Middle East Meltdown

[American Patriot]

Good for Sagittarius then!

lmao

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Saudi Arabia drafts in up to 10,000 troops ahead of protests

Saudi Arabia is drafting in up to 10,000 security forces to the north eastern Muslim Shia provinces ahead of mass protests planned next week.


Saudi Shias staged protests in two towns in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province on Thursday Photo: REUTERS

12:37AM GMT 05 Mar 2011

Desperate to avoid mass uprisings against the House of Saud, security forces have deployed in huge numbers across the region.

King Abdullah is also reported to have told neighbouring Bahrain that if they do not put down their own ongoing Shia revolt, his own forces will.

In response to the massive mobilisation, protesters are planning to place women on the front ranks to discourage Saudi forces from firing on them.

In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh set off a deadly battle for survival last night as he rejected an opposition peace proposal and ordered troops to fire on demonstrators, killing four. Efforts to suppress demonstrations by the key ally in the “war on terror” could jeopardise rising volumes of Western aid flooding into the country, diplomats warned.

President Saleh rejected an opposition proposal that would have brought demonstrations to a standstill in return for a promise to step down by the end of the year. Yemeni troops used rockets and machineguns to attack demonstrators in the north of the country, killing four and injuring nine.

[American Patriot]

Drafts.....

interesting.

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Rival Tanks Deploy as Top Yemeni Army Commanders Defect

Mar 21, 2011 – 11:35 AM

Ahmed al-Haj
AP

SANAA, Yemen -- Rival tanks deployed in the streets of Yemen's capital Monday after three senior army commanders defected to a movement calling for the ouster of the U.S.-backed president, radically depleting his support among the country's most powerful institutions.

Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the army's powerful 1st Armored Division, announced his defection in a message delivered by a close aide to protest leaders at the Sanaa square that has become the epicenter of their movement.

Muhammed Muheisen, AP

Yemeni army officers react Monday as they join anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Three army commanders, including a top general, defected to the opposition calling for an end to Saleh's rule.

Some of the division's tanks and armored vehicles then deployed in the square, which protesters have occupied for more than a month to call for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after 32 years in power. An increasingly violent crackdown on the demonstrations escalated dramatically on Friday when Saleh's forces opened fire from rooftops, killing more 40 in an assault that caused much of his remaining power base to splinter.

Maj. Gen. al-Ahmar also sent tanks to the state television building, the Central Bank and the Defense Ministry.

Saleh, who has cooperated closely with a U.S.-backed offensive against his nation's branch of al-Qaida, looked to be far closer to what analysts increasingly have called inevitable: a choice between stepping down or waging a dramatically more violent campaign against his opponents.

At least a dozen tanks and armored personnel carriers belonging to the Republican Guards, an elite force led by Saleh's son and one-time heir apparent, Ahmed, were deployed outside the presidential palace on Sanaa's southern outskirts, according to witnesses.

A senior opposition leader said contacts were underway with the president over a peaceful way out of the ongoing crisis. One option under discussion, he said, was for Saleh to step down and a military council takes over from him to run the country till presidential and legislative elections are held.

The leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the contacts, declined to say how much progress the talks have made, but gave 48 hours as the likely timeframe for a breakthrough.

Saleh appeared to be retaining the loyalty of at least some of Yemen's military, however.

Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed said on television that the armed forces remained loyal to the president and would counter any plots against "constitutional legitimacy" and "democracy."

Ahmed spoke after a meeting of the National Defense Council, which is led by Saleh and includes the prime minister, the defense and information ministers as well as the intelligence chief.

Saleh also sent a message via his foreign minister to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Yemen's powerful neighbor and the on-and-off backer of the Yemeni leader. The contents of the message were not known.

All three army officers who defected belong to Saleh's Hashid tribe and a tribal leader said it was rallying behind Maj. Gen. al-Ahmar as a possible replacement for Saleh, eager to keep the president's job for one of its own.

The leader spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Regional TV stations reported that dozens of army commanders and politicians were joining the opposition, but there was no immediate independent confirmation.

Saleh fired his entire Cabinet Sunday ahead of what one government official said was a planned mass resignation, a series of ambassador have quit in protest and Sadeq al-Ahmar, the chief of the Hashid tribe, said Monday that he too was joining the opposition.

Maj. Gen. al-Ahmar has been close to Saleh for most of the Yemeni president's years in power. He has close associations with Islamist groups in Yemen that are likely to raise suspicions in the West about his willingness to effectively fight al-Qaida operatives active in the country.

He is a veteran of the 1994 civil war that saw Saleh's army suppress an attempt by southern Yemen to secede. Al-Ahmar also fought in recent years against Shiite rebels in the north of the country.

His defection to the opposition was welcomed by protesters, but the warm reception may not guarantee him a political career in a post-Saleh Yemen given his close links to the president.

Popular among troops and viewed as a seasoned field commander, al-Ahmar also has widely been seen as a rival to the president and his son, who saw him as a threat to him succeeding his father.

Speaking to Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television from Sanaa, al-Ahmar said the death of scores of protesters at the hands of security forces on Friday made him decide to back the opposition after weeks of trying to mediate between Saleh and the protesters.

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"The demands of the protesters are the demands of the Yemeni people," he said. "I can no longer fool myself, it is not the custom of men or tribes to do so."

The two other officers who announced their defection were Mohammed Ali Mohsen and Hameed al-Qusaibi, who both have the rank of brigadier. Yemen's ambassadors to Jordan, Syria and parliament's deputy speaker also announced Monday they were supporting the opposition, further undermining Saleh's weakening authority.

