a variety of surveillance devices and radar which should be able to identify any movement on the ground or in the air to a range of 30 kilometres.


Given the high levels of security, senior commanders will now try to establish how the Taliban managed to identify and exploit a seemingly unknown vulnerable point in the camp’s defence.
One theory being explored last night is that the Taliban may have been given inside information by either a member of the Afghan National Army or by one of the several thousand “locally employed civilians” who work on the base. An defence spokesman said: “The threat to all our service personnel is continually assessed and all measures taken to mitigate it. The deployment of Captain Wales [Prince Harry] has been long planned and the threat to him and others around him thoroughly assessed.
“Last night’s attack was dealt with swiftly by International Security and Assistance Force personnel, including UK forces, and several insurgents were killed. “A clearance operation has been conducted and work to assess and investigate the incident continues.”
Captain Wales, as he is known to his colleagues, is part of the 100-strong unit and is serving as a co-pilot gunner with the Apache unit for the duration of his four-month tour.
The Prince celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday in the hours after the attack with a message from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who had arranged for him to receive their congratulations before they left for their tour of Asia. Prince Harry first served in Afghanistan in 2008 as an on-ground air controller, but he had to cut the tour short when the news blackout protecting his position on the front line was breached.
It is understood that it will be business as usual for the prince as he comes to the end of his training and is expected to begin taking part in sorties by the end of the week.
The Apache is one of the most lethal pieces of military hardware in Afghanistan. It has taken part in thousands of operations in the past six years and is often the weapon of choice for troops pinned down by Taliban fire. The helicopter carries a variety of weapons including rockets, anti-tank missiles and a chain gun.


The helicopter, which gives both pilot and gunner a huge amount of protection, has also helped in rescue operations.



and....


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/09/201291643935935407.html

Foreign troops killed in southern Afghanistan

Latest "insider" attack leaves four US soldiers and one Afghan policeman dead in Zabul province, officials say. Last Modified: 16 Sep 2012 10:37 inShare3 Email Print Share Feedback

Five Afghan policemen reportedly fled the base following the attack in Zabul province [GALLO/GETTY]

Four American soldiers and an Afghan police officer have been killed in southern Afghanistan following an attack suspected to involve members of the Afghan police, NATO's military mission in that country says. The latest "insider" attack took place on Sunday morning, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. The attack took place in the Mizan district of Zabul province, and was carried out by several Afghan men dressed in police uniforms, the deputy governor's office told Al Jazeera. At least five Afghan policemen reportedly fled the base after the attack, which took place at the district headquarters, Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith reported from Kabul. It was unclear if the police officer who was killed was one of the attackers, Smith said. KILLINGS BY THE NUMBERS   Insider attacks have led to the deaths of 51 coalition troops across 36 attacks so far in 2012.  So far this year 332 members of the coalition have been killed  15.4 per cent of all coalition deaths in 2012 have been due to green-on-blue attacks, up from six per cent in 2011  12 of the 36 attacks in 2012 occurred in August   At 246, roadside bombs make up the majority of coalition deaths in Afghanistan Source: International Security Assistance Force; iCasualties.org Jamie Graybeal, an ISAF spokesperson, said that early reports indicated that at least two foreign soldiers had also been injured in the attack. ISAF said that the attack was "under investigation". The four soldiers who were killed and two who were wounded were understood to be members of the US special forces, Smith reported. At least 51 foreign military personnel have been killed in insider attacks, where men dressed as members of the Afghan security forces have attacked foreign forces, in Afghanistan this year.  