SENATE AMENDMENT FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN DRAFTED BY AIPAC
"... the first call for cross-border attacks on Iranian targets was made by the Senate's "independent" Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, who is regarded as particularly close to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Indeed, it was Lieberman and Republican Senator John Kyl... who co-sponsored the Senate amendment... which according to several Capitol Hill sources was drafted by AIPAC... deploying language that some senators argued could be interpreted as authorizing war against Iran..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II29Ak01.html
Saturday, September 29, 2007
PETRAEUS'S COMMANDING OFFICER IS AGAINST IRAN WAR
"... hawks... have pressed their campaign for cross-border military action against Iran in the opinion pages of such neo-conservative publications as The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and the Wall Street Journal. Their calls for action became so intense that the commander of the US Central Command and Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon... complained publicly that "this constant drumbeat of conflict is ... not helpful and not useful. It is not a good idea to be in a state of war. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions," he told Al-Jazeera..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II29Ak01.html
"... hawks... have pressed their campaign for cross-border military action against Iran in the opinion pages of such neo-conservative publications as The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and the Wall Street Journal. Their calls for action became so intense that the commander of the US Central Command and Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon... complained publicly that "this constant drumbeat of conflict is ... not helpful and not useful. It is not a good idea to be in a state of war. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions," he told Al-Jazeera..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II29Ak01.html
IRAN LABELS CIA AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
"Iran's parliament... approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations"... (for) using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons... (This was) in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us
"Iran's parliament... approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations"... (for) using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons... (This was) in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us
SYRIAN AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM TESTED BY ISRAEL AND FAILED
"... the Pantsyr-S1E missiles, purchased from Russia to repel air assailants, failed to down the Israeli jets accused of penetrating northern Syrian airspace... The new Pantsyr missiles therefore leave Syrian and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion... information on Russian missile consignments to Syria or Iran is vital to any US calculation of whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program... (the Israeli intrusion showed) that the “absolute jamming immunity” which the Russian manufactures promised for the improved Pantsyr missiles was immobilized by superior electronic capabilities exercised by the jets before they were “forced to leave...”
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1301
"... the Pantsyr-S1E missiles, purchased from Russia to repel air assailants, failed to down the Israeli jets accused of penetrating northern Syrian airspace... The new Pantsyr missiles therefore leave Syrian and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion... information on Russian missile consignments to Syria or Iran is vital to any US calculation of whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program... (the Israeli intrusion showed) that the “absolute jamming immunity” which the Russian manufactures promised for the improved Pantsyr missiles was immobilized by superior electronic capabilities exercised by the jets before they were “forced to leave...”
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1301
NEW RUSSIAN AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM IN IRAN AND SYRIA
"... Pantsir-S1 or Panzir (“Shell" in English) is a short-range, mobile air defense system, combining two 30mm anti-aircraft guns and 12 surface-to-air missiles which can fire on the move. It can simultaneously engage two separate targets at 12 targets per minute, ranging from fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, ballistic and cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions and unmanned air vehicles. It can also engage light-armored ground targets.
"The Pantsyr S1 short-range air defense system is designed to provide point defense of key military and industrial facilities and air defense support for military units during air and ground operations.
"The integrated missile and gun armament creates an uninterrupted engagement zone of 18 to 20 km in range and of up to 10 km in altitude. Immunity to jamming is promised via a common multimode and multi-spectral radar and optical control system. The combined missile and artillery capability makes the Russian system the most advanced air defense system in the world. Syria and Iran believe it provides the best possible protection against American or Israeli air and missile attack...."
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1301
"... Pantsir-S1 or Panzir (“Shell" in English) is a short-range, mobile air defense system, combining two 30mm anti-aircraft guns and 12 surface-to-air missiles which can fire on the move. It can simultaneously engage two separate targets at 12 targets per minute, ranging from fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, ballistic and cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions and unmanned air vehicles. It can also engage light-armored ground targets.
"The Pantsyr S1 short-range air defense system is designed to provide point defense of key military and industrial facilities and air defense support for military units during air and ground operations.
"The integrated missile and gun armament creates an uninterrupted engagement zone of 18 to 20 km in range and of up to 10 km in altitude. Immunity to jamming is promised via a common multimode and multi-spectral radar and optical control system. The combined missile and artillery capability makes the Russian system the most advanced air defense system in the world. Syria and Iran believe it provides the best possible protection against American or Israeli air and missile attack...."
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1301
Friday, September 28, 2007
SENATE VOTES FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH, CALLS IRANIAN ARMY TERRORISTS
"... the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment in support of military actions against Iran... the language (said)... "that it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside Iraq the violent activities and destabilizing influence of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies."