Saleh and his weak government have faced down many serious challenges, often forging fragile alliances with restive tribes to extend power beyond the capital, Sanaa. Most recently, he has battled a seven-year armed rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south, and an al-Qaida offshoot that is of great concern to the U.S.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which formed in January 2009, has moved beyond regional aims and attacked the West, including sending a suicide bomber who came tried to down a U.S.-bound airliner with a bomb sewn into his underwear. The device failed to detonate properly.

Yemen is also home to U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have offered inspiration to those attacking the U.S., including Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people and wounding dozens in a 2009 shootout at Fort Hood, Texas.

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Thousands in Morocco march for rights, end to graft

Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:37pm GMT

* Thousands of Moroccans demand change, end to corruption
* Protesters say king has reneged on promises for reform
* Demonstrations add to wave of unrest across North Africa

(Adds official estimate of protester numbers, quotes)
By Souhail Karam

RABAT, March 20 (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets in cities across Morocco on Sunday demanding better civil rights and an end to corruption in the moderate North African country where the king this month promised constitutional reform.

"Morocco should start drawing some serious lessons from what's happening around it," said Bouchta Moussaif, who was among at least two thousand people marching alongside the city's medieval walls in the capital Rabat.

Thousands joined protests in Morocco's main city, Casablanca, in Tangiers in the north, and in Agadir on the Atlantic coast where witness Hafsa Oubou said several thousands were marching.

A government official said at least as many were protesting as on Feb. 20 when interior ministry estimates were 37,000.

Unrest has swept across North Africa since December, toppling regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, prompting international military intervention against Libya, and protests in Algeria.

"The king did not meet the demands made during the first nationwide protest, that's why we are here again. He promised to reform the constitution and we all know how far those promises have got us," Moussaif said.

Morocco's King Mohamed promised on March 9 to reform the judiciary, create a stronger role for parliament and political parties and boost the authority of local officials, and appointed a committee to work with political parties, trade unions and civil society groups to draw up proposals by June.

"The Moroccan people want something that goes beyond the king's speech," said Abdelhamid Amine of AMDH human rights group. "They want their society to cease being one of subjects and become a society of citizenship."

Added Moncef Haddari, 82, said: "We will demonstrate until we get a new constitution chosen by the people."

POLITICAL PRISONERS
Many women, some with hijab fully covering their faces, carried pictures of relatives jailed in the wake of a security crackdown that saw thousands of people sentenced to often long prison terms after 12 suicide bombers killed 33 people in Casablanca in 2003.

"My son has been on death row for seven years now. They have sentenced him to death because he prays. Death for being a good Muslim," said Zahra Sahif, who carried a pink prison visit card with both her picture and her son's.

"They did not even give him the chance for an appeal," she continued. "What kind of justice is this? Is it because the Americans give them money?"

King Mohamed VI succeeded his father in 1999 and holds ultimate power in the country of 32.6 million. Some in the crowd carried his picture and said they wanted changes under which the country would remain a kingdom.

"We all are for our king. But I agree that the prime minister and the king's two aides should get out," said protester Dalila, referring to Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi, Mohamed Mounir El-Majidi, the king's secretary who has made a fortune from billboard advertising and Fouad Ali Himma, a classmate of the king and former deputy interior minister.

"We want an end to the corruption you find everywhere," said Dalila, a woman dressed in Western clothes.

Some protesters carried brooms as they chanted "We want an end to corruption". A few people carried cardboard "F"s, a reference to the Internet site Facebook which has played an important role in helping organising anti-government protests.

The Socialists' USFP party announced late on Saturday that it would join the protest -- the first government coalition party to do so.

Morocco was seen as less likely to face public protests than other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, but calls for change have intensified as people sense a rare opportunity.

(Additional reporting by Zakia Abdennebi; Writing by Adam Tanner; Editing by Louise Ireland)

[BRVoice]

http://www.debka.com/article/20793/


Bomb blast at Jerusalem bus stop kills woman, injures 30 people
DEBKAfile Special Report March 23, 2011, 4:21 PM (GMT+02:00)

A medium-sized bomb exploded Wednesday afternoon, March 23, at the No. 74 bus stop opposite Binyanei Haooma at the main entrance to Jerusalem from the north, injuring some 31 passers-by and passengers, several seriously. A woman later died of her wounds in hospital. Initial reports of a suicide attack were dispelled when the smoke subsided and the explosion was traced to a bomb planted in a bag attached to a phone booth near a bus stop at the busiest traffic hub of the city. The 74 bus and a number of passing vehicles were damaged by the blast. The attack, recalling years of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israeli buses, occurred on the same day as Palestinians in Gaza fired Grad missiles at Beersheba. Click here for that story.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delayed his departure for an official visit to Moscow.

The last major Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem was the massacre at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva seminary on March 6, 2008. Later, Palestinians used tractors for rampages on city routes.



http://www.debka.com/article/20792/


Escalating Palestinian missile-mortar fire on Israeli cities boosts tension
DEBKAfile Special Report March 23, 2011, 9:57 AM (GMT+02:00)

Palestinian missiles, rockets and mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip have rained down on Israeli towns and villages relentlessly for the past ten days. The mayor of the Negev city of Beersheba ordered schools to remain closed Wednesday, March 23, after the second heavy (Iran-supplied) Grad rocket in a month hit a residential district, injuring five people and causing heavy damage. As he spoke, another Grad exploded in Beersheba. Overnight, two Grads were aimed at the port towns of Ashkelon and Ashdod. The villages abutting on Gaza were told to stay close to bomb shelters Tuesday night after taking some 56 mortar rounds in three days. Wednesday morning, another seven exploded in the Eshkol farm region, finding the IDF Home Front Command unready for the proliferating attacks.

