FIRE WITH FIRE

During their recent Camp David summit, US President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai seemed in tune about everything except Iran's future role in Afghanistan. Their vastly different opinions about Iran struck a glaringly discordant note that may disrupt future harmony between the two nations.

Karzai characterized Afghanistan's powerful neighbor as "a helper and a solution."

Bush disagreed, saying, "I would be very cautious about whether the Iranian influence in Afghanistan is a positive force."

Bush and the US believe Iran to be a destabilizing force in the Middle East, bent on achieving its own expansionist goals to reestablish a Persian empire. Barely a week after the summit, US military commanders in Iraq accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps of operating in that war-torn country. While no member of the elite Iranian military unit had been captured, weapons caches bearing Iranian markings were found during a military sweep south of Baghdad. US commanders cited "military intelligence" in naming the Guard Corps as the source of the weapons.

Bush and US military leaders have repeatedly accused Iran of supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Several times Iranian-marked weapons have been discovered during US clashes with al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. The US has also accused Iran of actively supporting Shiite attacks against Sunnis in Iraq. The only Shiite Muslim state in the Middle East, Iran has made no secret of its support for development of a Shiite-controlled state in Iraq.

Labels: Afghanistan, arms traffic, Iran, Iraq, President Bush, US

Posted by The Watcher at Saturday, August 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The nuclear weapons are in place -- inside America -- and ready for detonation. Al-Qaida is planning a devastating nuclear attack on American soil. American authorities fear that weapons and sleeper agents are already in place. American Hiroshima is ready to blow! Read the whole article here.

That's the chilling news gathered from captured al-Qaida leaders and documents. Apparently, London was just a wind up for a much more savage and devastating attack planned for America this summer or fall. American intelligence agencies have learned that al-Qaida Iraq plans to detonate multiple nuclear weapons on our soil sometime soon.

With the help of the MS-13 street gang and other organized crime groups, anywhere from 10 to 40 nuclear weapons have already been smuggled over the Mexican border and into the US. Obtained from the former Soviet Union over the past 10 years, the weapons include suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even missile warheads. Captured documents indicate al-Qaida plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons using fissile material purchased on the black market. Bombs are being constructed for detonation by cell phone or clock timer.

According to Paul Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of the book The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse, al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden are financing the attack with hundreds of millions of dollars gained from bin Laden's control of Afghanistan's heroin trade.

Targeting America's biggest cities, bin Laden's goal is to kill 4 million Americans, a least 2 million of them children, to avenge America's purported crimes against Muslims. If he is successful, will America's vengance annihilate the Middle East? Is this the beginning of the end?

Labels: Afghanistan, arms traffic, bomb, heroin, nuclear, organized crime, Osama bin Laden, terrorists

Posted by The Watcher at Thursday, July 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The US intelligence community says al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to pre-9/11 strength. It would seem that two wars and an international manhunt targeting its leadership have come to naught. Despite the capture or death of many top lieutenants, annihilation of training camps, derailing of known funding operations, and the interrogation and incarceration of thousands of suspected sympathizers worldwide, in just six years the shadowy group has managed to rebuild its leadership, manpower, training program, resources, communications network and operations -- all contributing to an attack capability that is at minimum equal to that of 9/11 and most probably greater. Click here to read the whole story.

The recently aborted attacks in the United Kingdom are a sample of al-Qaida's present capability to coordinate chaos in the West, warn U.S. intelligence agencies. Al-Qaida's strength has grown tremendously, particularly in the past two years, and along with it, the terrorist group's capacity to carry out another devastating terrorist attack on American soil, say intelligence sources.

A new terrorist assessment singles out Pakistan for harboring al-Qaida operatives and operations along its border with Afghanistan and as a likely conduit enabling terrorists to enter other countries. Among those countries whose ties to Pakistan may put them at greater risk are Britain, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Al-Qaida's efforts to step up operations have been particularly successful since Pakistan signed a peace agreement with tribal leaders along its northwestern border with Afghanistan, effectively removing any military presence. The area has become a recognized safe haven for Taliban and al-Qaida operatives.

President Bush is using the intelligence report to bolster his argument for a troop build up. Certainly Americans are more wary of a 9/11-like terrorist threat since the the recent incidents in the United Kingdom.

Labels: Afghanistan, al-Qaida, Iraq

Posted by The Watcher at Tuesday, July 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

In the most direct statement to date, a senior US diplomat accused Iran of arming Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters in Paris, "Iran is now even transferring arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan." Read the full article here.

Iran has long been accused of funding insurgents throughout the Middle East, but this is the boldest accusation to date by a US official. As one of the few relatively stable countries in the Middle East, Iran stands to gain both power and real estate by fomenting rebellion among its neighbors. Iran's fiery president has repeatedly claimed Iran's divine right to rule the Middle East, envisioning the past when Persia ruled a vast empire.

In the May 31 edition of the Economist, British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote,
"In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support, including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime."

Isn't it time the world community -- and particularly Iran's neighbors -- put a stop to this? How long will Iran be allowed to continue its disruptive policies? Don't Iran's neighbors recognize the wolf at their door?

Labels: Afghanistan, arms traffic, Iran, Taliban

Posted by The Watcher at Tuesday, June 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post