OpEdNews - Diary: ISRAEL DENIES SEEKING US GO-AHEAD FOR IRAN STRIKE

"Israel on Saturday has denied a report in a British daily that it is seeking permission from the United States to fly its bombers over Iraq to attack Iran's nuclear facilities."

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Excerpted from: http://rawstory.com ISRAEL DENIES SEEKING US GO-AHEAD FOR IRAN STRIKE AFP Published: Saturday February 24, 2007 Israel on Saturday has denied a report in a British daily that it is seeking permission from the United States to fly its bombers over Iraq to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. "There has never been such a request, it is obvious," Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh told public radio. The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed senior Israeli defence official as saying that negotiations were taking place with the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" over Iraq if the Jewish state decided on unilateral action. "We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucial," the official told the conservative British broadsheet in a dispatch from Tel Aviv. "If we don't sort these issues out we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other." Sneh put the report down to "international sources who wish to dodge dealing directly with Iran and invent reports that we allegedly want to attack Iran in order to relieve themselves from the responsibility." [snip] Continued: http://snipurl.com/1b939 ----- AMERICAN ARMADA PREPARES TO TAKE ON IRAN By Damien McElroy aboard USS Eisenhower 2.25.07 > http://snipurl.com/1b93e ----- IRAN BRUSHES OFF CHENEY THREAT http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iran_brushes_off_Cheney_threat_02242007.html _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://www.truthout.org US Strike Would Not Destroy Iran Nuclear Sites http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407D.shtml Any US attack against Iran could involve thousands of sorties and missile launches lasting weeks, but it still would not eliminate the country's nuclear program. A strike - something the Pentagon insists is not planned - would be hampered by lack of intelligence on the number and location of nuclear facilities dispersed throughout Iran. --- Joe Conason | It Can Happen Here http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407F.shtml "For the first time since the resignation of Richard M. Nixon more than three decades ago, Americans have had reason to doubt the future of democracy and the rule of law in our own country. Today we live in a state of tension between the enjoyment of traditional freedoms, including the protections afforded to speech and person by the Bill of Rights, and the disturbing realization that those freedoms have been undermined and may be abrogated at any moment," says Joe Conason. --- Canada's High Court Strikes Down Indefinite Detention http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407G.shtml One of Canada's most contentious anti-terrorism provisions was struck down Friday by the Supreme Court, which declared it unconstitutional to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely while the courts review their deportation orders. The 9-0 ruling was a blow to the government's anti-terrorism regulations. --- FOCUS | William Rivers Pitt: No Bottom to the Barrel http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407Z.shtml William Rivers Pitt writes about the sinking feeling he experienced by the recent headlines in mainstream publications and the "infotainment" broadcast on cable television news programs, declaring that he is "left wordstruck by the awesome vapidity of the 'news' every once in a while. It takes a cynic who still clings to a dollop of hope and optimism, perhaps, to still be awed by the grim fact that there is actually no bottom to the barrel." --- Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407E.shtml Noam Chomsky, noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert is interviewed by Michael Shank where he discusses the latest developments in US policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. Along the way, Chomsky also comments on climate change, the World Social Forum, and why international relations are run like the mafia. --- Americans Underestimate Iraqi Death Toll http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407C.shtml Americans are keenly aware of how many US forces have lost their lives in Iraq, but they woefully underestimate the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed. --- Army Files New Charges in Watada Court-Martial http://snipurl.com/1b8lg --- Jason Leopold | BP Alaska Still Risks Environmental Disaster http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022407B.shtml Less than a year after a corroded pipeline ruptured causing the largest oil spill in Alaskan history, BP (British Petroleum) has continued to implement severe cost-cutting measures at its North Slope facilities, making it vulnerable to another environmental disaster, a leading critic of the company has charged. _________________________________ Missed? Dept. >> Baghdad Burning ... http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ _________________________________