The Palestinians said they were punishing Israel for hitting back at the sources of previous Palestinian attacks, some admitted by Hamas, others by the Iranian surrogate Jihad Islami. Tuesday, one of four Israeli tank shells hit a Palestinian building near the source of mortar fire and accidentally killed three civilians, including a youth and a boy, as well as one of the shooters. Israel apologized for civilian deaths, stressing they were inadvertent whereas the Palestinian terrorists of Gaza deliberately target Israeli civilians.

Following this exchange, the leaders of the targeted Israeli cities and villages called loudly for another Cast Lead operation as limited military, responsive action was clearly of no use. Some urged the new chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz to lead a campaign to remove Hamas rule, saying it is at least as repressive, belligerent and dangerous to its neighbors as other Arab regimes currently targeted by Western armies.

However, the Netanyahu government has tied itself in knots.

Last Saturday, March 19, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview: "The Israelis should be negotiating peace with me." Brushing aside the fact that he only speaks for the West Bank segment of the Palestinian people – not the Gazans who overthrew his Fatah - he said: "Leave the Hamas to me."

Hamas responded to this claim by stepping up its attacks on Israel to underline its independence of PA chairman.

Whereas Abbas' Fatah is seeking reconciliation with its rival in secret talks led by Nabil Shaat, Hamas much strengthened by the Muslim Brotherhood's successes in Egypt and its recognition is playing hard to get. Hamas leaders in Gaza and Damascus are more interested in throwing their weight around for all fellow-extremists to see and show them an example by attacking Israel. Click for debkafile's March 19 report of 50 mortars fired on one day.

In addressing Israeli complaints, it suits Hamas to pin the blame for shooting heavy rockets on Iran's Palestinian surrogate Jihad Islami. However, debkafile's military sources report that the Jihad only strikes with Hamas' blessing.

Much harder to understand is the Netanyahu government's failure to smack down the authors of this relentless punishment which has been going on for almost a decade, except for the single limited Cast Lead operation of 2008-9, which too was interrupted prematurely under international pressure drummed up by the Palestinians and their backers.

Israeli leaders continue to pretend that "neither side seeks escalation" – which no one believes.

They still don't appreciate that the military attack staged by Western nations on Muammar Qaddafi's regime has changed the rules for dealing with harmful rulers. Rather than going for the top of the Hamas pyramid, Israel has just marginally sharpened its counter-attacks against its troops, only to bring forth heavier Palestinian missiles smashing into its cities.

Tuesday, an Israeli tank shell killed two Palestinian boys aged 11 and 16 and a man of 50, following a string of Palestinian mortar and missile attacks on their Israeli neighbors. Earlier that day, an Israeli air strike hit four members of a Palestinian team about to shoot a missile.

Other Palestinian teams responded swiftly with attacks further afield on Beersheba and Israeli coastal cities using Grad rockets which have a range of at least 40 kilometers.

The latest escalation in a long Palestinian campaign against Israel from Gaza, boosted by the successful popular uprising in Egypt, was prompted by Mahmoud Abbas' interview to Israeli television – a public gesture that was accompanied by his secret wooing of Hamas.

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Gates calls for Syrian forces to move aside

By FT reporters
Published: March 24 2011 15:13 | Last updated: March 24 2011 21:59




Syria should follow Egypt’s lead and the Syrian army should “empower a revolution”, Robert Gates, US secretary of defence, argued as thousands marched in a southern city.

Mr Gates made his comments – some of the toughest remarks to date by a US official about the rule of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president – on a day of further upheaval in the Middle East and beyond.

The White House signalled it was preparing for a change in power in Yemen, where it has been allied with the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, president. Nato allies reached a deal in which the alliance will take over command of the Libyan no-fly zone, although responsibility for strikes on forces loyal to Col Muammer Gaddafi will not immediately come under the Nato umbrella.

Drawing a parallel between the unrest in Syria and the protests that unseated Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s former president, Mr Gates said: “I’ve just come from Egypt, where the Egyptian army stood on the sidelines and allowed people to demonstrate and in fact empowered a revolution. The Syrians might take a lesson from that.”

His comments came as thousands of people marched on Thursday in Deraa, southern Syria, where at least 44 people are now thought to have been killed in a week of protests, and as Mr Assad announced salary increases and promised greater freedom.

“I would say that what the Syrian government is confronting is in fact the same challenge that faces so many governments across the region, and that is the unmet political and economic grievances of their people,” Reuters quoted Mr Gates as saying during a trip to Israel.

The Obama administration has been careful to avoid the language of regime change when dealing with the Middle East and it was not clear if the White House shared Mr Gates’s sentiments.

Barack Obama, US president, has argued that the two key principles the US is backing are respect of universal rights and non-violence in dealing with protesters.

With the exception of the case of Col Gaddafi, the US has not explicitly called for any of the Arab world’s leaders to leave office. The administration insists it is popular will, rather than the US’s opinion, that should determine the fate of the Arab world’s leaders, while maintaining alliances with strategically important countries.

On Thursday, Washington signalled it was ready to deal with a new government in Yemen in the event of Mr Saleh’s departure.

“We do not build our policy in any country around a single person,” said Jay Carney, White House press secretary. “And we obviously will look forward to having a solid relationship with the leader of Yemen.”

The White House said it strongly condemned “the Syrian government’s “brutal repression of demonstrations.”

