http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/syrian-rebels-say-truce-is-over-as-two-day-death-toll-hits-200
Syrian rebels say truce is over as two-day death toll hits 200
DAMASCUS // Rebel fighters declared the Eid truce over yesterday as fighting raged across Syria, air raids struck near Damascus and in the north and the death toll rose to nearly 200 in two days since the ceasefire was due to take effect.
The Syrian regime blamed rebels for breaking the truce but opposition fighters said they were defending civilans from army attacks.
"This initiative was dead before it started," said Abdel Jabbar Al Okaidi, head of the Free Syrian Army military council in Aleppo.
"I was on several fronts yesterday and the army did not stop shelling. Our mission is to defend the people, it is not us who are attacking."
The international community should stop putting faith in the regime of Bashar Al Assad, Mr Okaidi said. "The Syrian people have become guinea pigs. Every time there is an envoy who tries an initiative, while we know the regime will not respect it." Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: "The truce is dead. We can no longer talk of a truce."
Syrian warplanes bombed a building in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, killing at least eight people in the first air raid since the ceasefire proposed by the United Nations-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was supposed to take effect on Friday.
The attack followed a day of car bombs and clashes that left 146 dead, according to activist tallies.
The Syrian army accused rebels of committing increasing violations of the truce and vowed to fight back. "For the second day, terrorist groups continued to flagrantly violate the ceasefire announced and respected by the army command," the military said. "The army will continue to track this increase of violations … and fight back against these criminal acts."
Friday's death toll included 11 in a car bomb in a residential area of Damascus, on par with the daily death tolls preceding the ceasefire.
Another air strike hit near the Wadi Deif military base in the northwestern province of Idlib, where rebel forces have been battling for control.
The Eid holiday had started on Friday with a slowdown in the fighting - and state television footage of Mr Al Assad smiling and chatting with worshippers at a Damascus mosque - but quickly degenerated.
The Observatory, a key monitor of the conflict, said 146 people were killed in bombings and fighting on Friday: 53 civilians, 50 rebels and 43 members of Mr Al Assad's forces.
Yesterday, violence killed at least another 48 people, the Observatory said, amid clashes and attacks in Damascus province, Aleppo, Idlib, Daraa in the south and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
Among the dead were five killed in a car-bomb attack in Deir Ezzor. State television blamed the attack on "terrorists" and said the bomb had gone off in front of a church, causing significant damage.
According to the Observatory, more than 35,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which began as an anti-regime uprising but is now a civil war pitting mainly Sunni rebels against Al Assad's regime dominated by his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The Observatory relies on a countrywide network of activists, lawyers and medical staff in civilian and military hospitals. It says its tolls take into account civilian, military, and rebel casualties.
Al Assad's forces and the FSA had both agreed to a call by Mr Brahimi to lay down their arms for the Eid holiday, but both also reserved the right to respond to attacks.
The rapid unravelling of the effort to achieve even a temporary peace is the latest setback to attempts to end Syria's civil war through diplomacy. Mr Brahimi had hoped the truce might lead to a more permanent ceasefire during which he could push for a political solution and bring aid to stricken areas of the country.
Observers also raised concerns yesterday of a new front opening in the conflict after reports of clashes between rebels and Kurdish militia on Friday that left 30 dead.
The fighting between rebels and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), took place in the majority Kurdish neighbourhood of Ashrafiyeh in Aleppo, the Observatory said.
and.....
http://rt.com/news/bani-walid-phosphorous-chemical-358/
( If nerve gas and white phosphorus bombs are in the hands of the Militias in Libya , the so called rebels in Syria have white Phosphorus and nerve gas - chemical weapons like these will be used soon in Syria and we shall see who gets blamed for said use .... )
and.....
http://occupycorporatism.com/un-ceasefire-set-stage-for-proxy-terrorists-to-attack-syrian-government/
UN Ceasefire Set Stage For Proxy Terrorists to Attack Syrian Government?
The UN envoy headed by Lakhdar Brahimi is usingtheir desire for ceasefire during the Eid al-Adha holiday as an excuse to paint the Syrian government in a negative light. Eid al-Adha is aholiday where Muslims honor the willingness to sacrifice Isaac by Abraham before God intervened and demanded a sheep be sacrificed instead.
