[Michael Ledeen - National Review Online] There are still other facilities, including one at Parchin, about which some things are known, and yet another near the Afghan border, about which I am told we know much less. I doubt we know the full details of the Iranians' secret nuclear-weapons program. Quite obviously, Obama, Brown, and Sarkozy think it's a weapons program, not the civilian one the Iranians claim.
Not because this is news as such -- the Parchin link has satellite photos from 2004 -- but a nice reminder of what we knew and when we knew it. I wonder how those clever CIA analysts now feel about their little triumph over President Bush in 2007...
If I were a Republican Senator, I'd be on the floor of the Senate Monday demanding that Dhimmicrats either disavow this NIE or the 2007 NIE that said that Iran wasn't working towards nuclear weapons. One of them has to be wrong, and the Dhimmicrats used the 2007 NIE to stop George Bush from dealing with Iran. I'd twist the knife good and hard. Maybe even the MSM would report my floor speech ... ... ... ... naaaaaaah!
#1
That illiterate judge's Koran must be a different version from the one that POS in the White House reads. This is what he said to the Egyptians just a few months ago:
"The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind. The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism it is an important part of promoting peace."
And...
"I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."
My theory of what happened to Iran's only AWACS:
Reporting from Beirut - When the managing director of a small, trouble-prone Iranian airline won official permission in March to lease a couple of aging Russian-made airplanes, the country's small circle of aviation professionals gossiped about the strings he must have pulled to get the government's approval.
And when one of the planes burst aflame on the runway in late July, killing the executive, Mehdi Dadpei, his son and 14 others, few in the industry were surprised. Proof that God does have a sense of humor!
"Aria was famous for not adhering to safety standards for years," said an Iranian aviation industry insider, who spoke extensively to The Times on condition of anonymity. "Every time they had a problem, the managing director knew someone high up in the government who made it possible for Aria to continue as before."
In the wake of the crash, a government official said the airline's permission to operate had been revoked.
Iranian officials have long accused the West of playing politics with people's lives by imposing sanctions that prevent upgrades to the country's aging aircraft fleet. On Saturday, an Iranian aviation official called the sanctions an "act against humanity." But the aviation insider charged that authorities in Tehran were also to blame for a recent spate of deadly crashes.
The airline industry official, who asked that his name and his company not be published out of fear for his personal and job security, accused politically motivated regulators of failing to adequately inspect and publicize aviation accidents, and of bending rules to accommodate well-connected airlines.
"It is apparent that many of our safety concerns and problems are due to U.S. sanctions," said the official, whose name and title The Times independently verified. "But when you look closer, you will note that mismanagement on behalf of the Iran civil aviation authorities is to blame for a majority of what is so sadly taking place."
He provided a rare insider view on a contentious issue between Iran and the West, as well as the inner workings of a key industry in an opaque country.
Iran has experienced 14 fatal civilian and military aviation accidents since 2000, a figure experts describe as one of the worst in the world. Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in 2005, there have been at least seven fatal accidents.
"To have fatal accidents at 1.5 a year means Iran is experiencing 10% of world [aircraft hull] losses," said a London-based aviation accident investigator who probes crashes all over the world. He spoke on condition of anonymity. "That's well above the average."
In addition to the two major crashes that killed 184 people in July, a series of smaller aviation incidents over the last few weeks has raised concerns about the state of Iran's civil aviation. On Sept. 6, a Russian-made Tupolev-154 jet belonging to an unnamed airline made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff in Tehran because of unspecified technical problems, an official told state television.
Five days earlier, an Iran Air training plane crashed, seriously injuring the pilot, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported, while another training plane crashed Aug. 15, killing two.
"Overall, every week we hear of incidents that are far above the norms of the industry," the airline industry insider said. "They keep it secret."
In terms of safety, the Iranian airline executive said, the aviation industry is "at the lowest point" in its recent history. Human error, mostly by pilots, and not mechanical problems, was behind most of Iran's aviation troubles.
The problems are exacerbated by regulators at the country's Civil Aviation Organization who don't aggressively investigate accidents or make the results of inquiries available to the public or to airlines, and decline to blacklist incompetent pilots or politically connected airlines.
"There's a new approach to air safety worldwide based on openness, reporting, predicting incidents and sharing information," said Philip Butterworth-Hayes, editor of the British-based Air Traffic Management Insight, a biweekly newsletter. "None of those figure very strongly in Iran's civil aviation culture."
The Aria Air crash illustrated the extent to which politics has begun creeping into industry. Because of high demand for air travel, rules are bent to accommodate airlines with safety lapses, the insider charged.
Regulators previously pulled the airline's license "as its fleet was outdated," but allowed it to start business again under a slightly different name, Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, acting chief of the CAO, told the semiofficial Mehr news agency after the crash. Ilkhani said Aria Air's permission to operate had again been revoked.
"The norm is who you know and how high in the government is your backup," the insider said.