Two British soldiers died in a similar attack on Saturday in the southern province of Helmand. There have been more than 30 such attacks so far this year. Most of the casualties have been US soldiers. Afghanistan's defence ministry said earlier this month that it had arrested or sacked hundreds of Afghan soldiers for suspected links to the Taliban or other anti-state fighters. Afghan and NATO officials say, however, that about 75 per cent of the attacks are not connected to the Taliban and are mostly triggered by misunderstandings and cultural differences among the Afghans and their Western allies. Kate Clark, a Kabul-based analyst with the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), told Al Jazeera that insider attacks "strike right at the heart of what ISAF and NATO are trying to do [in Afghanistan]". "I think as such the Taliban are one part of the problem. Mullah Omar in a recent message marking the occasion of the end of Ramadan actually called on his fighters to specifically target the foreign military in this way. But there's also the attacks arising from the friction between people from different nations fighting or training together," she said. She said that the scale of the coalition's training effort for the Afghan security forces creates definite vulnerabilities. "And the very speed of that training programme, the vastness of it [with] tens of thousands of men being trained, means that I think it's been difficult to keep a handle on it. It's a vulnerable place where people with malintent can get close to the foreign forces," she said. Fighter jets destroyed On Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a separate attack in southern Afghanistan that left two US soldiers dead and some others wounded on Friday. Six US fighter jets were destroyed and two significantly damaged during the attack on Camp Bastion, also in Helmand province, NATO spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Hagen Messer said. Three coalition refuelling stations were also destroyed and six aircraft hangars damaged in the assault, the US-led NATO force said. In a statement, it said the attack was "well-coordinated" and carried out by around 15 fighters, who were organised into three teams and who penetrated the perimeter fence. "The insurgents appeared to be well equipped, trained and rehearsed," targeting fighter jets and helicopters parked next to the runway, ISAF said in a statement released nearly 36 hours after the assault began. From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat The Taliban said the attack on Camp Bastion, a British airbase, was in response to the anti-Islamic video that has sparked a wave of ongoing protests, Al Jazeera's Afghanistan correspondent Bernard Smith reported from Kabul. Camp Bastion is adjacent to Camp Leatherneck, the main base for the US Marine Corps in Helmand. A defence official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two people killed on Friday were US marines, while another US official described the attack as "complex", meaning it was a coordinated strike using several types of weapons. The attack, involving small arms and mortar or rocket fire, started around midnight local time, Master Sergeant Bob Barko of ISAF told the AFP news agency. Clark, the Kabul-based analyst, termed the attack "a huge blow for NATO". "|This war is not so much about fighting a lot of the time - strange as that may sound - it's a lot about being seen to be winning. A lot of it is about the war of narratives, and this is a blow for NATO and absolutely a victory for the Taliban to get this amount of weaponry destroyed or damaged, and to actually penetrate one of the most highly defended places in the country," she told Al Jazeera. and as in Afghanistan , the shell government in Libya is not only incapable of protecting Consulates , but as it isn't in control of the country itself -  it makes US reinforcements difficult to put in place , assuming the Libyan government allows that to occur ...... http://news.antiwar.com/2012/09/15/us-struggles-to-send-spies-troops-drones-to-libya/ US Struggles to Send Spies, Troops, Drones to Libya The CIA is stretched thin and the unruly and violent post-war Libya could present more problems for this US response by John Glaser, September 15, 2012 Print This | Share This The US is in the process of sending more spies, investigators, Marines, and drones to Libya in response to this week’s attack on the consulate building, but this response is complicated by a chaotic security situation in post-war Libya. “The CIA has fewer people available to send,” reports the Associated Press, “stretched thin from tracking conflicts across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.” The intelligence teams sent to Libya during the war have now been sent to the Turkish-Syrian border to aid the proxy war there. Part of the problem is that the US-backed government NATO helped bring to power with their air war against the Gadhafi regime is not in control of the country and barely even recognized by most of the arms militias that span the country. The Obama administration’s decision to send more forces and drones to Libya came in response to an attack on the US consulate building that killed the American ambassador, two US Marines and another American. An al-Qaeda affiliate is expected to have been behind the onslaught, and it may have even included infiltrators within the Libyan government security forces. None of this bodes well for the future of American military involvement in the unruly and violent Libya, which it seems can only get messier, nor does it reflect well on the US-led NATO mission to impose regime change in the country, which did not bring a new democratic government as promised. with the air filled with anti -US sentiment , former semi- reliable allies are looking to cutback visible ties and relations with the US.... http://dawn.com/2012/09/16/president-zardari-urges-us-to-immediately-cease-drone-strikes/ President Zardari asks US to end drone strikes, remove mistrust Agencies | DAWN.COM | 16 hours ago     0 Zardari’s remarks came after talks with