"... The inclusion of Hezbollah... is part of a larger attempt... to manufacture an "amalgam" of all the enemies of Israel and the United States throughout the region, and to treat them all as one enemy... (meaning that) many more wars by the United States and Israel are needed to crush this enemy.
"... a secondary detail of the amendment... approves the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran as a "foreign terrorist organization." ... the Islamic Revolutionary Guard is the largest branch of the Iranian military (so)... the Senate has classified the army of Iran as an army of terrorists..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/hillary-clinton-votes-for_b_66174.html
"... the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment in support of military actions against Iran... the language (said)... "that it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside Iraq the violent activities and destabilizing influence of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies."
"... The inclusion of Hezbollah... is part of a larger attempt... to manufacture an "amalgam" of all the enemies of Israel and the United States throughout the region, and to treat them all as one enemy... (meaning that) many more wars by the United States and Israel are needed to crush this enemy.
"... a secondary detail of the amendment... approves the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran as a "foreign terrorist organization." ... the Islamic Revolutionary Guard is the largest branch of the Iranian military (so)... the Senate has classified the army of Iran as an army of terrorists..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/hillary-clinton-votes-for_b_66174.html
Friday, September 21, 2007
KURDS PROTEST U.S. ARREST OF IRANIAN
"U.S. troops arrested an Iranian man... and accused him of helping to smuggle a deadly type of roadside bomb into Iraq... The U.S.... allege that he is an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp's elite Quds force... (and) had trained foreign fighters in Iraq and provided them with roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs..."
"But the Kurdistan Regional Government in a statement called the arrest "illegitimate," said the man was a member of a trade delegation that had been invited to Sulaimaniyah by the local government and demanded that he be released... The Kurdish Regional Government said the man was Aghai Farhadi, a member of an economic and commercial delegation from the Iranian governorate of Karmanshah, which borders Iraq's Sulaimaniyah and Diyala provinces. Hassan Baqi, the head of the Sulaimaniyah chamber of commerce, said Farhadi had been in Sulaimaniyah for a week for discussions on opening a border crossing near Panjween,68 miles east of Sulaimaniyah, and other trade-related issues..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19856.html
"U.S. troops arrested an Iranian man... and accused him of helping to smuggle a deadly type of roadside bomb into Iraq... The U.S.... allege that he is an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp's elite Quds force... (and) had trained foreign fighters in Iraq and provided them with roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs..."
"But the Kurdistan Regional Government in a statement called the arrest "illegitimate," said the man was a member of a trade delegation that had been invited to Sulaimaniyah by the local government and demanded that he be released... The Kurdish Regional Government said the man was Aghai Farhadi, a member of an economic and commercial delegation from the Iranian governorate of Karmanshah, which borders Iraq's Sulaimaniyah and Diyala provinces. Hassan Baqi, the head of the Sulaimaniyah chamber of commerce, said Farhadi had been in Sulaimaniyah for a week for discussions on opening a border crossing near Panjween,68 miles east of Sulaimaniyah, and other trade-related issues..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19856.html
Thursday, September 20, 2007
IRANIAN COCKROACHES
"... a cartoon published on the editorial page of the Columbus Dispatch on Sep. 4 has created a furor amongst Iranians worldwide. The cartoon by staff member Michael Ramirez portrayed Iran as a sewer with the word "extremism" on its lid. Cockroaches are shown spreading out across the region and infecting Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan with "extremism".... Ramirez is... well-known for a series of provocative cartoons defending the George W. Bush administration and its "war on terror".
"Comparing people to cockroaches happened during the Nazi era and before the Holocaust in Germany. A similar pattern happened in Rwanda before the genocide in 1994 -- a comparison between Tutsis and cockroaches.When you dehumanise a group of people, then you can nuke them, you can kill them, you can destroy them, and unfortunately that process is moving forward."
--Ali Sheikholeslami, executive director of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Northern California
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39305
"... a cartoon published on the editorial page of the Columbus Dispatch on Sep. 4 has created a furor amongst Iranians worldwide. The cartoon by staff member Michael Ramirez portrayed Iran as a sewer with the word "extremism" on its lid. Cockroaches are shown spreading out across the region and infecting Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan with "extremism".... Ramirez is... well-known for a series of provocative cartoons defending the George W. Bush administration and its "war on terror".
"Comparing people to cockroaches happened during the Nazi era and before the Holocaust in Germany. A similar pattern happened in Rwanda before the genocide in 1994 -- a comparison between Tutsis and cockroaches.When you dehumanise a group of people, then you can nuke them, you can kill them, you can destroy them, and unfortunately that process is moving forward."
