News for January 24, 2006

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Snowstorm Closes Hawaii Volcano To Tourists - Officials closed the summit of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano to the public after a snowstorm shut down access for the first time this winter season. Clouds blanketed Hawaii’s tallest peak this weekend. A blanket of snow forced everyone to evacuate, including park rangers. “We’ve got to make sure and keep everybody healthy and safe on the summit. So, I’m closing it,” Mauna Kea ranger Kimo Pihana said. The heavy snowfall was a rare sight, even for those who are up there almost every day. “The snow began to accumulate very quickly and we had to evacuate to prevent being trapped on the summit,” telescope operator Paul Sears said. A California family was at the summit when the snow started falling, before the road was shut down. “Did you ever think you’d see snow in Hawaii?” a reporter asked. “Wasn’t really expecting to see snow in Hawaii,” said Bob Nyman. “So it’s a nice treat on your vacation?” the reporter asked. “Oh absolutely. It was great,” Nyman said. For visitors who didn’t have timing on their side, the trek ended at the 9,000-foot mark where the road was closed.

Condi Meets With Spanish Socialist (January 24, 2006) - Be careful of what you wish for. At last it seems that the answer has been given to Henry Kissinger’s famous existential cry of realpolitik angst, “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” The answer is apparent to anybody who has been following the Iran crisis: Javier Solana, de facto Foreign Minister of the European Union. As the crisis hit the headlines who was making the running, who was it who sat in a chair opposite the U.S. secretary of state? Why that personable Spanish socialist. At the press briefing before their indepth chat Condoleezza Rice made a couple of telling points, “I think we have met, I won’t even say how many times we’ve met in the last year, but it has been a lot.” She also mentioned that the U.S. and the E.U. are, “together members of the Quartet.” The other members of the Quartet are Russia and the U.N. Nice friends Ms. Rice is keeping. An American might ask whether it is worth worrying about this at all, after all it is just recognition of reality. The E.U. is now a far more integrated place and they are our allies. Well, yes and no. Mr. Europe then spoke, “On Iraq and Afghanistan, we are on the same wavelength.” I beg to differ, the E.U. and the U.S. are on different dials on Iraq. Actually, they are operating on different technology. Of the six main countries in the E.U., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and the U.K. just look at their priorities on Iraq. Germany and France famously went out on a limb to defend their trading links with Saddam. Solana’s Spain elected his socialist party as a result of the ghastly train bombings and removed its troops from Mesopotamia (not that it stopped terrorists targeting Spain). The Italian government this weekend announced that Italian troops will leave Iraq in 2006, starting with three hundred immediately, for electoral purposes. Poland has delayed its planned withdrawal but even she plans to leave before the end of 2006. All this of course leaves guess who? more...

Sanhedrin Launched In Tiberias - A unique ceremony - probably only the 2nd of its kind in the past 1,600 years - took place in Tiberias today: The launching of a Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish-legal tribunal in the Land of Israel. A unique ceremony - probably only the second of its kind in the past 1,600 years - is taking place in Tiberias today: The launching of a Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish-legal tribunal in the Land of Israel. The Sanhedrin, a religious assembly that convened in one of the Holy Temple chambers in Jerusalem, comprised 71 sages and existed during the Tannaitic period, from several decades before the Common Era until roughly 425 C.E. Details of today’s ceremony are still sketchy, but the organizers’ announced their intention to convene 71 rabbis who have received special rabbinic ordination as specified by Maimonides. An attempt to reconvene the Sanhedrin was made several centuries ago in Tzfat. The body in fact ordained such greats as Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the classic Jewish Law code Shulhan Arukh. However, the opposition of other leading rabbis soon forced the end of the endeavor. more...