US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, who arrived in the Pakistani capital on Friday for meetings with top officials. – Photo by Online ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday reiterated demand for ending US drone attacks on militants in its tribal areas and called for removing a “trust deficit” with the United States. Zardari’s remarks came after talks with US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, who arrived in the Pakistani capital on Friday for meetings with top officials. “They discussed bilateral relations, the fight against militancy, the regional situation, drug trafficking and drone attacks,” presidential spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar told reporters. Zardari “reiterated his call for an end to the drone attacks, terming them counterproductive in the fight against militancy and in the battle of winning hearts”, Babar said. “We need to discuss alternatives on the question of drone attacks,” Babar quoted Zardari as saying. Zardari said “the goal of establishing a long-term, sustained and durable Pakistan-US equation would remain elusive until the issue of trust deficit was addressed in an effective manner”. Attacks by unmanned US aircraft are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment, but American officials are said to believe they are too important to give up. ‘US a major development partner’ Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf also held talks with Grossman and said his country regarded its relations with the United States as “very important”, and that Pakistan valued it as a major development partner. “We have a shared objective in fighting terrorism and need to cooperate more to get rid of this menace,” said a statement issued by Ashraf’s office. Grossman had said future relations between Pakistan and the United States should be based on market access and trade, it said. The US government was working on a bilateral investment treaty to “facilitate” US investment in Pakistan and improve market access, according to the statement, adding Washington has promised 200 million dollars for the construction of the Diamer-Basha dam in northern Pakistan. A statement issued by the US embassy in Islamabad said Grossman had also held talks with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani and parliamentarians. The US envoy also raised the case of Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, who was jailed in May for 33 years after he was arrested following the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US troops a year earlier. However, the statement did not mention the response by Pakistani officials. The US had earlier admitted Afridi was working with US intelligence by collecting DNA to verify bin Laden’s presence in the northern town of Abbottabad — although he was eventually jailed for alleged ties to a warlord. The relationship between Islamabad and Washington has been rocky for years, and relations have only just resumed after nosediving following the raid that killed bin Laden and an air raid that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops. Washington considers Pakistan’s semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt as the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. Grossman in the talks also addressed the issue of an anti-Islam video produced in the United States and circulating on the Internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. He stated very clearly, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has done, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video”, said the embassy statement. The movie, “Innocence of Muslims”, portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent. A mob stormed the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Tuesday, killing the US ambassador and several other staff, as part of a wave of protests over the video across the Islamic world. Separately, the Pakistani foreign ministry in a statement said Khar will visit the US from September 18-22. Khar will hold talks with Clinton and other senior US officials, and also meet with lawmakers, academics and visit think-tanks, it said. She will later proceed to New York to join a delegation led by Zardari to participate in the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly session, it said. and Syria has been pushed off the front pages this week - new Envoy honestly admits he has no plan to end the violence...... http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/new-syria-envoy-warns-countrys-civil-war-is-a-threat-to-world-peace/2012/09/15/6a26cd3a-ff16-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_print.html New Syria envoy offers bleak outlook, says he still has no plan to end bloodshed By Associated Press, Published: September 15 DAMASCUS, Syria — The new international envoy tasked with ending Syria’s civil war summed up his first foray to Damascus Saturday with a startling and frank admission that he still has no plan for stopping the bloodshed which he warned could threaten world peace. The bleak outlook offered by veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi after three days of meetings with Syrian officials and the opposition underlines just how fruitless diplomatic efforts have been in bringing an end to the seemingly intractable and deadly 18-month-old