The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 02/12/2006 - 02/19/2006

Friday, February 17, 2006

Saddam Hussein Had Secret Uranium Enrichment Program

In the year 2000, two years after Iraq expelled U.N. arms inspectors, two Iraqi scientists paid a discreet visit to Saddam Hussein in his presidential palace.

They had come to brief the Iraqi dictator on their progress in enriching uranium using plasma separation. If successful, their efforts could have given Saddam the fissile material he was seeking to make a bomb.

"You can tell that one of the scientists is nervous on the tape," former FBI translator Bill Tierney told NewsMax. "He is telling Saddam of all these wonderful things they can do with the plasma process, which they initially developed in the 1980s for the nuclear weapons program.

The scientist tried to convince Saddam to change course and use the technology for purely peaceful purpose, but the Iraqi dictator just listened politely. "You can imagine him nodding his head as you listen to the tape," Tierney said.

Tierney believes the tapes will vindicate the pre-war analysis of Iraqi WMD programs. "If anything, after translating 12 hours of these tapes, I believe the U.S. intelligence analysis didn't go far enough," he told NewsMax.

Tierney worked with U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq in the late 1990s, and experienced Iraq's "cheat and retreat" efforts first hand. He will release the original Arabic tapes and English language translations Saturday at the Intelligence Summit, a privately-funded conference in Arlington, Va. As non-U.S.-origin materials, they are not classified.

The plasma enrichment program was so well-protected by the Iraqi regime that U.N. arms inspectors had never discovered it. "This not only shows the capabilities the Iraqis had, but also the weakness of international arms inspection," Tierney believes. "Arms inspection regimes just don't work."

40 civilian airliners downed with missiles ?

U.S. officials see MANPADS as threat 2nd only to nukes

It's a threat that doesn't get much ink.

But U.S. elected officials of both parties, along with intelligence analysts and defense experts, agree that the second most feared weapon in the arsenal of terrorists � after nuclear weapons � is the MANPAD, the shoulder-fired missile that can take out a commercial airliner loaded with hundreds of civilians.

U.S. government sources estimate there are as many as 750,000 man-portable air-defense systems in arsenals worldwide � with as many as 500,000 virtually unaccounted for.

In the case of these weapons, it's not a question of if they will be used or when. According to U.S. government officials citing the latest intelligence briefings more than 40 civilian aircraft have already been attacked with such weapons in the last 30 years.

France: Iran's Atomic Program Is a Military Cover

France plainly accused Iran today of pursuing a nuclear program that can only be intended for military purposes, just two days after Iran said it had resumed enrichment for civilian purposes.

The declaration by Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy raised the pressure on Iran, ahead of talks next week in Brussels and Moscow with European Union and Russian officials, as Iran tries to avert a showdown at the Security Council in March.

"Today, it's simple; no civilian nuclear program can explain the Iranian nuclear program. So, it's an Iranian clandestine military nuclear program," Mr. Douste-Blazy said on a morning news show on France 2 television.

Mr. Douste-Blazy's words drew a swift reprisal from Iran.

"I advise Mr. Douste-Blazy to speak diplomatically and not to increase tension," Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told Iranian television.

The tone of Mr. Douste-Blazy's words suggests increased frustration with Iran's defiance, and from a country that could be in a position to be a power broker.

California man trained for jihad

U.S. citizen charged with attending camps in Pakistan, lying to FBI

A man accused of attending an al-Qaida training camp is a trained terrorist intent on attacking Americans, prosecutors alleged Thursday, but his attorney called him just a directionless young man prone to wild storytelling.

In opening statements of Hamid Hayat's federal trial, prosecutors said the 23-year-old Lodi man visited the camp in Pakistan in 2003, then returned to his family's home in California farm country and awaited information about potential terrorist targets.

"Hamid Hayat talked about jihad before he even left the United States. He talked about acts of violence. He talked about training camps. He received weapons training while he was there," prosecutor Laura Ferris said.

Hayat admitted going twice to a terrorist camp and returning to the United States, where he was "waiting for orders," she said.

Ferris did not mention any specific targets or possible motives in her opening statement.

Hayat, who was born in the United States, is charged with supporting terrorists by attending the camp, and with lying about it to the FBI. He faces up to 39 years in prison if convicted.

Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, said the government has no proof that her client attended a terrorist camp, despite information agents received from a paid informant.

She said Hayat was prone to exaggeration and "has made statements that are just simply not true." His statements to the FBI will expose contradictions and inaccuracies, she said.