Poor government policies also put pressure on Iranian airlines to cut corners that affect safety, he said.
Even as operating costs increase, government regulators keep domestic airfares artificially low to please the public, and pressure airlines to operate money-losing flights to small towns and secondary airports with few passengers to "keep the parliament members from that area happy," said the industry insider.
Shades of Jack Murtha ...
"Authorities' indifference to repeated requests by airline firms to raise ticket prices has had an effect on recent plane crashes," Mehdi Aliyari, the head of the professional association of air transport companies, told the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami in late July. "When the government artificially keeps the price of air tickets fixed and airline companies' warnings on raising ticket prices are ignored, air accidents are not implausible."
Some Iranian officials say the country increasingly relies on Russian planes because U.S. sanctions on Iran forbid it to buy new Boeing or Airbus aircraft. Both the Aria Air crash and the July 15 crash of a Caspian Airlines flight that killed all 168 people aboard involved Russian planes.
Aviation professionals said they didn't think Russian planes were inherently any worse than the Boeing and Airbus planes used in the West.
But others said the post-sales training, support and parts provided for Russian aircraft were far weaker than those for Western planes.
"When an airline is operating Russian-type aircraft, the safety level of its operations will definitely suffer because the operations and technical safety will not be as good as an airline with an all-Western fleet," the Iranian airline source said.
Continued on Page 47
[Iran Press TV Latest] President Ahmadinejad says Iranians' "Down with the US" slogan is a result of the "ugly behavior" of the United States governments.
In an interview with the National Public Radio (NPR) on Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad noted that even the US President Barack Obama in his remarks has accepted the fact and has called for a change in the way Washington treats other nations.
The Iranian president meanwhile noted that friendship is more sustainable than animosity and voiced Iran's readiness for dialogue with the US, Fars news agency reported.
Asked about the reason behind the "Down with the US" slogan chanted in Iran, Ahmadinejad said "this is their (the Iranian nation's) reaction to the ugly behavior of the US governments."
The Iranian president was also asked to explain his remarks on the Holocaust, which he had delivered during a speech on Al-Quds Day.
"I have a number of questions with respect to the Holocaust: Why is the Holocaust the sole historical event that has been magnified, and why politicians have paid special attention to this event and have approached it with bias. Why the people of Palestine have to pay the price for it and why no one is allowed to launch independent and logical investigation into the Holocaust," he told the NPR.
"Currently there are a number of prominent historians, who are serving prison terms on charges of investigating the Holocaust. These are serious questions and I call on those who care for human rights to answer these questions."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Ugly"?! Now there's a word you might think Mr Dinnerjacket would be keen to avoid.
#2
I'm sure the liberal NPR listeners rubbed their chins and gave Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments serious consideration. Because they are, you know, so much smarter than the rest of us and so nuanced. We just think he's crazy - they can see he is deep and nuanced.
#3
Ahmadinejad elaborates on 'Down with US' slogan
Nothing more that is different than what's held by the usual suspects on the left here. I just suspect jealousy rather than content separates those now in charge in the Beltway from coming to a amenable accord.
#4
Paragraph 6 sounds like he's finally acknowledging the Holocaust was real. I think on an intellectual level he's probably always accepted it did take place and I'd count this newest revelation as progress, except for the fact that he doesn't seem to believe it was a 'bad' thing.
[Iran Press TV Latest] On the day that Iran made public it is building a new nuclear enrichment facility in the country, the European Union foreign policy chief says the announcement has made the upcoming nuclear talks 'more necessary than ever.'
Observing the rules of the game, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the existence of an under-construction nuclear plant for uranium enrichment in the country.
IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire confirmed Iran's attempt for clarity on its nuclear activities, saying, "I can confirm that on 21 September, Iran informed the IAEA in a letter that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country".
Reacting to the news, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday that the issue necessitates a meeting for crucial nuclear negotiations.
"In view of today's announcement concerning Iran's nuclear program the upcoming meeting on Oct 1 is more important and necessary than ever," Solana said in a statement issued by his office.
The chief Western negotiator said the European Union expects Iran to use the scheduled October 1 meeting in Geneva with global powers for full engagement, with the aim of removing concerns about its much wrangled-over nuclear program.
"At this meeting we expect Iran to engage fully in order to resolve the nuclear issue," said Solana, who has headed the Western negotiating efforts with Iran.
Iran and the six major powers -- Russia, China, Britain, France and the US plus Germany -- have agreed on October 1 as the date to hold wide-ranging talks addressing global issues along with Tehran's nuclear program.
While the Islamic Republic is under three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions resolutions for its enrichment work, tougher sanctions are likely to be considered against the country should the talks fail to bear fruit.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > OBAMA: MILITARY OPTION AGZ IRAN STILL ON TABLE; + OBAMA: IRAN ON PATH OF CONFRONTATION [US-World Powers].
* SAME > IN TWO CASES, FBI LET TERROR OPERATIONS PLAY OUT, before stopping 'em.
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