Iranian President Sees End of World Order (January 24, 2006) - In a country of religious zealots, the extremism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has even his own countrymen sounding alarms. Dissidents within Iran say their country’s president is such a crazed fanatic that he will try to usher in the end of the world as we know it. On Dec. 16, gunmen opened fire on the motorcade of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he toured the southeastern province of Sistan, along Iran’s border with Pakistan. According to news reports, Ahmadinejad’s personal bodyguard and driver were killed in the ambush, although the president was unhurt. The government-controlled media in Tehran attributed the attack to “bandits,” a term used to denote a wide range of armed groups, from drug dealers to opposition guerrillas. But in this case, the attack may have been part of a plot to remove the Iranian president by a faction within the ruling clergy. At least, so believes a Western source who has just returned from talks with top officials in Tehran. The faction seeking to remove Ahmadinejad does not object to the substance of the Iranian president’s repeated vows to “wipe Israel from the map” and destroy America. Nor do they believe Iran should abandon its secret nuclear weapons program, top Iranian government officials said, according to the source. Rather, they object to the fact that he has made such comments openly and without ambiguity. They believe that his frankness dangerously exposes them to attack from the United States, Israel or both. “This guy is not a politician,” the source quoted one top Iranian official as saying. “He is certifiably insane. And he is obsessed with the Imam Zaman,” the legendary 12th imam, or Imam Mahdi, whom many Shiite Muslims believe will return in the “end times” after a period of horrific battles, famine and pestilence. more...

U.S., Israel to attack (January 24, 2006) - A pre-emptive U.S. and Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is nearly inevitable, reports Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. The incapacitation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has made a pre-emptive attack on Iran more likely in the next nine weeks, Israeli sources tell the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. It was Sharon who vetoed the nearly unanimous recommendations of Israel’s generals that a quick strike was the Jewish state’s only chance at preventing Iran from building a significant nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, in Washington, there is growing concern that Iran’s ultimate target is the U.S. Earlier this month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards conducted a conference on the use of weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, chemical and biological. Included in those briefings were presentations on electromagnetic pulse weapons and other military technologies deemed to be under development for use against the U.S., rather than Israel or other enemies of the Islamic republic. Even one nuclear weapon, used in an EMP-style attack on the U.S., would prove catastrophic to the nation, a congressional panel studying the vulnerability of America to electro-magnetic pulse weapons concluded last year. Such an attack would not require Iran to use long-range or intercontinental ballistic missiles, which it does not possess. But a simple Scud missile, with a nuclear warhead, could be fired from offshore and detonated above the U.S. wreaking near total devastation on the country’s technological, electrical and transportation infrastructure. It would also have the advantage of offering Iran a degree of plausible deniability, given that “terrorists” armed with one nuclear weapon could achieve the same results. more...

Tragic: U.S. passed 47 million mark for abortions in 2005 (January 24, 2006) - In what can only be described as tragic, the United States likely experienced its 47 millionth legal abortion at some point in 2005, more than three decades after the Supreme Court issued its infamous 1973 Roe. v. Wade decision legalizing the killing of the unborn. The statistic is based on data since 1973 gathered by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute and on estimates by the National Right to Life Committee. In the first full year of abortion legalization nationwide (1974), Guttmacher counted 898,600 abortions. That number reached a peak of 1,608,600 in 1990, before falling to 1,293,000 in 2002. Since 1975, the United States has witnessed more than 1 million abortions each year. Unless the nation's laws are changed, the number of abortions post-Roe will pass 50 million in 2008. “It’s an unspeakable tragedy,” Randall K. O’Bannon, director of education and research at National Right to Life, told Baptist Press. “That [47 million] is higher than the population of some countries. That would be wiping out a number of whole states. The world was appropriately horrified and shocked when we lost about a couple thousand people on Sept. 11.... What we’re talking about here is that sort of loss multiplied dramatically.” Guttmacher compiles data on abortions by contacting abortion clinics, and its latest data is from 2002 (1,293,000). The 47 million figure is based on Guttmacher data from 1973 though 2002, and on the 2002 count remaining relatively steady through 2005. By including a 3 percent underreport that Guttmacher estimates it misses, the figure of 47 million is derived. more...

