CIA’s Hayden: Romney Right On Iran
[Newsmax.com]
By Jim Meyers and John Bachman
October 23, 2012
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden tells Newsmax that Mitt Romney was right — and President Obama wrong — when the GOP candidate said during the Monday debate that a nuclear Iran and not a terrorist attack was the biggest threat to America’s national security.
The retired 4-star Air Force General also says he is “not very hopeful” that negotiations with the Iranians will dissuade them from developing nuclear weapons. And he predicts that a President Romney would “review” Obama’s exemption of some of Iran’s major trading partners from imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Romney to deliver foreign policy speech amid big questions on Libya, global economy
[FoxNews.com]
Published October 07, 2012
FILE: June 21, 2012: Mitt Romney campaigns in Orlando, Fla. (AP)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is set to give a foreign policy speech Monday that will mark one of his final opportunities before Election Day to show his potential as a world leader — amid political turmoil in the Middle East and economic collapse in Europe.
Romney’s success on foreign policy has thus far have evolved towards good reviews. He has drawn widespread praise from conservatives and fellow Republicans for his full support of Israel’s quest to stop Iran from achieving nuclear capability.
Iran: Jerusalem will be Israeli ‘graveyard’ [Thus saith the LORD: 'No.']
[WND.com EXCLUSIVE]
‘If Jews do not leave, there will be no other way but to bury all of its inhabitants’
by Posted: September 17, 2012
Iranian analyst Alireza Forghani boasted today that Jerusalem, which he claims was invaded over 50 years ago by the “pig-faced” Jews, will soon become a mass “graveyard” for the Israeli people.
Forghani, a strategy specialist in the camp of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, boasted that every city in Israel will turn into a killing ground and the longsuffering of Muslims worldwide “will be justified by the mighty Islamic Iran.” No one then will listen to the cries of the women and children of Israel, the author warned, when Jerusalem becomes “the biggest graveyard in the world.”
Forghani has also previously penned articles that laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people, as well as the right of Islamic Iran to obtain the nuclear bomb.
Israel warns of month-long war after possible strike on Iran’s nuclear program
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published August 15, 2012
March 15, 2007: In this file photo Israeli school children wear gas masks during a drill organized by the Israeli Home Front Command simulating a chemical missile attack in a shelter at a school in the central Israeli city of Lod. (AP/File)
JERUSALEM – An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program could trigger a bloody monthlong war on multiple fronts, killing hundreds of Israelis or more, the Israeli Cabinet’s civil defense chief warned in an interview published Wednesday.
HSBC Aided Money-Laundering by Iran, Drug Cartels, Probe Shows
[Newsmax.com]
Monday, 16 Jul 2012 05:56 PM
HSBC Holdings Plc did business with firms linked to terrorism, let money-laundering safeguards in its Mexico operations erode, and circumvented U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to U.S. Senate investigators.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 335-page report today detailing a decade of lax controls that allowed HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, and its affiliates around the world to give terrorists, drug cartels, and other criminals a portal into the U.S. financial system. Lawmakers plan to question senior executives from Europe’s largest bank at a hearing in Washington tomorrow.
“HSBC used its U.S. bank as a gateway into the U.S. financial system for some HSBC affiliates around the world to provide U.S. dollar services to clients while playing fast and loose with U.S. banking rules,” said Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the subcommittee. “The failure of accountability here is dramatic.”
UN atomic agency reports higher enrichment at Iranian nuke site
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published May 25, 2012
VIENNA – Inspectors have located radioactive traces at an Iranian underground bunker, the U.N. atomic agency said Friday — a finding that could mean Iran has moved closer to reaching the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles.
In a report obtained by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was asking Tehran for a full explanation. But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally increasing the level of its uranium enrichment, noting that Tehran said a technical glitch was responsible.
Analysts as well as diplomats who had told the AP of the existence of the traces before publication of the confidential report also said the higher-enriched material could have been a mishap involving centrifuges over-performing as technicians adjusted their output rather than a dangerous step toward building a bomb.
Iran court convicts Christian pastor convert to death
[FoxNews.com]
By Lisa Daftari
Published February 22, 2012
An undated photograph circulated by religious rights organizations shows Youcef Nadarkhani and his family.
