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Aid groups scramble in face of huge Japan earthquake

2011-03-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

The tsunami set off by Japan's huge earthquake is currently higher than some Pacific islands that it could wash over, the Red Cross warned on Friday.

Developing countries are at greater risk from the tsunami than Japan, although many have beefed up early warning systems and evacuation plans since the 2004 tsunami, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. ”Our biggest concern is the Asia and Pacific region, where developing countries are far more vulnerable to this type of unfolding disaster. The tsunami is a major threat,” spokesman Paul Conneally told Reuters in Geneva.

“At the moment, it is higher than some islands and could go right over them. That is a scenario that nobody wants to see,” he said. More than 226,000 people in 11 Asian countries died in the 2004 tsunami.

The biggest earthquake to hit Japan since records began 140 years ago struck its northeast coast on Friday, unleashing a 10-metre tsunami that swept away all in its path, including houses, cars and farm buildings. All national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the region including the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands were mobilized to help their populations, according to the Federation, the world’s largest disaster relief network.

The United Nations said 30 international search and rescue teams were on alert to go to Japan to provide assistance. “We stand ready to assist as usual in such cases,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), told Reuters in Geneva. UN disaster assessment and coordination teams, who deploy in emergencies worldwide to try to locate and treat survivors, normally include sniffer dogs and medical teams. Conneally, referring to Japan, said: “We are hearing there is a lot of disruption to lives and agricultural lands, as for physical damage, but we have no reports of major loss of life so far. Certainly there will be injured and a lot of destruction that will affect the economy.”

It was not clear whether Japan would request international assistance because its emergency services and civil defense mechanisms are highly developed, according to aid officials in Geneva.

American continents prepare for devastating tsunami

Chile’s president called on the country to remain calm and go about business as usual on Friday despite the tsunami alert that applies to the entire Pacific coast of the American continents after Japan’s magnitude-8.9 earthquake.

In Colombia and Peru, authorities have also made evacuation plans as a precaution. The tsunami was expected to hit at least 20 countries around the Pacific Rim, including the entire West Coast of the Americas, from Alaska to Antarctica. Chile’s National Emergency Office issued reports throughout the day to keep the public informed of the danger, and there will be enough time to evacuate if necessary, President Sebastian Pinera said.

“We are prepared to announce with the necessary anticipation” measures to protect the coastal population, he said. Just over a year ago, Chile was slammed by a tsunami in the early morning darkness. The tsunami on Feb. 27, 2010 devastated coastal communities after an 8.8 earthquake just off the central coast. On Friday, the first place to be affected would be Chile’s Easter Island, in the remote South Pacific about 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) east of the capital of Santiago, where the tsunami was expected to arrive around 5 p.m. (2000 GMT).

Fishermen were already pulling in their boats and the island’s airport, which is 150 feet (45 meters) above sea level, was setting up an evacuation center for the more than 5,000 residents and tourists in Hanga Roa, the island’s only town. “Hanga Roa is oriented to the northwest, toward Japan and exposed to the wave.”

Some facts about tsunamis since records began

2011-03-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Japan’s biggest earthquake since records began 140 years ago hit its northeast coast on Friday, causing a 10-metre tsunami that swept away all in its path. The 8.9 magnitude quake caused deaths, many injuries, sparked fires, unleashed a rolling wall of water and prompted warnings to people to move to higher ground in coastal areas. Here are some facts about tsunamis:

How do tsunamis occur?

During a strong earthquake oceanic plates can lurch by many meters, rupturing the ocean floor. This in turn suddenly moves a massive amount of water. This is what happened in the earthquake that caused the deadly Indian Ocean tsunamis of December 2004.
The water displaced by the 2004 Aceh earthquake was like tipping out the volume of Sydney Harbor within a few minutes.
Major quakes that rupture the ocean floor are usually shallow quakes occurring at a depth of less than 70 kilometers (44 miles). The quake that caused the 2004 tsunami was 30 km below the seafloor.

Tsunamis rise up

On the ocean surface, tsunamis start as an insignificant ripple capable of passing under a ship unnoticed, but they become giants as they approach land and the ocean becomes shallow.
A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves. They can travel across the ocean at speeds of up to 1,000 km (620 miles) an hour, the speed of a jet aircraft.
The vast size of the Pacific Ocean and the large earthquakes associated with the “Ring of Fire” combine to produce deadly tsunamis in the Asia-Pacfic. A tsunami can travel across the Pacific Ocean in less than a day.
As the waves approach land, the ocean recedes dramatically exposing reefs, as the waves draw the water out.
As the trough of the wave drags along the sea floor, slowing it down, the crest rises up dramatically and sends a giant wall of whitewater onto land. The first wave may not be the biggest.
The destructive force of a tsunami comes not from the height of the wave, but from the volume of water moving. It is as if the ocean floods the coast, smashing everything in its path, and then just as quickly recedes. Many people who survive the initial wave impact are washed out to sea as the tsunami recedes.

Worst tsunamis

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the world’s most deadly, killing 226,000 people, with a maximum wave height of about 50 meters.
The world’s biggest tsunami, caused by a magnitude 8 quake which caused a massive landslide, hit the remote Lituya Bay in Alaska on July 9, 1958. As the wave swept through Lituya Bay, it was forced to rise up, reaching an estimated height of 1,720 feet on the other side of the bay, becoming a mega-tsunami. The sparsely populated bay was devastated, but damage was localized.
The Krakatau island volcanic eruption of 1883 generated waves reaching heights of 125 feet, killing some 36,000 people. It was the most violent volcanic eruption in modern history.
In Japan in June 1896 a tsunami struck Sankiru killing more than 27,100 people following a 7.6 magnitude quake.
In 2010 many people who survived the 8.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 27 in Chile were killed hours later by the massive tsunami, outraging Chileans who said there was no warning the waves were coming.
Tsunami waves of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) went on to hit far-flung Pacific regions from the Russian far east and Japan to New Zealand’s Chatham Islands.

Hawaii orders evacuations in Pacific tsunami threat

2011-03-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hawaii ordered evacuations of coastal areas after Friday’s earthquake in Japan as a tsunami warning was extended to the entire Pacific basin, except for the US mainland and Canada.

The main airports on at least three of the major islands -- Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii -- were shut down as a precaution, and the US Navy ordered all warships in Pearl Harbor to remain in port to support rescue missions as needed.

President Barack Obama, a native of Hawaii, was notified of the massive Japanese quake at 4 a.m./0900 GMT and instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be prepared to help US states and territories, the White House said. ”We will continue to closely monitor tsunamis around Japan and the Pacific going forward and we are asking all our citizens in the affected region to listen to their state and local officials,” Obama said in a statement. Authorities also ordered evacuations from low-lying areas on the US island territory of Guam in the western Pacific, where residents there were urged to move at least 50 feet (15 meters) above sea level and 100 feet (30 meters) inland. Guam initially appeared to have emerged unscathed.

”So far no waves,” Lorilee Crisostomo told Reuters by telephone from Guam roughly an hour after the first waves were due, but within a four-hour window set by forecasters.

Guam’s homeland security agency advised tourists in high-rise hotels to take shelter on the sixth floor and above.

List of some of the strongest quakes since 1900 Here is a factbox showing the 10 strongest earthquakes recorded since 1900, by order of magnitude.

May 22, 1960 - Chile - An earthquake of magnitude 9.5 struck Santiago and Concepcion, triggering tidal waves and volcanic eruptions. Some 5,000 people were killed and 2 million made homeless.
March 28, 1964 - Alaska - An earthquake and ensuing tsunami killed 125 people and caused about $310 million in property loss. The magnitude 9.2 quake buffeted a large area of Alaska and parts of western Yukon Territory and British Columbia in Canada.
Dec. 26, 2004 - Indonesia - A magnitude 9.1 quake struck off the coast of Aceh province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, setting off a tsunami that killed more than 226,000 people in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, India and nine other countries.
Nov. 4, 1952 - Russia - An earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 generated a tsunami that reached the Hawaiian islands. No lives were lost.
March 11, 2011 - An 8.9 magnitude quake struck Japan, causing many injuries. The US Geological Survey verified the quake at a depth of 15.1 miles and located it at 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu.
The Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia all issued tsunami alerts, reviving memories of the giant tsunami which struck Asia in 2004. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries as far away as Colombia and Peru.
Feb. 27, 2010 - Chile - An 8.8 magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami in Chile killed more than 500 people and caused some $30 billion in damage, wrecking hundreds of thousands of homes and mangling highways and bridges.
Jan. 31, 1906 - Ecuador - An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 struck off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia, generating a tsunami that killed up to 1,000 people. It was felt all along the coast of Central America and as far north as San Francisco and west to Japan.
Feb. 4, 1965 - Alaska - An earthquake of magnitude 8.7 generated a tsunami reported to be about 35 feet (10.7 meters) high on Shemya Island.
March 28, 2005 - A magnitude 8.7 quake off Sumatra was estimated to have killed 1,300 people, many on Nias island off Sumatra’s west coast.
March 9, 1957 - Alaska - An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.6 rattled the Andreanof Islands. On Umnak Island, Mount Vsevidof erupted after being dormant for 200 years, generating a 50-foot (15-meter) tsunami that continued to Hawaii.

Major tsunami damage in Japan after 8.9 quake

2011-03-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

A magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan's northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. Fires triggered by the quake burned out of control up and down the coast.

At least one person was killed and there were reports of several injuries in Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, where buildings shook violently through the main quake and the wave of massive aftershocks that followed.

TV footage showed waves of muddy waters sweeping over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away.