http://www.newsdissector.com _________________________________ Carole JEAN Editor http://bigpictureworld@yahoo.com "The 'A Political War against the American People and its Institutions." Economist Rodrigue TREMBLAY, Ph.D. http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1059 _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://onlinejournal.com Bush and Olmert get that peace process hoodoo By James Brooks | Online Journal Contributing Writer Who is not happy to see movement in the old dead limbs of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? The Bush administration wants to give the Palestinians a "diplomatic horizon," and that must be better than "diplomatic isolation, economic blockade, and military occupation." http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1765.shtml ----- The science of evil and its use for political purposes By Carolyn Baker | Online Journal Contributing Writer Canada's Red Pill press has recently published psychologist Andrew M. Lobaczewski's book Political Ponerology (Red Pill Press, Canada, 1998 and 2006) in which the author expounds on his observations that during his years of clinical work in Poland, he noticed a high correlation between acts that most people would label as "evil" and various pathologies. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1763.shtml ----- Fabricating the case against Iran ... By Larry Chin | Online Journal Associate Editor The Bush administration will attack Iran as early as spring 2007. The administration is on total war footing. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1771.shtml ----- War against Iran: A view from abroad By Jeffrey S. Victor, Ph.D. | Online Journal Contributing Writer The view from France about the possibility of President Bush actually engaging in a military strike against Iraq is that he would have to be "crazy" to do so; and that he is probably only threatening Iran. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1770.shtml ----- Let's stop beating around this Bush By Ben Tanosborn | Online Journal Contributing Writer Our ancestors saw much merit in beating the bushes in order to flush them for hunters. It made a lot of sense to them. Could there be even greater merit for us today if we stop beating around this Bush and finally hold him accountable for the mess he, knowingly and criminally, got us in? http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1768.shtml _________________________________

