Basu Replies sonia Fire and the Great Operation Damage Control is in Full Swing
"In general there might be a discussion of where things stand. But the issue is still in a political realm and it is not for the IAEA to touch that."
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
"In general there might be a discussion of where things stand. But the issue is still in a political realm and it is not for the IAEA to touch that."
allavi Ghosh / CNN-IBN
New Delhi / Kolkata: The Left is still seeing red. Sonia Gandhi may have done an about-turn from her onslaught on the Left over the Indo-US Nuclear deal, but the Left is in no mood to be mollified.
They released a statement in which four parties — led by CPM — stopped short of calling the Congress anti-national.
The statement read: "Those who advocate the deal should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self-reliant basis. We need not surrender our vital interests to America on this plea."
They have also accused the Government of taking the backdoor by holding informal talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group — which the Left says which eventually lead to the operationlisation of the deal.
And the Left has reason to be worried because there is an IAEA session later this month, which is going to concentrate on the safeguards issue in the deal.
External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee met CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat on Monday evening in an effort to calm situations and brief him on what was going to be discussed in the nuclear panel meet on Tuesday.
A day she had made a veiled attack on Left parties on Indo-US nuclear deal, CPM leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury on Monday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The 30-minute meeting came on the eve of the next round of discussions of the UPA-Left committee set up to address the Left parties' concerns over the deal. Senior Congress leaders and Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony as also Political Secretary to AICC President Ahmed Patel also joined the meeting at Gandhi's 10, Janpath residence on Monday evening.
CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat tonight warned the government that any discussion with IAEA is tantamount to operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Conveying the Left stand to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Karat along with Yechury later met UPA chief Sonia Gandhi where a compromise formula was deliberated upon, albeit without any definite outcome.Zeenews reports.The Left leaders called on Pranab in the evening before the arrival of IAEA chief Md ElBaradei amidst poll rhetoric emerging from both Congress party and CPI(M) camps.Sources said that Congress wanted further discussions with the Left before finalizing anything with IAEA. But no consequent compromise seems to have emerged out of the meet.
UPA chief troubleshooter Pranab put forth a proposal before the Left leaders to go ahead for informal talks with the IAEA chief on Tuesday, assuring them that no agreement would be finalised with the latter. However, Karat bluntly dismissed the proposal saying that it would amount to operationalisation of the nuclear deal and betrayal of the promise made to the Left.
Madurai : Describing as 'unfortunate' Congress President Sonia Gandhi's attack against opponents of Indo-US nuclear deal, All India Foward Bloc General Secretary Deabrata Biswas on Monday said her comments were directed against the Left. The Left parties were firm on opposing the deal and it was upto the Congress to choose between the Left and the United States, he told reporters here. He claimed the nuclear deal with the US would affect the sovereignty of the nation and the US was "trying to make India also their slave like Afghanistan and Iraq." The deal would affect India's education and agriculture sectors also.
New Delhi:UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's speech in Haryana has ruffled feathers in the Left. Both sides are now on a damage control mode. CPI-M veteran Jyoti Basu says he has conveyed to party leaders Congress concerns on withdrawal of support. Talking to CNN-IBN, Jyoti Basu said panel chief Pranab Mukherjee had met him personally to seek Left's continued support.
“Pranab came and met me yesterday. He told me we shouldn't bring down the Government. “I've conveyed Pranab's message to Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat. I appreciate what Sonia Gandhi said at the UN but what she said on Sunday wasn't right. If need arises, we are ready for the polls,” Basu said.
CPI-M Polit Bureau Sitaram Yechury said, “We have already stated our opinion. Those who want to oppose it can oppose it. Eventually in a democracy it is the people who will decide.”
Meanwhile, there are differences in views on mid-term polls in UPA, in fact also within the Congress. Efforts are on both within the UPA and Left camps to avoid a showdown. Within the Congress itself, there are two approaches. One group is suggesting that there's no point taking a risk by going for a snap poll just now. It is the pressure from this group, which was behind Sonia going back on her all-out attack on the Left on Sunday. Even among the allies, not everybody is keen to face the electorate. The Rajya Sabha MPs who don't have to face the electorate are those who are pleading for polls.