"This is a rare major quake, and damages could quickly rise by the minute," said Junichi Sawada, an official with Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths but had no immediate details. Police said at least one person was killed in a house collapse in Ibaraki prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and was burning out of control.

Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away by the tsunami and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture. Similar destruction was seen in dozens of communities along the coast.

In various locations along the coast, footage showed massive damage from the tsunami, with cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters.

The quake struck at 2:46 p.m. and was followed by five powerful aftershocks within about an hour, the strongest measuring 7.1. The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.9, while Japan's meteorological agency measured it at 8.4.

The meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast of Japan. NHK was warning those near the coast to get to safer ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S. state of Hawaii.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms. NHK said more than 4 million buildings without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.

The ceiling in Kudan Kaikan, a large hall in Tokyo, collapsed, injuring an unknown number of people, NHK said.

Osamu Akiya, 46, was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit.

It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.

"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight."

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks. It also showed a glass shelter at a bus stop in Tokyo completely smashed by the quake and a weeping woman nearby being comforted by another woman.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Thirty minutes after the quake, tall buildings were still swaying in Tokyo and mobile phone networks were not working. Japan's Coast Guard has set up a task force and officials are standing by for emergency contingencies, Coast Guard official Yosuke Oi said.

"I'm afraid we'll soon find out about damages, since the quake was so strong," he said.

The tsunami roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.

In Tokyo, hundreds of people were evacuated from Shinjuku station, the world's busiest, to a nearby park. Trains were halted.

Tokyo's main airport was closed. A large section of the ceiling at the 1-year-old airport at Ibaraki, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, fell to the floor with a powerful crash.

TV announcers urged viewers near the shore to move to strong concrete buildings and stay above the third floor .

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said they were still assessing damage but had not confirmed any deaths.

One person was injured at a baseball stadium in Sendai, but his condition was not immediately known.

Dozens of fires were reported in northern prefectures of Fukushima, Sendai, Iwate and Ibaraki. Houses collapsing and landslides were also reported in Miyagi.

Hundreds killed in tsunami after 8.9 Japan quake

2011-03-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast.

Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai. Another 88 were confirmed killed and 349 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to evacuate because the plant's system was unable to cool the reactor. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.

Jesse Johnson, a native of the US state of Nevada, who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.

"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."

Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.

More than 300 houses were washed away in Ofunato City alone. Television footage showed mangled debris, uprooted trees, upturned cars and shattered timber littering streets.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.

"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."

He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.

From northeastern Japan's Miyagi prefecture, NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city.

NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.

Also in Miyagi, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. the company said.

A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said. But it was unclear if the leak was caused by tsunami water or something else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan's nuclear plants.

Jefferies International Limited, a global investment banking group, said it estimated overall losses to be about $10 billion.

The US Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

A tsunami warning was extended to a number of Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.

Thousands of people fled their homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high. But waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory, either.

The first waves hit Hawaii about 1400 GMT (9 a.m. EST) Friday. A tsunami at least 3 feet (a meter) high were recorded on Oahu and Kauai, and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo. The tremor bent the upper tip of the iconic Tokyo Tower, a 1,093-foot (333-meter) steel structure inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Osamu Akiya, 46, was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit.

It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.

"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight."

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday that caused no damage.

Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the destruction.

"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.

Dozens of fires were reported in northern prefectures of Fukushima, Sendai, Iwate and Ibaraki. Collapsed homes and landslides were also reported in Miyagi.

Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.

Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile last February also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.

Nearly 300 bodies found in Sendai beaches of Japan after major tsunami

Nearly 300 bodies were found in Sendai beaches of Japan after major tsunami on Friday, Kyodo news agency reported.

Japan is issuing an evacuation order to thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant

Japan is issuing an evacuation order to thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant

11,000 evacuated on Sakhalin after Japanese quake

Russian authorities on the fareastern Sakhalin Island and nearby territories have evacuated some 11,0000 residents from coastal areas in anticipation of tsunami waves unleashed by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off Japan's northeastern coast.

The regional emergency officials said that the tsunami could hit several villages on Sakhalin. No damage from Friday's quake was reported on the island.

Authorities on the Kamchatka Peninsula further north said the tsunami posed no danger to the area.

Wikileaks releases US diplomatic cables

2010-12-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

28 November 2010, Sunday / REUTERS

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks released a cache of classified US State Department documents on Sunday that provide candid views of foreign leaders and sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN ROBERT GIBBS

"These cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world."

"Such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government.

ROGER CRESSEY, PARTNER AT GOODHARBOR CONSULTING, FORMER US CYBER SECURITY AND COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL

"This is pretty devastating. The essence of our foreign policy is our ability to talk straight and honest with our foreign counterparts and to keep those conversations out of the public domain. This massive leak puts that most basic of diplomatic requirements at risk in the future. ..."

"Think of relations with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan, governments who we need to work with us in defeating al Qaeda. Their performance has been uneven in the past, for a variety of reasons, but this kind of leak will seriously hinder our ability to persuade these governments to support our counterterrorism priorities in the future."

"Whoever was behind this leak should be shot and I would volunteer to pull the trigger."

US REPRESENTATIVE PETER T. KING, NEW YORK REPUBLICAN

Urged US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to designate WikiLeaks a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

"WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. I strongly urge you to work within the Administration to use every offensive capability of the US government to prevent further damaging releases by WikiLeaks."

SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES

"This won't restrain dips' (diplomats) candour. But people will be looking at the security of electronic communication and archives. Paper would have been impossible to steal in these quantities."

EMILE HOKAYEM, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

"I'm not surprised by the fact that the Gulf is portrayed as a major source of funding extremist groups. It's clear money goes to extremist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But is there such a thing as an al Qaeda bank account? Probably a decent number of people are still doing it because they think it is a charity."

PROFESSOR MICHAEL COX, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE THINK TANK

"It's a great treasure trove for historians and students of international relations. It is a sign that in the information age, it is very difficult to keep anything secret. But as to whether it's going to cause the kind of seismic collapse of international relations that governments have been talking about, I somehow doubt.

Diplomats have always said rude things about each other in private, and everyone has always known that. Governments have a tendency to try to keep as much information as possible secret or classified, whether it really needs to be or not. The really secret information, I would suggest, is still pretty safe and probably won't end up on WikiLeaks.

Wikileaks: Palestinians told of impending Gaza war

2010-12-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

A US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks suggests that Palestinian leaders and Egypt were told by Israel that it was going to attack the Gaza Strip before the war began two years ago.

The cable cites Defense Minister Ehud Barak as telling a US congressional delegation that Israel «had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.»

According to the June 2, 2009, cable, Barak said both rejected the offer.

Israeli officials would not comment on the leaks on Monday.

Fatah is the party that dominates Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank-based government. Hamas is the Islamic militant movement that wrested control of Gaza from Fatah forces more than three years ago.

Washington tries to contain damage over Wikileaks release

2010-12-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) shakes hands with Saudi King Abdullah (2nd R) as Crown Prince Sultan (R) looks on, at Riyadh Airport, after Ahmadinejad arrived to attend an OPEC summit in this Nov. 17, 2007 file photo. The Guardian said some cables showed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urging the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program.

The release of more than 250,000 classified State Department documents forced the Obama administration into damage control, trying to contain fallout from unflattering assessments of world leaders and revelations about backstage US diplomacy.

The publication of the secret cables on Sunday amplified widespread global alarm about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and unveiled occasional US pressure tactics aimed at hot spots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea. The leaks also disclosed bluntly candid impressions from both diplomats and other world leaders about America’s allies and foes.

In the wake of the massive document dump by online whistleblower WikiLeaks and numerous media reports detailing their contents, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was expected to address the diplomatic repercussions on Monday. Clinton could deal with the impact first hand after she leaves Washington on a four-nation tour of Central Asia and the Middle East -- regions that figure prominently in the leaked documents.

The cables unearthed new revelations about long-simmering nuclear trouble spots, detailing US, Israeli and Arab world fears of Iran’s growing nuclear program, American concerns about Pakistan’s atomic arsenal and US discussions about a united Korean peninsula as a long-term solution to North Korean aggression.

None of the disclosures appeared particularly explosive, but their publication could become problems for the officials concerned and for any secret initiatives they had preferred to keep quiet. The massive release of material intended for diplomatic eyes only is sure to ruffle feathers in foreign capitals, a certainty that already prompted US diplomats to scramble in recent days to shore up relations with key allies in advance of the leaks.

At Clinton’s first stop in Astana, Kazakhstan, she will be attending a summit of officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a diplomatic grouping that includes many officials from countries cited in the leaked cables.

The documents published by The New York Times, France’s Le Monde, Britain’s Guardian newspaper, German magazine Der Spiegel and others laid out the behind-the-scenes conduct of Washington’s international relations, shrouded in public by platitudes, smiles and handshakes at photo sessions among senior officials.

White House condemns release

The White House immediately condemned the release of the WikiLeaks documents, saying “such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government.” US officials may also have to mend fences after revelations that they gathered personal information on other diplomats. The leaks cited American memos encouraging US diplomats at the United Nations to collect detailed data about the UN secretary general, his team and foreign diplomats -- going beyond what is considered the normal run of information-gathering expected in diplomatic circles.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley played down the diplomatic spying allegations. “Our diplomats are just that, diplomats,” he said. “They collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years.”

The White House noted that “by its very nature, field reporting to Washington is candid and often incomplete information. It is not an expression of policy, nor does it always shape final policy decisions.”

“Nevertheless, these cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world,” the White House said.

On its website, The New York Times said “the documents serve an important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes, compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other accounts cannot match.”