http://jablankfort@earthlink.net The following editorial ran in the University of Wisconsin paper, The Badger Herald. To read and add your own comments to this solid hard-hitting piece, click on the link. JB > http://badgerherald.com/oped/2007/02/21/jimmy_carter_confron.php OPINION & EDITORIAL Jimmy Carter confronts fallacies of pro-Israel lobby ... by Kyle Szarzynski The release of President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," has garnered a reaction from the American political establishment that can best be characterized as scandalized, tumultuous and loud. The book's commitment to truth -- including a biting analysis of Israeli human rights abuses -- has resulted in a "full-scale furor," according to The New York Times. The Anti-Defamation League took out full-page ads attacking President Carter and his book in numerous newspapers. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party was quick to satisfy the powerful Zionist lobby. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "With all due respect to former President Carter, he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Predictably, insidious charges of bigotry have ensued as well. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and vociferous defender of the Jewish state, showed a lack of honesty and decency when he recently said, "I believe [Carter] is engaging in anti-Semitism." Other Jewish leaders have echoed Foxman's claim. In response to this outcry from Zionist extremists, President Carter points out that "Out in the real world ... the response has been overwhelmingly positive." Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein notes that "Outside the never-never land of mainstream American Jewry and U.S. media, [the reality of Israeli apartheid] is barely disputed." Still, the cries of bigotry, anti-Americanism and support for terrorism have been so shrill that a discussion of the actual content of President Carter's book has been sidelined. The truth is that "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" is written by a sincere man who shows a remarkable understanding of the conflict in the Middle East. President Carter first takes the reader down history lane, chronicling the major events in the region since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. He writes of the futile violence and religious intolerance for which both Jews and Arabs have been responsible. He also laments that the breakthroughs have been limited. The Camp David Accords of 1978 and Oslo Accords of 1993, for example, only amounted to broken Israeli promises. Contemporary political developments have been similarly lamentable. At the Camp David peace talks of 2000, President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made a "generous" offer that turned out to be anything but generous ¯ and was rightfully rejected by Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian delegation. As many commentators have noted, it would have fragmented Palestine and created a system of Bantustans that remained subservient to Israel. There was a 90-percent increase in Israeli settlers as President Clinton desperately pursued peace. The continued increase of Jewish fundamentalists in the occupied territories signifies the Israeli government is not interested in offering the Palestinians a viable state. In the minds of many politicians, Israel is entitled to the entire Kingdom of David, including the West Bank. As political negotiations ended in repeated failure, the Palestinians continued to face dehumanizing oppression. President Carter courageously points out what few Americans dare to: The Israeli system of subjugation in the Palestinian territories is apartheid. Through his visits with the Palestinians, President Carter has attained a heartfelt sympathy for the Palestinian people and their struggles. He details his visits with Palestinian families and recounts their Israeli-induced hardships. He tells of Palestinian homes demolished to make way for Israeli settlements. He tells of villages that were destroyed in response to local children throwing stones at Israeli tanks. He tells of egregious human rights violations, including the inability to travel freely or assemble publicly. He tells of the imprisonment of Palestinian children, who are tried as adults by the age of 14. He tells of harsh Israeli military courts and a prison system that penetrates the consciousness of the Palestinian population. He tells of wealthy, subsidized Israeli settlements amidst malnourished Palestinians. He tells of the construction of a wall that encompasses Palestinian land and separates families. In short, he tells a human tragedy that both saddens and angers the reader. While President Carter lays the blame where it belongs ¯ at the blood-soaked feet of the Israelis ¯ his solution to the conflict is disappointingly timid. His conviction is that the best hope for peace and dignity for the Palestinians is through peaceful negotiation. Such a conclusion is a blatant contradiction of President Carter's own analysis. How can the Palestinians hope for justice through peace when offered no legal recourse or even a semblance of fairness from the most liberal Israeli administration? President Carter paints a bleak picture for the Palestinians, but then strips them of their only method of resistance ¯ armed struggle. Still, President Carter has chutzpah for bringing the reality of the conflict to Americans, who are used to being fed Zionist propaganda. For this achievement, he is to be commended. ----- Inter Press Service News Agency US/MIDEAST: Rice Faces Formidable White House Foe ... Analysis by Jim Lobe Excerpt: 'Abrams' personal influence over Bush could not possibly match Rice's, but his bureaucratic skills and political connections -- notably to the so-called "Israel Lobby" of pro-Likud Jewish organisations and the Christian Right -- give him considerable clout. According to various sources, Abrams has been working systematically to undermine any prospect for serious negotiations designed to give substance to Rice's hopes -- and increasingly impatient demands by Saudi King Abdullah -- of offering the Palestinians a "political horizon" for a final settlement. "The Bush administration has done nothing to press Israel to deliver on its commitments, beyond Washington's empty rhetoric about a two-state 'political horizon'," Henry Siegman, the long-time director of the U.S./Middle East Project at the influential Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in the International Herald Tribune just last week. "Every time there emerged the slightest hint that the United States may finally engage seriously in a political process, Elliott Abrams would meet secretly with Olmert's envoys in Europe or elsewhere to reassure them that there exists no such danger," he complained.' Full article: http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=36673 _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net We Live In Constant Fear - VIDEO > http://snipurl.com/1b7xa, Few journalists have even set foot inside the Palestinian refugee camps. These people live in hell. ----- "Project Filibuster" - Filibuster To End The War Now! http://www.corvuswire.com/projectfilibuster.htm _________________________________

Excerpted from: http://mediamatters.org Media ignore Lieberman's pledge not to switch parties Read more, VIDEO >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200702240001?src=other ----- Wash. Post gave front-page play to Clinton finances, ran brief reports on McCain and Giuliani inside The Washington Post ran a report on "interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on its front page. By contrast, the Post published an article about Sen. John McCain's financial disclosure statements on Page A6 and a report on Rudy Giuliani's lucrative speaking fees on Page A8. Read more: http://snipurl.com/1b6hl ----- Wash. Post reported Libby acquittal would damage Fitzgerald's "nonpartisan reputation," left out that he's a Bush appointee Read more: http://snipurl.com/1b6hq _________________________________ Note from Diane: "IED TABLETOP EXERCISE"