--Ali Sheikholeslami, executive director of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Northern California
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39305
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
AMERICAN MISCALCULATION ABOUT SHI'ITES, IRAQ AND IRAN
"... The scale of the American miscalculation is striking. Before the Iraq war began, its neoconservative architects argued that conferring power on Iraq’s Shiites would serve to undermine Iran because Iraq’s Shiites, controlling the faith’s two holiest cities, would, in the words of then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, be “an independent source of authority for the Shia religion emerging in a country that is democratic and pro-Western.” Further, they argued, Iran could never dominate Iraq, because the Iraqi Shiites are Arabs and the Iranian Shiites Persian. It was a theory that, unfortunately, had no connection to reality..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/19/3934/
"... The scale of the American miscalculation is striking. Before the Iraq war began, its neoconservative architects argued that conferring power on Iraq’s Shiites would serve to undermine Iran because Iraq’s Shiites, controlling the faith’s two holiest cities, would, in the words of then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, be “an independent source of authority for the Shia religion emerging in a country that is democratic and pro-Western.” Further, they argued, Iran could never dominate Iraq, because the Iraqi Shiites are Arabs and the Iranian Shiites Persian. It was a theory that, unfortunately, had no connection to reality..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/19/3934/
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
DRIFT INTO WAR OUT OF CONTROL
"The UN's chief nuclear weapons inspector yesterday warned against the use of force against Iran, in... an attempt to halt an "out of control" drift to war..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2171631,00.html
"The UN's chief nuclear weapons inspector yesterday warned against the use of force against Iran, in... an attempt to halt an "out of control" drift to war..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2171631,00.html
Monday, September 17, 2007
BUSH ESCALATING A SHOWDOWN WITH IRAN - RICE ONBOARD
"American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran... Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.... Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice... who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=IR2IGI14NAYLLQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/09/16/wiran116.xml
"American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran... Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.... Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice... who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=IR2IGI14NAYLLQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/09/16/wiran116.xml
Monday, September 10, 2007
MAIN NUCLEAR TARGETS
"... neo-conservatives... are plugging... the destruction of no less than 1,200 Iranian military/nuclear targets in a mere three days... The to-be-destroyed list certainly includes the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant; the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz; a heavy-water and radioisotope plant in Arak; the nuclear fuel unit in Ardekan; the uranium conversion and nuclear technology center in Isfahan; the Tehran Nuclear Research Center; the Tehran molybdenum, iodine and xenon radioisotope production plant; and the Tehran Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratories. No one of course is talking about "collateral damage", or the fact that hundreds of Russian experts may be obliterated in Bushehr... or the fact that hundreds of thousands of civilian residents of fabled Isfahan may become victims of radiation provoked by US mini-nukes..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II07Ak05.html
"... neo-conservatives... are plugging... the destruction of no less than 1,200 Iranian military/nuclear targets in a mere three days... The to-be-destroyed list certainly includes the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant; the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz; a heavy-water and radioisotope plant in Arak; the nuclear fuel unit in Ardekan; the uranium conversion and nuclear technology center in Isfahan; the Tehran Nuclear Research Center; the Tehran molybdenum, iodine and xenon radioisotope production plant; and the Tehran Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratories. No one of course is talking about "collateral damage", or the fact that hundreds of Russian experts may be obliterated in Bushehr... or the fact that hundreds of thousands of civilian residents of fabled Isfahan may become victims of radiation provoked by US mini-nukes..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II07Ak05.html
Thursday, September 06, 2007
IRAN TAKES PALESTINIAN PEACE INITIATIVE
"Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will receive the heads of 10 Palestinian factions in Tehran, among them Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal, Jihad Islami’s Abdullah Shelah and, most important of all, Fatah’s radical politburo chief Farouk Kadoumi... this will be the first time Hamas and Fatah representatives sit down at the same table since the former grabbed the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority three months ago. It will also be a feather in Iran’s cap."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), September 5, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php
"Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will receive the heads of 10 Palestinian factions in Tehran, among them Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal, Jihad Islami’s Abdullah Shelah and, most important of all, Fatah’s radical politburo chief Farouk Kadoumi... this will be the first time Hamas and Fatah representatives sit down at the same table since the former grabbed the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority three months ago. It will also be a feather in Iran’s cap."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), September 5, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
BRITISH WITHDRAWAL LESSENS U.S. MILITARY OPTION
"... analysts in Tehran are able to hide their rather euphoric reaction to the news of the British withdrawal from Basra... A US military option against Iran is now even less likely in light of the power vacuum in southern Iraq that, if need be, could be utilized by Tehran to undermine the stability of the US's presence in the rest of Iraq..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II05Ak04.html
BRITISH WITHDRAW FROM BASRA INTO AIRBASE
"British soldiers began withdrawing... 550 soldiers stationed in Basra Palace were leaving the downtown site to join 5,000 other personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the city — ending their permanent presence in Iraq's second largest city.... the palace compound (had been) targeted with daily mortar and rocker attack in recent months.."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq
"... analysts in Tehran are able to hide their rather euphoric reaction to the news of the British withdrawal from Basra... A US military option against Iran is now even less likely in light of the power vacuum in southern Iraq that, if need be, could be utilized by Tehran to undermine the stability of the US's presence in the rest of Iraq..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II05Ak04.html
BRITISH WITHDRAW FROM BASRA INTO AIRBASE
"British soldiers began withdrawing... 550 soldiers stationed in Basra Palace were leaving the downtown site to join 5,000 other personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the city — ending their permanent presence in Iraq's second largest city.... the palace compound (had been) targeted with daily mortar and rocker attack in recent months.."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq
Sunday, September 02, 2007
IRAN'S URANIUM ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
* 2003: Enrichment programme that had been hidden for 18 years is uncovered by IAEA.