Le Monde said it “considered that it was part of its mission to learn about these documents, to make a journalistic analysis and to make them available to its readers.” Der Spiegel said that in publishing the documents its reporters and editors “weighed the public interest against the justified interest of countries in security and confidentiality.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed the Obama administration was trying to cover up alleged evidence of serious “human rights abuse and other criminal behavior” by the US government. WikiLeaks posted the documents just hours after it claimed its website had been hit by a cyberattack that made the site inaccessible for much of the day.

But extracts of the more than 250,000 cables posted online by news outlets that had been given advance copies of the documents showed deep US concerns about Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs along with fears about regime collapse in Pyongyang.

‘Saudi king urges US to attack Iran’

The Guardian said some cables showed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urging the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program. The newspaper also said officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran’s nuclear program to be stopped by any means and that leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran “as ‘evil,’ an ‘existential threat’ and a power that ‘is going to take us to war’,” The Guardian said.

“Cut off the head of the snake,” the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, quotes the king as saying, according to a report on Abdullah’s meeting with UUS Gen. David Petraeus in April 2008. Those documents may prove the trickiest because even though the concerns of the Gulf Arab states are known, their leaders rarely offer such stark appraisals in public. The Times highlighted documents that indicated the US and South Korea were “gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea” and discussing the prospects for a unified country if the isolated, communist North’s economic troubles and political transition lead it to implode.

The Times also cited diplomatic cables describing unsuccessful US efforts to prod Pakistani officials to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor out of fear that the material could be used to make an illicit atomic device. And the newspaper cited cables that showed Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, telling Petraeus that his country would pretend that American missile strikes against a local al-Qaeda group had come from Yemen’s forces.

The paper also cited documents showing the US used hardline tactics to win approval from countries to accept freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. It said Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if its president wanted to meet with President Barack Obama and said the Pacific island of Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to take in a group of detainees.

It also cited a cable from the US Embassy in Beijing that included allegations from a Chinese contact that China’s Politburo directed a cyber intrusion into Google’s computer systems as part of a “coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws.”

Israeli PM reveling in Wikileaks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday leaked US diplomatic cables had exposed widespread Arab fear of Iran’s nuclear program and vindicated his priorities in peacemaking.

While viewing the Wikileaks publication on Sunday as a potential damper to secret coordination between Washington and its allies, Netanyahu said he hoped Middle East leaders would make public their concerns over Iran. “For the first time in modern history, there is a not inconsequential agreement in Europe and in the region -- in Israel and countries in the region -- that the main threat stems from Iran, its expansion plans and its weaponization steps,” Netanyahu said in a speech to newspaper editors.

Israel says an Iranian bomb would embolden those opposed to Middle East peace and endanger its existence. The huge Wikileaks trove of US diplomatic documents included accounts of the Saudi king urging the Americans to “cut off the head of the snake” by attacking Iran. One Arab dignitary likened Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler. Netanyahu said he hoped Arab leaders would be “courageous enough to say publicly what they think secretly.”

“It would be a real breakthrough ... first and foremost for peace, because we must change the narrative -- the bogus argument that it is Israel that is threatening peace and security in the region, while everyone knows where the real danger lies,” he said. Netanyahu’s rightist government is formally committed to US-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians but progress has been slight. The Palestinians blame Israel’s continued settlement of the occupied West Bank. The Israelis claim that the problem is in Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state -- especially from the Gaza Strip, whose Hamas rulers enjoy Iranian support.

The leaks further outline US suspicions that North Korean technology may have boosted the range of Iranian missiles to western Europe and beyond. Tel Aviv Reuters

WikiLeaks may set back US intelligence sharing

2010-12-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON -- The damaging disclosure by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks of sensitive US diplomatic cables could put a chill on the sharing of intelligence considered vital to waging war and averting al-Qaeda attacks.

Nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks ushered in a new age of US intelligence sharing, the website’s release of some 250,000 sensitive diplomatic cables is raising accusations that too much US intelligence is being shared with too many people -- in an age when digital data is too easy to steal.

The full extent of the diplomatic fallout is still unclear but the leaks threaten to erode the trust of crucial US allies, who justifiably may now fear speaking candidly with Washington if those private revelations might be made public.

From a global perspective, the system now in place to guard US secrets has lost credibility, and Washington may need to take major steps to show its secrets are safe, observers say.

“This is a colossal failure by our intel community, by our Department of Defense, to keep classified information secret,” said Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

“This database should never have been created. Hundreds of thousands of people should not have been provided access to it,” he told CBS’s Morning Show.

US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, believe that WikiLeaks data from the latest leak and previous dumps of hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Iraq war logs were gleaned from the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, known as SIPRNet.

The network gives access to documents at a lower level of secrecy to US national security officials, including the Defense Department and State Department.

“You get on the SIPRNet and you have access to tons of (more) stuff than just a few years earlier, when you were dealing more with paper,” said Paul Pillar, a former CIA official now with Georgetown University.

A Pentagon spokesman acknowledged that efforts in the post-9/11 era to give diplomatic, military, law enforcement and intelligence specialists quicker and easier access to data “have had unintended consequences -- making our sensitive data more vulnerable to compromise.”

The White House appeared to take a small step toward more secrecy, ordering government agencies to tighten procedures on handling classified information. The Office of Management and Budget said it aimed to ensure “users do not have broader access than is necessary to do their jobs effectively.”

The Pentagon and State Department also said they are tightening up procedures to prevent more disclosures.

“This will be a force in swinging (the pendulum) in favor of less sharing and more control,” said Pillar, adding in the short term he saw pressure for “more restrictions.”

After the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, US intelligence officials were chastised for failing to “connect the dots” before the attacks on New York and Washington. Less sharing could complicate efforts to prevent another attack, and Pillar noted that the pendulum could swing back again toward greater sharing if al-Qaeda successfully struck US targets.

What went wrong?

The US investigation into the disclosures so far has focused on Bradley Manning, a former low-level US Army intelligence analyst in Iraq charged with leaking a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists. He was also accused of downloading state department cables.

In the wake of Manning’s arrest, US officials have been struggling to explain how a low-level analyst in Iraq could have had access to so much sensitive information.

“The administration must identify how someone was able to leak such a large amount of classified information and build safeguards to ensure this does not happen again,” said Howard McKeon, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to reporters in July after the WikiLeaks document dump on the Afghan war, said if the security breach had occurred at a rear headquarters or in the United States, it would have been detected.

The Pentagon has said it is now looking at controls like those credit card companies have to detect anomalous behavior. It is also disabling the ability to download computer data onto removable storage devices and increasing training to raise awareness of a potential “insider threat.”

“It is now much more difficult for a determined actor to get access to and move information outside of authorized channels,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

Whether it is enough remains an open question.

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, who is tasked with promoting greater cooperation within the US intelligence community, hinted last month that leaks in Washington were already threatening sharing.

“In this day and age, with the hemorrhage of leaks in this town, I think compartmentalization, appropriate reasonable compartmentalization, is the right thing to do,” Clapper said.

US regrets leaks, says it will tighten security

2010-12-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

People read US newspapers’ front pages outside the Newseum in Washington. Sunday’s release of documents obtained by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks exposed the inner workings of US diplomacy in recent years. The US government said on Monday it deeply regretted the release of any classified information.

The US government said on Monday it deeply regretted the release of any classified information and would tighten security to prevent leaks such as WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a trove of State Department cables.

More than 250,000 cables were obtained by the whistle-blower website and given to the New York Times and other media groups, which published stories on Sunday exposing the inner workings of US diplomacy, including candid and embarrassing assessments of world leaders.

Before Sunday, WikiLeaks had made public nearly 500,000 classified US files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Justice Department said it was conducting a criminal investigation of the leaks and the White House, State Department and Pentagon all said they were taking steps to prevent such disclosures in future.

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would not comment directly on the cables or their substance, she said the government would take aggressive steps to hold responsible those who “stole” them. “The United States deeply regrets the disclosure of any information that was intended to be confidential, including private discussions between counterparts or our diplomats’ personal assessments and observations,” she told reporters.

Echoing earlier US condemnations of the leak, Clinton said “it puts people’s lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.” Among the revelations initially made public by the Guardian and the New York Times was that Saudi King Abdullah repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran’s nuclear program. A 2008 cable posted on the WikiLeaks website quotes Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, saying of King Abdullah: “He told you to cut off the head of the snake.”

In one cable by the US ambassador to Seoul, a top South Korean official is described as saying in February that some Chinese officials would not intervene if North Korea collapsed. US Ambassador Kathleen Stephens wrote that Chun Yung-woo, then the vice foreign minister for South Korea, said the younger generation of Communist leaders in China did not regard North Korea as a useful or reliable ally and would not risk a renewal of armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, The Guardian reported.

The New York Times also reported impolitic comments about foreign leaders, including a description of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s head of state, as playing “Robin to (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin’s Batman.”

While the newspaper said it had obtained the full cache of 251,287 documents from an anonymous source, WikiLeaks itself had posted only 246 of them on its website as of late Monday. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to release tens of thousands of internal documents from a major US bank early next year, Forbes Magazine reported on Monday. Assange declined to identify the bank in an interview with Forbes.

The White House ordered government agencies to tighten up policies on handling classified information and the State Department said it was reviewing who has access to its networks and databases and would make those standards more stringent. A directive from the White House Office of Management and Budget released on Monday said the government’s new procedures would ensure “that users do not have broader access than is necessary to do their jobs effectively.”

Document disclosures

The leaked documents, the majority of which are from 2007 or later, disclose US allegations that China’s Politburo directed an intrusion into Google’s computer systems, part of a broader coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by Chinese government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws, the Times reported.