A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.
Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.
“The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
Iran stops oil sales to British and French firms
[Reuters.com]
February 19, 2012
(Reuters) – Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said on Sunday, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state’s lifeblood, oil.
“Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers,” spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Petroleum website.
The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this.
Iran’s oil minister said on February 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to “some” European countries.
EXCLUSIVE–Iranian Freedom Fighter: ‘Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy Toward the Islamic Republic is Wrong
[BigGovernment.com]
Posted Jan 24th 2012 at 4:24 pm
Americans aren’t the only ones shocked by U.S. Congressman Ron Paul’s assertion that international sanctions against Iran qualify as an “act of war.”
The Texas Congressman has made the assertion several times during the past few years, and reiterated it last night during the Republican debates in Florida when he argued that the U.S. had committed an act of war by “blockading” Iran (which the U.S. is not doing).
“We’re blockading them,” Paul said to a Tampa audience. “Can you imagine what we would do if someone blockaded the Gulf of Mexico? That would be an act of war–so the act of war has already been committed and this is retaliation.”
But Amir Fakhravar, a pro-democracy freedom fighter who was imprisoned and tortured by the Islamic Republic, disagrees.
Former UN ambassador says nuclear threat is now a ‘clear and present danger’
[DailyMail.co.uk]
Iran warns Saudi Arabia not to help the West
- Magnetic bomb killed scientist in Tehran last week – the FIFTH attack in two years
- Iran blames US, Israel, and Britain for attacks
- US military official heads to Israel Monday for talks
By Daily Mail Reporter – Last updated on 16th January 2012
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has warned a report that Iran is a year away from being able to build a nuclear bomb may be too optimistic.
In a radio interview today, he said: ‘I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along.’
Negotiations: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, right, talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron, far left,
John Bolton with U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has warned of Iran’s nuclear capability. (Photo below)
The former ambassador was asked about a statement from a former head of U.N. nuclear inspections claiming Iran is now just a year or so away from having enough enriched uranium to assemble a nuclear bomb.
Olli Heinonen wrote in an article published earlier this week that Iran made this advancement after switching production of its higher-grade enriched uranium to a new, underground site.
Reacting to the one-year timeline, Mr Bolton stated: ‘I think it can be even less than that.’
He continued: ‘They’ve got, by publicly available information from the International Atomic Energy Agency, enough low-enriched uranium that if enriched up to weapons grade would be enough for four weapons.’
Santorum Trains Yet Another MSM Journalist on Obama’s Appeasement: NBC’s David Gregory
Posted by Joel B. Pollak
January 1, 2012 at 11:52 am
[Editor: CWNews endorses Senator Rick Santorum as a favorite candidate for the Iowa Caucuses. God bless America!]
Last month, Sen. Rick Santorum schooled CNN’s Candy Crowley on the subject of President Barack Obama’s appeasement of America’s enemies. Sunday, on NBC’s Meet the Press, it was David Gregory’s turn.
Like Crowley, Gregory attempted to “fact-check” Santorum by arguing that it could not possibly be “accurate” or “objective” to describe Obama’s foreign policy as “appeasement.”
In particular, he challenged Santorum to distinguish Obama’s policy on Iran from that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. (For several years, Democrats have tried to defend Obama by pointing out that the Bush administration refused to approve military strikes, either by the U.S. or by Israel.)
Santorum, as usual, delivered the facts on demand:
http://www.mrctv.org/embed/108755
Santorum pointed out that Obama failed to support Iran’s democracy movement–and later added that Obama cut funding to pro-democracy programs that Bush had supported. He noted that Obama has given tacit support to Islamist political parties in Egypt and other Arab countries that oppose America and our allies.
Congress Rebuffs Obama’s Pro-jihad Pleas to Appease, Aid Nuclear Iran
[AtlasShrugs.com]
Friday, December 09, 2011
There is hope. That is made clear by this latest struggle by our pro-jihad president and the majority of pro-freedom patriots in the Congress. The Congressional rebuff to our pro-Iran President best illustrates the importance of securing a super majority in the Congress, and why we must win the Senate in 2012.
