North Korea Warned U.S. of Nuclear Reversal

North Korea warned the United States this week that it intended to reassemble its primary nuclear complex, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 3).

Pyongyang had moved to disable and dismantle the Yongbyon site under the terms of a 2007 denuclearization agreement with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. However, frustration over not yet being removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism reportedly led North Korea to begin reversing the process. ....

U.K. Might Disclose New Iraq WMD Documents

A senior British official has directed the United Kingdom’s Cabinet Office to declassify documents that might indicate a 2002 effort to play up now-disproven claims regarding prewar Iraq’s WMD capabilities, the London Independent reported today (see GSN, Feb. 19).

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has called on the office to disclose memorandums and e-mail messages that might contain "evidence that the [Iraq intelligence] dossier was deliberately manipulated in order to present an exaggerated case for military action" against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the days before the British government released its September 2002 public summary of Iraq’s alleged WMD capabilities, a series of revisions to the document were requested by Alastair Campbell, spokesman for then-British Prime Minster Tony Blair.

The 11 known revisions included changing wording on how Iraq’s biological weapons “could be used” to “are capable of being used” and replacing “may have” with “have” in reference to the power of Hussein’s sons to order the deployment of chemical or biological agents in combat. Blair asserted in the outline that such weapons could have been put into use “within 45 minutes of an order” from Hussein. ....

Concerns Could Reduce Radiation Sensor Deployment

A program to install next-generation radiation sensors at U.S. entry points could be significantly scaled back in light of revelations that the Homeland Security Department gave lawmakers overly optimistic estimates of the machines’ accuracy and expense, the Washington Post reported today ....

Murky Past of Turkey’s Gendarmerie Intelligence Emerges in Ergenekon Investigation

By Gareth Jenkins

In late August, the Turkish media reported that retired Colonel Arif Dogan had confessed to being the founder of the intelligence wing of the Turkish Gendarmerie, known in Turkish as the Jandarma Istihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele, a controversial security organization whose very existence has been officially denied for many years. Dogan’s claim was alleged to have come during investigations into the so-called Ergenekon ultranationalist gang, which was established by a handful of radical secularists – many of them retired covert operatives - who planned to stage a violent campaign to try to destabilize the moderate Islamist government of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - AKP). ....

The Mumahidun: Muqtada Al-Sadr’s New Militia

By Babak Rahimi

The Mahdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, has recently undergone a significant transformation. On August 28, al-Sadr suspended the armed operations of the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr's latest statement on the Mahdi militia follows a similar call in early August when he announced new plans to reorganize the Mahdi Army into “a cultural and religious force,” charged with the responsibility of leading an intellectual jihad. As outlined in that statement, such changes primarily involve the centralization of the command structure into a small, tight unit of loyalists, coupled with vigorous religious training for the militiamen. The new militia is called the “Mumahidun” (“those who pave the path”). The name was coined in reference to the devout followers of the Hidden Imam, who prepare the way for the Mahdi’s return, believed by Shias to culminate in the establishment of divine justice on earth. ....

Attacks in Yemen Reflect al-Qaeda’s Global Oil Strategy

By Chris Zambelis

Recent attacks by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, Kataeb Jund al-Yemen (Soldiers of Yemen Brigades), against oil facilities across Yemen indicate that al-Qaeda’s larger strategy to strike oil targets remains a top priority. On June 30 the group took credit for rocket attacks against an oil refinery in Safir, located east of the capital Sanaa, in Maarib province. The group later posted video footage of attack on a radical Islamist website. The attack represented the latest in a series of strikes against oil infrastructure and personnel in Yemen over the last year by militants tied to al-Qaeda, including a May 30 attack against an oil refinery in the port city of Aden. In a related incident, the group threatened to escalate its campaign of violence against oil infrastructure and foreign interests in Yemen unless the state released members of its group currently detained by Yemeni authorities. ....

Scientists track Asian pollution

WASHINGTON – From 500 miles up in space, satellites track brown clouds of dust, soot and other toxic pollutants from China and elsewhere in Asia as they stream across the Pacific, taking dead aim on the Northwest and the rest of the Western United States.

A fleet of tiny, specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from an island in the East China Sea 700 or so miles downwind of Beijing this summer, is flying through the projected paths of the pollution, taking chemical samples and recording temperatures, humidity levels and sunlight intensity in the clouds of smog.