Swiss banking giant UBS AG stops doing business with Iran . A similar policy implemented against Syria (January 23, 2006) - UBS AG spokesman Serge Steiner announced Sunday, Jan. 22, that all existing business with customers in Iran will be cancelled, except for Iranians in exile. DEBKAfile’s financial sources reveal that, under the threat of sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, the ayatollahs and corporate heads as well as the government have begun transferring vast private fortunes out of secret accounts in Europe. The money is being spread out among dozens of banks around the world, including the oil emirates, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. DEBKAfile has learned that Iran’s spiritual ruler Ayatollah Ali Khameini has transferred his personal fortune of $1.2 bn from the Swiss UBS AG to banks in Singapore and Malaysia. Former president Hashemi Rafsanjani has ordered the removal of two large sums in Canadian dollars – 856 m and 1,425 bn – from Canadian banks to establishments in Beirut, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Our financial experts estimate that in the last ten days, some $7.5bn dollars have been drained from private Iranian accounts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Britain and Italy and concealed in Southeast Asian banks. more...

Israel ‘will not sit back’ and let Iran build atomic weapons (January 23, 2006) - Israel issued thinly-veiled warnings yesterday that it was preparing to take direct action to stop Iran, its bitter enemy, acquiring nuclear weapons. Remarks by Shaul Mofaz, the defense minister, raised the temperature of the worsening international crisis over the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions and prompted Iran into a swift and strongly-worded response. The war of words increased the prospect of another pre-emptive strike by Israel similar to that in 1981 when its warplanes destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program with an attack on the Osirak reactor in Iraq. Mr. Mofaz was reacting to the decision by Iran to restart its uranium enrichment program earlier this month after a two and a half year moratorium, which prompted European powers to draft a resolution calling for Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council. “We are giving priority at this stage to diplomatic action … but we cannot tolerate a nuclear option for Iran and we must prepare ourselves,” Mr. Mofaz said. “We must develop the option of our defense with all that implies.” He then issued a rhetorical plea to the Iranian leader. “You, who are leading your country in an ideology of hatred, terror and anti-Semitism, you had better take a glance at history and see what became of tyrants like you who tried to annihilate the Jewish people,” he said. “They brought only destruction upon their own people.” Mr. Mofaz nevertheless added: “Israel’s policy is to bring this hot potato to the Security Council to impose sanctions and invasive inspection.” His sentiments were echoed in remarks from Gen Dan Halutz, head of the Israeli armed forces. more...

Innocent blood: How lying marketers sold Roe v. Wade to America (January 22, 2006) -

“Women must have control over their own bodies.”
“Safe and legal abortion is every woman’s right.”
“Who decides? You decide!”
“Abortion is a personal decision between a woman and her doctor.”
“Who will make this most personal decision of a woman’s life? Will women decide, or will the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington?”
“Freedom of choice – a basic American right.”

In one of the most successful marketing campaigns in modern political history, the “abortion rights movement” – with all of its emotionally compelling catch-phrases and powerful political slogans – has succeeded in turning what once was a heinous crime into a fiercely defended constitutional right. During the tumultuous 1960s, after centuries of legal prohibition and moral condemnation of abortion, a handful of dedicated activists launched an unprecedented marketing campaign. Their aim was two-fold: first, to capture the news media and thus public opinion, and then, to change the nation’s abortion laws. Their success was rapid and total – resulting in abortion being legalized in all 50 states, for virtually any reason, and throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Since the Supreme Court’s controversial Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, American doctors have performed well over 40 million abortions. Although polls consistently show a clear majority of Americans disapprove of unfettered abortion-on-demand, the movement’s well-crafted, almost magical slogans – appealing to Americans’ deeply rooted inclination toward tolerance, privacy and individual rights – have provided the abortion camp a powerful rhetorical arsenal with which to fight off efforts to reverse Roe, which struck down all state laws outlawing abortion. more...

Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 – the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel (January 22, 2006) - Reporting this, the dissident Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a US-based watch group, cites sources in the US and Iran. The FDI adds from Iran: on June 16, the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force ordered Shahab-3 missile units to move mobile launchers every 24 hours instead of weekly. This is in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the US or Israel. Advance Shahab-3 units have been positioned in Kermanshah and Hamad within striking distance of Israel, reserve launchers moved to Esfahan and Fars. The missile units were told to change positions “in a radius of 30-35 kilometers” and only at night. DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources add: FDI reporting has a reputation for credibility. Western and Israeli intelligence have known for more than six months that Iran’s nuclear program has reached the capability of being able to carry out a nuclear explosion, albeit underground. It would probably be staged in a desert or mountain region and activated by a distant control center. Tehran would aim at confronting the Americans, Europeans and Israelis with an irreversible situation. At the same time, an explosion of this sort would indicate that Iran is not yet able to produce a nuclear bomb that can be delivered by airplane or a warhead adapted to a missile. The stage Iran has reached is comparable to Pakistan’s when it conducted its first nuclear tests in the nineties and North Korea’s in 2001. All the same, an Iranian underground nuclear blast, which will most probably be attempted on March 22, would turn around the strategic position of all the parties concerned and the Middle East as whole. The question now is: will the United States, Israel or both deliver a pre-emptive strike ahead of the Iranian underground test - or later? Or will Washington alternatively use the event to bring the UN Security Council round to economic sanctions? Tehran is already organizing to withstand economic penalties. For Israel, the timing is getting tight in view of its general election on March 28. Acting prime minister Ehud Olmert must take into account that a ruling party which allows an Iranian nuclear explosion to take place six days before the poll would draw painful punishment from the voter.

Israel’s New Danger: Gaza as ‘Hamas-stan’ (January 24, 2006) - The Gaza Strip since the Israeli withdrawal last summer has “turned into Hamas-stan and al-Qaida-stan,” Israel’s recently retired military chief General Moshe Ya’alon claimed Monday. The violence and chaos in Gaza and its use as a launching pad for repeated rocket attacks was an ominous lesson that meant that Israel could not afford to proceed with the proposed unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, Ya’alon went on. Gaza was now in a state of anarchy and was wide open to terrorists who sought to use it as a launch pad for attacks on Israel. Israel would need “defensible borders” that would have to include the ability to control the crossing of the River Jordan and all other access points to any future Palestinian state on the West Bank, Ya’alon told the annual Herzliya security conference. Ya’alon spoke after former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who said that Israeli settlements on the West Bank were “illegal” under international law and claimed that some settlers sought to justify “the sustained subjugation of the Palestinians.” Carter added that Gaza “as presently constituted is not viable” and that “there is no possibility of a viable Palestinian state on what remains of their territory.” more...

Syria in the United States’ Crosshairs (January 23, 2006) - The truth is that there are no reasons to be enthusiastic about the internal regime in Syria. Even so, it would be the height of naiveté to believe that this country has moved into the crosshairs of the United States because of its poor record on human rights. The plain fact is that the United States, which has quite a few problems in the region, is busy organizing a list of guilty parties on whom blame can be shifted. From the very moment that Syria refused to join Bush’s crusade to Baghdad, Washington began to prepare the indictment against it amidst growing threats to the government and the sovereignty of Syria. Here are some of the crimes for which Syria must supposedly answer. Syria did not close the border between it and Iraq. Syria permits and even encourages passage through it by terrorists who are joining the insurgents in Iraq. Syria hosts and even welcomes refugees from Iraq who are on the U.S. intelligence “wanted list.” Then, as a matter of pure coincidence, the orange flag of the fake U.S.-sponsored "democratic revolution" in Kiev is transported to the heart of Beirut. At this point we learn that it is Syria, Lebanon’s neighbor, which has blocked the triumph of democracy in Lebanon. According to Washington, Damascus is to blame for all this and more. more...