Scott Ritter: By Releasing Intel, US Endorses Israel’s Illegal Bombing of Alleged Syrian Nuke Site

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog group, Mohamed ElBaradei, has criticized the United States for withholding intelligence that it says showed the construction of a nuclear reactor in Syria that Israel bombed in September. The International Atomic Energy Agency chief was critical of both the US delay in releasing the information and of Israel’s bombing of the site before the IAEA could inspect it. We speak with former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter.

Scott Ritter, Ritter served from 1991 to 1998 as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq in the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). He is author of Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change.

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Iraq jumps into U.S.-Iran tussle

Baghdad says it agrees that Iran has supplied militants with weapons, but the Iraqi government seems to want the U.S. to back off threats of military action and let it pursue diplomatic solutions.

BAGHDAD -- In echoing the Pentagon's latest accusations of Iranian meddling, the Iraqi government has placed itself firmly where it has long said it does not want to be: caught in the middle between Washington and its neighbor to the east.

Baghdad says it agrees with the United States that Iran has continued to supply weapons to anti-government militants in southern Iraq, including arms with markings indicating they were produced this year. On the other hand, the Iraqi government seems eager to send a message to the Bush administration to back off threats of military action and allow Baghdad to pursue diplomatic solutions more quietly with Tehran. More >>>

Army to acquire new lethal quick reaction missiles

New Delhi (PTI): The Army has floated global tenders worth Rs 3,800 crore to acquire new range of quick reaction surface-to-air missiles to provide air cover to its rapid formations.

The missile will have a range of 8 to 9 kms to strike air tragets like low flying fighters, armed helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicles, army sources said here.

This is the third biggest army tender to be floated within a span of 60 days. Army had earlier invited Request For Proposals (RFP) for induction of heavy artillery towed, wheeled and tracked guns.

Under the acquisition programme, Army plans to buy 18 to 20 launchers of such missiles, with the Request For Proposals being sent to companies in Israel, French, European consotirum MBDA and French and Russian Companies.

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UN censures US and Israel over Syria nuclear row

The UN's nuclear chief today criticised the US for the delay in publishing what Washington claims is proof that a Syrian nuclear reactor was built with help from North Korea.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was briefed yesterday by the US undersecretary of state for arms control, shortly before the director of the CIA, Michael Hayden, briefed members of Senate and House committees on the same intelligence.

"The director-general deplores the fact that this information was not provided to the agency in a timely manner, in accordance with the agency's responsibilities under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, to enable it to verify its veracity and establish the facts," ElBaradei said in a statement today. More >>>

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Iran insists all IAEA nuclear questions answered

23 April 2008 - TEHRAN - Iran has already answered all the UN atomic agency's questions over its nuclear programme, the foreign minister said on Wednesday, after the watchdog announced Tehran had agreed to respond to claims it was studying how to develop a nuclear weapon.

"In the past year there has been a friendly cooperation between Iran and the IAEA," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. "We have responded to all questions and ambiguities that the agency had.

"About the alleged studies -- within that period of cooperation we responded to the issues that they had pointed out and our responses were completely clear, legal and logical," he said at a news conference alongside Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday that its deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, reached an agreement with Iran to examine allegations that Tehran has studied how to design nuclear weapons.
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Tibet Glaciers Melting

Pakistan declares long-range missile ready for wartime use

Pakistan declares long-range missile ready for wartime use April 21, 2008: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan:
Pakistan said that a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead anywhere in Indian is ready for wartime use after troops launched it on Monday during a field exercise.

Scientists and engineers had prepared the Hatf VI missile, also known as Shaheen II, for the exercise with a test-firing on Saturday.
Monday's launch "validated the operational readiness of a strategic missile group equipped with the Shaheen II missile," the Pakistani military said in a statement.
The army says the missile has a range of about 1,200 miles, the longest of several missiles in Pakistan's nuclear-capable arsenal. That is far enough to hit targets anywhere in archrival India, as well as in Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
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