In Syria, after days of protests and bloodshed, angry crowds turned out for the latest funerals in Deraa amid a huge security presence. Witnesses heard chants of “The blood of our martyrs is not spilt in waste!” and “God, Syria, freedom!”

Officials at the main hospital in Deraa have reported receiving 37 bodies, according to Reuters.

Mr Gates, while in Egypt, had called on the Egyptian authorities to give new political forces more time to organise as the country takes its first steps towards democracy.

Egypt is due to hold parliamentary elections in September, but the young political activists who launched the revolution have been pressing for a longer transition to allow them to organise. Politicians and analysts say only the Muslim Brotherhood opposition and remnants of Mr Mubarak’s National Democratic Party are sufficiently prepared for elections.

While not openly calling for the elections to be postponed, Mr Gates said: “It is important to allow those new elements that have become active in Egyptian politics – some of them, for the first time – to have the time to develop political parties … so they can play the same kind of leading role in Egypt in the future that they played in bringing about this change in the first place.”

The US official was in Cairo for talks with Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the defence minister and head of the Supreme Military Council which has been running the country since the fall of the Mubarak regime.

Mr Gates praised Field Marshal Tantawi and the Egyptian military for refusing to use violence against protesters during the uprising.

“He told me the army would protect the people,” said Mr Gates. “And in everything that ensued, he and the army kept their word.”

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Lieberman: West should deal with Iran and Syria like Libya

After meeting French counterpart, Alain Juppe, FM also says recent upsurge of violence on the Gaza border and Wednesday's bomb attack in Jerusalem are 'incitement' by the Palestinians.

By Reuters Iran and Syria pose a greater security threat than Libya and the West should treat those countries in the same way as it has Muammar Gadhafi's government, Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday.

In a brief interview with Reuters after meeting his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, Avigdor Lieberman also said a recent upsurge of violence on the Gaza border and Wednesday's bomb attack in Jerusalem were "incitement" by the Palestinians.

Western warplanes hit Libyan tanks during a fifth night of air strikes as they enforced a UN resolution aimed at stopping Gadhafi's counter-offensive against rebels seeking an end to his rule.

Lieberman did not explicitly call for military action against Syria and Iran, but he said: "I think that the same principles, activities the Western world (has taken) in Libya ... I hope to see those regarding the Iranian regime and the Syrian regime."

Syrian security forces fired on hundreds of youth protesters in southern Syria on Wednesday, according to witnesses, in a dramatic escalation of six days of protests in which at least 32 civilians have been killed.

"These two regimes kill more citizens than the Libyan regime does, and the threat from these countries is much more serious than that from Libya," Lieberman said. Iran has also used force to crush pro-democracy street protests in the recent past.

Israeli naval commandos seized a cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea on March 15 carrying what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were Iranian-supplied weapons intended for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Lieberman heads the right-wing nationalist "Israel Our Home" party which holds 15 pivotal seats in Netanyahu's 74-seat coalition in the 120-member Knesset.

Analysts say that position has given him broad license to tell the United Nations that Middle East peace is a distant dream, whatever Netanyahu may say, and promote a "loyalty oath" for Israeli Arabs to flush out the unpatriotic.

Violence on the Gaza border has spiked in recent days and a bomb attack in Jerusalem that police blamed on Palestinian militants killed one woman and injured 30 people on Wednesday. It was the first such attack in the city since 2004.

Lieberman called the surge in violence a direct result of "incitement" on the Palestinian side.

Peace talks aimed at ending the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last year after Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.

"I see a lot of efforts in the Palestinian Authority for reconciliation with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but I don't see any readiness for direct talks with Israel," he said. "It is totally unacceptable."

Lieberman said Israel was ready for direct talks with the Palestinians despite the current status quo.

"I believe any change in the peace process must be as a result of direct talks and not unilateral steps and not as a unilateral decision even of the international community," he said.

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Syria and Yemen's violence against protesters draws rebuke from White House

Press Secretary Jay Carney says, 'We strongly condemn the Syrian government's attempts to repress and intimidate demonstrators,' and calls the situation in Yemen 'not acceptable.'

By Michael Muskal Los Angeles Times March 25, 2011, 12:14 p.m.

The White House on Friday condemned violence against protesters in Syria and Yemen and called for peaceful negotiations toward democratic change in those countries.

Speaking to reporters, Press Secretary Jay Carney repeated what has been the Obama administration response to months of violence between governments and protesters across the Mideast.

“We strongly condemn the Syrian government's attempts to repress and intimidate demonstrators,” he told reporters.

Syrian forces reportedly opened fire on protesters in several towns as thousands shouted "Freedom!" in support of an uprising in the southern city of Dara, according to news reports from the region. At least 15 people were killed there earlier this week in demonstrations against the government of President Bashar Assad.

At least two deaths were reported on Friday in Syria, one in Latakia and the other in the central city of Homs.

The United States and Syria have had strained relations in the past, but Carney said the Obama administration wanted to make its opposition to violence known. “We are making it clear from here and from other places what our position is,” he said.

Carney was also critical about the situation in Yemen where at least 50 have been killed and hundreds injured in recent weeks during anti-government protests calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

The violence is “not acceptable,” Carney said. The White House “urges the leaders of these countries to pursue peace [and] political dialogue with broad swaths of their country,” he said.

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Political Debate Intensifies Over U.S. Role in Mideast as Unrest Spreads

Published March 25, 2011
| FoxNews.com


AP
Anti-Syrian government protesters flash V sign as they protest in the southern city of Daraa, Syria, March 23.

As unrest spreads in the Middle East, so does the debate in Washington over how far the United States should go in seeking to shape the outcome.