..."Insert the fear of IED's INTO YOUR SOULLLS AMERICA," (saith THE LORDS of Washington). "Now is the time!!! And give us your tired, your financially poor - illegal immigrants; this government will watch over you ... at no charge. (hee, hee, hee). IED's are coming soon to a location near YOU, America, and we're working on it. Ooop's, I meant, well, I know you know what I meant to say, (hee, hee, hee,) We will protect you America! ... is what I meant... I read books! I've been reading a book about George Washington! Did you know that he realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British? He reported to Congress, 'we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque,' (now, pay attention, this is the important part,) 'UNLESS COMPELLED BY A NECESSS-SITY, fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly!' I can identify. Ahhh, I love the smell of fresh pages turning in the morning. Uh, eh, don't go there, you know what I meant, (hee, hee, hee,) book pages, I meant book pages, turning pages in a book, George Washington. Put your hand down Gannon. Who signed you in? Never mind. "Yes, Helen." Helen: "Are you comparing yourself to George Washington?" Boosh: "Shut up Helen; by the way, how do you like your new seat? (hee, hee, hee). Helen: "I'm not complaining, but you didn't answer my question." Boosh: ' "Comparing myself to George Washington," uh, eh, well, (hee, hee, hee,) 'course not. Why, d'ya think I should compare myself to George Washington? Oh, okay, anything to please the press, (hee, hee, hee)." Helen: "About the IED Tabletop exercise, has new intelligence prompted this exercise?" "Helen, Helen, Helen, you're a human gimmie pig. Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie." Helen: "Well?" Boosh: "Now that's a deep subject, (hee, hee, hee). Classified, Helen, classified. We're fighting them there so we don't have to do it here, but, well, just a precaution, you know, because you never know, especially intelligence, but we're fixin,' we're workin' on that too. I mean, (hee, hee, hee,) well, you know what I mean. Classified. It's classified, Helen. Thank you all for coming." _________________________________ The Nation's Oldest Newspaper > http://www.nhgazette.com/ ..................... http://www.rocketboom.org ......... http://www.modernhumorist.com _________________________________ A novel look at the news When I first visited today's Cool Site, I was a bit perplexed. It is unlike any other site I've visited. The site examines the links between science and culture. It does this by arranging links to the stories in a circle. You can click on one of the links to read a summary. If the story interests you, simply click to read the original source. So why was Phylotaxis confusing? It is designed as an artwork in addition to a source of information. So it is unique. You may be a little bewildered at first, too. But once you start exploring, you're bound to find it fascinating. But let me give you a few hints to kick things off: To launch Phylotaxis, click on the colored dots on the first page. Then, once you're in, you'll find buttons at the bottom that stir things up! TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://www.phylotaxis.com Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Genetically Modified Grass Escaped Into the Wild. Is Your Backyard Next? - An unapproved GM plant has escaped into the wild, prompting the USDA's first ever environmental assessment of a GM facility. http://snipurl.com/1axpi ----- Drug Giveaways: Marketing Trumps Safety - Drug makers are increasingly offering prescription drugs at no charge in an attempt to get you hooked. http://snipurl.com/1axpm ----- What is the Best Time to Have Surgery? - Why take any more risk than you have to? Schedule your surgery for the time of day that will decrease your chance of complications. You need to know what the safest and most dangerous times to have surgery are. http://snipurl.com/1axps _________________________________ VIDEO: 911 Loose Change 2nd Edition with extra footage 1 hr 21 min 50 sec Phil Jayhan and Korey Rowe - Feb 5, 2005 | http://www.loosechange911.com http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848 _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ Submitted by: Justjill2001 > Never heard creation explained this way before, funny! TALE OF CREATION

...In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives. Then using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?" And Man said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "and as long as you're at it, add some sprinkles." And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled. And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14. So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast. God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them." And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof. God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's Food." God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds. Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds. God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then said, "You want fries with that?" And Man replied, "Yes! And super size them!" And Satan sa id, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest. God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery. Then Satan created HMOs. : 0 _________________________________ Link to: Diane's News Clips http://www.opednews.com/author/author2300.html?entry=diary