Among other disclosures in the newspaper were suspicions Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting western Europe and US concerns Iran is using those as “building blocks” for longer-range missiles.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Tehran’s relations with its neighbors would not be harmed by the WikiLeaks revelations of deep Arab suspicions of Iranian motives, saying Washington organized the leak to pursue political objectives.

The United States suspects Iran is using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying its atomic program is solely to generate power.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said there is an active criminal investigation into the leaks and that anyone found responsible will be prosecuted.

‘China knows less about N. Korea than thought’

China knows less about and has less influence over its close ally North Korea than is usually presumed and is likely to eventually accept a reunified peninsula under South Korean rule, according to US diplomatic files leaked to the WikiLeaks website.

The memos -- called cables, though they were mostly encrypted e-mails -- paint a picture of three countries struggling to understand an isolated, hard-line regime in the face of a dearth of information and indicate American and South Korean diplomats’ reliance on China’s analysis and interpretation.

The release of the documents, which included discussions of contingency plans for the regime’s collapse and speculation about when that might come, follows new tensions in the region. North Korea unleashed a fiery artillery barrage on a South Korean island that killed four people a week ago and has since warned that joint US-South Korean naval drills this week are pushing the peninsula to the “brink of war.”

The shelling comes on the heels of a slew of other provocative acts: An illegal nuclear test and several missile tests, the torpedoing of a South Korean warship and, most recently, an announcement that in addition to its plutonium program, it may also be pursuing the uranium path to a nuclear bomb.

The memos give a window into a period prior to the latest tensions, but they paint a picture of three countries struggling to understand isolated and unpredictable North Korea.

In the cables, China sometimes seems unaware of or uncertain about issues ranging from who will succeed North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to the regime’s uranium enrichment plans and its nuclear test, suggesting that the North plays its cards close to its chest even with its most important ally. Washington. Beijing AP

WikiLeaks founder files appeal against detention order

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has filed another appeal against a court order to detain him in a rape investigation, Swedish officials said on Tuesday. The appeal was received by the Supreme Court in Stockholm, court spokeswoman Tove Levelind said. Earlier this month, an appeals court rejected Assange’s first appeal, upholding a district court decision to detain him for questioning.

Assange, whose whereabouts are unknown, is wanted by Sweden internationally concerning allegations against him that include rape and sexual molestation. They stem from his encounters with two Swedish women during a visit to the Nordic country in August. He has denied the allegations, calling them part of a smear campaign. He has not been formally charged. WikiLeaks made another disclosure of classified documents over the weekend, including diplomatic cables and sensitive US State Department documents.

The 39-year-old Australian has angered the US and other governments with such disclosures, including secret documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

During his August visit to Sweden, Assange applied for a residency permit in the country, where the WikiLeaks site has some of its servers and laws offer strong protection for whistle-blowers. Sweden rejected the request. On Monday, Ecuador’s deputy foreign minister, Kintto Lucas, praised Assange for his work and offered him residency in the leftist-run Andean nation “without any kind of trouble and without any kind of conditions.” Stockholm AP

WikiLeaks: Espionage? Journalism? or what?

2010-12-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange leaving a news conference on the Internet release of secret documents about the Iraq war in London in this Oct. 23 file photo.

The government’s decisions about whether or how to bring criminal charges against participants in the WikiLeaks disclosures are complicated by the very newness of Julian Assange’s Internet-based outfit: Is it journalism or espionage or something in between?

US Justice, State and Defense Department lawyers are discussing whether it might be possible to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder and others under the Espionage Act, a senior defense official said on Tuesday.

They are debating whether the Espionage Act applies, and to whom, according to this official, who spoke anonymously to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. Other charges also might be possible, including theft of government property or receipt of stolen government property. Rep. Peter King of New York called for Assange to be charged under the Espionage Act and asked whether WikiLeaks can be designated a terrorist organization.

But Assange has portrayed himself as a crusading journalist: He told ABC News by e-mail that his latest batch of State Department documents would expose “lying, corrupt and murderous leadership from Bahrain to Brazil.” He told Time magazine he targets only “organizations that use secrecy to conceal unjust behavior.”

Longtime Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris, who represented CIA official Aldrich Ames and other espionage defendants, said Tuesday that Assange could argue he is protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, a freedom of the press defense. “That would be one, certainly,” Cacheris said.

Constrained by the First Amendment’s free press guarantees, the Justice Department has steered clear of prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked secrets. Leakers have occasionally been prosecuted, usually government workers charged under easier-to-prove statutes criminalizing the mishandling of classified documents.

But two leakers faced Espionage Act charges, with mixed results. The last leak that approached the size of the WikiLeaks releases was the Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration. The Supreme Court slapped down President Richard Nixon’s effort to stop newspapers from publishing those papers. But the leaker, ex-Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, was charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized possession and theft of the papers.

A federal judge threw out the charges because of government misconduct including burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s files by the White House “plumbers” unit.

The Reagan administration had more success against Samuel Loring Morison, a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy and grandson of a famous US historian. Morison was convicted under the Espionage Act and of theft of government property for supplying a British publication, Jane’s Defence Weekly, with a US satellite photo of a Russian aircraft carrier under construction in a Black Sea port. Dozens of news organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Morison because he was a $5,000-a-year part-time editor with Jane’s sister publication and thus arguably a journalist.

But WikiLeaks has entered a space where no journalist has gone before. News organizations have often sought information, including government secrets, for specific stories and printed secrets that government workers delivered to them, but none has matched Assange’s open worldwide invitation to send him any secret or confidential information a source can lay hands on.

Is WikiLeaks the leaker or merely the publisher?

“The courts have been somewhat reluctant to draw a line of demarcation between what we call mainstream media and everyone else,” said Washington attorney Stan Brand. “If these people are publishing and exercising First Amendment rights, I don’t know why they’re less entitled to their First Amendment rights to publish.”

But at a news conference Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder contrasted WikiLeaks with traditional news organizations, which he said acted responsibly in the matter even though several posted some classified material. Some news organizations consulted with the government in advance to avoid printing harmful material; Assange has claimed his efforts to do likewise were rebuffed.

“One can compare the way in which the various news organizations that have been involved in this have acted as opposed to the way in which WikiLeaks has,” said Holder.

Some see openings for the government.

Assange “has gone a long way down the road of talking himself into a possible violation of the Espionage Act,” First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams said on National Public Radio, noting that Assange has said leaks could bring down a US administration. Washington AP

Don’t hunt down my son, says mother of Assange

The mother of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday she was distressed by an international police alert for her son’s arrest and did not want him “hunted down and jailed.”

Global police agency Interpol issued a “red notice” on Tuesday to assist in the arrest of Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, who is wanted in Sweden on suspicion of sexual crimes.

Assange, 39, a former computer hacker now at the centre of a global controversy after WikiLeaks released a trove of classified US diplomatic cables at the weekend, denies the Swedish allegations. Christine Assange, who runs a puppet theatre in Australia’s Queensland state, said she was worried about her son’s wellbeing as Australia’s government joined the United States in launching an investigation into whether Assange and WikiLeaks had broken security or criminal laws. Canberra Reuters

US worried over Pakistani nuke material

Once-secret US diplomatic memos reveal Western concerns that militants might get access to Pakistan’s nuclear material and American skepticism that Islamabad will sever ties to Taliban factions fighting in Afghanistan.

They also show US doubts over the abilities of the weak, unpopular civilian government. The army chief is shown to be an important behind-the-scenes political player who once talked about ousting President Asif Ali Zardari, who himself is said to have expressed concern the military might “take me out.”

The revelations were published on Tuesday by newspapers working together with WikiLeaks, which obtained more than 250,000 leaked American diplomatic files from missions around the world. Britain’s the Guardian newspaper published many of them on its website.

A top Pakistani diplomat said the leaks would hurt ties between Islamabad and other nations.

“You have built them over the years and all of a sudden something gets out -- it’s top secret, it’s classified, it harms the relationship,” Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s ambassador to Britain, told the BBC.

The US ambassador to Pakistan has already expressed his regret over the leaks. In one memo, Prime Minister Gilani is quoted as saying he does not object to US drone attacks against militant targets in the northwest -- the opposite of what he and other top officials say in public, where they oppose them to avoid domestic criticism.

“I don’t care if they do it as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it,” Gilani is quoted as telling then-US Ambassador Anne Patterson in August 2008. US and Western officials have expressed concern over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, given the threat posed by al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, but in public have generally said they believed it was safe.

In a Feb. 4, 2009, document, Patterson wrote that “our major concern is not having an Islamic militant steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in GOP (government of Pakistan) facilities could gradually smuggle enough material out to eventually make a weapon.”

The Guardian reported that Russian and British officials shared the same concern. Pakistan has repeatedly said its nuclear assets are safe.

The papers reported that in 2007 Pakistan had agreed “in principle” to an operation to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani nuclear reactor, but it was never carried because of domestic opposition. Pakistan said Monday it refused the operation because its own nuclear security would prevent the material from getting into the wrong hands.

US National Intelligence Officer for South Asia Peter Lavoy told NATO representatives in November 2008 that despite pending economic catastrophe, Pakistan is producing nuclear weapons at a faster rate than any other country in the world. The memos also provide insight into American views on Pakistan’s efforts to fight extremists.

The United States is pushing Pakistan to take action against insurgents in the northwest who are behind attacks in Afghanistan. But Islamabad has resisted because it views the groups as potential assets against the influence of archenemy India in Afghanistan, once the Americans withdraw.