President Obama's decision to order missile strikes in support of an internationally maintained no-fly zone in Libya has caused a host of political headaches for him on Capitol Hill, in the form of lawmakers demanding he come crawling to Congress for permission after the fact.

But the president's attention already is being diverted by intensified uprisings against leaders friend and foe -- deadly clashes in Syria, a possible changing of the guard in Yemen and continued tensions in Jordan and Bahrain. As with Libya, these conflicts have the administration being pulled in different directions.

Two U.S. senators, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., urged the administration Thursday to speak more forcefully on Syria and coordinate with the opposition after protesters were killed.

"We can ill afford another timid embrace of a democratic uprising," they said.

The administration's response is fluid.

Though the White House says it's not in the business of picking leaders, Defense Secretary Roberts Gates seemed to step beyond White House talking points while in Israel, suggesting the Syrian military walk like the Egyptians and let the protesters rise up.

"I've just come from Egypt, where the Egyptian army stood on the sidelines and allowed people to demonstrate and in fact empowered a revolution. The Syrians might take a lesson from that," Gates said, according to an account in Reuters.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday the administration condemns the Syrian government's repressive tactics and is talking with allies, but he did not go so far as Gates.

The administration's comments on Syria follow a set of comments on Libya in which different officials gave different impressions about the direction of the mission. The administration is likely to face additional pressure to better define its stance on Yemen, where President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- unlike Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key U.S. ally in efforts to battle Al Qaeda -- has agreed, conditionally, to step down.

Former Pentagon spokesman J.D. Gordon said the unrest in Syria has not yet reached a point that demands U.S. involvement, but he suggested Yemen could be more volatile and dangerous for U.S. interests amid a regime change.

"I think we need to get involved," he told Fox News. "It could make Afghanistan look easy. ... The last thing we need is an Al Qaeda-sponsored government in Yemen."

Asked about Yemen Thursday, Carney stressed that "political dialogue" is the ideal route to resolving these conflicts.

"We're not in the business of choosing for the peoples of these countries who their leaders ought to be. ... Whatever the leadership in the future looks like for Yemen, that's got to be decided by the people of Yemen and not by the people of the United States," he said. "We do not build our policy, in any country, around a single person. And we obviously will look forward to having a solid relationship to the leader of Yemen."

With Libya, discontent on Capitol Hill is building ahead of Congress' return to Washington next week.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and other lawmakers want to defund the operation. Others are demanding a vote, or at least more communication between the White House and Congress. In an attempt to assuage these concerns, Obama held a conference call on Libya with congressional leaders Friday afternoon. And Carney said the president would speak publicly about the conflict in the "very near future."

While some express concern Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi could remain in power when the dust settles, a number of lawmakers have stressed over all else that the administration must not send ground forces into the nation -- something Obama vows the U.S. won't do. Lawmakers expressed cautious optimism Friday about NATO taking partial control of the mission.

"Now that our military has prevented an immediate disaster, I have very serious concerns about what this intervention means for our country in the coming weeks," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a statement. "I feel very strongly that we need to avoid deep military involvement in a third foreign country -- particularly in a country whose politics and society are largely unknown to us."

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., announced Friday he would introduce a bill ordering a stop to Libyan operations until Obama seeks congressional approval.

"Whether or not Congress agrees with the president's decision, initiating this conflict was not his decision to make alone," Amash said.

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A No-Fly Zone . . . Over Syria?

Mar. 27 2011 - 4:02 pm | 2,247 views | 0 recommendations | 7 comments
By GORDON G. CHANG

Sunday, Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, called for an American-enforced no-fly zone over Syria if the government of Bashar Assad employs the same tactics that Colonel Moammar Gadhafi has used against Libyan rebels.

In Syria, government snipers and others killed about a hundred unarmed protestors in Daraa, Latakia, Homs, Sanamen, and other cities as Damascus tried to quell protests that have rocked the country for more than a week. “There’s a precedent now that the world community has set in Libya, and it’s the right one,” the independent from Connecticut said on Fox News Sunday.

Secretary of State Clinton seemed to reject Lieberman’s call. “The situation in Libya, which engendered so much concern from around the international community, had a leader who used military force against the protestors from one end of his country to the other, who publicly said things like ‘We’ll show no mercy,’ ‘We’ll go house to house,” she said to Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. In Syria, on the other hand, there were only “police actions.” As Mrs. Clinton noted, “Each of these situations is unique.”

Yes, every nation is unique. In Libya, Obama administration officials have cited the vital interests of our European partners in the North African nation.

They have, interestingly, shied away from citing as a justification for military intervention the one American interest for getting rid of its mercurial leader—he killed Americans in a series of horrific terrorist acts in the 1980s.

Syria, in contrast, is far more important to us at this moment. Assad is a key ally of American adversaries Iran and North Korea and has been trying to covertly build nuclear weapons in violation of his country’s obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Moreover, by backing the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, Assad is a direct threat to Israel.

With the Syrian leader gone, the theocrats in Iran would be stripped of a key friend and would therefore look especially vulnerable. And with the Iranian ayatollahs gone, all sorts of good things could happen in Iraq, the Gulf states, Afghanistan, and perhaps the rest of Asia. So what interest do we have in seeing Assad stay in power?

And what will it take for the United States to act in its interest and undermine his murderous government? “If there were a coalition of the international community, if there was the passage of a Security Council resolution, if there were a call by the Arab League, if there was a condemnation that was universal,” Mrs. Clinton said to Schieffer.