conflict. “I repeat ... I have no plan,” Brahimi told reporters in Damascus after meeting with Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, in their first talks since the Algerian diplomat took up the job earlier this month that he himself has called “nearly impossible.” “We, however, will set the plan that we will follow after listening to all internal, regional and international parties, hoping that such a plan will manage to open channels toward ending the crisis,” he added. Brahimi faces a monumental task in trying to break through the deadly cycle of violence that activists say has killed at least 23,000 people since the uprising to topple Assad began in March 2011. Brahimi, who also served as a U.N. envoy in Iraq and Afghanistan, replaced former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan who left the job in frustration in August after his efforts failed to resolve Syria’s conflict. Annan’s six-point peace plan, which included a cease-fire, never gained traction on the ground, and was largely ignored by the government and the rebels before the plan ultimately collapsed. The Security Council decided last month to end a 300-member U.N. military observer mission that was sent to monitor the cease-fire that never took hold, replacing it with a small liaison office that will support any future peace moves. Earlier this year, the Arab League dispatched monitors to Syria, but withdrew them after a month because they were unable to halt the fighting. The uprising that began with largely peaceful protests has since morphed into a deadly armed insurgency with hundreds killed every week as the government increasingly relies on air power to try and crush the rebels. Activist groups said more than 50 people were killed across the country Saturday in violence centered in the country’s largest city, Aleppo, and the outskirts of the capital, Damascus. The two cities were once seen as largely immune to the violence that has roiled other parts of Syria, but have been hit by fighting as rebels try to bring the battle to symbols of Assad’s power. Although the regime is better armed than the rebels — its modern arsenal includes warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery — the government has not been able to crush the rebellion. The rebels also have failed to overthrow the regime, leading to a bloody stalemate that many fear will drag on indefinitely. Mindful of the challenges on the ground, Brahimi said the crisis in Syria is “very serious and dangerous,” and the gap between the political parties “very wide.” The veteran Algerian diplomat’s visit to Syria that began Thursday has involved meetings with both officials and opposition leaders. He says the goal is to help him plan his initiative to end the crisis. “He is still in the process of gauging opinions and collecting facts but he is serious about making his mission a success because the alternative is catastrophic for Syria and the region,” said Hassan Abdul-Azim, a veteran Syrian opposition figure in Damascus who met with Brahimi on Friday. Abdul-Azim said that although conditions were far from ripe for a political settlement, there were some changes since Annan’s mission that may eventually lead to more regime willingness to compromise. “The regime thought it could kill the revolution by force. Now they know beyond a doubt that that is never going to happen,” he told AP in a telephone interview. Assad reiterated his country’s “full commitment” to cooperate with any efforts to end the crisis in Syria as long as those efforts are “neutral and independent,” according to the state-run news agency SANA. The Syrian regime has made several such pledges in the past, only to routinely violate those commitments. Assad also said any efforts would need to focus on pressuring countries that “finance and train terrorists and smuggle weapons into Syria to halt such acts.” Syrian authorities blame the uprising on a foreign conspiracy and accuse Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the U.S, other Western countries, and Turkey, of offering funding and training to the rebels, whom they describe as “terrorists.” Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the rebels’ main foreign backers offering aid, and Turkey serves as headquarters for the leaders of the ragtag Free Syrian Army rebel group and hosts many of the Syrian National Council opposition group’s meetings. The Syrian president also said his government was “serious” in its call for a dialogue among all Syrians — a call that has been repeatedly rejected by the opposition which is adamant that any dialogue should be restricted to talks on Assad stepping down. Brahimi said he would head to New York to continue consultations, adding that he would also visit countries “which have influence, interests, or both, with regard to the Syrian issue.” Brahimi acknowledged the difficulty of the mission and said he was not looking for any quick success. “I have undertaken (the job) because I am very hopeful that I will aim to help, however little, the people of Syria,” he said. “The common ground does exist as the Syrians love their country. They want peace in their country and perhaps we can help them achieve that.” and Egypt is unstable - note what has occurred in the Sinai.... http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/09/201291682915656385.html