Arabs pressure Obama to endorse strike on Iran

By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – For the first time since coming into office, President Obama is under serious pressure to study the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran, a top Egyptian intelligence official told WND.

The Egyptian official said the pressure does not only come from Israel but also from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia that are at odds with Iran and its Shiite theocracy.

The official said Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has been involved in an intense, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort urging the U.S. and other Western countries to do everything necessary to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Such weapons would threaten Saudi Arabia's position of influence in the Middle East.

The Egyptian official said his country believes it is not likely Obama will grant Israel permission to attack Iran.

He spoke about other Arab countries' efforts to oppose an Iranian nuclear umbrella but did not comment on Egypt's own position on the matter.

Egypt recently granted Israel permission to conduct naval exercises off Egyptian coastal waters; those military drills were clearly aimed at Iran.

Also, recent reports in the Arab media, denied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, claimed Saudi Arabia granted Israel overflight permission for any aerial raid on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Until now, the Obama administration has sent mixed signals about green lighting Israeli military action against Iran while stressing it supports diplomacy with an Iranian leadership that has spurred the possibility of talks.

Last month, Vice President Joe Biden said during a CNN interview the U.S. would not stand in the way if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Israeli military action is needed to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat.

But multiple other administration officials warned against an Israeli attack.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in April such a strike would have dangerous consequences and asserted Tehran's acquisition of a bomb can be prevented only if "Iranians themselves decide it's too costly." His views have since been echoed by other Obama officials such as White House national security advisor Jim Jones.

Gates visited Israel several weeks ago reportedly to dissuade Jerusalem from any action until Obama's diplomacy is given a chance.

Obama has set a rough deadline of this fall for an answer from Iran about whether the country will talk. That deadline was postponed from a previous rough deadline of June.

Gates has said if Iran doesn't come to the bargaining table soon, the next step could be harsher international sanctions.

Israeli officials, however, stress sanctions are a long-term solution and that Iran is quickly acquiring the ingredients necessary to assemble a nuclear bomb.

Estimates in Jerusalem average between six to about 12 months before Iran might have the ability to begin assembling a nuclear warhead.

Israelis are worried Iran might use Obama's proposed talks as a smokescreen to continue secretly developing nuclear weapons technology.

Source: WND

Biden: U.S. will not block Israeli strike on IranSays Jewish state 'has sovereign right' to choose own path

July 05 | By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – The U.S. will not stand in the way if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Israeli military action is needed to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat, Vice President Joe Biden said during an interview with ABC News today.

The statements mark the first time the Obama administration has openly put on the table a possible Israeli military strike against Iran.

"Look, Israel can determine for itself – it's a sovereign nation – what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden told ABC's George Stephanoupolos in a pre-taped interview.

Stephanoupolos asked if Israel can still attack without U.S. approval.

"Whether we agree or not," replied the vice president.

Continued Biden: "They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that. But there is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed. What we believe is in the national interest of the United States, which we, coincidentally, believe is also in the interest of Israel and the whole world.

"And so there are separate issues. If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that," Biden said. "That is not our choice."

Stephanopoulos persisted: "But just to be clear here, if the Israelis decide Iran is an existential threat, they have to take out the nuclear program, militarily the United States will not stand in the way?"

"Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do," Biden stated.

Stephanopoulos pointed out the U.S. can deny Israeli over-flights of Iraq – one of the main aerial routes to strike Iran from the Jewish state.

"We can stand in the way of a military strike," the ABC host said.

Biden replied: "I'm not going to speculate, George, on those issues, other than to say Israel has a right to determine what's in its interests, and we have a right and we will determine what's in our interests."

Source: WorldNetDaily

Pakistan goes after Taliban leaders

Zahid Hussain, Islamabad | May 14

HUNDREDS of Pakistani commandos were dropped by helicopter into a mountainous Taliban stronghold in the Swat district yesterday as the army shifted tactics to root out the militants' top commanders.

It was the first time such forces had been involved in fighting since the military offensive began in the valley more than a week ago. "It signifies a major shift in the fighting," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

Members of the counter-insurgency force landed behind the front line in the Piochar region, about 60km from Mingora, the main city in the Swat Valley.

The greater involvement of ground troops could bring higher army casualties - a major concern for Pakistan's military command, which restrained past efforts in Swat in order to avoid that outcome. Government troops have been using heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets.