Since when did Washington contract out America’s security to the United Nations and the Arab League? The problem, of course, is that the Security Council can act only when the great powers of the world are in general agreement. When they are not, nothing gets done and assorted despots and other bad actors run free and roil the international community.

Americans can disagree over whether the United States should promote what Mrs. Clinton called “the Arab awakening” and what others term the “fourth wave of democracy.” Yet whether one sees the “Arab Spring” as an historic opportunity or a series of tar pits, it is in the narrow interests of the United States to rid the world of those who seek to undermine it, especially when the opportunity arises. Gadhafi is a villain, but he was not attacking the international system in the past few years. Assad, however, is both an autocrat and a threat.

Mrs. Clinton seemed to suggest that the Damascus despot was on the right track. As she said a few hours ago, “There is a different leader in Syria now, many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.”

Really?

It’s much more likely that the young Assad—he succeeded his father as leader—has deceived hopeful American legislators. After all, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez on Friday called Assad a “brother”—not a good sign—and Mrs. Clinton used words that echo what Washington’s political class said about Gadhafi up until recent days.

Moreover, Assad’s killing of unarmed citizens hardly shows an intent to reform. As Lieberman noted, “We’re not going to stand by and allow this Assad to slaughter his people like his father did years ago.”

We should not only “deplore the violence in Syria” as Mrs. Clinton did today, we should do all we can to stop it, if not for the Syrian people than for ourselves.

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Lieberman Suggests No-Fly Zone an Option in Syria if Violence Escalates

Published March 27, 2011
| FoxNews.com

Sen. Joe Lieberman suggested Sunday he would support military intervention in Syria if its president resorts to the kind of violent tactics used by Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Dozens reportedly have been killed in protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, raising questions about whether the international community would get involved.

Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that if Assad starts slaughtering his own people, he will risk other countries imposing a no-fly zone "just as we're doing in Libya."

He urged Assad to, instead, negotiate with the "freedom fighters" in his country.

"There's a precedent now that the world community has set in Libya, and it's the right one," Lieberman said.

The Obama administration, though, pushed back on suggestions that the United States could support another intervention.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she doesn't expect that to happen, describing the clashes in Syria as part of a "police action" -- as opposed to a military campaign against the Syrian people.

"Each of these situations is unique," she said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "Certainly we deplore the violence in Syria."

[American Patriot]

Good. Mr. President? Where are you on this one? Syria has WMDs that they got from Saddam.

About time we proved it...

For some reason I'm actually finding myself HAPPY the world is falling apart like this and the guy in the Office of President is still campaigning for the office instead of actually BEING the President of the United States. Not that he should be there, not that he's probably even a real citizen of this country, NOT that he is a moderate but a SOCIALIST - an ass kissing Socialist kissing the asses of ACORN, SEIU and Unions - SOCIALISTS all.

I'm glad the man in the office wasn't a Republican.

Thank God there's someone to blame later....

[vector7]

Iranian Video Says Mahdi is 'Near'

By Erick Stakelbeck CBN News Terrorism Analyst

Monday, March 28, 2011

New evidence has emerged that the Iranian government sees the current unrest in the Middle East as a signal that the Mahdi--or Islamic messiah--is about to appear.

CBN News has obtained a never-before-seen video produced by the Iranian regime that says all the signs are moving into place -- and that Iran will soon help usher in the end times.

While the revolutionary movements gripping the Middle East have created uncertainty throughout the region, the video shows that the Iranian regime believes the chaos is divine proof that their ultimate victory is at hand.

'The Coming is Near'
The propaganda footage has reportedly been approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government.

It's called The Coming is Near and it describes current events in the Middle East as a prelude to the arrival of the mythical tweflth Imam or Mahdi -- the messiah figure who Islamic scriptures say will lead the armies of Islam to victory over all non-Muslims in the last days.

"This video has been produced by a group called the Conductors of the Coming, in connection with the Basiji -- the Iranian paramilitary force, and in collaboration with the Iranian president's office," said Reza Kahlil, a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who shared the video with CBN News.

Kahlili, author of the book, A Time to Betray, worked as a double agent for the CIA inside the Iranian regime.

"Just a few weeks ago, Ahmadenijad's office screened this movie with much excitement for the clerics," Kahlili told CBN News. "The target audience is Muslims in the Middle East and around the world."

To watch the video in its entirety, visit Kahlili's website.

The video claims that Iran is destined to rise as a great power in the last days to help defeat America and Israel and usher in the return of the Mahdi.

And it makes clear the Iranians believe that time is fast approaching.

"The Hadith have clearly described the events and the various transformations of countries in the Middle East and also that of Iran in the age of the coming," said a narrator, who went on to say that America's invasion of Iraq was foretold by Islamic scripture--and that the Mahdi will one day soon rule the world from Iraq.

Other 'Prophetic' Signs
The ongoing upheavals in other Middle Eastern countries like Yemen and Egypt--including the rise of the Muslim Brotherood -- are also analyzed as prophetic signs that the Mahdi is near -- so is the current poor health of the king of Saudi Arabia, an Iranian rival.

"Isn't the presence of Abdullah, his illness, and his uncertain condition, great news for those anxious for the coming?" asks the narrator.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khameini, and Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah, are hailed as pivotal end times players, whose rise was predicted in Islamic scriptures.

The same goes for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, who the video says will conquer Jerusalem prior to the Mahdi's coming.

"I think it's a very grave development," Mideast expert Joel Rosenberg, author of The Twelfth Imam, told CBN News, "because it gives you a window into the thinking of the Iranian leadership: that they believe the time for war with Israel may be even sooner than others had imagined."