Egyptian Sinai security building attacked Anti-state fighters attack security headquarters in el-Arish with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns. Last Modified: 16 Sep 2012 09:57 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback Fighters have attacked a security headquarters in Egypt's Sinai area, sparking ongoing clashes, security officials say. The fighting broke out after armed men attacked the North Sinai security headquarters in the town of el-Arish at dawn on Sunday. There was no immediate confirmation on casualties in the fighting, and witnesses said that machinegun battles had occurred in the streets outside the headquarters. One official said that the attackers had used rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and automatic rifles. "They positioned themselves on the roofs of buildings opposite the security headquarters and launched the RPGs," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency. Al Jazeera's Steve Chao, reporting from Cairo, said that the fighting had lasted for about an hour, and began after masked gunmen gained access to buildings across the road from the security headquarters. Meanwhile, in a separate incident in the town of Sheikh Zuwayyid, 30km east of el-Arish, at least five people, including two civilians, were injured when fighters attacked a security forces convoy and the local police station. Eight people were arrested in the town, officials said. Operation Sinai Security forces launched a campaign to defeat increasingly brazen anti-state fighters in the Sinai Peninsula after an attack on army post killed 16 soldiers on August 5. On Friday, gunmen attacked an international peacekeeping camp in the Sinai peninsula, though the motive for the assault was not clear. The Egyptian army restored control of the camp within a few hours. Since last year's ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, fighters have launched several attacks on a Sinai pipeline that exports gas to Israel, as well as raids on police stations in the mountainous desert peninsula. Earlier this month, the army said its forces had killed 32 "criminal elements" in the ongoing Operation Sinai which was launched days after the border post attack. "The operation will continue until its goals have been achieved... These are not just military goals but also developmental goals for the Sinai," Ahmed Mohammed Ali, an army spokesperson, said at the time. as for Iran , the cat and mouse games continue - however , the US must realize the events of this past week have dealt a severe blow to US standing in the Islamic world ..... http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/09/2012913162114670937.html UN nuclear agency board rebukes Iran IAEA's 35-nation board of governors expressed "serious concern" over Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Last Modified: 14 Sep 2012 15:43 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback Iran's IAEA ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said that Iran considers the use of nuclear weapons a "sin" [Reuters] The UN atomic agency's board has rebuked Iran for failing to stop atomic activity. The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved by an overwhelming majority a resolution criticising Iran brought by world powers that was also aimed at dissuading Israel from military action. The resolution, passed on Thursday, expressed "serious concern that Iran continues to defy" UN Security Council resolutions for it to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can be used for peaceful purposes but also in a nuclear weapon. It also highlights the IAEA's complaint that activities at the Parchin base near Tehran, where it suspects nuclear weapons research took place, would "significantly hamper" inspectors - should Iran let them visit. The resolution was introduced at the meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors on Wednesday after days of negotiating between Western nations and Russia and China, which are seen as more lenient on Tehran. In-depth coverage of a growing regional debate  It was approved by 31 countries, with Cuba voting against and Egypt, Ecuador and Tunisia abstaining, all four of them members of the Non-Aligned Movement of which Iran is currently the rotating president. Iran insists its expanding atomic programme is for peaceful purposes, but since the IAEA says repeatedly that it is unable to vouch for this, the UN Security Council has passed six resolutions against Tehran, four with sanctions attached. The US and the European Union have also imposed additional unilateral sanctions that have hit Iran's vital oil exports hard, and EU foreign ministers said last weekend they are considering additional measures. "Iran wishes to be treated like a regular member of the IAEA and enjoy the benefits of peaceful uses of nuclear energy," US envoy to the IAEA Robert Wood told the closed-door gathering. "Yet unlike the vast majority of its members, it utterly refuses to act like a responsible member by not complying with the agreements and obligations which it freely accepted and which condition its 'nuclear rights'." He accused Iran of "systematically demolishing the facility that has been identified by the IAEA as meriting inspection at the Parchin site". Iran has repeatedly denied demolishing the