The Lok Sabha MPs are obviously unhappy about not completing their term. Then there are others like Pranab Mukherjee who still wants to make a last-ditch effort and try and convince the Left. A section in the Congress believes that the government should table a people-friendly budget and then go for the polls. As for the allies, they are a worried lot. RJD supremo and the Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, doesn't want to go back to the voter when his successor Nitish Kumar is doing quite well. While DMK chief M Karunanidhi knows that he cannot repeat his 2004 performance and that J.Jayalalitha's party may wrest many of the DMK seats.
Only NCP chief Sharad Pawar doesn't have too much of a negative feeling about a possible poll. Pawar believes that his party might not fare too badly given the disarray in Shiv Sena and BJP and the factionalism in Congress.
Union Minister for Chemicals Ram Vilas Paswan doesn't want a mid-term poll because it doesn't suit him to go either with the UPA or the NDA.
The Left has problems both in West Bengal and Kerala. Nandigram and even the Rizwanur case have gone against the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. There is too much disunity in the Kerala CPI-M.
"In general there might be a discussion of where things stand. But the issue is still in a political realm and it is not for the IAEA to touch that."
The IAEA says it is not a political visit.After negotiating with the IAEA, India must get clearance from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that control global civilian nuclear commerce. Then the deal goes back to the U.S. Congress for a final approval.Tensions in India over a civil nuclear pact with Washington that threatens the survival of the country's ruling coalition worsened ahead of a visit by the UN's atomic energy chief.The head of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, said opponents of the deal were "enemies of progress," prompting a furious response from left-wing legislative allies who could bring down the government.India's Communists say it would also pull traditionally non-aligned India uncomfortably close to the United States and compromise New Delhi's military programme.The four-party Left bloc, which props up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government in parliament, responded Monday with a statement repeating its view that Congress was going "against the interests of India."
"Those who advocate the deal should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self reliant basis," the statement said.
"There is no expectation that the India-US agreement will be front and centre of his visit there," said a Vienna diplomat close to the IAEA.
"It just depends on India, when the timing is right, to make the essential approach about drafting a safeguards agreement. We don't have any indication that this is going to happen then."
But some experts say timing is everything when it comes to ElBaradei's visit and that government officials could meet with him, a move bound to anger the left.
"There is little doubt the Indian government has decided to go ahead with the deal and couldn't care less what the left has to say," R.R. Subramanian, an independent nuclear expert, said.
The Vienna-based diplomat said ElBaradei could discuss the deal informally.
"I know the US considers ElBaradei's trip extremely important at this time," the diplomat said. "But for the IAEA, it's a technical matter -- we get a list of facilities first and then we start moving."
A 15-member panel set up to iron out differences between the two sides has had little success despite a string of meetings, and in recent days the Indian press has been brimming with speculation over the possibility of snap polls.
Dreams do come true, says Sunita
Hindu - 6 Oct 2007
MUMBAI: “Believe in your dreams. They do come true,” said astronaut Sunita Williams, while interacting with several hundred school children and students of the Indian Institute of Technology.
Sunita Williams needed space Economic Times
Space trip was a summer vacation: Sunita The Statesman
Modernisation, expansion tops IAF agenda
Zee News
Hindon (Ghaziabad), Oct 08: Changing global security concerns required rapid modernisation of the country's air power and plans are afoot to ensure IAF became one of the foremost air forces in the world, Air Force Chief Fali Homi Major said here on ...
Kumaraswamy resigns as CM
Zee News
Bangalore, Oct 08: Ending weeks of uncertainty about the fate of his government, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday met Governor Rameshwar Thakur at the Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation.
The UN's nuclear watchdog head arrives in India on Monday on a long scheduled trip that has turned into a potential political flashpoint as a nuclear deal with the United States threatens to spark snap elections. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is ostensibly on a technical visit to speak at an energy conference, visit a nuclear research facility in Mumbai and meet with Indian nuclear officials. But the trip comes just as India faces an informal end-October deadline to begin securing clearances from the IAEA and others to clinch the nuclear energy deal -- opposed by its Communist allies who say the deal would enslave New Delhi to US policy. Critics say the deal unfairly rewards India and undercuts a U.S.-led campaign to curtail nuclear ambitions of nations like Iran. A week before the IAEA visit, U.S. lawmakers introduced a non-binding resolution in the House of Representatives questioning if the deal complied with U.S. law.