Kahlili says The Coming is Near will soon be distributed by the Iranian regime throughout the Middle East. He explained that their goal is to instigate further uprisings in Arab countries.

[American Patriot]

'The Coming is Near'
The propaganda footage has reportedly been approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government.

It's called The Coming is Near and it describes current events in the Middle East as a prelude to the arrival of the mythical tweflth Imam or Mahdi -- the messiah figure who Islamic scriptures say will lead the armies of Islam to victory over all non-Muslims in the last days.

Well.... all I can say is that I don't care who is in the Office of the President, if the Muslims think they are going to eliminate all the infidels they've got another think coming - and Americans will be one of the last groups they get rid of - and at the cost of 99.9% of themselves.

This country will NOT fall to a religion.

[vector7]

At Least 12 Killed During Koran-Burning Protest at UN Office in Afghanistan

Published April 01, 2011
| FoxNews.com

KABUL, Afghanistan — Thousands of protesters angry over the purported burning of a Koran by a Florida pastor stormed a United Nations compound Friday in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people, including eight foreigners.

Two of the foreigners were beheaded, Reuters reported. There were unconfirmed reports that the death toll was as high as 20.

The demonstration in Mazar-i-Sharif turned violent when some protesters grabbed weapons from the UN guards and opened fire, then mobbed buildings and set fires on the compound, officials said. Demonstrators also massed in Kabul and the western city of Herat.

The topic of Koran burning stirred outrage among millions of Muslims and others worldwide after the Rev. Terry Jones' small church, Dove Outreach Center, threatened to destroy a copy of the holy book last September. The Florida pastor had backed down but the church claimed that it went through with the burning last month.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman in Balkh province, said the protest in Mazar-i-Sharif began peacefully when several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the UN mission's compound, choosing an obvious symbol of the international community's involvement in Afghanistan to denounce the Koran's destruction.



April 1: Afghans carry a man who was wounded following an attack on UN's office during a demonstration to condemn the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book by a Florida pastor, in Mazar-i- Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan. An Afghan official says seven people have been killed at a U.N. office in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when a Koran-burning protest turned violent. (AP)

It turned violent when some protesters seized the guards' weapons and started shooting, then the crowds stormed the building, sending plumes of black smoke into the air. One protester, Ahmad Gul, a 32-year-old teacher in the city, said Afghan security forces at the scene killed and wounded protesters.

Gen. Daud Daud, commander of Afghan National Police in several northern provinces, said those killed included five Nepalese guards who were working for the UN and two other foreigners employed at the complex. He said one other foreigner was wounded. Later, Rawof Taj, deputy police chief in Balkh province, said the injured individual had died. Taj said 25 people had been arrested.

The nationalities of the other three foreigners was not known.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said four protesters also were killed and nearly two dozen civilians were wounded.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said P.O. Yershov, a Russian citizen who was employed at the U.N. office, was injured in an attack.

Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, confirmed that people working for the U.N. had died in an attack on the operation center, but he could not provide details.

"The situation is still confusing and we are currently working to ascertain all the facts and take care of all our staff," he said from his office in Kabul.

Staffan de Mistura, the top UN official in Afghanistan, had left Kabul for Mazar-i-Sharif to personally handle the situation, he said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in Nairobi, said it was "a cowardly attack that cannot be justified under any circumstances."

Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said "a fairly substantial number" of UN staff and guards had been killed, but he gave no figure. "Among the casualties we believe that some of them were guards trying to protect the other staff," he said.

President Obama strongly condemned the attack and stressed the importance of work of the U.N. staff in Afghanistan.

"Their work is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan for the benefit of all its citizens. We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue," Obama said.

Mohammad Azim, a businessman in Mazer-i-Sharif, said that clerics with loudspeakers drove around the city in two cars on Thursday to invite residents to the protest. After Friday prayers at a large blue mosque in the city center, clerics again called on worshippers to attend a peaceful protest.

When Abdul Karim, a police officer in Mazar-i-Sharif, went inside the compound to investigate, he saw the bullet-riddled bodies of three Nepalese guards lying in the yard, and a fourth on the first floor.

He said another victim with a fatal head wound died on a stairway to the basement of the compound, which was littered with broken glass and bullet casings. A man who was killed inside a room had wounds to his face and body, Karim said.

Several hundred people also protested the Koran burning at several sites in Herat, a city in western Afghanistan. Protesters burned a U.S. flag at a sports stadium in Herat and chanted "Death to the U.S." and "They broke the heart of Islam."

About 100 people also gathered at a traffic circle near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

The Gainesville, Florida church's website stated that after a five-hour trial on March 20, the Koran "was found guilty and a copy was burned inside the building." A picture on the website shows a book in flames in a small portable fire pit. The church on Friday repeated its claim that a Koran had been burned.

In a statement, Jones did not comment on whether his act had lead to the deaths. Instead he said it was time to "hold Islam accountable" and called on the United States and the UN to hold "these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities."

Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement calling the burning a "crime against a religion." He denounced it as a "disrespectful and abhorrent act" and called on the U.S. and the United Nations to bring to justice those who burned the holy book and issue a response to Muslims around the world.

[BRVoice]

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaN...110511?sp=true


Obama to lay out new Mideast strategy
Wed May 11, 2011 4:57pm GMT
By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will give a major speech, possibly as early as next week, laying out his new Middle East strategy after the killing of Osama bin Laden and amid upheaval in the Arab world, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

A key sticking point is whether Obama, who gained a boost in global stature with the death of the al Qaeda chief last week, will also use his coming address to present new proposals for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, a source familiar with the administration's internal debate said.