In one memo, Patterson said she was skeptical that Pakistan would abandon the militants. “There is no chance ... for abandoning support for these groups, which it sees as an important part of its national security apparatus against India,” she wrote. Islamabad AP

Saudi Arabian royal gets tough with WikiLeaks source

2010-12-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

A terracotta statuette of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (2nd L) and statuettes of, from left; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, are seen amongst other statuettes of a nativity scene in a shop in the renown Via San Gregorio Armeno Street of Nativity Scene Craftsmen, in Naples in this Nov. 25, 2010 file photo.
A senior Saudi royal has demanded that the source of US Embassy cables published by WikiLeaks be “vigorously punished” and suggested the credibility of America's diplomats had been hurt by the disclosures. It is also worth noting that many of the criticisms and observations made in the US documents rehash -- albeit more directly -- previously stated American concerns.

“If diplomats and leaders can't exchange their views freely on the matters that affect them, then we are all in trouble,” Prince Turki al-Faisal told a Gulf security conference. One notable leak cited Saudi King Abdullah as urging the United States to attack Iran's nuclear installations. He was reported to have advised Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.

It was one of several disclosures confirming the depth of suspicion of Shiite Muslim Iran among Sunni Arab leaders, especially in leading Sunni power Saudi Arabia.

Prince Turki, a former ambassador to London and Washington and former head of the kingdom’s intelligence service, said the WikiLeaks furor underscored that cyber security was an increasing international concern.

“So it is incumbent not just on the world community but on the US, where these leaks came from, to not just be extra vigilant but to try to restore the credibility and the legitimacy of their engagement with the rest of us, and ensure that there are no more leaks to be faced in the future.”

“Whoever is responsible must be vigorously punished,” said Prince Turki, the brother of veteran Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. On Dec. 1 a WikiLeaks spokesman said the website’s staff did not know if a former US Army intelligence analyst detained by military authorities was the source of the cables.

Bradley Manning, 23, is being held at a Marine base near Washington in connection with the disclosure of US secrets. US officials have declined to say if the cables he is accused of mishandling are the same ones that WikiLeaks made public last week.

Documents highlight fund woes

According to the leaked US government documents, Saudi Arabia has made “important progress” in aggressively trying to curtail the flow of funds to terrorist groups, but the oil rich kingdom and its Gulf Arab neighbors still remain major sources of financing for militant movements like al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The findings, detailed in a series of internal US diplomatic cables spanning a period of several years, paint a stark picture of Washington’s challenges in convincing key allies of the need to clamp down on terror funding, much of which is believed to stem from private donors in those nations.

But the cables, obtained and released by WikiLeaks, also offer a window into the delicate balancing act Gulf governments must perform in cracking down on extremist sympathizers while not running afoul of religious charitable duties and casting themselves as US stooges before an increasingly skeptical populace. “While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA] takes seriously the threat of terrorism within Saudi Arabia, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority,” reads a December 2009 memo from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The cable said that while the kingdom has begun to “make important progress on this front, ... donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”

In July 2009, President Barack Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said that the Taliban get more of their funding from wealthy Gulf donors than from the drug trade for which Afghanistan has long been famous.

Similarly, officials have complained of direct donations by wealthy individuals, particularly during religious months such as Ramadan, or during the hajj. Compounding that issue has been the difficulty and reluctance to monitor charities, as well as the abundant informal money transfer networks called hawala, or worker remittances. Despite the concerns, Saudi Arabia emerges in the leaked cables as the most committed of the Gulf nations to working with the US to stem terror financing.

A February memo from the US Embassy in Riyadh said Saudi Arabia has “made important progress in combating al-Qaeda financing emanating from the country.” It said reporting “indicates that al-Qaeda’s ability to raise funds has deteriorated substantially, and that it is now in its weakest state” since the Sept. 11 attacks. The cable said, however, that Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry “remains almost completely dependent on the CIA.”

Whistle-blowing WikiLeaks founder Assange arrested in UK

2010-12-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

08 December 2010, Wednesday

Julian Assange, founder of whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange surrendered to London police on Tuesday as part of a Swedish sex-crimes investigation, the latest blow to an organization that faces legal, financial and technological challenges after releasing hundreds of secret US diplomatic cables.

Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrate’s Court later on Tuesday and told the court he will fight extradition to Sweden. He was therefore likely to be remanded into UK custody or released on bail until another judge rules on whether to extradite him, a spokeswoman for the extradition department said on customary condition of anonymity. Since beginning to release the diplomatic cables last week, WikiLeaks has seen its bank accounts canceled and its web sites attacked.

The US government has launched a criminal investigation, saying the group has jeopardized US national security and diplomatic efforts around the world. WikiLeaks has also seen an online army of supporters come to its aid, sending donations, fighting off computer attacks and setting up over 500 mirror sites around the world to make sure that the secret documents are published regardless of what happens to Assange.

The legal troubles for Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, stem from allegations leveled against him by two women he met in Sweden over the summer. Assange is accused of rape and sexual molestation in one case and of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in another.

Assange denies the allegations, which his British attorney Mark Stephens says stem from a “dispute over consensual but unprotected sex.”

Assange and Stephens have suggested the prosecution is being manipulated for political reasons -- a claim that Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny has rejected.

A spokesman for WikiLeaks called Assange’s arrest an attack on media freedom and said it won’t prevent the organization from releasing more secret documents.

“This will not change our operation,” Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Associated Press.

But Hrafnsson also said the group had no plans at the moment to release the key to a heavily encrypted version of some of its most important documents -- an “insurance” file that has been distributed to supporters in case of an emergency. Hrafnsson said that will only come into play if “grave matters” involving Wikileaks staff occur -- but did not elaborate on what those would be.

Beginning in July, WikiLeaks angered the US government by releasing tens of thousands of secret US military documents. That was followed by the ongoing release of what WikiLeaks says will eventually be a quarter-million cables from US diplomatic posts around the world. The group provided those documents to five major newspapers, which have been working with WikiLeaks to edit the cables for publication.

The campaign against WikiLeaks began with an effort to jam the website as the cables were being released. US Internet companies Amazon.com, Inc., EveryDNS and PayPal, Inc. then severed their links with WikiLeaks in quick succession, forcing it to jump to new servers and adopt a new primary Web address -- wikileaks.ch -- in Switzerland.

Swiss authorities closed Assange’s new Swiss bank account on Monday, and MasterCard has pulled the plug on payments to WikiLeaks, according to technology news website CNET. A European representative for the credit card company didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The attacks appeared to have been at least partially successful in stanching the flow of secrets: WikiLeaks has not published any new cables in more than 24 hours, although stories about them have continued to appear in The New York Times and Britain’s The Guardian, two of the newspapers given advance access to the cables.

WikiLeaks’ Twitter feed, generally packed with updates, appeals and pithy comments, has been silent since Monday night, when the group warned that Assange’s arrest was imminent.

Wikileaks battle: a new amateur face of cyber war?

2010-12-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

10 December 2010, Friday

LONDON -- The website attacks launched by supporters of WikiLeaks show 21st-century cyber warfare evolving into a more amateur and anarchic affair than many predicted.

While most countries have ploughed much more attention and resources into cyber security in recent years, most of the debate has focused on the threat from militant groups such as al Qaeda or mainstream state on state conflict.

But attempts to silence WikiLeaks after the leaking of some 250,000 classified State Department cables seem to have produced something rather different -- something of a popular rebellion amongst hundreds or thousands of tech-savvy activists.

“The first serious infowar is now engaged,” former Grateful Dead lyricist, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation John Perry Barlow told his followers on Twitter last week. “The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops.”

Some of the more militant elements on the Internet clearly took him at his word. A group calling itself Anonymous put the quote at the top of a webpage entitled “Operation Avenge Assange,” referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Online collective Anonymous appears to be using social networking site Twitter to coordinate attacks on websites belonging to entities it views as trying to silence WikiLeaks.

Targets have included MasterCard, Visa and a Swiss bank. All blocked payments to Wikileaks on apparent U.S. pressure.

Swedish prosecutors behind Assange’s arrest in London for extradition and questioning over sex charges were also hit. Some Wikileaks supporters view the charges are politically motivated.

It looks to have surprised even Barlow, whose “declaration of independence for cyberspace” has been increasingly shared over Twitter by Anonymous supporters. He says he himself opposes distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aimed at knocking down sites, viewing them as anti-free-speech.

”I support freedom of expression, no matter whose, so I oppose DDoS attacks regardless of their target,” he told Reuters in an email. “They’re the poison gas of cyberspace.... All that said, I suspect the attacks may continue until Assange is free and WikiLeaks is not under continuous assault.”

The exchange suggests cyber warfare could also become the preserve of small groups attacking each other as state actors.

‘Poison gas of cyberspace’

Alongside possible financial losses from sites being taken down, the potential reputational damage to firms is massive.

MasterCard has been mocked widely across the net as users lampooned its distinctive advertising slogans: “Freedom of speech: priceless. For everything else, there’s MasterCard”.

“This proves without question the power at people’s fingertips --that there is high risk and vulnerability on the Internet,” said John Walker, chief technology officer at cyber security company Secure Bastion.

“If an organization like MasterCard with big computing power can have its site taken down then what about smaller organizations and ordinary people?”

While most denial of service attacks use “botnets” to hijack other computers to overload websites, cyber security experts said Wednesday’s attacks were different. Attackers were using their own computers, downloading software from Anonymous.

By midway through Wednesday afternoon, that software hadalready been downloaded some 6,000 times.

”This whole... episode is causing a snowball effect,” said Noa Bar Yosef, senior security strategist from Imperva. “The more attention it is receiving, the more people who are joining the voluntary botnet to cause the DDoS.”

WikiLeaks itself has also complained it has been under similar cyber attacks since shortly before it released the documents last week. While it has largely pointed to the United States and other governments, some say those attacks too may have been carried out by third parties.

