July 15, 2003

UK rejects Arafat isolation calls

The UK Government has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's appeals for Britain to break off relations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
[...]
After the meeting with Mr Straw, British officials said Mr Arafat was an elected leader [Just like Saddam was elected and his idol Stalin, too.--Jen] and the UK would continue to deal with him where it was appropriate.
[...]
In an interview with two UK newspapers ahead of his visit to London, Mr Sharon urged European leaders to avoid contacts with Mr Arafat.

"Every act of this nature only postpones the progress in the process," he said.

"By that they are undermining Abu Mazen (the Palestinian prime minister)."

Arafat an "elected leader?" What piffle!
Of course, this slap in the face to Ariel Sharon should surprise noone: both Tony Blair and his lovely wife Cherie love Yasser!
This sends Blair like a ping pong ball back into the court of Chirac and the weasels and against Bush (again).
When President Bush conducted the "road map" talks in Aqaba, he was supposedly speaking for all of the quartet--the EU (of which Britain is a dues paying member), the UN (ditto and they're on the Security Council) and the Russian Federation--and he chose to deal only with Mazen/Abbas on the "Palestinian" side.
While EU allies like Italy's Berlusconi have followed Bush's lead of ostracizing Arafat diplomatically, now Blair follows in the footsteps of Diplo-Frog Dominique de VILEpin in still recognizing the Baby Wipe Billionaire.
For Blair and the British government to take Arafat's side is truly defending the indefensible.
Arafat's nothing but a murderer.
Blair has so many wrong-headed notions and this love of Arafat is one of them!
(I can't think why he backed our just war of liberation in Iraq, but I'm glad he did! It was the only right thing he's done that I know of.)
Poor Ariel Sharon: to travel all that way to be affronted.
Well, the Lord God Jehovah is on your side, Mr. Sharon, along with a lot of other Jews and Christians like me!

July 14, 2003

Palestinians confirm no massacre in Jenin

In a study to be released next month by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and provided exclusively to The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian sources confirm that at least 34 Palestinian armed terrorists were killed fighting in the battle for the Jenin Refugee Camp.

The total number of Palestinian causalities in the battle was 52, a sharp contrast from the claims of Palestinian propaganda professionals who have openly stated that thousands had died.
[...]
The study reveals that for the first time that Palestinian terror organizations saw themselves as "armed combatants" and not as civilians who died in a deadly massacre.

The 35 page study, which is based on primary sources, clearly illustrates that Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas prepared themselves thoroughly with automatic weapons, grenades, anti-tank missiles and explosives and perceived the confrontation with IDF troops as nothing less than a "military to military battle."

The study refutes claims by PA leaders at the time that IDF forces were attacking innocent civilians and that the only Palestinians who had perished in the battle of Jenin were innocent, unarmed Palestinian men, women and children.

"The study directly contradicts the baseless charges made by PA leaders including Saeb Erekat, that Israel had massacred 500 Palestinians in Jenin," former UN Ambassador and JCPA director Dore Gold told The Jerusalem Post. "That blatant lie made its way from the screens of CNN to the UN security council".

Among other revelations that the study illustrates is that a joint military operations room had been established by Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in preparation for the battle of Jenin.

In addition the research indicates that Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas had created a joint bomb making facility in Jenin which produced over two tons of explosives.

The JCPA paper states that civilians were intentionally used as human shields and that both women and children were deployed by Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad to divert IDF troops into ambushes and booby-trapped areas.[The Islamists may be doing this to our soldiers in Iraq,too.--Jen]

The Jenin Refugee Camp was prepared as a "reinforced fortress" where nearly 200 Palestinian terrorists had gathered for the battle, the JCPA research states.
[...]
The 42-page report, half of which was made up of
submissions from Arab representatives seeking to prove that Israel's actions in Jenin constituted war crimes, also blasted Palestinian 'militants' for operating inside civilian refugee camps and termed their methods 'breaches of international law that have been and continue to be condemned by the United Nations.'
[...]
"The myth of a massacre at Jenin was the 'crown jewel' of a sophisticated effort to delegitimize the State of Israel," Gold said.