facility. Israeli frustration The IAEA resolution, the 12th in nine years, stops short of a referral of Iran to the Security Council, but it was significant that Western nations were able to get Moscow and Beijing on board, and at a time of heightened speculation that Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, might bomb Iran, analysts say. Israeli disappointment has grown at what it sees as a failure by the international community to take seriously the threat posed by Iran or to stop it inching ever closer to "break-out capacity." In particular, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been pressing US President Barack Obama to identify "red lines" for when it would take action. Obama, running for re-election in November and keen to avoid being depicted as soft on Iran by Republican challenger Mitt Romney, spoke to Netanyahu for an hour by phone earlier this week. Netanyahu's deputy for intelligence and atomic affairs on Thursday broke with the prime minister's call for Iran to be confronted with a "red line" beyond which its disputed nuclear programme would face military attack. In a broadcast interview, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor appeared to side with the US in balking at Netanyahu's repeated demand that it set Iran an ultimatum or risk seeing Israel launch region-rattling unilateral strikes. and Iraq is plagued with corruption with PM Maliki playing the role of despot..... Ex-minister slams Iraq PM for tolerating graft By Prashant Rao (AFP) – 1 day ago   LONDON — The first minister to quit Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki's unity government criticized the prime minister for turning a blind eye to worsening corruption among his loyalists, in an interview with AFP. Former communications minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, who resigned on August 27, added he was holding documents pointing to graft within the government, but declined to give details, insisting instead they would be released at an unspecified future date. He said he was "100 percent sure that the people surrounding al-Maliki, they are corrupt people, very close to him, they are highly corrupt people." "But definitely, he knows the corrupt people, but those who are loyal to him, he never takes any action. He allows them to be more corrupt, and it is very obvious," Allawi said at his west London home. The ex-minister is a Shiite Muslim member of the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc that is part of Maliki's unity government, but has long been at odds with the premier. He is also a relative of former prime minister Iyad Allawi, one of Maliki's main rivals. He said he had told Maliki directly, "those people who are loyal to you, they are corrupt people, and you never take any action against them." The ex-minister said the level of corruption in Iraq was "huge", and that rates of commission on contracts were sometimes as high as 70 percent, but declined to point to specific instances of corruption, or which ministries had particularly high rates of graft. "You know Iraq is at the top of the list of corrupt countries, at the level of Somalia, Myanmar," Allawi said, adding: "Those countries, they have no revenue, their budget is... millions of US dollars, while (Iraq's budget) is for the last year $100 billion." "The real corruption is in Iraq, not in these countries." Iraq regularly ranks atop global rankings of the most corrupt countries in the world. Most recently it was the ninth worst country in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, and diplomats and potential investors often point to graft as an impediment to doing business there. Allawi said that corruption in Iraq was, if anything, getting worse, telling AFP: "The level of corruption, really it is much more worse than the previous days. It is increasing year after year." The former minister stepped down last month, accusing Maliki of "political interference", in particular complaining of attempts to control who could appoint and transfer senior officials. His resignation was the latest bout in a protracted and wide-ranging political row between Maliki and his opponents, who have accused him of monopolising power and exhibiting dictatorial tendencies. Maliki, for his part, insists he is being restricted by an unwieldy coalition government. Allawi's remarks on graft were part of a wide-ranging criticism of Maliki's record as prime minister, arguing that the premier had accomplished nothing since Iraq's national unity government was formed in December 2010 following nine months of post-election stalemate. Parliamentary elections are next due in 2014. Allawi pointed to still-poor electricity provision nationwide, and a lack of improvements in daily life for ordinary Iraqis, particularly in Baghdad, as well as continuing deadly violence across the country. "The only thing which he has achieved is deepening sectarianism," Allawi said, arguing that Maliki was courting his Shiite Muslim base by pushing for the trial of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, among other moves. Hashemi was sentenced in absentia on September 9 to death for the murder of a lawyer and a brigadier general. He has insisted charges he ran a death squad are politically motivated. "Definitely, it can help him to a certain extent in the next election," the