Probe Finds Terrorists in U.S. 'training for war' ?

Neighbors of N.Y. Muslim compound fear retaliation if they report to police

The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an interim report.

The neighbors interviewed said they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children � small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

The encampment in Hancock, N.Y., is run by a front for Jamaat ul-Fuqra called Muslims of the Americas Inc., which operates a school known as the International Quranic Open University Inc.

The facility is on 70 acres of remote land on the western edge of the Catskill Mountains, about 40 miles southeast of Binghamton, N.Y. A sign at the entrance identifies the place as "Islamberg." The other side of the sign says "International Quranic Open University" and "Muslims of the Americas Inc."

Every one of the neighboring residents interviewed expressed disappointment and additional concern that federal law enforcement is not investigating the activities, the report said.

"These people need to be investigated," a resident said. "They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops. Who in the h--- is allowing this stuff to happen right here in our own backyard, and why?"

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Four Insurgents Killed, 16 Detained in Iraq; Weapons Found

Coalition and Iraqi forces killed four
terrorists and detained 16 in a series of operations in the past 24 hours,
and coalition forces also found several weapons caches yesterday,
military officials in Iraq said.

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade
Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, came under small-arms fire from
insurgents south of Baghdad early this morning. A firefight ensued, and one
insurgent was killed. Two other suspected terrorists were detained. The
patrol also confiscated two AK-47s.

Three more insurgents were killed and 14 others detained in several
operations yesterday:

- A patrol from 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade
Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, came under small-arms fire from the
Yusafiyah power plant south of Baghdad last night. As soldiers waited
for permission to enter the power plant, a van approached and opened
fire on the patrol. Two terrorists were killed in the ensuing gun battle.
- Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade
Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, saw two suspected terrorists crawling
toward a broken-down vehicle. The soldiers began moving toward the two
individuals when they spotted at least one terrorist with a weapon. The
two terrorists attempted to flee and a firefight ensued. One terrorist
was killed and the other wounded and detained. The wounded terrorist
later died of his wounds at a local hospital.
- During a mission west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck a patrol
from 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th
Mountain Division. No injuries were reported. While searching for the
triggerman, the soldiers arrested a suspected terrorist. The patrol
confiscated an AK-47 assault rifle, cell phones, a cell phone initiator
device and detonation cord.
- Near Baghdad, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment,
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, reported finding an
anti-aircraft gun, a rocket-propelled grenade, and ammunition in an empty
house.
- Near Haditha yesterday, soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion,
7th Iraqi Army Division and coalition troops detained 12 insurgents and
discovered nine caches during operations. The troops first detained
four men for suspected insurgent activities during operations in Barwanah
and Haqlaniyah. Later, the soldiers captured eight terrorists and
discovered nine caches near Barwanah and Sakran. The caches included a
variety of ordnance, including mortar, artillery and small-arms rounds, an
AK-47 assault rifle, a machine gun and loaded AK-47 magazines.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security
Transition Command Iraq news releases.)

ANOTHER FORMER HIGH-RANKING IRAQI OFFICIAL CONFIRMS WMD WENT TO SYRIA

Ali Ibrahim al-Tikriti was a southern regional commander for Saddam Hussein�s Fedayeen militia in the late 1980s and a personal friend of the dictator. Units under his command dealt with chemical and biological weapons. He was known as the �Butcher of Basra� due to his campaigns and defected shortly before the Gulf War in 1991. This interview aims to gain some insight into the current situation in Iraq.

RM: Why do you think Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are in Syria? Why didn't he use them or simply destroy them before the war?

IT: I know Saddam's weapons are in Syria due to certain military deals that were made going as far back as the late 1980's that dealt with the event that either capitols were threatened with being overrun by an enemy nation. Not to mention I have discussed this in-depth with various contacts of mine who have confirmed what I already knew. At this point Saddam knew that the United States were eventually going to come for his weapons and the United States wasn't going to just let this go like they did in the original Gulf War. He knew that he had lied for this many years and wanted to maintain legitimacy with the pan Arab nationalists. He also has wanted since he took power to embarrass the West and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. After Saddam denied he had such weapons why would he use them or leave them readily available to be found? That would only legitimize President Bush, who he has a personal grudge against. What we are witnessing now is many who opposed the war to begin with are rallying around Saddam saying we overthrew a sovereign leader based on a lie about WMD. This is exactly what Saddam wanted and predicted.

Read The Complete Interview Here

'Able Danger' Identified 9/11 Hijacker 13 times

The top-secret, military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger" identified Mohammed Atta, the leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, 13 times before the 2001 attacks, according to new information released Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees.