Previous military action has tended to peter out without the capture or deaths of leading insurgents. Past stalemates brought criticism, particularly from the country's American allies, that the army was not pursuing the Taliban hard enough. This time, Pakistani leaders say, the army will not rest until it has wiped out all militants.

The offensive has won praise even from the US. According to the Pakistani officials, there are about 5000 Taliban militants fighting 15,000 regular government troops in what is being described as the biggest counter-insurgency operation that Pakistan has undertaken since 2001.

Piochar, 3050m above sea level, is regarded as the main base for the militants. "The troops have surrounded the terrorist camps and are closing in on the militants' command centre," General Abbas said. Among them, the general said, was Mullah Fazalullah, the leader of the Swat insurgency, and some of his top commanders. "Our main strategy is to block the free movement of the militants and eliminate the entire leadership."

The army claims that 751 militants have been killed in Swat and neighbouring districts so far, with29 soldiers dead. But the figures could not be verified independently.

Government forces have been using heavy air and ground bombardment to pound Taliban positions but this has forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee the area.

The Government launched a full-scale assault on Swat and the surrounding districts last week after Taliban militants tried to extend their influence to areas only 110km from the capital, Islamabad, on the back of a peace deal that handed them control of the Swat Valley. Read More......

Source: The Australian

30,000 flee anti-Taliban operation in Pakistan

Correspondents in Peshawar, Pakistan | April 29

A MILITARY offensive to flush out Taliban militants has displaced about 30,000 people in northwest Pakistan, a provincial minister said last night.

Residents said terrified people, mostly women and children, were continuing to flee the area with their belongings after Pakistan troops and helicopter gunships launched Operation Black Thunder to drive out the Taliban.

One local charity said yesterday it had registered 2241 displaced families.

"Up to 30,000 people have left Maidan in Lower Dir district over the past few days.

"We are making arrangements for them in Peshawar, Nowshera and Timargarah districts," minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.

Mr Hussain said the Government remained "determined to fully implement the (operation) but some outsiders who do not want peace have infiltrated in Buner and Dir districts to sabotage the accord". Pakistan troops and helicopter gunships launched the offensive in Lower Dir, near the Taliban-held Swat valley, on Sunday, killing about 50 insurgents, officials said. The military said eight paramilitary soldiers had been killed.

Heavy artillery shelling by the paramilitary Frontier Corps troops continued yesterday, a senior military officer said.

"We destroyed several militants' hideouts in heavy artillery shelling of suspected bases in the area," the officer said.

Following the military push into Dir, a district on the Afghanistan border, militants described their peace pact with the Government as "worthless". Pakistan agreed in February to impose Islamic law in the Taliban-held Swat valley and surrounding districts of the Malakand Division if militants ended a rebellion that included beheading opponents and burning schools for girls.

However, the concession appeared to embolden the Taliban, which staged a foray last week into neighbouring Buner district, just 100km from the capital, Islamabad, reportedly patrolling other areas in the region as well.

Losing Lower or Upper Dir would be a blow not only for Pakistan but for US efforts to shore up the faltering war effort against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

US officials worry the pact could turn Swat into another haven for militants and encourage extremists to call for Islamic law in other areas of the country.

Western allies have expressed frustration that Pakistan is focusing on arch-rival India, distracting the Government from dealing with extremist sanctuaries on the Afghan border.

Afghan police clashed with Taliban fighters outside the capital, Kabul, leaving a dozen militants and an officer dead, while bomb blasts killed five more policemen, the Government said yesterday.

The fresh violence was linked to the insurgency led by the Taliban, who are battling to wrest back power after being ousted from government by the 2001 US-led invasion. The militants were killed on Monday in a sweep to clear Taliban from Musayi district about 15km south of Kabul, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.

"The head of the district criminal investigation department was wounded and later died in hospital.

"Twelve enemies were also killed," he said.

Separately, a rocket landed inside an international military base on the outskirts of Kabul early yesterday, wounding three French soldiers, a French military spokesman said.

Meanwhile, US officials yesterday denied claims from Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that Osama bin Laden was dead.

The officials said yesterday that the planner of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington was most likely hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "We continue to believe that bin Laden is alive," one US official said.

Source: The Australian