NAVY ADVISES U.S. INVESTORS IN BAHRAIN TO FLEE

"American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave... The advice came from officers with US Central Command 5th Fleet HQ at Manama, who spoke of security tension, a hint at an approaching war with Iran. Arab sources report the positioning of a Patriot anti-missile battery in Bahrain this week; they say occupancy at emirate hotels has soared past 90% due mostly to the influx of US military personnel.

NIMITZ STRIKE DEPLOYS TO JOIN STENNIS ANDE EISENHOWER STRIKE GROUPS

"The USS Nimitz and its support ships will be departing San Diego Monday, April 2, to join the John C. Stennis Strike Group in the Persian Gulf. The nuclear carrier is due to relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower , but military sources in the Gulf believe all three US carriers will stay put if tensions continue to climb... the Nimitz group is composed of the Princeton guided-missile cruiser, and four guided missile destroyers – the Higgins , Chafee , John Paul Jones and Pinckney... The mighty American armada is further supported by the USS Bataan and USS Boxer (helicopter assault) strike groups..."

--DEBKAfile (Israel), March 31, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

TWO ACCOUNTS OF LOCATION OF CAPTURED BRITS

UK and Iranian versions of events...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6502805.stm

IRANIAN AND U.S. TREATMENT OF CAPTURED PRISONERS

"... Turney may have been "forced to wear the hijab"... but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs. They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not been pictured naked and smeared in their own excrement. They have not been bundled into a CIA-chartered plane and secretly "rendered" to a basement prison in a country where torturers are experienced and free to do their worst..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2046324,00.html

"... the status of five Iranian officials captured in a U.S. military raid on a liaison office in northern Iraq on Jan. 11 remains a mystery... the Iranians have disappeared into the U.S.-sanctioned "coalition detention" system that has been criticised as arbitrary and even illegal by many experts on international law.... five men remain in U.S. custody and have not been formally charged with a crime... and so are being held unlawfully..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37142

IF IRANIANS HAD SEIZED YANKS, WAR

"... The U.S. Navy rules of engagement say we have not only a right to self-defense but also an obligation to self-defense... If the Revolutionary Guards had... attacked an American boarding party (instead of Britsh)... (Bush) would have his excuse now, and bombs might already be falling on Iran. All the pieces are in place, and the war could start at any time..."
http://www.startribune.com/562/v-print/story/1086014.html

RUSSIAN AGENCY PREDICTS U.S. WILL ATTACK IRAN IN APRIL

"... the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti (RIA-Novosti) quoted military experts predicting the US will attack Iran on April 6th, Good Friday. According to RIA-Novosti, the imminent assault will target Iranian air and naval defense capabilities, armed forces headquarters as well as key economic assets and administration headquarters. Massive air strikes will be deployed, possibly tactical nuclear weapons as well, and the Bush administration will attempt to exploit the resulting chaos and political unrest by installing a pro-US government..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/28/150/

U.S. SPONSORING TERRORISM AGAINST IRAN

"... the U.S. is fomenting opposition and supporting military operations in Iran among insurgent groups and Iranian ethnic minority groups, some of whom are operating from Iraq... the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) is one such group. PEJAK is based in the Kurdish region of Iraq, a few miles from the Iranian border, and has staged attacks across the border in Iran since 2004... Iran has denounced PEJAK as a terrorist group and has accused the U.S. of funding PEJAK.... Iranians and Turks both believe that the U.S. is supporting PEJAK..."

"The Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian anti-government group which has been listed as a “terrorist group” by the State Department since 1997, is another anti-government group that has received U.S. support... U.S. Special Forces have been directing members of the MEK in carrying out reconnaissance and intelligence collection in Iran from bases in Afghanistan and Balochistan, Pakistan since the summer of 2004..."

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42505

FRENCH CARRIER TASK FORCE JOINS U.S. FLOTILLA OFF IRAN

"The French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force enter(ed the) Arabian Sea... (and) rendezvoused with the USS John C. Stennis... Its arrival raises to four the number of Western aircraft carriers cruising within striking distance of Iran, including the USS Eisenhower and USS Boxer.... US and French carriers are sailing and operating in concert opposite Iranian shores for the first time... The Charles de Gaulle is accompanied by French Task Force 473, which consists of five warships: the FNS Cassard guided missile destroyer, the FNS Tourville anti-submarine frigate, the FNS Dupleix destroyer adapted for escorting oil tankers and the FNS Marne, a command and supply vessel.
--DEBKAfile (Israel), March 22, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

U.S. SPONSORING TERRORISM TO OVERTHROW IRAN

"... the United States is officially funding armed groups to overthrow the Islamic government" in Tehran... Secretly, U.S. intelligence services are sponsoring armed attacks within Iran... from so-called former MEK members... The U.S. asks a Mujahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MEK or MKO) member ... if they support democracy. If they answer yes, they can be trained and armed for clandestine actions inside Iran..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36961

IRAN'S STRATEGY FOR IRAQ

"... A successful US withdrawal from Iraq would free up military resources and restore US political will to focus on Iran. On the other hand, a hopelessly deteriorating quagmire in Iraq may force to US to seek an alternative path to victory by widening the war with an attack on Iran, or instigate an internal coup by supporting Iranian dissident groups. Thus Iran's strategy for Iraq is neither US withdrawal nor escalation, just a slow bleed to drive home the awareness of superpower impotency to the whole world..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC21Ak06.html

BUSH HAS SNATCHED WAR FROM JAWS OF PEACE

"Washington had the opportunity at the turn of 2007 to isolate and neutralize the Mahmud Ahmadinejad regime in Tehran, but through stupidity and arrogance has made war the most probable outcome... It is pointless to read the signals out of Washington to divine US intentions... no one can make sense of what the US wants to communicate... no one is in charge... different agencies of government are pursuing their own agendas without accountability to a central authority...

"... Washington has done everything possible to destroy the prospects for a diplomatic solution. Whether it was possible to begin with, the historians will have to debate. For the time being, Bush has snatched war out of the jaws of peace."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC06Ak03.html

ATTACK ON IRAN WOULD ACCELERATE BOMB MAKING

"... If Iran is moving towards a nuclear weapons capacity it is doing so relatively slowly, most estimates put it at least five years away... an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities (now) "would almost certainly lead to a fast-track programme to develop a small number of nuclear devices as quickly as possible... a bit like deciding to build a car from spare parts instead of building the entire car factory..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6418049.stm

IMAGES OF IRAN
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html