Headlines for 12-12-07

Data sought on veterans' suicide The parents of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide and members of Congress on Wednesday questioned why there's not a comprehensive tracking system of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans


Only one thing unites Iraq: hatred of the US


Ahmadinejad invited to hajj in Saudi: Iran ambassador


Iraq praises Syrian cooperation in boosting security


After bomb, US troops work to save boy


Report on Iran may scupper future sanctions


Israel eyes hitting Iran **


Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes A senior Israeli official has fiercely criticized U.S. President George Bush's administration for the way it has dealt with the Iranian nuclear issue.


Sarkozy: Israel could attack Iran ** Israel is more likely to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities than the United States, Nicolas Sarkozy said.


Appeals court strikes down parts of anti-terrorism law The San Francisco-based panel said that the ban on "material support or resources" to designated terrorists could be used to prosecute those who train members of such groups on how to peacefully resolve ongoing disputes or how to lobby the United Nations for disaster relief.


Bush to name journalist as new US image-maker He is also the editor-in-chief of The American, a bimonthly business and economics magazine of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.


The Israel Lobby and the War Party Israel is sitting pretty, right now, openly threatening its patron and financier, the United States government, with taking the Iranian nuke matter into its own hands and launching an attack on suspected nuclear facilities ? leaving U.S. troops in Iraq to face the Iranians and their Iraqi allies.


New Poll Reveals How Unrepresentative Neocon Jewish Groups Are One of the defining traits of war-loving neoconservatives is that their unrelenting and exclusive fixation on the Middle East places them loudly at the center of any foreign policy debates. That tenacity - combined with their reckless exploitation of "anti-Israel" and anti-Semitism accusations as instruments in their political rhetoric and their corresponding, deceitful equation of their own views with being "pro-Israel" - often casts the appearance that they are some sort of spokespeople for the "pro-Israel" agenda or the Jewish viewpoint.


Halevy: Israel must be in on US-Iran talks Highlighting new indications that the US government will directly engage with Iran in the near future on all issues including its nuclear program, former Mossad head Efraim Halevy said Tuesday that Israel must ensure that it is a direct participant in such contacts. Otherwise, he warned, the future of the region will be determined in a forum from which Israel is excluded.....Asked why Iran would agree to any such direct contact with Israel, Halevy said that Israel should ensure that the US makes it a precondition.


Leaders condemn Lebanon car bomb Politicians in Lebanon have condemned a bomb attack which killed a general slated to become army chief.


U.S. reps want audit of refugee aid U.S. Congress members will push Condoleezza Rice for accountability on relief funds for Palestinian refugee camps.


Bringing Iran in from the cold ** One of the reasons the NIE is so politically sensitive is that it is really not about whether a nuclear Iran threatens America but about whether it threatens Israel. The Israel connection makes it extremely difficult for any U.S. politician to advocate anything other than a confrontational stance with Iran......it's the existential threat to Israel that has allowed Bush to play let's-make-war-on-Iraq all over again, with just as little resistance. It's no accident that Bush used the inflammatory expression "nuclear holocaust" when discussing Iran in August. At an October press conference, Bush was even more explicit. "We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said. "So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from hav[ing] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."



Freedom Rider: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Neocon in Black Face Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a neocon, albeit in black face, and she goes down the line in faithful agreement with all of their horrific beliefs. "I completely and utterly agree with John Bolton that talking to Iran is a sheer waste of time." When she was honored by the American Jewish Congress in 2006 she openly called for war against Iran


Israeli Charity Saving Iraqi Children One Heart at a Time


Lebanon blames Syria, Iran for deadly blast