* Feb 2006: Iran reported to Security Council.
* 5 Feb 2007: Diplomats confirm Iranian claims to have set up more than 300 centrifuges in two cascades.
* 9 April: Iran claims to be enriching uranium on an "industrial scale". IAEA and Russian officials are sceptical.
* 19 April: IAEA document confirms that Iran running more than 1,300 centrifuges in eight cascades.
* 2 September: Iran claims to have 3,000 centrifuges running.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4031603.stm
* 2003: Enrichment programme that had been hidden for 18 years is uncovered by IAEA.
* Feb 2006: Iran reported to Security Council.
* 5 Feb 2007: Diplomats confirm Iranian claims to have set up more than 300 centrifuges in two cascades.
* 9 April: Iran claims to be enriching uranium on an "industrial scale". IAEA and Russian officials are sceptical.
* 19 April: IAEA document confirms that Iran running more than 1,300 centrifuges in eight cascades.
* 2 September: Iran claims to have 3,000 centrifuges running.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4031603.stm
ALL TARGETS HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED
"... DailyKos... relays a phone conversation with a Navy Landing Signal Officer on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf: She told me we are going to attack Iran. She said that all the Air Operation Planning and Asset Tasking are finished. That means that all the targets have been chosen, prioritized, and tasked to specific aircraft, bases, carriers, missile cruisers and so forth..."
http://icga.blogspot.com/2007/09/rollout-to-war-with-iran-update.html
U.S. PLANS 3-DAY BLITZ ATTACK ON IRAN
"The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days... US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities... They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece
"... DailyKos... relays a phone conversation with a Navy Landing Signal Officer on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf: She told me we are going to attack Iran. She said that all the Air Operation Planning and Asset Tasking are finished. That means that all the targets have been chosen, prioritized, and tasked to specific aircraft, bases, carriers, missile cruisers and so forth..."
http://icga.blogspot.com/2007/09/rollout-to-war-with-iran-update.html
U.S. PLANS 3-DAY BLITZ ATTACK ON IRAN
"The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days... US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities... They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece
Saturday, September 01, 2007
U.S. HARASSMENT OF IRANIANS IN IRAQ ESCALATES TENSION
"Members of an Iranian Energy Ministry delegation visiting Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government were released Wednesday, a day after being arrested at their hotel by American troops and led away in handcuffs and blindfolds... The (US) said the latest group was detained after American troops confiscated an AK-47 rifle and two 9-millimeter pistols from the group’s Iraqi guards, who “had identification but no weapons permits and also had Iranian money... (also) confiscated a laptop computer, cellphones, and a briefcase full of Iranian and U.S. money... Iraqi and Iranian officials said the Iranians were in Baghdad to help resolve Iraq’s power crisis...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"... A media adviser to the Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq told Reuters news agency that the group was in Baghdad at the invitation of Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to help build a power station in the Shiite city of Najaf... A manager at the hotel where the Iranians were staying said: “I told [the US soldiers] that the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity had invited them, that they were guests of the ministry and that we had a letter from the ministry confirming this.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/01/3559/
"Members of an Iranian Energy Ministry delegation visiting Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government were released Wednesday, a day after being arrested at their hotel by American troops and led away in handcuffs and blindfolds... The (US) said the latest group was detained after American troops confiscated an AK-47 rifle and two 9-millimeter pistols from the group’s Iraqi guards, who “had identification but no weapons permits and also had Iranian money... (also) confiscated a laptop computer, cellphones, and a briefcase full of Iranian and U.S. money... Iraqi and Iranian officials said the Iranians were in Baghdad to help resolve Iraq’s power crisis...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"... A media adviser to the Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq told Reuters news agency that the group was in Baghdad at the invitation of Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to help build a power station in the Shiite city of Najaf... A manager at the hotel where the Iranians were staying said: “I told [the US soldiers] that the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity had invited them, that they were guests of the ministry and that we had a letter from the ministry confirming this.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/01/3559/
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