In the disastrous event of an Obama win (certainly made possible by voluntary state-run media and his goon armies ACORN, SEIU, Soros propaganda machine, et al) the Congress will be the only thing that stands between us and the destruction of the greatest, free-est nation in the history of man.
Congress Rebuffs Administration Pleas to Ease Impact of Sanctions on Iran
Republicans and Democrats are pressing ahead with sanctions that would target foreign banks that do business with Iran’s Central Bank. Tough sanctions are the most viable option short of a military strike on Iran. The sanctions measure sponsored by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was added to a broader defense bill now the subject of closed-door negotiations.
Few lawmakers, even Democrats, have argued the administration’s case for weakening the sanctions. “I think Democrats are scratching their heads that the administration is leading them into a policy provision which not a single Democratic senator can support,” Kirk said in an interview. He said he spoke to the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., on Thursday and he indicated that the House negotiators would accept the sanctions provision. (AP-Washington Post)
As armed conflict erupts, Erdogan demonstrates his actual priority
If you don’t believe Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has regional ambitions, consider where he is this weekend, as neighboring Syria sinks into chaos and the Turkish military wages a campaign against PKK-related targets in northern Iraq.
Erdogan’s in Somalia. He arrived on Friday. Officially, he is representing Turkey and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in recognizing the plight of Somalia’s starving people and arranging for aid. But that’s not as straightforward as it might seem. The UN, many individual nations like the US, and various global charities are providing enormous amounts of aid to Somalia – and so is Iran. It’s in part because of the latter connection that Erdogan has had this sudden fit of humanitarianism.
Report: Iranian General Calls for Wiping Israel ‘Off the Map’
TheBlaze.com
- Posted on July 26, 2011 at 2:18pm by
Billy Hallowell
Basij Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza NaghdiFollowing Iranian scientist Dariush Rezaiinejad‘s assassination, Pajamas Media’s Reza Kahlili is reporting that Basij Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi wants Israel destroyed. According to Kahlili, Naghdi has claimed that protecting Iran’s security is dependent upon wiping the “Zionist region” “off the map.” In response to Rezaiinejad’s death, Naghdi allegedly said:
“The main plot for this criminal act was conceived by the American government, and since it is scared of the reaction by the Muslim world due to the uprisings in the region, it had the Zionist regime commit the heinous act…we have no option but to have the Zionist regime wiped off the map.”
Naghdi was born in Iraq and he was a member of the Iranian Quds Force before being appointed to his leadership post in Basij back in 2009. The Basij is a volunteer military body that is generally comprised of young Iranians who receive official benefits for enlisting.
Egyptian Democracy or Fanatic Islam taking over the Middle East?
FloppingAces.net
Victor Davis Hanson reminds us about the last time we saw this kind of “revolutionary” fever…not in Egypt but in Iran:
So let us reflect for a moment on the revolutionary era in Iran to remind us that the end of freedom there was not instantaneous, but insidious. Massive demonstrations broke out against the Shah of Iran in January 1978 — similarly characterized by the prominent role of the middle and upper urbanized and Westernized classes. He was forced to flee Iran almost a year later, on January 16, 1979. The Ayatollah Khomeini arrived in Tehran shortly afterward, on February 1, 1979, disavowing any political ambitions other than “spiritual guidance” — as he was showered with positive appraisals from academics and other “Middle East” experts.
Obama Egypt Strategy Could Place US at Risk
Newsmax.com
By Ken Timmerman
The Obama administration continues to turn up the heat on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, after two years of quietly monitoring human rights abuses by his regime and doing nothing.
 |
| Mubarak |
The rapid response of the White House to the protests in Egypt contrasts starkly with the Obama administration’s total silence during the first two weeks of the Green Movement protests in Iran in June 2009, even though the Iranian protesters openly called for U.S. support in their struggle to over-turn the re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
At the time, Obama said the United States did not want to give the impression of interfering in Iran’s domestic politics.
“It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be,” Obama said after millions of Iranians defied the government for more than four days in massive street protests demanding that their votes be counted. “We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran.”
The START Treaty Must Be Opposed
Newsmax URGENT Editorial
Reposted: December 19, 2010
Within days, maybe hours, the U.S. Senate will vote on ratifying the New START treaty.
[CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON AND SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO OPPOSE THE TREATY- today at 202-224-3121.]
If approved, it will be a dangerous and capricious move that will undermine our security for years to come.
Some Senate Republicans appear ready to cave in to the strong-arm tactics the Obama administration and Sen. Harry Reid are using in their effort to ram through a lame-duck Congress one of the most sweeping nuclear treaties the United States has ever signed, a treaty that has many problems that could jeopardize America’s national security.
Make no mistake about it: Limiting nuclear weapons on all sides is a worthy call. As President Ronald Reagan said, “A nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.”
But Reagan also understood that treaties with the Russians must be made deliberatively, be fair to both sides, be verifiable, and be linked to good behavior on the Russians’ part.
None of these attributes would be complied with fully if the United States signed New START today.
Obama Administration to Sell $60B in Weapons to Saudi Arabia
FoxNews.com | Associated Press
Published October 20, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration notified Congress on Wednesday that it plans to sell up to $60 billion in advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia in one of the largest-ever single U.S. arms sales, a deal intended to counter the rising influence of Iran.
State Department and Pentagon officials told lawmakers that the sales that will include 84 new F-15 fighter jets, upgrades to 70 existing Saudi F-15s, 190 helicopters and a wide array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as accessories such as night-vision goggles and radar warning systems.
The sale, first revealed in September, has been in the works for months and is designed to strengthen the defense forces of Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally, and counter Iran as a regional power in the Persian Gulf.
“This proposed sale has tremendous significance from a strategic regional perspective,” said Andrew Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs who announced the deal.
“It will send a strong message to countries in the region that we are committed to support the security of our key partners and allies in the Arabian Gulf and broader Middle East,” Shapiro told reporters. “And it will enhance Saudi Arabia’s ability to deter and defend against threats to its borders and to its oil infrastructure, which is critical to our economic interests.”
Congress has 30 days to block the deal, but the officials said they did not expect significant opposition despite concerns by some lawmakers’ about the impact the sales might have on Israel’s security.
Shapiro and Alexander Vershbow, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said the sales would not affect Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East and that Israel is not expected to object.
Israeli officials have said previously that they were not pleased with the proposed sales but would not try to prevent them.
(more…)
Israel: Iran Nuclear Plant ‘Totally Unacceptable’
FoxNews.com
Published August 21, 2010
AP
Aug. 20: The reactor building at the Bushehr nuclear plant is seen 750 miles south of the capital Tehran, Iran.
Israel said Saturday the fueling of Iran’s first nuclear reactor was “totally unacceptable” and urged greater world pressure to force Tehran to cease any uranium enrichment.
“It is totally unacceptable that a country that so blatantly violates (international treaties) should enjoy the fruits of using nuclear energy,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said in a statement.
Has Iran Made Promises to Turkey?
PajamasMedia.com
Does Turkey’s Erdogan dream of a new Ottoman Empire? Has Iran dazzled him with promises of support?
The Iranians have announced that “if the Supreme Leader gives the word,” the Iranian Navy will accompany future flotillas to Gaza.
You can be quite certain that the Leader is not about to give that word (and between you, me and the lamp post, I have my doubts about how quickly that order would be carried out, if at all). Ali Khamenei’s idea of war-fighting has to do with rounding up his critics, or sending Arab (not Iranian) suicide terrorists into the fray.
He’s not going to start a real fight that he’d quickly lose, thereby precipitating the fall of his regime.
What about the Turks? Daniel Jackson thinks Erdogan is serious about using the flotilla incident as causus belli and that Turkey is preparing to go to war against Israel. I am no expert on Turkey, but I am prepared to consider the possibility that the Iranians have urged him to attack, and that they swear to Allah that they’ve got his back. It would be folly to believe the mullahs, who love to gull others into doing their dirty work, but Erdogan might be dreaming crazy dreams about being the great liberator, taking back the Holy Land, and reconstituting the Empire/Caliphate.
Yes it’s crazy. But the world is full of crazies. And the United States is absent, thereby giving the crazies license to act on their nutty visions.
| Comment |
 |
 |
 |
 PJM Home |
CWNews Posted Comments