On the summit of 9,000-foot Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon and near sea level at Cheeka Peak on the Olympic Peninsula, monitors track the pollution as it arrives onshore.

By some estimates more than 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia – ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide to ozone – reach the United States annually. The problem is expected to worsen as some Chinese officials have warned that pollution in their country could quadruple in the next 15 years if not curbed.

While some scientists are skeptical, others say the Asian pollution could destabilize weather patterns across the North Pacific, mask the effects of global warming, reduce rainfall in the American West and compromise efforts to meet air pollution standards in the United States. ....

U.S. Crosses Pakistan Border to Raid Terror Camp

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A senior U.S. military official has acknowledged that American forces conducted a raid inside Pakistan, in the first known foreign ground assault in the country against a suspected Taliban haven.

The Pakistan government condemned an incursion that it said killed at least 15 people.

The American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross border operations, told The Associated Press that the raid occurred on Pakistani soil about one mile from the Afghan border. The official didn't provide any other details. .....

Bush Gives State Secrets to Obama

(Compiler's note: Ever feel like you're watching another form of Alice in Wonderland? This is a Must Read article. rca)

by Cliff Kincaid

Barack Obama, who has not been “vetted” by the FBI for the position of president of the United States, received his “first high level briefing” on Tuesday from the office of the Director of National Intelligence, CNN has reported. “Obama was given the briefing at the FBI field office in Chicago,” the cable channel said, from a “team of intelligence experts.” But why should Obama, with a documented history of contacts with communists and terrorists, be trusted with this information?

What procedures are in place to make sure that Obama and/or his aides do not disclose any of this information to foreign or hostile interests? Will somebody in the media stop digging into Sarah Palin’s family life long enough to look into this?

Because of his 30-year association with people who hate the United States, including communist Frank Marshall Davis., anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright, and communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, it is highly doubtful that Obama could get a security clearance in the U.S. government he wants to lead.

But rather than raise this issue, the major media want to investigate Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and her husband’s driving record.

The federal government provides a “Questionnaire for National Security Positions” to people eligible for a security clearance. There are several requests for information that Obama might find difficult to answer. They include “Other names used” by applicant, “Citizenship of your relatives and associates,” “Your foreign activities,” and “Your use of illegal drugs and drug activity.”

But Obama doesn’t have to fill out any such form. He is above it all.

According to CNN, President Bush authorized the briefing for Obama. “President Bush has followed the practice of previous presidents in deciding that intelligence briefings will be made available to the presidential and vice presidential candidates of both major parties,” CNN reported.

This may be a traditional practice but what is its legal and rational basis? And why are the “major” candidates only given access to this information?

The office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would only confirm to AIM that the briefing took place, in coordination with the White House, and that “intelligence briefings on certain topics of national security interest” are being provided to the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of “the two major parties.”

This is a raw exercise of presidential power that Obama would never object to but the American media should question. That is, if reporters have a patriotic bone in their bodies. After all, simple common sense dictates that America’s state secrets should not be given away willy-nilly to a security risk who just happens to be running for president and captured the nomination of a major political party.

It’s going to be hard for John McCain to argue that Obama is a danger to U.S. national security when President Bush, with no clear basis in law or the Constitution, is providing him high-level intelligence briefings.

In yet another story about whether Sarah Palin was properly vetted as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, the Washington Post says it was wrong to previously report that Palin had undergone an FBI background check. “A knowledgeable official said Tuesday that the vetting team had hoped to run such a check but that FBI officials declined to do so because that type of inquiry is reserved for people nominated for senior administration jobs,” the paper said.

Obama wasn’t checked out by the FBI, either. But the Post won’t make that crystal clear to its readers. It wants the focus to be on Palin, the conservative wife and mother that media feminists abhor and detest.

The paper added, “One U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the FBI does not conduct any kind of background checks or criminal history searches on behalf of political candidates or parties.”

The paper should have said that the FBI doesn’t conduct any kind of background checks or criminal history search of the candidates themselves. And that includes Obama, who is, after all, at the top of the Democrat ticket.

We are witnessing an incredibly strange situation in which Obama can avoid a background check and get access to national security information, but the people he appoints to high-level government positions - if he becomes president - may be subject to an FBI probe. And the process of turning over this information to Obama, despite the lingering questions about his mysterious and controversial background, has already begun.