The Free Syrian Amry (FSA) has said that they will not stop fighting even if the Syrian government agrees to Brahimi’s terms. According to General Mustafa al-Sheikh, chief of the military council of the FSA, the terrorist faction would “stop firing if the regime stops” however they doubt the Syrian government would hold to their word because they allegedly have “lied many times before.” Therefore the FSA have no plans to stop fighting.
Assad stated that “if this humble initiative succeeds, we hope that we can build on it in order to discuss a longer and more effective ceasefire and this has to be part of a comprehensive political process.”
There are concerns that Brahimi is setting the stage for an attack by the FSA on the Syrian government during the ceasefire, and therefore the Syrian government are “studying the cessation of military operations” with this in mind. The FSA have killed an estimated 34,000 people since March of 2011 and the Syrian government does not want to give the terrorist faction an open invitation to continue their assault on the Syrian people.
Nikolai Marakov, Russian General Staff Chief,reported that the FSA have been given shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles – some of which are manufactured in the US. Marakov said that “militants fighting Syrian government forces have portable missile launchers of various states, including American-made Stingers.”Valdimir Putin, president of Russia explains that although Russia has supplied Assad’s armies with weapons, they are not the type that could be used in a civil war.
The globalist-funded Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has been feeding mainstream media rhetoric that is pro-FSA. The SOHR say that the JAN is working with the FSA against Assad’s armies in events like the destruction at Aleppo.
Propaganda surrounding who is arming the FSA is further mired with statements from Muhieddine Lathkani, a member of the Syrian National Council which is directly linked to the Bilderberg Group. Lathkani claims that Obama refuses to arm the FSA “with heavy weapons” and that this move “is giving Assad the upper hand.”
In August, Obama signed a secret order authorizing US support of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The CIA and other agencies were empowered by Obama earlier this year to provide intelligence and training.
The US Treasury has granted release of funds to the FSA through the Syrian Support Group (SSG), a Washington representative of the FSA to conduct financial transactions. The SSG’s “vision” is to “promote the establishment of a free, independent and democratic Syria.” Whenever the ideals of democracy are brought to a foreign nation, through the assistance of the US government, American interests in the resources of that nation are evident.
While the SSG claim to be a grassroots effort, they admit they are a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC “committed to a pluralistic, civil and democratic Syria in which everyone, the military and the government included, are subject to the Rule of Law.”
The FSA are comprised of Salafi militants from Saudi Arabia. The same faction of terrorists thatattacked the villa where US Ambassador Stevens was murdered is in Syria fighting the proxy war for the US.
The Salafi terrorist cells are given different names depending on their location geographically (such as al-Qaeda, FSA, etc. . . ) so that the idea that they are separate is purveyed to the general public. However, they are subscribing to an extreme form of Islam that is encompassing in Saudi Arabia. The Salafis being used in Syria are exceptionally violent and adhere to sectarianism with complete abhorrence for the US. This ideal is fostered because it helps to facilitate the psychological mindset necessary for manipulation.
Last week it was discovered that the FSA are being armed by Saudi Arabia. The attack in Aleppo was actually funded with ammunition and weaponry from the US-aligned Middle Eastern nation. The FSA denies knowledge of how they came to obtain this shipment from Saudi Arabia; however it is fairly obvious that the Salafi extremists in their country are supporting the US-backed terrorist faction. Saudi officials have also declined comment thinking that refusal to speak will correspond with their ignorance. Yet, Saudi ammunition has been used since the inception of the CIA-trained “rebels” paid for my “foreign aid” from the US and British governments.
Last month, the Saudi Arabian government, with support from Elite families in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, gave generously to the FSA. In a US State Department statement, it was explainedthat: “The battalion rep or commander travels to Turkey, where he meets Gulf individuals or Syrians who live in the Gulf. The battalion presents ‘projects’ that need sponsorship, for example: targeting a checkpoint costs $20-30K, while targeting an airport cost $200-300K. . . . A video taping . . . is required to provide evidence of the operation.”
Earlier this month, at the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting the accusation that the US and Israel are “aiding terrorists” was voiced by Syrian representative al-Moallem. He said: “This terrorism which is externally supported is accompanied by unprecedented media provocation based on igniting religious extremism sponsored by well-known states in the region that facilitate the flow of arms, money and fighters through the borders of some neighboring countries.”