In India, the communists have warned the government against negotiating with the IAEA to place India's civilian nuclear reactors under U.N. safeguards, one of the first steps towards making the deal operational.
But Sonia Gandhi, ruling Congress party head and India's most powerful politician, sharpened the rhetoric on Sunday in a statement widely seen as hinting she was ready for a snap vote, calling opponents of the nuclear deal enemies of development.Amidst developments that fuelled further speculation about mid-term polls, the Congress on Monday sought to cool down political temperatures on Sonia Gandhi's remarks against the opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal while the Left parties were not impressed with her defence of the agreement. However, CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu struck a conciliatory note saying he has asked his party leadership to see if it was possible to work out a compromise with the Congress on the deal.
On a day when both sides made statements on Gandhi's speech on Sunday in which she made a veiled attack on the Left for opposing the deal, the UPA chairperson called on President Pratibha Patil that caused flutters in political circles.
Officially, the 30-minute unscheduled meeting was described as a "social call" and no details of the discussions were available.
On its part, the Election Commission added grist to the political mill by ordering revision of electoral rolls with January 1, 2008 as the base date. EC sources said while the revision exercise was normal, the publication of the rolls by mid-January was being done in the wake of political uncertainty.
In the midst of all this, the UPA and the Left will go through the motions of meeting again in the committee formed to go into the concerns of the outside allies on the deal.
In a sharp rejoinder to Gandhi's attack on Sunday, the Left parties said the "nuclear deal with the US is against the interest of India.”
“Those who advocate the deal should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self-reliant basis. We need not surrender our vital interests to America on this," a brief statement issued by Left leaders Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan, Abani Roy and Debabrata Biswas said in New Delhi.
Nuke deal: SC dismisses PIL seeking Parliament approval
New Delh: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking Parliament's approval before going ahead with agreements on the Indo-US nuclear deal. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishanan declined to entertain the PIL filed by Mumbai-based IITian M N Ramamurthy. Ramamurthy contended that the contents of the agreements were detrimental to security of the country. He had sought a thorough debate in Parliament before going ahead with the deal.
EC orders revision of electoral rolls
In the midst of speculation over snap elections, the Election Commission on Monday ordered revision of electoral rolls as on January 1, 2008.
"The EC has directed all the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of States to get the electoral rolls of 2008 published by mid-January 2008," an EC spokesman said.
He, however, clarified it was a routine exercise carried out every year by bringing fresh electoral rolls with January 1 as base date. The direction was given at a review meeting held here on Mondayy with CEOs of 14 States and union territories from Southern and Western India, he said.
The Left parties and BJP yesterday said Congress president Sonia Gandhi's remarks against those opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal shows her party is going into the election mode.
While the Left said Congress was forcing elections on the country, BJP said the "countdown" for mid-term polls have begun due to the slanging match between Left and the ruling party.
"The Left parties are lampooning the UPA every day and the government has become completely radarless. What we can say for sure now is that the countdown for mid-term polls has begun and only the timing is to be decided," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI.
CPI(M) ready for elections: Basu
Kolkata: In the midst of war of words between the Left and the Congress, Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu on Monday said his party leadership should see if it was possible to work out a compromise on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Referring to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's speech on Sunday, he said if she wanted elections, they were also ready though they did not favour it.
"I have spoken to (Prakash) Karat and (Sitaram) Yechury after the meeting with Pranab Mukherjee. I told them to listen to what he (Mukherjee) had to say, to see if it is possible to work out a compromise," Basu told reporters here. He was referring to his meeting with Mukherjee here yesterday in which Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and party leader Biman Bose were also present.
On Gandhi's attack on opponents of nuclear deal, which was perceived to have been against the Left parties, Basu said
"Sonia had made a good speech in New York. I don't know why she has changed her tone now. If she wants elections, we are ready," Basu said.However, the CPI(M) partriarch said that he did not favour elections at the moment.
On a day External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee him and CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu in an apparent bid to soften their stand on Indo-US nuclear deal, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee yesterday expressed total opposition to the strategic alliance with the US.
