Category Archives: WMD’s
John Bolton speaks on Iran’s plans for a nuclear arsenal, as well as Obama duplicity towards Israel
John Bolton was former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
H/T Richard
Syria chemical weapons: finger pointed at jihadists
Obama will have to spin a good one to reconcile his promise that chem-weapons are a red line for him, and it was his jihadi-rebels that used them. Just another feather in the putrid cap that is the Obama administrations real legacy.
H/T Richard
The Telegraph:
A Syrian Army source gives the first account of what is believed to have been a chemical attack – and it could mean that one of the West’s biggest fears is about to come true. Channel 4’s Alex Thomson reports.
Black smoke rise from buildings due to government forces shelling, in Aleppo Photo: AP/AMC
By Alex Thomson, Chief Correspondent, Channel 4 News
6:18PM GMT 23 Mar 2013
Whatever happened last week in the town of Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo, it achieved something extraordinary in the Syrian civil war: unity among Washington, Moscow and Damascus.
All welcomed the rapid decision by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, to investigate an alleged chemical attack that reportedly killed 26, including Syrian soldiers.
Unusually, the request for that investigation came from the Syrian regime, which claimed that Islamic jihadist rebels launched a chemical weapons attack. Since then, precious little evidence in any way has come from the area despite an awful lot of diplomatic noise around the world.
Reza Khalili: Secret Iranian Nuclear Program Site Has ‘Crossed Every Red Line’
Guess where Syria’s chemical weapons originate
H/T Richard
WND:
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely says he has confirmation that Syrian forces have used chemical weapons against rebel forces and civilians, and those weapons are likely stockpiles received from Iraq prior to the U.S.-led invasion 10 years ago.
Vallely has met twice in the region with military commanders for the Free Syrian Army, which he describes as the largest and much more moderate faction among the rebels, which also include elements of al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood. He also gets regular reports from a Canadian medical team. Vallely told WND that team is certain that a chlorine gas weapon was used in recent strikes.
“From what I received from the Canadian medical team who works out of Aleppo is that is was chlorine and that what you saw were the reactions on those videos that were put out within the last week,” Vallely said. “The chlorine, the choking, the skin, depending on the density of the chlorine will cause skin irritation. If it’s mixed with other types of gases too, then it could have an even more enhanced effect on the human body, not only breathing but on the skin.”
Syrian rebel command says Assad’s army hit town with chemical weapon
H/T Tundra T
Reuters:
ISTANBUL | Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:56am EDT
(Reuters) – The Free Syrian Army rebel command said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces launched a chemical weapon attack on the northern town of Khan al-Assal near Aleppo on Tuesday using a long-range missile.
“Fighting was raging in Khan al-Assal this morning and the regime’s army hit the town with a long-range missile equipped with a chemical warhead
The Assad regime however, maintains that it was the ‘rebels’ who used these weapons. Here is an 8 minute FOX video on exactly this.
Intelligence chief: Assad ready to use chemical weapons
Perhaps more interesting than the WMD issue, (I am starting to get WMDRF, Weapons of mass destruction reporting fatigue) is the Israeli estimate of the goal of jihadis in the area.
H/T Richard
Times of Israel
Aviv Kochavi says Islamist groups on Israel’s borders are veering away from global jihad and toward ‘local jihad’
By Mitch Ginsburg and AP March 14, 2013, 10:59 pm<
IDF Home Front Command soldiers take part in a 2011 defense drill simulating a chemical attack (photo credit: Gili Yaari/Flash 90)
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Israel’s military intelligence chief on Thursday said Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, is preparing to use chemical weapons.
Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Assad is stepping up his offensive against rebels trying to oust him.
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He claimed Assad is making advanced preparations to use chemical weapons, but has not yet given the order to deploy them. He did not disclose information about why he thinks Assad is preparing to use them.
Kochavi spoke for the better part of an hour, detailing the effects on Israel of the transformation of the Middle East in recent years.
Kochavi said that across the region, a lack of water, a rising demand for energy and an increasing difficulty in providing food for civilians, coupled with rising religious extremism and the overthrow of the long-enduring dictatorships, have thrown the region into profound tumult, creating “a completely different Middle East.”
The four primary Muslim powers in the region — Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia — are all governed by religious rule, and Israel, “for the first time in decades,” faces strife on four of its borders — Syria, Lebanon, Sinai and Gaza.
Bolton: Israel has ‘very short period of time’ to strike Iran. Warns Tehran will soon possess nukes beyond Jewish state’s reach
H/T Richard
Klein Online:
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:33 AM EST
By KleinOnline.com staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a “very short period of time” to decide whether to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure before Tehran possesses nuclear weapons, warned former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton in a radio interview last night.
“Obviously in the short term Israel is focused on forming its own government,” stated Bolton.
Analysis: Pyongyang nuke test may also be Iranian
J-Post:
Expert warns Tehran may be bypassing int’l inspections via North Korea, says Iranian scientists may have been present at test.
Kim Yong-Nam arrives at NAM conference in Tehran Photo: REUTERS/Handout
In addition to provoking the West, North Korea’s nuclear test on Tuesday may have also been carried out on behalf of Iran, and in the presence of Iranian atomic scientists, a security expert warned on Tuesday.