Al-Mollem maintains that the US and Israeli interference in Syria and their quest through proxy war to bring down Assad’s government are disregarding “the domestic affairs of Syria, and the unity of its people and its sovereignty.”
and......
http://www.debka.com/article/22479/Khartoum-threatens-Israel-after-Iranian-generals-examine-missile-factory-rubble
Khartoum threatens Israel after Iranian generals examine missile factory rubble
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 27, 2012, 5:34 PM (GMT+02:00)
Sudan claims Israeli ordnance found at bomb site
Sudanese President Omar Bashir pledged decisive steps against “Israeli interests which are now legitimate targets.” He spoke Saturday, Oct. 27 after a team of Iranian generals completed a secret examination of the rubble left of the Khartoum Shehab ballistic missile factory after an air attack on Oct. 24.
Israeli officials have refused to comment on the attack. However, Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Othman said “military experts" who surveyed what was left of the Yarmouk Industrial Complex had determined that it was destroyed by Israel-made missiles.
The minister added that no country in the region besides Israel owns the sophisticated weapons used in the attack.
He also confirmed that Khartoum international airport’s radar system was disabled during the raid, confirming the claim made by Iranian sources the next day.
Othman did not identity the “military experts” who examined the residue at the bomb site or explain how they were able to identify the weapons used. However, DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that those experts were Iranian military chiefs of the highest ranks: Iranian Air Force Chief Brig. Gen. Hassan Shah-Safi; Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forces Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh; Deputy Air Force Commander Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh; and Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili.The exalted ranks of these officers, sent secretly and post haste to Khartoum after the incident, attested to the extreme consternation caused in Tehran by the missile factory’s destruction and its importance to Iran’s regional military organization for a potential US or Israeli attack.
Israeli officials have refused to comment on the attack. However, Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Othman said “military experts" who surveyed what was left of the Yarmouk Industrial Complex had determined that it was destroyed by Israel-made missiles.
The minister added that no country in the region besides Israel owns the sophisticated weapons used in the attack.
He also confirmed that Khartoum international airport’s radar system was disabled during the raid, confirming the claim made by Iranian sources the next day.
Othman did not identity the “military experts” who examined the residue at the bomb site or explain how they were able to identify the weapons used. However, DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that those experts were Iranian military chiefs of the highest ranks: Iranian Air Force Chief Brig. Gen. Hassan Shah-Safi; Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forces Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh; Deputy Air Force Commander Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh; and Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili.The exalted ranks of these officers, sent secretly and post haste to Khartoum after the incident, attested to the extreme consternation caused in Tehran by the missile factory’s destruction and its importance to Iran’s regional military organization for a potential US or Israeli attack.
The generals were instructed to conduct a professional and detailed analysis to determine the capabilities of the air force which sent the four bombers to level the Shehab factory and how those capabilities were applicable to a potential long-distance Israeli aerial strike against Iran.
The team of investigators, which arrived in Khartoum by an Iranian military plane hours after the attack, was collected and escorted by the Sudanese chief of staff, Gen. Ismat Abdel Rahman in a tightly-secured convoy of armored vehicles with helicopter cover straight to the wrecked factory for their inquiry.
They also examined Sudan’s radar system to find out how it was jammed.
Our military sources add: This was the second time in three weeks that Iranian air force, air defense and cyber war experts have had the chance to study Israel’s air force and electronic capabilities - while also exposing many facets of their own. Just three weeks ago, on Oct. 6, an Iranian stealth drone penetrated Israeli air space. Iranian cyber exports, operating from Hizballah’s security service bunkers in South Beirut, conducted cyber duel with Israeli experts before the IAF downed the interloper.
In Sudan, the Iranian generals tried to learn what they could about the methods and equipment Israel used to jam Sudan’s radar systems which, like those in Iranian use, are made in Russia.
The team of investigators, which arrived in Khartoum by an Iranian military plane hours after the attack, was collected and escorted by the Sudanese chief of staff, Gen. Ismat Abdel Rahman in a tightly-secured convoy of armored vehicles with helicopter cover straight to the wrecked factory for their inquiry.
They also examined Sudan’s radar system to find out how it was jammed.
Our military sources add: This was the second time in three weeks that Iranian air force, air defense and cyber war experts have had the chance to study Israel’s air force and electronic capabilities - while also exposing many facets of their own. Just three weeks ago, on Oct. 6, an Iranian stealth drone penetrated Israeli air space. Iranian cyber exports, operating from Hizballah’s security service bunkers in South Beirut, conducted cyber duel with Israeli experts before the IAF downed the interloper.