"We are totally opposed to the strategic alliance. We have been asking the government not to go ahead with the strategic alliance. It will hurt us economically, politically and militarily," Bhattacharjee said at a public meeting of the National Federation of Postal Employees here.
Earlier in the day, Mukherjee, also the convener of the 15-member Left-UPA committee on the nuclear deal, conferred with Basu, Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose seeking to end the Left-UPA stand-off over the deal.
The Left has stepped up the heat on the government and has threatened to withdraw support from the UPA government if it operationalises the deal.
The government, on the other hand, had made it clear to Left parties that time may be running out and it was necessary to start negotiation with bodies like IAEA for operationalising the deal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Delhi : A day after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi made a veiled attack on opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Left parties on Monday hit back, saying that India need not surrender its "vital interests" to America on the agreement.
"The Left parties categorically reiterate that the nuclear deal with the US is against the interests of India. Those who advocate the deal, should know that India is capable of developing nuclear energy primarily on a self-reliant basis," top Left leaders said in a statement here.
"We need not surrender our vital interests to America on this plea," CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI leader A B Brdhan, Forward Bloc's Deabrata Bisws and RSP's Abani Roy said in the statement.
The joint reaction of the Red brigade came a day after Gandhi obliquely attacked the Left, saying that "elements" opposing the nuclear agreement were not only "enemies" of the Congress, but also of the nation's progress and development.
India's super-rich just got richer
8 Oct 2007, 0043 hrs IST,Sherna D'Mello,TNN
MUMBAI: In this age of high economic growth, it is not uncommon to hear of annual salaries of Rs 40 lakh. Some top executives and CEOs even earn that kind of money every month. But, every minute?
Hold your breath. In the last three months, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani increased his wealth by roughly Rs 40 lakh every single minute. Thanks to the rapid rise in stock prices of his company, his wealth is a staggering Rs 2,20,463 crore or $55.8 billion.
The elder Ambani is also close to becoming the planet's richest individual. The men who staked their bets on businesses have come into incredible wealth.
A splurge by foreign investors combined with an unexpectedly good performance in the first quarter of the year saw the sensex soar by 3,000 points.
Delhi-based DLF's Kushal Pal Singh, the architect of Gurgaon, saw his wealth increasing by 51% to Rs 1,29,736 crore or $32.9 billion. His company shares listed on the stock markets only on July 5, just when increasing interest rates had dampened market sentiments. A spurt in the DLF stock price in the last few days has made KP Singh the second richest Indian, ahead of Anil Ambani.
The 10 richest people in India have seen their collective wealth increase by Rs 1,67,505 crore or $42.4 billion since July 1. That's twice as fast as the rise in their wealth in the first six months this year.
Since January, the wealth of India's 10 richest men shot up by Rs 2,57,813 crore or $65.3 billion. Anil Ambani is a close third, with the value of his personal stake in his group firms now at Rs 1,27,965 crore or $32.4 billion.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indias_super-rich_just_got_richer/articleshow/2437797.cms
India slipping on parameters on poverty alleviation: ADB
NEW DELHI: Indicating a mixed achievement, an Asian Development Bank (AD
assessment on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has said that India is slipping on nine out of 21 parameters with regard to reducing poverty and improving quality of life.
India is off track on achieving targets with regard to poverty reduction, child health, infant mortality and sanitation in urban and rural areas, said the ADB's 'The Millennium Development Goals: Progress in Asia and the Pacific 2007', released today in Manila.
The silver lining, according to the report, is that India, "with a 2004 poverty rate of 34 per cent has travelled less than half the distance to its 2015 target. Since India's subsequent economic growth has been more rapid, the country could see a faster decline in poverty."
The report also pointed out that the country has not made any progress towards achieving targets relating to carbon dioxide emissions and reduction of CFC consumption.
The MDGs were by global leaders under the aegis of the UN in 2000 with the aim of alleviating poverty, disease and hunger around the world by 2015.
On the positive side, the report said that India has already achieved the targets with regard to primary enrolment, controlling the incidence of HIV and TB and improving forest cover.
The report indicates that India is on way to achieve targets with regard to education, especially girls education at primary and secondary levels.
