VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said that Syria had a right to his agencys help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.
Russia, China and developing nations also back the aid project, said diplomats.
No surprise ...
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was totally inappropriate, we believe, given the fact that Syria is under investigation by the IAEA for building a nuclear reactor outside the bounds of its international legal commitments. And then for the IAEA to be involved in providing technical information concerning nuclear activities would seem to be contradictory, if not ironic, McCormack said.
A report circulated last week by ElBaradei confirmed that soil samples taken at the site of a building in Syria bombed last year by Israel revealed a significant number of uranium particles. The report also said that satellite imagery and other information appeared to bear out U.S. intelligence that the building was a nuclear reactor _ one Washington said was nearly completed and almost ready to produce plutonium, a fissile warhead component.
Syria denies hiding nuclear activities. But the report strengthened both concerns that it might have something to conceal and arguments from the U.S. and its allies that Damascus should not be offered agency help in planning its civilian reactor.
No one at the IAEA understands cause-and-effect ...
Beyond helping the Syrians develop expertise, the $350,000 aid project would send the wrong signal about a country under investigation by the IAEA, critics like the Americans argued.
Those concerns were voiced again Monday, according to diplomats inside the closed meeting of the IAEAs 35-nation board. U.S. delegate Geoff Pyatt was outspoken in opposition to the planned project and received backing from the European Union, France, Britain, Australia and Canada, the diplomats said. Some of the strongest objections came from Australia, said one the diplomats, citing that nations statement. We find it difficult to accept the agency embarking on such an all-encompassing and ill-defined nuclear power project at a time when Syria is evidently withholding cooperation from the agency ... a serious concern, said the statement.
But ElBaradei disagreed, saying there was no legal basis to cancel or postpone the program.
El-Baradei understands which side he's on ...
Two years ago, Iran was stripped of IAEA technical aid meant to help it build a heavy water reactor that also will produce plutonium when completed. However, the country was already under U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze both construction of that reactor and its program of uranium enrichment _ both pathways that could yield to nuclear arms.
ElBaradei cited Tehrans case to emphasize the difference between the two situations and to argue in favor of the Damascus project, diplomats said.
Iran and other nonaligned nations also warned against withdrawing the project. Syria or any member state of the IAEA should benefit (from) technical cooperation without any discrimination, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Irans chief delegate to the IAEA, told The Associated Press. Separately, he accused those nations opposed to the Syrian project of poisoning the meetings atmosphere.
And speaking for the nonaligned countries, Norma M. Goichochea, the chief Cuban delegate said technical aid to members should not be blocked, delayed or otherwise hindered for mere suspicion or unproven allegations.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I understand that this is expected and that ElBaradei is nothing but an Arab nuclear proliferator, but it does unhinge the boggle somewhat.
I mean they don't even try and hide the fact that they don't do anything to limit proliferation. How do these a-holes justify their existence. (I know, I know...they don't need to)
(AKI) - Syria and Iran are happy about the existence of Al-Qaeda because its members attack their enemies for them, according to the leader of Islamic jihad in Egypt, Sayed Abdel Qader ibn Abdelaziz. Abdelaziz, also known as Doctor Fazel, makes his claims in a new book, excerpts of which are published in the Arab daily, Al-Sharq al-Awsat. "There is no doubt that Syria and Iran are among the happiest about the existence of the Al-Qaeda organisation,
"They gave the Americans false information about their relations with Iraq and the presence of weapons of mass destruction to give them the excuse to invade the country. They did that only to exhaust the Americans on the battlefield even if those from Al-Qaeda have killed double the number of Iraqis than the United States."
because if it was not for them (Al-Qaeda), they would have to recruit people willing to blow up those who strike their interests," he said.
The book entitled, 'Memo on Exoneration', has reportedly been written in response to several attacks launched against him by Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, several months ago. In this way, the Egyptian leader intends to refute the affirmations of Al-Zawahiri. "The contrary is true. They are responsible for allowing the United States to enter Iraq and Afghanistan and the subsequent occupation," Fazel said. "They gave the Americans false information about their relations with Iraq and the presence of weapons of mass destruction to give them the excuse to invade the country. They did that only to exhaust the Americans on the battlefield even if those from Al-Qaeda have killed double the number of Iraqis than the United States."