Able Danger has been identified by Weldon and team member Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer as an elite group of approximately two dozen individuals tasked with identifying and targeting the links and relationships of al Qaeda worldwide.

On June 27, 2005, Weldon said that Able Danger had offered in the year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to share its intelligence with the FBI and to work with them to take down the New York City terrorist cell involving Mohammed Atta and two other 9/11 terrorists. Weldon said Clinton administration lawyers prevented the information from being shared with the FBI.

According to Weldon, the lawyers told Able Danger members, " [Y]ou cannot pursue contact with the FBI against that cell. Mohamed Atta is in the U.S. on a green card and we are fearful of the fallout from the Waco incident," a reference to the FBI's raid on the David Koresh-led Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., in April 1993.

Secret Saddam WMD Tapes Subject of ABC Nightline Special

Secret audiotapes of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with weapons of mass destruction will be the subject of an ABC "Nightline" program Wednesday night, a former federal prosecutor told Cybercast News Service.

The tapes are being called the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The New York Sun reported that the tapes have been authenticated and currently are being reviewed by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The panel's chairman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), declined to give the Sun details of the content or context of the recordings, saying only that they were provided to his committee by former federal prosecutor John Loftus.

Loftus has been tight-lipped about the tapes, telling the Sun only that he received them from a "former American military intelligence analyst." However, on Wednesday he told Cybercast News Service, "Saddam's tapes confirm he had active CW [chemical weapons] and BW [biological weapons] programs that were hidden from the UN."

On Tuesday night, Loftus told Cybercast News Service that ABC's "Nightline" would air an "extensive report" on the tapes Wednesday night. Loftus also described an ABC News "teaser," which reportedly contains audio of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with WMD. "Nightline will have a lot more," said Loftus.

The tapes are scheduled to be revealed to the public Saturday morning at the opening session of The Intelligence Summit, a conference which brings together intelligence professionals from around the world.

Monday, February 13, 2006

'10,000 would die' in A-plant attack on Iran

A major American attack on Iran's nuclear sites would kill up to 10,000 people and lead to war in the Middle East, a report says today.

Hundreds of scientists and technicians would be targets in the opening salvos as the attacks focused on eliminating further nuclear development, the Oxford Research Group says in Iran: Consequences of a War.

The research coincides with reports that strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for "a last resort" strike if diplomacy fails. Plans for an assault have taken on "greater urgency" in recent months, The Sunday Telegraph said.

Tacticians at central command and strategic command, who report to Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, have been identifying targets and the weapons needed to hit them.

The Oxford report says that Britain could be drawn into the conflict if the Prime Minister allowed American B2 bombers, which can carry 40,000lb of precision bombs, to use bases at Fairford, Glos, and on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

Precision bombing could put Iran's weapons programme back five to 10 years but within a month the situation would become "an extremely dangerous conflict", says Prof Paul Rogers, the report's author.

The attack would result in "a protracted military confrontation" involving Israel, Lebanon and some Gulf states.

More than 100 American bombers, many based on carriers in the Gulf, would take part in a huge simultaneous surprise air attack on 20 key nuclear and military facilities, the report says.

If the targets included the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, which will become fully fuelled this year, a radioactive cloud could spread over the Gulf. Iran's small navy, which includes three submarines, would have to be attacked to negate threats to vital shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz.

But Iran could still retaliate with suicide speedboats, possibly leading to crippling rises in the price of oil.

Report: American 'patriot' tried to blow up oil lines

Federal agents think American sought to wreck U.S. economy with al-Qaida

Is he an American patriot, or a terrorist trying to kill the U.S. economy?

That's the question surrounding Michael Curtis Reynolds, a 47-year-old unemployed resident of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who federal agents say worked with al-Qaida in a plot to blow up the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, a Pennsylvania pipeline, and a New Jersey refinery.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Reynolds is not publicly charged with terrorism, but a federal prosecutor said in a December hearing that Reynolds attempted to "provide material aid to al-Qaida" and that the case "involves a federal offense of terrorism."

"He was doing it as a plan to disrupt governmental function, to change the government's actions in foreign countries, and to impact on the national debate about the war," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gurganus Jr. said at the hearing.

Reynolds, described by his former father-in-law Richard Danise as a "John Wayne wanna-be," has been held in the Lackawanna County jail in Pennsylvania without bail on unrelated weapons charges since Dec. 5. "I got the mortgage for him," Danise told the paper. "He literally wanted to build a castle, with turrets and everything else. But he had no credit, and he never broke ground."