North Korea is making progress both in its nuclear weapons capabilities and its ICBM missile research, Dr. Alon Levkowitz, coordinator of Bar-Ilan University’s Asian Studies Program and a member of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, told The Jerusalem Post.
North Korea Is Suspected of Conducting 3rd Nuclear Test
H/T Gates of Vienna:
New York Times:
Lee Jin-Man/Associated Press
A South Korean watched news reporting about a possible nuclear test conducted by North Korea on a TV screen in Seoul on Tuesday.
By DAVID E. SANGER and CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: February 11, 2013
<nyt_text> <nyt_correction_top>
WASHINGTON — American and South Korean officials reported seismic activity in North Korea on Tuesday that appeared to be evidence of the country’s third, and long-threatened nuclear test and a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.
Multimedia
Map “We believe that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test,” said Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the South Korean Defense Ministry.
Iran is a nuclear state but has no intention to launch attack on Israel – Ahmadinejad
Clearly the president of Iran is a student of Joseph Goebbels.
RT:
Published: 06 February, 2013, 21:54
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Al-Azhar headquarters in Cairo on February 5, 2013. (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Tehran has no intention of attacking Israel and that the world needs to cooperate with Iran. The comments came as the leader marked a historical visit to Cairo for the 12th Islamic Summit Conference.
“[Israel] wants to attack Iran, but we’re not preparing any attack against them because the purpose of our program is defense,” Ahmadinejad told Al-Ahram newspaper in an interview before his trip to Egypt.
The leader also reiterated that Zionists were trying to take over global power and wealth throughout the world, and that the best solution was for the world to cooperate with Iran.
Ex-CIA man: Iran blast largest sabotage in decades
J-Post:
Former Revolutionary Guard tells ‘Post’ that such a blow to Fordow nuclear facility would harm Iran drastically.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad at Natanz nuclear facility Photo: Ho New / Reuters
Iranian dissident-turned CIA operative Reza Kahlili told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that an alleged blast at the Fordow nuclear installation in Iran is “the largest case of sabotage in decades.”
Although it has not yet been verified, a report by Kahlili, according to which a massive blast rocked Iran’s key Fordow nuclear installation last week, continued to spread on Monday.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization has dismissed reports of an explosion as “Western propaganda,” while The Sunday Times cited Israeli intelligence figures as confirming the claim.
Ex-Iranian diplomat warns Israel: If Iran gets the bomb, it will fire on you
Times of Israel:
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Shevat 16, 5773
5:01 am IST
Tehran’s former consul in Oslo, interviewed on Israeli TV, says Islamic regime
is ‘willing to destroy many countries’
By Yifa Yaakov January 25, 2013, 11:45 pm
Mohammad Reza Heydari, interviewed on Israel’s Channel 2, January 25 (photo credit: Channel 2 screenshot)
An Iranian diplomat who defected in Norway in 2010 warned Israel on Friday that if the Iranians got the bomb they would use it against the Jewish state.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TV, Mohammad Reza Heydari, the former Iranian consul in Oslo who resigned and obtained political asylum there three years ago, said that ”If Iran is given more time, it will acquire the knowledge necessary to build a nuclear bomb within a year.” Asked whether it would use the bomb against Israel, he said: “If Iran gets to the point where it has an atomic bomb, it will certainly use it, against Israel or any other [enemy] country.”
Heydari — who defected soon after he was asked to identify his son in photos taken during the protests that followed the 2009 vote in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected — said the regime in Tehran was aiming to develop two or three bombs. It saw nuclear weapons as “insurance” to guarantee its survival.
15 minutes of the 90 minute debate on Iranian nuclear weapons from C-SPAN Toronto
The whole debate is 90 minutes and actually its pretty good. Even the people arguing against the proposition that Iran must be stopped at all costs do a good job of anesthetizing the people into allowing a Nuclear Iran, to be perfectly honest.
The whole debate can be heard here but below is about 15 minutes of Charles Krauthammer and an Israeli envoy speaking in favour of the proposition.
Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan
H/T RIchard
From Washington Free Beacon:
Iranian officials tell citizens to vacate city located near nuke site
Iranian workers at the Uranium Conversion Facility near Isfahan, Iran / AP
BY: Adam Kredo
Iranian officials have instructed residents of Isfahan to leave the city, renewing concerns that a nearby nuclear site could be leaking radioactive material.
An edict issued Wednesday by Iranian authorities orders Isfahan’s one-and-a-half million people to leave the city “because pollution has now reached emergency levels,” the BBC reported.
However, outside observers suspect that the evacuation order may corroborate previous reports indicating that a uranium enrichment facility near Isfahan had been leaking radioactive material.
Tehran went to great lengths in December to deny these reports, telling state-run media outlets that “the rumors about leaking and contamination at Isfahan’s [Uranium Conversion Facility] are not true at all.”
November reports indicated that a radioactive leak might have poisoned several workers at the nuclear plant, which converts highly toxic yellowcake uranium into material that could be used in the core of a nuclear weapon.
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