Obama, who will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on May 20, is considering giving the speech before he leaves on a trip to Europe early in the week of May 22, a senior administration official said.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney, speaking at the daily White House briefing, said the president would deliver an address on Middle East policy "fairly soon" but declined to provide further details.

The administration, seeking to counter criticism it has struggled to keep pace with turmoil in the Arab world, has been crafting a new U.S. strategy for the region since shortly after popular uprisings erupted, toppling autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and engulfing Libya in near-civil war.

The killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid on his Pakistan compound will give Obama a chance to make the case for Arabs to reject al Qaeda's Islamist militancy and embrace democratic change in a new era of relations with Washington.

Though Obama has made repairing U.S. ties with the Muslim world a key thrust of his foreign policy, one U.S. official said the coming address would be "about political change in the Middle East and North Africa, not about Islam."

Still, by invoking the death of bin Laden -- whose masterminding of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States sparked U.S. military campaigns in two Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan -- Obama will inevitably be speaking to a broader Muslim audience.


"OBAMA DOCTRINE"

The date of Obama's speech has not been set, administration sources stressed. But whatever the timing, it is expected to seek to clarify what has been called the "Obama doctrine," a still-fuzzy prescription for dealing with Middle East unrest.

The message he presented in his Libya speech in late March was that the United States supports protesters' democratic aspirations but will take military action only in concert with allies -- to uphold U.S. interests and deeply held values or where there was an overwhelming humanitarian need.

The speech could come as the Western air campaign is facing criticism for failing to break a stalemate between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to oust him. The United States is also under pressure to take stronger action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for his violent crackdown on protests.

A complicating factor for Obama's speech is whether the time is ripe for him to present new ideas aimed at reviving long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Many Israelis are already unsettled over the implications for the Jewish state from unrest in the broader Middle East, and a new reconciliation deal between the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction and its rival, the Islamist Hamas movement, has raised further doubts about peace prospects.

Obama's attempts to broker a Middle East peace deal have yielded little since he took office, but he has insisted there is an urgent need to seize the opportunity created by political upheaval in the broader Arab world.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on April 12 that the Obama administration planned a new push to promote comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace in coming weeks.

While there is little doubt Obama will use his meeting with Netanyahu to try to advance Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, it is unclear how hard Obama is willing to push for concessions from a leader with whom he already has strained relations.

That could risk alienating Israel's base of support among the U.S. public and in Congress as well as the influential pro-Israel lobby as Obama seeks re-election in 2012.

Obama's launch of direct peace talks last year went nowhere and he is under pressure to forge a new initiative or face the prospect of the Palestinians seeking the U.N. General Assembly's blessing for a Palestinian state in September.

Netanyahu -- who will address the U.S. Congress on May 24 -- is not likely to outline any far-reaching peace proposals, Israeli political sources said.

There had been speculation before the Hamas-Fatah unity deal that Netanyahu -- who heads a right-leaning, pro-settler coalition -- would do so.

But moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's accord with Hamas, which Israel and the United States brand a terrorist organization, has reduced pressure on Netanyahu to act and diminished Obama's leverage for pressing him.


(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Vicki Allen)

© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=235480


Three rockets hit area near Kuwait-Iraq border
By REUTERS
08/26/2011 04:25

DUBAI - Three rockets have hit the border area between Kuwait and Iraq, Al Arabiya TV reported early on Friday quoting diplomatic sources.

The Dubai-based channel said the Katyusha rockets did not target Kuwait's Mubarak Port which is under construction.

The $1.1 billion Mubarak port being built on the Bubiyan Island has been a subject of arguments between oil-producing Iraq and Kuwait, which share a small border.

Earlier the pro-Gaddafi TV channel Al Orouba had reported the rockets had targeted the Mubarak port. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the rockets being fired.

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=235652


Arab League's Elaraby pushes for end to protest crackdown
By REUTERS
08/28/2011 03:09

Arab League Secretary-General Naril Elaraby plans to go to Syria to push for an end to the crackdown on protesters, according to a statement released on Saturday night.

The Arab League said it is deeply worried over the "thousands of casualties" in Syria, calling for an end to bloodshed and respect for the Syrian people's right to political and economic reforms.

[BRVoice]

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...aspx?ID=309868


Jordanians protest for constitution reform
September 9, 2011

More than 1000 Jordanians demonstrated in central Amman on Friday to demand "satisfactory" constitutional reforms as parliament debates amendments proposed last month.

"We want to restore our constitutional rights. We demand satisfactory change," read a banner carried by Islamist and leftist demonstrators who marched after midday prayers from Al-Husseini Mosque to the nearby city hall.

Waving national flags and calling for elected governments and "genuine reforms," the protesters chanted: "We want a reformed constitution and we want it to see the light."

"We will keep pushing for comprehensive reforms. We insist that the people should elect their own governments," Hamma Said, the top leader of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, told the demonstrators.

Local news websites reported smaller demonstrations in other parts of Jordan.

MPs are currently debating constitutional amendments proposed by a palace-appointed committee and announced by Jordanian King Abdullah II in mid-August.

The recommendations include the creation of an independent commission to oversee elections, lowering the age of candidates for parliament from 35 to 25 and limiting the jurisdiction of the military state security court, accused by activists of being illegal, to cases of high treason, espionage and terrorism.

But the powerful opposition Islamists say the proposals, which did not meet one of their key demands for an elected prime minister, are not enough.

Inspired by popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, Jordanians have been protesting since January to demand sweeping economic and political reform, including a new electoral law and an elected prime minister.


-AFP/NOW Lebanon