In Sudan, the Iranian generals tried to learn what they could about the methods and equipment Israel used to jam Sudan’s radar systems which, like those in Iranian use, are made in Russia.
and.....
Israel Conducts Air Strike On Sudan Missile Base In 'Dry Run' For Iran Attack
This past Wednesday, nobody reported that a squadron of 8 Israeli F-15 jets dropped 4 two-ton bombs on the giant Yarmouk missile factory on the outskirts of Sudan's capital Khartoum. Which is just as Israel wanted it. Because what otherwise would be a provocative incursion tantamount to war (if only Sudan wasn't a complete basket case of a country), was really nothing short of a dry-run for an Israeli attack on Iran. At least according to the Sunday Times. "A long-range Israeli bombing raid last week that was seen as a dry run for a forthcoming attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has destroyed an Iranian-run plant making rockets and ballistic missiles in Sudan.... The raid, in which two people died, triggered panic across the city. Witnesses said they heard a series of loud blasts followed by the sound of ammunition exploding. “It was a double impact — the explosion at the factory and then the ammunition flying into the neighbourhood,” said Abd-al Ghadir Mohammed, 31, a resident. "The ground shook. Some homes were badly damaged." And... nobody cares. Here we leave it up to readers to imagine the epic horror, deep revulsion that would greet news that Iran had conducted a pre-emptive strike against Israel by blowing up a missile factory in Turkey, killing two innocent people, just to make sure it can.
A visual summary of the attack:
This is what was left of the Somali factory after the Israeli self-appointed (because national borders are for chumps) punishment force was done with it:
And the full post-mortem of the operation that took place 4 days ago, via Voice of Russia:
The attack occurred in the early morning of October 24, when eight Israeli F-15I jets – four of them carrying two one-ton bombs, escorted by four fighters – struck a gigantic Yamrouk missile site. The evidence is that this strike is a general rehearsal before the Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.According to western defense sources, the 2,400-mile return flight took the Israelis four hours, with the jets flying south along the Red Sea. The planes entered the Sudanese air space from the east to avoid Egypt’s missile defenses.The anti-Iranian operation kicked off two years ago when Mossad agents murdered a Palestinian businessman and a HAMAS highflyer, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, in a Dubai hotel suit, retrieving a suitcase with a military agreement between Iran and Sudan, wherein Khartoum offered Tehran its military sites to make weapons.The Yamrouk facility produced Shahab ballistic missiles, which were then to be delivered to HAMAS rebels in the Gaza strip and other Middle Eastern regions.In other words: add the Israeli invasion of Iran on the "To Do" list, alongside Grexit, the official Spanish bailout request, the Chinese Congress, the Japan-China territoria re-escalation, sliding down the Fiscal Cliff, and the debt ceiling breach, as soon as possible after the November 6 election.And all that, of course, assuming Sky Net does not finally take over tomorrow when only robots will be left trading.
and.....
Exclusive: U.S. Rushes to Stop Syria from Expanding Chemical Weapon Stockpile
- October 25, 2012 |
- 6:00 pm |
- Categories: Chem Bio & Nukes
A U.S. Army chemical weapons crew takes samples from an M55 rocket. Photo: U.S. Army
The regime of embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is actively working to enlarge its arsenal of chemical weapons, U.S. officials tell Danger Room. Assad’s operatives have tried repeatedly in recent months to buy up the precursor chemicals for deadly nerve agents like sarin, even as his country plunges further and further into a civil war. The U.S. and its allies have been able to block many of these sales. But that still leaves Assad’s scientists with hundreds of metric tons of dangerous chemicals that could be turned into some of the world’s most gruesome weapons.
“Assad is weathering everything the rebels throw at him. Business is continuing as usual,” one U.S. official privy to intelligence on Syria says. “They’ve been busy little bees.”
Back in July, the Assad regime publicly warned that it might just use chemical weapons to stop “external” forces from interfering in its bloody civil war. American policy-makers became deeply concerned that Damascus just might follow through on the threats. Since the July announcement, however, the world community — including Assad’s allies — have made it clear to Damascus that unleashing weapons of mass destruction was unacceptable. The message appears to have gotten through to Assad’s cadre, at least for now. Talk of direct U.S. intervention in Syria has largely subsided.
“There was a moment we thought they were going to use it — especially back in July,” says the U.S. official, referring to Syria’s chemical arsenal. “But we took a second look at the intelligence, and it was less urgent than we thought.”