If he becomes president, Obama will have instant access to all of our nation’s most highly classified intelligence information. And the FBI won’t dare tap Obama’s phones to find out if the information is being shared with hostile foreign interests. Indeed, Obama will be picking the head of the FBI.

Advisers to John McCain are complaining that Palin is being unfairly investigated, as part of a campaign to damage the Republican ticket, and that Obama has escaped serious scrutiny. That’s a valid point. But the Republican National Committee has treated questions about Obama’s background and associates as a laughing matter, launching a Facebook parody site for the Democratic presidential candidate.

The “Barackbook” website treats Obama’s friendly associations over the years with figures such as communist Frank Marshall Davis and terrorist Bill Ayers as amusing. The GOP is apparently trying to make a serious point through comedy. But associations with communists and terrorists are a serious matter that should be taken seriously.

In contrast to the Republicans, who have been caught flat-footed by the media feeding frenzy over Palin, the Obama Democrats are taking all of these matters very seriously. The Obama campaign covered up the Davis matter for many months before issuing a report that falsely portrayed Davis as a civil rights activist. Our media, not surprisingly, have failed to expose any of this.

The Obama campaign has also fought back hard against a private group that raised the issue in a television ad of Obama’s friendly association with Bill Ayers. The Obama campaign has demanded that the group be investigated by the Justice Department and that the ad be rejected for airing by television stations. This is an indication that President Obama will use the Justice Department and the FBI to go after his political enemies.

The rather mild ad, which simply points out the basic facts about Ayers and his involvement in a campaign of bombings, was erroneous in the sense that it portrayed Ayers as a domestic terrorist and his Weather Underground organization as an “American terrorist group.” The FBI has an entire file, available on its website, which includes information on the “international travels” of the Ayers group. “This organization described itself as a revolutionary organization of communist men and women,” the FBI says, in typical bureaucratic jargon. Ayers and his comrades were getting training and advice from communists in Havana and Hanoi. Ayers and Dohrn are both still active in radical causes, and Ayers has traveled down to Venezuela to sing the praises of the anti-American ruler there.

Ayers, now a professor and specialist in education matters, could be the Secretary of Education in an Obama Administration if a Democratic Senate confirms him. Such an appointment could not be ruled out in view of the media’s failure to hold Obama responsible for his connections to Ayers and other unsavory characters.

Interestingly, the Weather Underground information was prepared by the FBI’s Chicago field office.

So the intelligence community is now briefing a candidate whose associates, communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, were the subjects of an investigation by the same FBI office where the briefing is taking place. The FBI office in Chicago is also where the investigation of communist Frank Marshall Davis began. The investigation was transferred to Hawaii when Davis moved there.

But don’t expect the media to notice any of this. They’re too busy nosing around Palin’s family.

"Time to stop jihadist Islam in Europe"

by Robert Spencer

Why can't any American politician speak this way? Why are Eldad and Wilders among the handful of politicians anywhere in the world who will speak this way?

"MK Eldad: 'Time to Stop Jihadist Islam in Europe,'” by Yoni Kempinsky for Israel National News, September 4:

(IsraelNN.com) Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad held a press conference on Wednesday announcing a first-of-its-kind summit in Jerusalem for the establishment of a defensive coalition of European legislators.

“I believe that it's time to look reality in the eye, not to lower our eyes, not to be afraid of the reality,” declared Eldad. “As a physician, I can tell you that a patient who denies his disease is doomed.”

The new coalition will be geared towards those European Parliament members who believe that the expansion of Islam poses a severe threat to Western civilization.

Eldad said that there is a growing understanding in Europe that even though most of the governments surrender to the political power of the Muslim immigration, “Europe must stand and stop it. It's time, it’s almost the last possible moment, to stop Jihadist Islam in Europe.”

Regarding the planned summit, MK Eldad announced that it will take place on December 14th and 15th.

“[Attendees] will announce the creation of the alliance,” Eldad explained, ”and they will read the Jerusalem Declaration here. It will be a two-part meeting, the first one will be the practical part. The legislators will work on various laws and bills for which the drafts are being disseminated now in Europe, and work [is underway] among these parties. And the second day will be the educational day.”

INN has video.

Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

....Congressional Democrats have issued a flurry of subpoenas this year to senior Bush administration aides as part of a broad inquiry into the authorisation of torturous interrogation tactics used at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. ....