Russian officials have long said that high profile cyber attacks against Estonia in 2007 and Georgia during its conflict with Russia in 2008 were in fact carried out by independent “patriotic hackers” rather than the government itself.

“I think an interesting development is what we might term the ‘Thomas a Becket’ syndrome -- hackers deciding to act in ways they think benefit the country without being instructed to by a higher authority,” said Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security at the US Naval War College.

Becket was the 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury murdered by four knights who reportedly overheard Henry II’s complaints over him and took them as a royal wish he be killed -- an alarming historical example of unintended consequences.

Only Al Capone might cry for WikiLeaks editor

2010-12-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

11 December 2010, Saturday

WASHINGTON -- Who would have thought the Swedes would do our dirty work?

For now, at least, Sweden has managed to curb the globetrotting publicity machine that is WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange by charging him with sex-related crimes. Assange turned himself in to British authorities to face the allegations.

It seems that at some point during two sexual encounters in Sweden with two different women on two different occasions, what was initially consensual became decidedly not so. In other words, no means no, even if it was preceded by a sexual act for which the answer was yes.

Assange’s British lawyer, Mark Stephens, asserted that the accusations, at worst, amounted to what’s sometimes called, in Sweden, “sex by surprise,” punishable by a $715 fine.

Law enforcement’s gotta do what it’s gotta do. Mobster Al Capone, you’ll recall, was nailed for tax evasion, not murder. As the Pentagon and Justice Department have learned, it may be difficult to try Assange in the United States under the creaky Espionage Act of 1917, unsuited to our Age of Wiki.

So sex allegations will have to do.

The charges against Assange do have a trumped-up feel, as though there’s a specifically worded law somewhere that prohibits Australian creeps from having sex in Sweden while releasing hundreds of thousands of documents on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This arrest should be accompanied by the admonition contained in the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore: Do not use in any other set of circumstances.

Still, there’s been no discernable rush to Assange’s defense by civil libertarians and others of their ilk. Usually the press welcomes as heroes those who uncover government secrets. Bob Woodward’s most recent and justly praised book spits out classified information like a teletype machine. Daniel Ellsberg, the Harvard grad and former Marine who saw the government lying about the war in Vietnam and delivered cables showing the real facts, supplied it to the New York Times, which won a Pulitzer Prize for the Pentagon Papers.

I see no such honor for Assange, whose problems overshadow even the considerable ones Ellsberg and Woodward faced.

His supporters say this leak is like the Pentagon Papers in that it reveals the truth about war based on lies. That justification fails for a number of reasons, including how thoughtlessly indiscriminate Assange’s document dump was, how little useful light it shed on Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the awful truth we already know, and Assange’s indifference to collateral damage.

Allies he might have won are aghast that he didn’t take the easy step of redacting the names or the identifying details of Americans working in Iraq and Afghanistan who may now be in mortal danger. It’s telling that news organizations that have used the material supplied by Assange have scrubbed it of compromising details about which Assange has no qualms.

On display in Assange’s few interviews is a messianic sense of self-righteousness and a complete lack of conscience -- a combination to which the natural reaction is to want to pop him in his pouty mouth. Ellsberg wrestled publicly with what he’d done; I imagine that any sleep Assange loses is over how best to continue holding the world’s attention.

It’s hard to know what Assange is. He isn’t a reporter or publisher, with their deserved constitutional protections. He’s not the leaker. By most accounts, that’s US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who was arrested in June, who could face decades in prison if convicted, and about whom Assange voices little concern.

Assange is the cyber-disseminator, about whom we have no laws. It would be beneficial for all involved to figure out how WikiLeaks does or doesn’t fit into the press’s quest for the truth.

Assange’s heroic luster is wearing thin even among his supporters. John Burns of the New York Times, one of the few journalists to spend time with Assange since he went into hiding, reported in October that some of his associates were abandoning him “for what they see as erratic and imperious behavior, and nearly delusional grandeur unmatched by an awareness that the digital secrets he reveals can have a price in flesh and blood.”

If Assange had released all the embarrassing diplomatic gossip, even exposed the Saudis playing both sides of the street, but blacked out information compromising real people, he would be closer to his self-image as an international man of mystery using the modern-day printing press to assist free societies.

He may be right when he says the sexual charges against him are political in nature. They’re also a pittance if, as many fear, his crusade against government secrecy results in real heroes getting killed.

Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist.

(c) Bloomberg News 2010

Obama hosts dinner for Islamic holy month

2009-09-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.

The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."

Attendees included Congress' two Muslim members -- Reps. Keith Ellison and Andre Carson as well as ambassadors from Islamic nations and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

Obama shared the story of Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, another invited guest, who broke a state record for most career points as a Massachusetts high school student.

"As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls -- she's an inspiration to all of us," he said.

President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert)

Obama also noted the contributions of Muhammad Ali, who was not in attendance, though the president borrowed a quote from famous boxer, explaining religion.

"A few years ago," Obama said, "he explained this view -- and this is part of why he's The Greatest -- saying, 'Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams -- they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do -- they all contain truths."'

Ramadan, a monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, began Aug. 22 in most of the Islamic world. It is believed that God began revealing the Quran to Muhammad during Ramadan, and the faithful are supposed to spend the month in religious reflection, prayer and remembrance of the poor.

White House dinners marking the holy month are nothing new. Former President George W. Bush held iftars during his eight years in office.

Obama has made a special effort since taking office to repair U.S. relations with the world's Muslims, including visits to Turkey and Cairo. In a June speech at the Egyptian capital, as well as in one to another important Muslim audience, in Turkey, Obama said: "America is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam."

Obama also released a video message to Muslims before the start to Ramadan. In the video, he said Ramadan's rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert)

President Barack Obama introduces Bilqis Abdul-qaadir, a University of Memphis student, who, as a high school student in Massachusetts, broke the high school career points record in women's basketball for her state, as he makes remarks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert)

Indonesian quake leaves 57 dead

2009-09-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Rescuers dug through rocks and debris with their bare hands Thursday in search of dozens of villagers believed buried in a landslide triggered by a strong Indonesian earthquake that killed at least 57 people and damaged thousands of buildings.

At least 110 people were hospitalized with injuries from the 7.0 magnitude quake just off the coast of densely populated Java island, Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said, adding 10 were in critical condition.

The earthquake Wednesday afternoon caused destruction across West Java province, where more than 18,300 homes and offices were listed as damaged, about 9,000 seriously, Kardono said. At least 5,300 people were forced into temporary shelters.

Some rural areas could not be reached by telephone and there may be more victims and damage, officials said.

Many of the deaths and injuries were caused by falling debris or collapsed structures.

The death toll continued to rise Thursday. More bodies were found in Cianjur district, where a landslide buried a row of homes under tons of rock and mud in the village of Cikangkareng. Villagers were still searching for dozens of others believed missing.

"Everything is gone, my wife, my old father-in-law and my house ... now I just hope to find the bodies of my family," farmer Ahmad Suhana, 34, said as he pried at giant stones with a crowbar.

Heavy digging equipment had not reached the remote village, which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to visit later Thursday. Police, military personnel and villagers used their hands to remove rubble.

Maskana Sumitra, a district administrator, said 11 houses and a mosque were buried by the landslide and estimated more than 50 people were trapped and feared dead.

"The chance of survival is so slim ... but we have to find them," Sumitra said.

When the quake struck it was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on the neighboring resort island of Bali. In the capital, Jakarta, 125 miles (190 kilometers) north of the underwater epicenter of the temblor, thousands of panicked office workers flooded out of swaying skyscrapers onto the streets, some of them screaming.

A tsunami warning was issued after the quake but was lifted an hour later. Several dozen aftershocks were measured by geological agencies.

Hospitals in towns and cities across West Java quickly filled with scores of injured people, most with broken bones and cuts.

In Cikangkareng, Dede Kurniati said her 9-year-old son was playing at a friend's house when the earthquake struck and is now "buried under the rocks."

"I lost my son ... now I just want to see his body, I want to bury my lovely son properly," she said, weeping.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami in December 2004 that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, half of them in Aceh province.

Photos:

A resident inspects the ruins of a house destroyed by earthquake in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

A man salvages roof tiles from the ruin of his house destroyed by an earthquake in Sindangbarang, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Residents displaced after an earthquake look after an elderly woman at a temporary shelter in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Residents sit near a house damaged by an earthquake in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Man scavenges roof tiles from the ruin of his house destroyed by an earthquake in Sindangbarang, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, residents inspect a landslide caused by an Earthquake in West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Rescue workers search for victims of an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009.

Rescue workers find the leg of a boy in the rubble following an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009.

Two men ride past a damaged road after an earthquake in Pangalengan, West Java September 3, 2009.

A man prays beside his injured wife in a makeshift tent set up by local medical teams after an earthquake in Pangalengan, about 30 km from the city of Bandung, West Java September 3, 2009.

Rescue workers find the body of a boy in the rubble following an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009.

Rescuers for victims after an earthquake-triggered landslide burried a village in cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Villagers walk past a damaged house after an earthquake in Pangalengan, West Java September 3, 2009.

New NATO chief is Islam’s ‘major foe,’ Taliban says

2009-04-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents say the incoming NATO chief is the “major enemy” of Muslims for defending the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad when prime minister of Denmark. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish prime minister until earlier this month, is due in August to become secretary-general of NATO, which leads a 56,000-strong international force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006 led to riots across the Muslim world, including bloody protests in Afghanistan in which several people were killed. Rasmussen had defended the publication of the cartoons on the grounds of free speech and refused to apologize to Muslim countries. In an article posted on the Taliban’s Web site (http://alemarah1.org/english/), the insurgent group said Rasmussen’s appointment would “further strenghten the faith of the Muslims” to fight against NATO and would lead to “intensification of war” in Afghanistan.