Indo-US nuclear deal: At ‘the most opportune time’
By D. Murali and C. Ramesh
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200710081431.htm
The Indo-US nuclear deal is the only way to increase the share of nuclear power in the total electricity generation in the country, says Dr R. Kalidas, former Chief Executive of NFC (Nuclear Fuel Complex), Hyderabad.
“I also strongly feel the deal will be good for many companies in the country. Once the gates for nuclear trade open, many foreign companies will come in with their merchandise,” he adds, in a recent e-mail interaction with Business Line.
“This will increase competition for Indian firms. Even NFC, the only manufacturing unit in India for nuclear fuel and many hardware items, may not be spared from competition.”
Dr Kalidas is of the view that NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd), the public sector undertaking that spearheads India’s nuclear power programme, may then look for other suppliers.
“Many public and private enterprises want to set up nuclear power plants. NFC will not be able to remain the sole supplier in that scenario. Competition will force firms to improve. Product quality and operational competence will increase,” he foresees.
NFC, established in 1971, is “a major industrial unit of DAE (Department of Atomic Energy), Government of India. The complex is responsible for the supply of nuclear fuel bundles and reactor core components for all the nuclear power reactors operating in India,” informs www.nfc.gov.in.
“It is a unique facility where natural and enriched uranium fuel, zirconium alloy cladding and reactor core components are manufactured under one roof starting from the raw materials.”
Writing about the deal, in a paper posted on www.ssrn.com, Dr Kalidas had observed how the DAE’s three-stage nuclear power programme of progressive utilisation of uranium, the plutonium generated from spent fuel and finally the abundantly available thorium is progressing, but slowly. “For it to succeed, considerable quantity of uranium is required, which has to be imported. The Indo-US Deal assumes importance in this context.”
Excerpts from the interview.
On the energy argument.
There is a growing need for energy in the country. It is necessary to exploit and utilise all forms of energy and every gram of available natural resource. Nuclear power is no exception. Nuclear power is clean. Environmental concerns about it arise more out of fear of unknown.
On the need for external inputs.
With the limited available uranium resources in the country, the share of power generation through nuclear means will remain very low. Without external inputs it will remain so for decades to come. With limitations in the availability of other resources and environmental concerns, the total generation in the country will remain low.
When large-scale thorium utilisation commences, we can become self sufficient with respect to nuclear fuel. But it is a long, long way to go. In the interim period there is no alternative to depend on external inputs. This is the most opportune time for us to take external help.
On reactor import.
NPCIL is capable of constructing more indigenous reactors. But uranium available is grossly inadequate. Fuel has to be imported either as uranium or in the finished form. If the international restrictions for nuclear trade are removed, reactors can also be imported with lifetime fuel supply guarantee. This mode will help to quickly increase the power generation.
On rights that must be retained.
In both the cases we should have the right to reprocess the spent fuel to extract precious plutonium, which is essential to continue with our three stage nuclear programme for exploiting the full potential of vast thorium resources the country is endowed with.
Nothing comes free. We have to take care that the price we pay for the nuclear deal should not consist of compromises in our freedom to have an independent foreign policy, independence in our scientific pursuits, notably three stage nuclear programme and, of course, the defence requirements.
On US’ expectations.
Hoping that US does not expect anything in return from us will be naïve. The entire country, irrespective of the party lines, should think how to have the cake and eat it too. In any case, fear of consequences of US or any other country imposing restrictions in future because of any of our actions is unnecessary. Restrictions are there right now any way.
http://InterviewsInsights.blogspot.com
PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Spring 2003
... late 1980s and 1990s that emboldened Islamabad to wage a “proxy war” in Kashmir without fear of Indian ... crisis and China’s likely response in the event of another war on the Indian subcontinent
carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/03spring/malik.htm · Cached page
A proxy war of a different sort
Mick Hume
Pro- and anti-Israel wings of the Western political class are exporting their own 'culture wars' to the Middle East.
Why is the Middle East conflict dominating the news and public debate in Britain and the West so completely, generating such intense passions that many will think it outrageous even to ask such a question?
advertise on spikedOf course, everybody has been moved by the terrible scenes of dead civilians, many of them children, after the Israeli attack on the Lebanese village of Qana. But put such a loss of life in a wider context, and it becomes clear that the death toll to date is not particularly high by historical standards. Around 550 Lebanese and 50 Israelis are confirmed dead in three weeks of conflict. That is a tragedy for all concerned, but it does not compare to wars and ‘scorched earth’ offensives in the past. Nor would it seem to justify the description (in this case by ITV News, but many have taken the same tack) of ‘Apocalyptic’ devastation. Indeed, as other commentators have pointed out, the daily body count in Lebanon is lower than in other current conflicts, such as those in Iraq and Sudan, which attract far less coverage and concern.