That hardly means the danger surrounding Syria’s chemical weapons program has passed. More than 500 metric tons of nerve agent precursors, stored in binary form, are kept at upward of 25 locations scattered around the country. If any one of those sites falls into the wrong hands, it could become a massively lethal event. And in the meantime, Assad is looking to add to his already substantial stockpile.
“Damascus has continued its pursuit of chemical weapons despite the damage to its international reputation and the rising costs of evading international export control on chemical weapons materials,” the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a leading think tank on weapons of mass destruction issues, noted in an August profile of Syria’s illicit arms activities.
Exactly why is unclear; Assad is perfectly capable of mass slaughter with more conventional means, like tanks and cluster bombs. Perhaps his chemical precursors are relatively unstable, and he needs fresh supplies; perhaps this is a late shopping spree before the international noose tightens completely; perhaps he wants to send a warning to potential adversaries in Jerusalem and Washington.
Whatever the rationale, Assad is continuing his attempts to buy the building blocks of nerve agents like sarin. The CIA and the U.S. State Department, working with allies in the region, have recently prevented sales to Syria of industrial quantities of isopropanol. Popularly known as rubbing alcohol, it’s also one of the two main chemical precursors to sarin gas, one of the deadliest nerve agents in existence. The other precursor is methylphosphonyl difluoride, or DF. The Syrians were also recently blocked from acquiring the phosphorous compounds known as halides, some of which can be used to help make DF.
At a recent meeting of the Australia Group, an informal collection of international government officials dedicated the stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, participants “discussed the extensive tactics – including the use of front companies in third countries – [that] the Syrian government uses to obscure its efforts to obtain [regulated equipment], as well as other dual-use items, for proliferation purposes.” Bottom line: “Syria continues to be a country of proliferation concern, with active biological and chemical weapons programs.”
In June, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that North Korean engineers were spotted in Syria working on Scud-D short-range ballistic missiles, which can carry chemical warheads. Two months later, witnesses tell the German magazine Der Spiegel, Syria test-fired several of its chemical-capable missiles at the al-Safirah research center east of Aleppo.
To Leonard Spector, deputy director of the James Martin Center, these reports are signs that “Syria has not stopped the weapons of mass destruction program.”
Among American policy-makers, there’s a growing sense (perhaps a bit wishful) that Damascus will eventually fall to the rebels — despite Assad’s brutal crackdown on the uprising, and despite an often-haphazard international campaign to help the rebellion. On Thursday, rebel group announced that they had seized two more districts in the city of Aleppo. U.S. intelligence agencies are believed to be helping with the training of opposition groups, while the Pentagon denies shipping arms to the rebels. In public, American aid has largely been limited to organizational advice (Washington is trying to set up a council of opposition leaders in Doha in the next few weeks, for instance) and technical assistance. Several hundred Syrian activists have traveled to Istanbul for training in secure communications, funded by the U.S. State Department. The rebel leaders received tips on how to leapfrog firewalls, encrypt their data, and use cellphones without getting caught, as Time magazine recently reported. Then they returned to Syria, many of them with new phones and satellite modems in hand.
In the background, the U.S. is also starting to strategize for how it should operate in a post-Assad Syria. And that includes scoping out plans for disposing of Assad’s stockpiles of nerve and mustard agents. It won’t be easy: Iraq’s former chemical bunkers are still toxic, a decade after Saddam’s overthrow. The U.S. recently said it won’t be done disposing of its Cold War chemical weapon arsenal until 2023.
Disposing of chemical weapons might not be as touchy a political issue in Syria as it is in America. But Assad’s nerve agents will still be tricky to render (relatively) safe — or “demilitarize,” in weapons jargon. DF, for example, can be turned into a somewhat non-toxic slurry, if combined properly with lye and water. The problem is that when DF reacts with water, it generates heat. And since DF has an extremely low boiling point — just 55.4 degrees Celsius — it means that the chances of accidentally releasing toxic gases are really high. “You could easily kill yourself during the demil,” one observer tells Danger Room.
Naturally, this process could only begin once the DF and the rubbing alcohol was gathered up from Assad’s couple dozen storage locations. Then, they’d have to be carted far, far out into the desert — to make sure no bystanders could be hurt — along with the enormous stirred-tank reactors needed to conduct the dangerous chemistry experiments. And when it was all done, there would the result would be a whole lot of hydrofluoric acid, which is itself a poison. In other words, even if the U.S. stops every one of Assad’s chemical weapon shipments from here on out, the legacy of his illicit weapons program will linger on for decades.
and.......