To which I would only add to Ambassador Gold's words, not only would they delegitimize the State of Israel, but also certainly the IDF as their instrument also.
Looks like Arafat's chickens are coming home to roost...and they're kosher!
But I find the study's conclusions troubling about the military and battle aspects of the Jenin confrontation--this is not a pretty development in the "Palestinian struggle."
If the IDF hadn't done such a terrific job then and since in reining in the Intifada, I would probably be deeply worried, but now, more than a year later, I think they've got a pretty good, firm handle on the "Palestinian" terrorist problem.

France denies being behind false intelligence on Iraq nuclear claim

France Monday denied being a source of intelligence on claims that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from the African state of Niger, as reported by the British newspaper the Financial Times.

"Contrary to the insinuations which appeared in the British press, France is not behind the intelligence published in the British dossier dated September 24, 2002 and relative to the nuclear program of Iraq," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Financial Times on Monday fingered both Italian and French intelligence services as being the likely sources of information that the regime of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Niger.

Italy has already denied being behind the intelligence.

The information -- which US intelligence has failed to corroborate -- was used to bolster US President George W. Bush's justification for going to war against Iraq, when he included it in his State of the Union speech in January.

Britain continues to stand by the intelligence.

Not only do they continue to stand behind it, but check this out:
Blair to blame France for Niger uranium row

TONY Blair is preparing a face-saving compromise with the United States in an attempt to heal the rift over whether Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger.

France is expected to be blamed for the split between the CIA and MI6 - on the grounds that Paris intelligence agencies shared hard evidence with Britain, but refused to show it to the US.[And then, the Frogs turned around and told Saddam to get rid of any evidence in Iraq!--Jen]

As Britain is forbidden from passing on this intelligence, it will be argued, the UK can be sure about the Niger connection - even though the CIA says there is not enough evidence to substantiate the claim.

Aides to both the Prime Minister and George Bush, the US president, are anxious to draw a line under the dispute before Thursday, when Mr Blair is due to address a joint session of the US Congress. [I didn't know that Tone was coming for a visit!--Jen]
[...]

A White House spokesman said Washington is not denying Britain’s claim about the Niger connection, merely saying that the CIA does not have enough evidence to corroborate it.
[Which I'm sure is something our senior officials always like to do here in the honest U.S.A.!]

"The president said that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa. That still may be absolute fact," said Ari Fleischer in his last day as White House spokesman, adding. "This revisionist notion that somehow this is now the core of why we went to war or a fundamental underpinning of the president’s decisions is a bunch of bull."
[Gosh, am I going to miss Ari!]

George Tenet, the head of the CIA, has publicly apologised for allowing Niger to be mentioned even with this caveat - a sign that, even now, the US does not believe Britain’s assertion.[Hmm. I'm not sure where the British or The Scotsman writer are getting this impression!--J.T.]

Mr Bush also defended his decision to mention the Niger connection - on the caveat that he was citing British intelligence.

"When I gave the speech the [Niger] line was relevant," he said.

He acknowledged that the CIA has since admitted that some documents about Niger had been forged.

Mr Bush yesterday defended the quality of intelligence he receives as "darn good" and said he remained convinced that Saddam was attempting to develop a weapons programme that threatened the world.

"Our country made the right decision," Mr Bush said.

"I think I get darn good intelligence and the speeches I have given are backed by good intelligence."

The United Nations nuclear watchdog was last night said to believe that Britain’s evidence on Iraq trying to import uranium from Africa is all based on the forged documents - not from French intelligence.

A diplomat in Vienna said in the UN’s many dealings with London during its weapon-hunt earlier this year, it saw nothing which has not now been proven to be untrue.

IOW, we're talking about the very fine MI6 British intel service, right?
I think the French set us all up with this dodgy intel--America, Britain, Bush and Blair--so that just this kind of Liberal sh-tstorm would result.
Damn them.
After reading Saddam's Bombmaker by Dr. Hamir Hamza, I became convinced that Saddam had been trying to buy nukes for 3 decades from Africa, Europe, Asia...everywhere and anywhere he thought would sell them to Baathist Iraq.
All of the Left seems to be forgetting that Saddam had already successfully built the Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, which the Israeli Air Force was forced to bomb for Israel's security!
What would keep Saddam from replacing it with a better one that could make nuclear weapons in the more than 20 years that have passed since then?
The Dims and the Liberal Left live in a sick dream world where Bush "can't be trusted" and Klintoon could!
Only a group of folks who love to parse and debate the meaning of the word "is" could take a 16-word sentence of President Bush's and try and inflame the nation with it for days!