So the death toll alone cannot explain the obsessive Western focus on the Middle East. Nor can the strategic importance of the conflict. Little Israel’s attempts to deal with Hezbollah in littler Lebanon, and Hamas in the tiny Palestinian territories, do not count for much in geo-political terms. This is not the Cold War era, when Israel’s role as America’s gendarme and the Soviet Union’s sponsorship of Arab nationalism made the Middle East a cockpit of global politics.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/1321/
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
12 Sep 2007
http://www.legitgov.org/
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news
The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border --British
soldiers return to action as tensions between US and Iran grow 12 Sep 2007
British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran
amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran [US] is
fomenting a "proxy war". In signs of a fast-developing confrontation,
the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks
launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building
of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.
US Senator asks for Iran invasion 12 Sep 2007 Senator Joseph I.
Lieberman, among the US Senate's fiercest hawks, has once again asked for the
expansion of US invasion into Iran. "Is it time to give you authority,
in pursuit of your mission in Iraq, to pursue those Iranian Quds Force
operations in Iranian territory, in order to protect American troops in
Iraq," LieberBush asked at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services
Committee. But Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of US troops in Iraq,
demurred at the idea of an expansion into Iran.
US confirms Israeli air strike on Syria 12 Sep 2007 A US official has
confirmed that Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike "deep inside"
Syria, escalating tensions between the two countries. The target of
the strike last Thursday remained unclear but Israeli media reported that
a shipment of Iranian arms crossing Syria [Yeah, right!] for use by
the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon was attacked.
UN nuclear chief walks out on EU speech on Iran: diplomats 11 Sep 2007
UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei walked out on an afternoon session
Tuesday of his IAEA to protest an EU speech which did not fully support
his deal for new inspections in Iran, diplomats told AFP.
Officials Cite Long-Term Need for U.S. in Iraq 12 Sep 2007 The two top
American military and diplomatic officials in Iraq conceded Tuesday
that the Bush administration’s overall strategy in Iraq would remain
largely unchanged after the temporary increase in American forces is over
next summer, and made clear their view that the United States would need
a major troop presence in Iraq for years to come.
'Current Troop Levels Cannot Be Maintained' --US security expert Dan
Serwer spoke to SPIEGEL ONLINE about his long-term vision for Iraq. The
director of the Iraq Study Groups says he doesn't expect any big
breakthrough from General Petraeus' report to Congress on Monday but thinks
that a partial withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is inevitable. 10 Sep
2007
Bush's Endorsement of Petraeus Plan Draws Fire --Democrats, Some
Republicans Seek a Faster Withdrawal 12 Sep 2007 Plans by President [sic]
Bush to announce a withdrawal of up to 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by
next summer drew sharp criticism yesterday from Democratic leaders and a
handful of Republicans in Congress, who vowed to try again to force Bush
to accept a more dramatic change of policy... Several Republicans
joined Democrats in saying that Petraeus's proposal to draw down troops
through the middle of next summer would result only in force levels
equivalent to where they stood before the increase began, about 130,000
troops.
Bush to endorse withdrawal of 30,000 Iraq troops --Troop levels would
decrease from 168,000 to 130,000 12 Sep 2007 President [sic] George W.
Bush is expected to endorse in a televised speech tomorrow a plan to
withdraw some 30,000 US troops from Iraq by July 2008, US media reported
today. The aides said Bush will also caution that the cuts would be
conditional on continued military 'gains' and that he plans to outline what
he sees as the dire consequences of failure in Iraq, according to the
Washington Post, which did not quote the officials.
Swear Him In! by Ray McGovern 11 Sep 2007 That’s all I said in the
unusual silence on Monday afternoon as first aid was being administered to
Gen. David Petraeus’ microphone before he spoke before the House Armed
Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. It had dawned on me that when
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Missouri)
invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to