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/10/26/escalating-syrian-civil-war-a-lose-lose-for-us/
Escalating Syrian Civil War a Lose-Lose for US
Key US Allies Face Destabilization as War Spreads
by Jason Ditz, October 26, 2012
A temporary ceasefire of sorts is in place in Syria, but the general trend of the civil war in the nation is toward escalation, sectarian violence and spillover into neighboring countries.
It was a war the Obama Administration seemed to be itching for, egging on the various rebel factions from the beginning. Now, as it escalates, the situation seems to be dramatically deleterious for US interests in the region.
Rebel defectors from Syria’s military are one thing, but increasingly the rebellion is filled with al-Qaeda-styled Islamists, which are getting stronger and better armed all the time. Fighting has spread into Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, threatening to destabilize US allies.
The spillover is now threatening the whole region, with the US-backed goal of “safe zones” for the rebels in northern Syria threatening to turn into safe-havens for terrorists, and a regime change that the administration was once salivating over now threatens to turn Syria into a Salafist theocracy.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- Steel Sanctions Have Iran Scrambling to Import Coal - October 26th, 2012
- Revenge Attacks Loom as Misrata Fighters Conquer Bani Walid - October 26th, 2012
- African Union: Western Nations to Bankroll Mali Invasion - October 26th, 2012
- Israel's Super-Hawk Merger Makes Iran War the Election's Central Issue - October 26th, 2012
- US Airport Security Interrogates Pakistani Politician Over Drone Opposition - October 26th, 2012
and Iran news items .....
http://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-opposed-to-military-strike-on-iran-at-the-moment/
UK opposed to military strike on Iran ‘at the moment’
The British government would like to see the sanctions working and to engage diplomatically with Tehran, says Cameron’s spokeswoman
The UK is against a military strike against Iran “at this moment,” British Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokeswoman said Friday, according to a Reuters report.
The spokeswoman reportedly stated that the British government “does not believe military action against Iran is the right course of action at this moment, though no option is off the table.”
She reportedly added that the UK was looking to explore diplomatic avenues first. ”We want to see the sanctions, which are starting to have some impact, working, and also engaging with Iran,” she said.
Her comments followed a report by The Guardian Thursday that the UK had refused to allow the US to use British military bases to facilitate a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The paper quoted a senior London official as saying the UK would be “in breach of international law” if it did such a thing.
“It is quite likely that if the Israelis decided to attack Iran, or the Americans felt they had to do it for the Israelis or in support of them, the UK would not be told beforehand,” The Guardian quoted the source as saying.
“In some respects, the UK government would prefer it that way.”
and money goes bye bye in Iraq - US tax dollars at work - but for whom ?
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-26/army-corps-can-t-show-1-billion-in-iraq-fuel-delivered
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t properly document more than $1 billion in Iraqi money used to buy fuel and other supplies for Iraq reconstruction, according to an audit.
In a review of 12 major payments through the Development Fund for Iraq, one of three documents needed to properly verify delivery -- a “receiving report” -- was missing from more than 95 percent of the files, according to the audit issued yesterday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
The development fund was Iraqi money managed by the U.S. as part of reconstruction after the war that ousted Saddam Hussein. It consisted of revenue from Iraqi oil and gas sales and leftover revenue from the United Nations oil-for-food program, which allowed Iraq to sell a certain amount of crude and spend the proceeds on humanitarian goods.
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen said in the audit that his office “has not concluded that fraud or theft occurred, but the absence of receiving reports raises questions.”
The missing receiving reports would have documented “the government’s inspection and acceptance of products delivered or services performed,” Bowen wrote. “Missing receiving reports involved commodities vulnerable to fraud and theft.”
The Army Corps said the likelihood that fuel was stolen was limited because it “was delivered by military-escorted convoys,” according to the audit. The audit covered payment records from July 2003 through November 2006, according to the inspector general.
Conducting a final accounting -- including whether the U.S. must reimburse some money to Iraq’s government -- “has been delayed pending completion of financial audits and contract closeouts,” according to the audit.
“Such uncertainty puts the U.S. in a politically sensitive position and calls for the concerted efforts of all involved to resolve,” Bowen said.
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