“The major enemy of Islam’s Prophet ... has become the secretary general of NATO,” said the undated article. Turkey, NATO’s only mainly Muslim member, dropped its veto to Rasmussen’s appointment this month after US President Barack Obama offered promises that one of Rasmussen’s deputies would be a Turk and Turkish commanders would be present at NATO command. Turkey had said Rasmussen’s appointment would exacerbate hostility towards the West in Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, where NATO’s military operation is the biggest in its history.

EU lost in Gaza once more

2009-01-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

As in almost every major international crisis, the European Union is having great difficulty creating a consistent response to the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The mixed messages stemming from the EU and member countries have led to criticism that Brussels is once again far from being a heavyweight in international forums.

While EU institutions and member countries issue contradictory statements, the EU term president, the Czech Republic, made an unprecedented blunder by supporting Israel's ground offensive and then quickly withdrawing it. The concurrent initiatives taken by the Czech presidency and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have also contributed to the confusion, as questions over who will represent the EU and whom Israelis and Palestinians should listen to have started to circulate both in Brussels and among EU capitals. Like the Arab countries feeling the heat from the streets, some EU countries, too, have started to see mounting criticism in EU capitals over Israel's massacres in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian marchers took to the streets in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Greece and Cyprus, with reports of skirmishes outside Israeli embassies. In Paris, 20,000 people marched in support of the Palestinians on Saturday while a crowd of 12,000 showed its solidarity with Israel on Sunday.

The big blunder

The Czech EU presidency, speaking on behalf of 27 members, claimed that the ground attack by Israel was "more defensive than offensive." However, in the face of mounting civilian casualties, the Czechs quickly withdrew their earlier verbal statement with a written one in which they softly criticized Israel. The withdrawn statement, which was blamed for a youthful mistake by its spokesman, Jiri Potuznik, has been replaced by "even the undisputable right of the state to defend itself does not allow actions which largely affect civilians."

Another EU actor, French President Sarkozy, who has embarked on a mission in the Middle East, has also been giving contradictory messages. While he was accusing Israel of disproportionate use of force last week, the French president in an interview on Monday laid the lion's share of blame on Hamas. "Hamas, which decided to break the truce and resume rocket fire against Israel, bears a heavy responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinians," he told Lebanese newspapers An Nahar, As Safir and L'Orient Le Jour.

The Czech EU presidency and Sarkozy are leading EU efforts to broker a cease-fire and inject humanitarian aid into Gaza, each sending a separate diplomatic mission to the region this week.

Besides the contradictory messages by the term president and France, the EU has another serious snag in its dealings with the Palestinians as Hamas is on the EU list of terrorist organizations. Asked whether EU delegations would meet with Hamas leaders, EU spokespersons said Hamas was on the terror list and that EU representatives would instead talk to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

Don't confuse Hamas with PKK

Commission spokespersons reacted strongly to a comparison between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Hamas after a journalist asked why the European Commission was silent over Israel's attacks on Hamas while Brussels had criticized Turkey over its land operation against the PKK. The spokespersons said the comparison was "inappropriate."

Superpower keeping super silent on Gaza

2009-01-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

As the response of the global public to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip grows larger and more organized, the only power that can stop the Israeli atrocities, the United States of America, continues to keep silent.

Many believe that America’s role in Israel’s reoccupation of Gaza is not mere silence but an active green light. Though it is impossible to prove this allegation, the public conscience has already convicted the US of being a party to the crime perpetrated against humanity on the Gaza front. The condemnations of the US in street protesters in Turkey’s larger cities this weekend were not in fact unique to Turkey. In almost all Arab countries, protests were organized against Israel for what it is doing and the United States for what it is not.

The public conscience knows very well that when Israeli state officials mention an "international understanding" about Israel's reasons to attack Gaza, they mean the "American understanding." And, in fact, Israel has so far been rewarded with a clear "understanding."

The Bush administration has put the onus on Hamas, saying Hamas was the one responsible for the breaking of the cease-fire. Though the administration called for an immediate halt to the violence, it has not clearly demanded an end to the Israeli attacks. The UN Security Council has also failed to agree on a statement calling for a cease-fire, despite nearly four hours of closed-door talks late on Saturday.

As major world powers have failed to condemn the Israeli atrocities with clear language, Israeli officials have made it clear that they feel little international pressure. An Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday that the international community understands Israel's reasons for launching its offensive in the Gaza Strip. "There is, on an international level, much understanding of the fact that we are exercising our legitimate right to self-defense against attacks perpetrated from the territory of Gaza by Hamas terrorists," said Israeli government spokesperson Avi Pazner in an interview with French radio station Europe 1.

Observers do not expect any meaningful change in US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Barack Obama is sworn in to the presidential office. Obama and his advisors have kept silent on the current situation in Gaza as would be expected, but Obama visited the southern Israeli town of Sderot last July and, while speaking there, he said from the very first moment after taking office he will try to seek a breakthrough. But he added that it was unrealistic to expect him to "suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace." Sderot is one city in southern Israel that is being hit by Qassam rockets from Hamas.

Retired Gen. Kürşat Atılgan, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy, told Today's Zaman that American power has shown its influence not only on the UN Security Council, but also among Arab leadership. "Three quarters of Arab states are under American control. The international community cannot do anything about this. This is not a new tragedy. Israel knows very well from its past experience that the international community does nothing tangible to stop Israel. This shows Israel's political power. Israel tops the list of countries that have a disproportionate amount of political power compared to its national power," he said.

The US has consistently vetoed UN Security Council decisions condemning Israel for atrocities in the region, even though Israel has violated Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515 several times in the past. The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said yesterday that he and his country are not expecting any real solutions from the UN Security Council, as the US is working at the beck and call of Israel.

On the other hand, many observers believe that it is not willingness but effectiveness that the US administration lacks when it comes to forcing Israel to take a particular position. Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Suat Kınıklıoğlu told Today's Zaman that the fact that the pro-Israeli lobby has managed to penetrate US political circles is a very important element that explains America's silence. "Another problem is the current state of the US administration. The old administration is not yet out of office fully and the new administration has not yet been finalized," he said. Kınıklıoğlu noted that he thinks the timing of the Israeli attacks is not random. "The country that has perpetuated these attacks would have calculated all these facts," he said.

Onur Öymen, deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party's (CHP), stated that whereas the US does not have the willingness or effectiveness to force Israel's hand, the Turkish government's misperception that it can force Israel to declare a cease-fire is self-deception. "The prime minister of Israel came to Turkey just before the planned attack. He spoke to the Turkish prime minister and said nothing [about it] to him. They say they informed Egypt. This means they do not take Turkey seriously. Furthermore, the countries the [Turkish] prime minister is visiting are in no position to influence Israel," he told Today's Zaman.

Is there an alternative to the US?

Political observers hope that public protests in the streets can act as leverage against Israeli actions in Gaza. Kınıklıoğlu highlighted the fact that thanks to the media, public opinion is no longer decided by decisions from the UN Security Council or their respective states. "There is an alternative picture in the media and this picture has the power to shape public perception of what is going on in Gaza. This is true also for the Arab public. The streets of Arab cities are demonstrating that their leaders have failed to show the necessary reaction to Israel. That is an important observation," he explained.

Others foresee an increased European Union role in world politics. The fascinating performance of the negotiating couple of France and Turkey during the Russian invasion of Georgia last year suggests that together with Turkish help, the EU could be more effective, constructive and active in conflict resolution. But Öymen criticized the hypocrisy of the EU particularly with regard to regional disputes. "When it came to Georgia, Europe showed a greater response. [Nicolas] Sarkozy worked very hard to push Russia to a cease-fire. Why is he not so active here? The [Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik] claimed that this is a 'defensive attack.' Why did they not say the same for Russia? They are claiming that Hamas started this fight in the first place. Well, Georgia was the first to start that fight also. The international community has lost its trustworthiness," he said to Today's Zaman.

A small country proposes a small but effective solution

According to a well-informed source in the Office of the Prime Ministry, Qatar has prepared a small but effective plan to be put in front of the UN Security Council in order to ease the tragedy that Palestinians are facing in Gaza. The plan, supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a proposal to create safe havens in certain schools in Gaza for students. According to the proposal, the UN would declare a number of school buildings "untouchable" and would put highly visible signs over these buildings. The schools would provide both first aid and educational facilities for the students. This would help give a hope of normalization to Palestinians and reduce the number of children and teenage casualties. If the Qatari proposal is accepted and any one of the UN protected buildings is hit by Israeli bombardments, this would automatically receive greater international condemnation. The Qatari officials are hoping that the US won't veto this humanitarian proposal as it does not include any condemnation of Israel. Such UN protection would mean the prevention of random bombardment, the use of cluster bombs and the new Israeli air-to-ground missile "flare." Whether Israel will submit to the Qatari proposal or a UN Security Council decision in the same direction is yet to be seen.

Israel uses cluster bombs, phosphorus shells against civilians

2009-01-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

Reports have been coming in from the Gaza Strip indicating that Israel has been using cluster bombs and other controversial weapons in its ongoing assault on the region, which escalated from days of air strikes into a ground invasion on Saturday afternoon.

Military analysts examining the latest video footage from the region have confirmed the use of cluster bombs by Israeli forces.

Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion, at least 500 Palestinians have been killed, including 70 children and 27 women. By now a total of 2,650 Gazans have been injured, including 270 children and 650 women. The Israeli daily Haaretz, meanwhile, reported on Sunday that as Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza last Saturday “hundreds of shells were fired, including cluster bombs aimed at open areas.”