The Islamic jihadi leader condemned the sectarian clashes in Iraq and said they had played a "destructive" impact on Muslims. "We see how that is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and in Waziristan in Pakistan. Iran and Syria are now taking advantage of all these deaths to pave the way for whoever wants to conduct jihad in Iraq. Do they do it perhaps for love of the Iraqi people or their interests? Don't the top leaders of Al-Qaeda live in Iran, like the son of Bin Laden, who incite young people to fight in Iraq? Wasn't Al-Zawahiri the one who sent his brothers to fight in Egypt, paid by the Sudanese secret service?"
Elsewhere in the book Doctor Fazel said there were only three others, apart from Osama Bin Laden, who knew about preparations for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the US. He said Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Hafs al-Masri and a third man, who was not al-Zawahiri, knew about the attacks.
Khaled Sheikh Mohammed is considered one of the masterminds of the attacks on the World Trade Center, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is imprisoned in the US. Abu Hafs al-Masri was responsible for deadly attacks in Luxor, Egypt in 1997 and was killed in a US raid in Afghanistan in 2001. Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, opposed the attacks, Fazel said.
Continued on Page 47
This article starring:
ABU HAFS AL MASRI
al-Qaeda
DOCTOR FAZEL
Islamic jihad in Egypt
KHALED SHEIKH MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
SAIED ABDEL QADER IBN ABDELAZIZ
Islamic jihad in Egypt
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > OSAMA BIN LADEN ASKS AL-QAEDA FOR A BIGGER-THAN-9-11 ATTACK AGZ THE USA; + PAKISTAN SEEKS MORE NUCLEAR PLANTS FROM CHINESE, + PAKISTAN PUSHES TO IMPOROVE ITS MISSLE STRIKE CAPABILITY [better RANGE, ACCURACY, GUIDANCE, MRVS = MULTI-WARHEADS, etc.], espec as per the INDIAN THREAT. Succesful Pakis deployment of 2000-2500-km SHAHEEN II IRBM => new shift in dev focii to 3500-4000-km GHAURA BM => ultimately, to dev of 4000-4500-km SHAHEEN III.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > CHINESE WOMEN BIRTHED ISLAMISTS [ + Mixed-color/race JEWS] WHOM WOULD LATER FIGHT JAPAN/CHINESE MEN FATHERED JEWS WHOM DEFENDED THE MING DYNASTY FROM INVADERS...TANG DYNASTY INTERMARRIAGE AND ASSIMILIATION [new Ethnic Groups-Faiths].
Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrested a spy network linked to Israeli intelligence who tried to gather information on Iranian nuclear and military programs, the guard's chief said on Monday.
"The intelligence bureau of the Revolutionary Guards Corps has recently discovered a spy network linked with the Israeli Mossad," Mohammad Ali Jafari said on state radio. "This network sought to gather important information from the Guards' military section, the country's nuclear centers and some security officials," he said.
"Very good information as well as equipment that this network were supplied with have been discovered and people will be informed of the evidence in the near future," he said. Jafari did not specify how many people were detained or where and when the group was arrested.
A semi-official news agency, Mehr, said those arrested had confessed that they had received training in Israel for carrying out assassinations and bombings.
Iran's official news agency IRNA also reported on Saturday that a group of four "terrorists" with "Zionist equipment and methods" had been arrested in western Iran and said they were planning to carry out assassinations. It did not say when they were detained.
Iran said on Saturday it had hanged an Iranian telecoms salesman convicted of spying for arch-enemy Israel and warned that a "more serious intelligence war" had begun with the Jewish state.
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I find it hard to believe. If I were going to train Iranians in assassinations and bombings, I would do it in Iraq or Dubai or Djibouti or almost anyplace but Israel proper.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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VIENNA, Austria - The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said that Syria had a right to his agencys help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.