Reynolds' lawyer, Philip Gelso, declined any comment, as did U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Heidi Havens who indicated her office "does not comment on active investigations."

The FBI reportedly conducted a sting two months ago, as Reynolds was allegedly drawn to a meeting with a purported al-Qaida operative about 25 miles from a hotel, in Pocatello, Idaho, where he expected to get $40,000 to finance the alleged plot.

The Inquirer says Reynolds' letters, computer drawings and e-mails detailed his plan to explode trucks filled with propane along the Alaskan pipeline. This included "information on explosive devices, site plans and placement of explosive devices." He also allegedly planned to blow up sections of the Transcontinental Pipeline, a natural-gas pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast, through Pennsylvania, to New Jersey and New York City. The government also believes he targeted Standard Oil Co. in Perth Amboy, N.J., as well as the Williams Refinery in Opal, Wyo.

According to Gurganus, Reynolds hoped the attacks on the oil industry would "disrupt governmental function," provoke opposition to the Iraq war, drive up fuel prices, and "lend to the efforts by al-Qaida to terrorize this nation."

Federal officials say Reynolds tried to disavow any alleged conspiracy when he was questioned by the FBI. He told them that he, too, was a patriot and was looking to expose an al-Qaida cell operating inside the United States.

"He claimed he was trying to lure this terrorist group in," Gurganus said in court.

Tom Daschle, Jane Harman: Don't Stop Wiretap Program

Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, along with the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman, said emphatically yesterday that President Bush should continue his controversial terrorist wiretapping program.

Daschle was asked by NBC "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert: "Knowing what we know now, should the president stop this program?"

The former top Senate Democrat responded: "No, absolutely not. I think it�s a very valuable program."

Moments later, Russert asked Rep. Harman: "Do you think the program should be stopped

"No," she responded. "I think the program should go on."
Both Democrats qualified their endorsements of the wiretapping program, saying it should be restructured to comply with the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"I think we�ve got to respect the rule of law," former Sen. Daschle explained. "I think there ought to be an investigation by the appropriate committees of Congress and look into NSA to see how we might [change] it effectively."

After Rep. Harman offered her endorsement, she added: "I think the program should fully comply with FISA."

The California Democrat also said that she "deplored" the leak to the New York Times that exposed the program in December.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Ahmadinejad: Israel 'will be removed'

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today echoed his earlier threats to "wipe Israel off the map" by telling a mass demonstration in Tehran, commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, that Palestinians and "other nations" will remove Israel from the region, adding a warning to the West that harsh measures against the nation's nuclear program would result in Iran walking away from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"The policy of Iran has so far been pursuing nuclear technology within the framework of the NPT and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," he said. "If we see you (the West) want to violate the right of the Iranian people by using those regulations (against us), you should know that the Iranian people will revise its policies. You should do nothing that will lead to such a revision in our policy," said Ahmadinejad.

The crowd, numbered in the hundreds of thousands accoding to state media, responded to Ahmadinejad's defense of its nuclear program � believed by U.S. intelligence to be an effort to acquire atomic weapons � with cries of "Nuclear energy is our undisputable right," "Death to America," "Death of Israel," "Death to Denmark."

US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites

Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme.

"This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a senior Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."

The prospect of military action could put Washington at odds with Britain which fears that an attack would spark violence across the Middle East, reprisals in the West and may not cripple Teheran's nuclear programme. But the steady flow of disclosures about Iran's secret nuclear operations and the virulent anti-Israeli threats of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has prompted the fresh assessment of military options by Washington. The most likely strategy would involve aerial bombardment by long-distance B2 bombers, each armed with up to 40,000lb of precision weapons, including the latest bunker-busting devices. They would fly from bases in Missouri with mid-air refuelling.

The Bush administration has recently announced plans to add conventional ballistic missiles to the armoury of its nuclear Trident submarines within the next two years. If ready in time, they would also form part of the plan of attack.

Sen John McCain, the Republican front-runner to succeed Mr Bush in 2008, has advocated military strikes as a last resort. He said recently: "There is only only one thing worse than the United States exercising a military option and that is a nuclear-armed Iran."

Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat, has made the same case and Mr Bush is expected to be faced by the decision within two years.

By then, Iran will be close to acquiring the knowledge to make an atomic bomb, although the construction will take longer. The President will not want to be seen as leaving the White House having allowed Iran's ayatollahs to go atomic.