Cluster bombs, which scatter hundreds of smaller individual sub-munitions or “bomblets” that often remain undetonated after impact, are especially dangerous when used in a location like the Gaza Strip, which is densely packed with people, Turkish military analysts say.

In 2007, a former Israeli defense official said, “The Israeli military used cluster bombs for two weeks during the 2006 Lebanon war without telling the Israeli government.” At the time, the UN decried the use of the bombs was “completely immoral.”

In May 2008 diplomats from 111 countries meeting in Dublin agreed to a ban on cluster bombs, but the biggest producers and users of the munitions didn’t even participate in the talks that led to the treaty.

The United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel all failed to participate in the 10 days of talks that ended with the agreement unveiled on May 30 last year. The treaty bans the majority of current designs of cluster bombs and requires signatory states to destroy their stockpiles within eight years.

Turkey is also among the countries that did not sign the treaty.

In his closing address to the conference, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said, "Rarely have we seen such single-minded determination to conclude a convention with such high humanitarian goals in such a concentrated period of time."

Cluster bombs have been used in such countries as Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Countries including the US, India, Pakistan and Israel claim that such munitions are very useful on the battlefield, but opponents say that when the bomblets fail to explode they pose a deadly threat to civilians.

When details of the treaty were announced in May 2008 the US said it would not alter its policy. A statement from the Pentagon said, "While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility, and their elimination from US stockpiles would put the lives of our soldiers and those of our coalition partners at risk."

Turkey produces cluster bombs locally

Turkey has developed its own cluster bombs domestically and exhibited its model during an international defense fair held in Ankara in 2005.

It is believed that the Turkish Air Force tested these bombs during a 2006 exercise code named Anatolian Eagle in the central Anatolian province of Konya.

Turkey also has an unspecified number of US-made cluster bomb munitions, such as CBU-87s, CBU-102s and AGM-154s, in its inventory.

Turkey's domestically developed cluster bombs are based on CBU-87s, which are said to have been successful during the first test trials staged in 2005. The domestically produced bombs are believed to each contain 800 bomblets.

White phosphorus in Israeli arsenal

Israel has also been using white phosphorus shells in its assault on Gaza, according British daily The Times.

White phosphorus is a chemical agent used to produce smokescreens, but can cause serious burns or death if it comes into contact with human skin. White phosphorus weapons are controversial today because of their potential use against civilians.

While the Chemical Weapons Convention does not include white phosphorous as a chemical weapon, many groups consider it to be one. In recent years, the United States, Israel, Russia and Argentina have used white phosphorus in combat.

Its use by the US has resulted in considerable controversy.

Initial field reports from Iraq referred to the use of white phosphorus against insurgents, but this was officially denied until November 2005, when the Pentagon admitted to the use of white phosphorus, although arguing that its use for producing obscuring smoke is legal and does not violate the Chemical Weapons Convention.

A Pentagon spokesman also admitted that white phosphorous "was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants" in Iraq, although not against civilians.

Meanwhile, it is not yet clear whether Israel has used depleted uranium during its Gaza assault.

Depleted uranium weapons have been used in armed conflicts over the past 15 years, despite being radioactive and chemically toxic. They cause serious health problems after the conflict for both soldiers and civilians.

On Nov. 7, 2006, Gulf News quoted a doctor at a Palestinian hospital as accusing Israel of using a type of chemical ammunition that caused burns and injuries in soft tissue that could not be traced by X-ray.

Chemicals or depleted uranium could have been used in producing the new type of ammunition, according to Dr. Jomaa al-Saqqa, head of the emergency unit at Gaza's main medical facility, the Al-Shifa Hospital, Gulf News said at the time.

On July 8, 2006, Global Research quoted Professor Paola Manduca from the University of Genoa as saying that new and strange symptoms had been reported amongst the wounded and the dead during Israel's assault against Hezbullah targets in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

"Bodies with dead tissue and no apparent wounds; shrunken corpses; civilians with heavy damage to lower limbs requiring amputation, which is nevertheless followed by unstoppable necrosis and death; descriptions of extensive internal wounds with no trace of shrapnel; corpses blackened but not burnt; and others heavily wounded that did not bleed," were amongst the unprecedented injuries cited by Professor Manduca, according to Global Research.

Photos

The bodies of Ahmed (R), Mohamed (C) and and Issa Samouni (L) who were killed in an israeli strike, are seen during their funeral in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

A Palestinian girl who was injured in an israeli strike is rushed to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. The expansion of Israel's offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers into ground battles and artillery salvos is taking a heavier toll on the civilians of the crowded sliver of land, including three toddlers killed monday by the blast of a crashing shell.

Palestinian children who were killed in an Israeli strike are seen at the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. The expansion of Israel's offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers into ground battles and artillery salvos is taking a heavier toll on the civilians of the crowded sliver of land, including three toddlers killed monday by the blast of a crashing shell.

A Palestinian man carries a child who was injured in an Israeli strike for medical treatment in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded gaza strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

Palestinians carry a baby who was killed in an Israeli strike to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded gaza strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

06.01.2009

Shoe protest in the US

2008-12-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

After a journalist threw his shoes at US President George Bush during a press conference in Iraq, antiwar activists are now using shoes as their symbol of protest. The antiwar group "Code Pink" has written down the names of those who have died in Iraq on pairs of shoes and then used them to decorate the streets of the capital. Shoes have been donated by citizens and each are labeled with the name of someone who has died in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Iraqi journalist El Zeydi, the inspiration fro the shoe protest, has requested a pardon from the Iraqi parliament.

Four ships hijacked in 24 hours

2008-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

''We are concerned for the crew on the Turkish ships''
Somali pirates have hijacked four ships in 24 hours. One of which is a Turkish ship. Denmark, in an attempt to contain the situation has opened cross-fire on the pirate ships.

The NATO-connected Denmark war ship opened fire on the Somali pirate ship as well as arrested the Somali ship's crew.

As of right now, not counting the ship hijacked yesterday, the pirates have also taken hostage two other Turkish ships named Karagöl and Yasa.

The background of the two previous two ships taken over by Somalis is as follows:

TURKISH CARGO SHIP TAKEN OVER BY SOMALI PIRATES- December 16th, 2008

A ship belonging to the Isko Denizcilik company, based in Istanbul, has been hijacked by Somali pirates.

The Turkish cargo ship, named "M/V Bosphorus Prodigy," was hijacked off of the Golf of Aden. The ship was said to have carried Antigua-Barbuda flags. The Isko Denizcilik Company has yet to make an announcement regarding the incident.

SOMALI PIRATES HIJACK TURKISH SHIP October 30th, 2008

Somali pirates, known for hijacking numerous ships from various countries have now hijacked a Turkish ship.

The "M/V Yasa Neslihan" ship, belonging to Yasa Denizcilik, carrying 77,000 tons of steel, and sporting a Marshall Island flag was hijacked yesterday at 12:30 off in the Gulf of Aden by Somali pirates.

There were twenty crew members on the ship at the time.

Following attempts made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO security forces went into action in order to save the Turkish personnel. However, because there are crew members on the ship, security forces are unable to attack directly.

Meanwhile, company attorneys are saying that so far they have not been contacted by the pirates for any ransom requests.

El Zeydi is the man of the day for throwing his shoes at Bush

2008-12-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

Everyone around the world is talking about the Iraqi journalist's "attack by shoes" on US President George Bush. The journalist, who was arrested following the incident which occurred in Baghdad, has been declared a 'hero.'

The 28-year-old journalist Muntazar El Zeydi has now become the hero of antiwar Bush adversaries! Zeydi a correspondent for the independent El Bağdadi television station has now become a worldwide conversation piece after throwing his shoes at US President George Bush the night before last during a press conference with the Iraqi President. Seen as a big insult in the Arab culture, the journalist who threw his shoes at the president and then yelled; "this is your goodbye present, dog" is still under custody. Zeydi, who was taken in for questioning by Iraqi President Nuri El Maliki's security, passed both alcohol and drug tests. As the journalist was being questioned regarding whether he had been paid for his actions, thousands of citizens hit the streets holding slogans of support for the journalist.

'EXPRESSION OF FREEDOM'
The television station which employs Zeydi has stood up for their staff member. The television station manager based at the station's center in Egypt, Aldülhamid El Sayeh stated, "many worldwide establishments have offered their support." He also added; "according to the concept of the USA's promise of freedom of expression, Zeydi needs to be set free." The editor of the London-published El Kuds El Arap newspaper, Abdülbari Etvan, qualified the incident as being; "an appropriate goodbye for a person who has committed war crimes." Meanwhile, the Iraqi government claims the incident was "barbaric." The Iraqi Religious Representatives Sunni Council made an announcement stating the incident was "representative of how Iraqis feel about the occupation." Attorney Tarık Harb states however that Zeydi may be facing at least two years in prison.

Bush feels sympathy for shoe-tossing journalist

2008-12-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

US President George Bush has requested the journalist who threw his shoes at him during a press conference not be treated harshly.

Bush, responded to questions asked by CNN regarding the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at the president, by stating, "I am not sure what Iraqi authorities plan to do with him, however I hope they don't exaggerate the situation."

Bush stated; "there was no time to think about it at that moment because I was trying to duck the shoes being thrown at me. This was the one of the strangest incidents I have experienced since I have been president."

Bush also stated; "I was ready to answer questions in a democratic Iraq, by the independent press. Then this young man started throwing his shoes at me. This was a unique and interesting way of self expression."

The 29- year-old journalist, Muntazır Zeydi yelled out; "Take this as a goodbye kiss, dog!" Then he proceeded to throw his shoes at the US president and missed, and was then roughly taken into custody by security.