former minister acknowledged, but added: "In the long run ... this is not the right way how to govern a country." "This is the best way for him to stay in power." and additional Iran items..... http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/09/15/no-red-line-for-israel/ No ‘Red Line’ for Israel 14 By Gilad Atzmon Israeli news outlets reported today that President Obama rejected an appeal by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to set a specific “red line” to stop any further Iranian uranium enrichment. According to reports, in an hour-long conversation on Tuesday, Obama deflected Netanyahu’s proposal to make the size of Iran’s stockpile of close-to-bomb-grade uranium the threshold, the crossing of which would trigger a US military strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. But it seems that, this time at least, President Obama has decided against launching a world war on behalf of the Jewish State and its powerful lobby. “We need some ability for the President to have decision-making room,” said an American official. “We have a red line, which is a nuclear weapon. We’re committed to that red line.” The meaning of this is simple: America just doesn’t buy the Israeli intelligence reports regarding Iranian intentions. Israel is not happy. Apparently, the Israelis want to see Iran wiped out – and soon and its officials have already confirmed that such an American guarantee falls far short of the Jewish state’s security needs. Ynet  reported today that prime minister Netanyahu told reporters this week that “the Obama administration had no ‘moral right’ to restrain Israel from taking military action on its own if it refused to put limits on Iran.” Ynet adds that “the remarks were followed by reports claiming that Obama snubbed Netanyahu’s request to meet during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York this month.” So it seems that for now, the Obama administration has come to its senses – it has said NO to Jewish pressure. Of course, this decision is far more likely to be political than ethically or morally driven. Amid the presidential election, Obama has been quick to perceive a window of opportunity that may prove to be a game winner. Obama lets the Republican party and their presidential candidate Mitt Romney operate as Netanyahu’s Sabbath Goyim.  Obama clears the stage to Romney who foolishly and voluntarily pushes for another Israeli war, he lets Romney be a Zionist mouthpiece, the one who scarifies America and American soldiers for Israel.  Consequently, Obama presents himself as a reasonable, sensible and responsible leader– all in all, a ‘real American patriot’. But, by now, one thing should be clear. Israel, as we now have long known, lacks the military capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear project and needs America to take care of it. Netanyahu and the Jewish Lobby were convinced they could, ahead of the election, pressure Obama into such a suicidal mission. They were wrong. We’ve long known that the arrival of Obama did not bring peace. Like those before him, he has surrounded himself with rabid Zionist warmongers. But we can only hope that the penny has now dropped – even if we also know that the penny isn’t worth all that much anymore. *  *  *   Top Ten Reasons Obama Will Appear on Letterman instead of Meeting Netanyahu 12 “So David, are you ready for the top ten reasons I snubbed Netanyahu?”  Obama to Appear at Comedy Show Instead of Meeting Netanyahu: Reports US President Barack Obama will appear on a late night comedy show during a September 18 visit to New York at the same time he could have met Israeli premier, reports say. Reports by Israeli media outlets of Obama’s presence in David Letterman’s comedy show, instead of meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, come amid mounting tensions between the two allies over setting “red lines” by Washington on Iran’s nuclear energy program, a request the US has rejected. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/09/14/obama-to-appear-at-comedy-show-instead-of-meeting-netanyahu-reports/ Top Ten Reasons Obama Will Appear on Letterman instead of Meeting Netanyahu 10. His Presidential Joy Buzzer is out of order. 9. When Letterman says “we begin bombing Iran in 15 minutes” he’s just joking. 8. Some people actually care what Letterman thinks. 7. Obama has a bet with Gen. Dempsey to see who can give Netanyahu the biggest smackdown. Obama wins. 6. When Netanyahu invites you to dinner and serves filet of sole, it comes from a dead Palestinian’s foot. 5. He wanted to hand Netanyahu the maximum presidential snub, and Alfred E. Neumann wasn’t available. 4. A new poll showed that Jewish voters prefer Letterman to Netanyahu by a 94 to 6 percent margin. 3. Sheldon Adelman made Obama an offer he couldn’t refuse, and Obama refused. The horse’s head has been stuffed and mounted and hangs over Obama’s desk by a single hair. 2. “Benjamin Netanyahu” is actually David Letterman in disguise, doing a wickedly funny parody of Zionists so subtle it has thus far eluded the media gatekeepers AND the majority of the Israeli electorate. 1. Obama was invited to join a barbershop quartet with Netanyahu, McCain, and Romney singing “bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-Iran” but Obama’s too cool for off-key white-boy a cappella.