3rd Watch

September 11: A new view

2005-01-26T15:01:00.000-08:00

ديشب شبکه HBO فيلم The Humburg Cell رو پخش کرد که التبه تا ساعت 1 شب طول کشيد. تو اين فيلم که خيلي سعي شده بود حالت مستند داشته باشه داستان زندگي افرادي دنبال مي شد که حادثه يازدهم سپتامبر رو بوجود آوردند. البته خب معلوم بود که فيلم هالي ووديه چون اکثر فيلم داستان عاشق و معشوق بازي يکي از هواپيما ربا ها دنبال ميکرد که حالا معلوم نيست چقدر واقعي باشه شايد هم براي جذاب تر کردن فيلم به اصل داستان اضافه شده بود. البته باز جالب بود
که در بعضي قسمتهاي فيلم تلويحا اشاره مي کرد که ماموران امنيتي آمريکا مقداري سهل انگاري کردند يا بقول معروف با تساهل و تسامح از کنار بسياري مسائل مشکوک اين افراد مي گذشتند تا اين آدمها به هواپيما برسند و کارشان را انجام دهند.من خودم شخصا در مورد اين حادثه خبر و تحليل زياد خونده و شنيدم و مثل خيليهاي ديگر برايم مسجل شده که اين قضيه يه جورايي از خود دستگاه حاکم آمريکا و يا سازمانهاي اطلاعاتي اين کشور و يا برخي افراد رده بالاي اين کشور بيرون آمده و با هماهنگي خودشون انجام شده. غيرقابل انکارترين موضوع اين حادثه مربوط به ساختمان پنتاگون ميشه که ادعا مي کنند هواپيما بهش خورده ولي هيچ قطعه ايي از هواپيما در محل ديده نشده و يا اگر يک هواپيما با اون عظمتش به ساختماني بخورد حجم تخريب بيشتر اين ميشود که نشان دادند. همچنين سال پيش من خودم در دوبي بودم و يکي از شبکه هاي عربي مصاحبه مستقيمي با پدر محمد عطا داشت که در مصر است و جالب بود که پدر محمد عطا اصرار داشت که اولا من باور نمي کنم که پسرم دست به همچنين کاري زده باشد و ثانيا عجيب تر اينکه ادعا مي کرد فکر ميکند پسرش زنده است. يادم رفت بگويم محمد عطا يکي از فرماندهان عمليات يازدهم سپتامبر بود که خودش هم خلباني ميکرد و در فيلم هم بود. نکته جالب ديگري که در فيلم بود اين بود که زايد که يک جوان خوش تيپ لبناني بود و در فيلم تقريبا تا آخرين لحظه دنبال دوست دخترش بود هم به خانواده اش و هم به دوست دخترش مي گفت که برمي گردم و حتي با دوست دخترش قرار ازدواج گذاشت. اينها همه مي تواند اين حدس را تقويت کند که مثلا به اين نوزده نفر گفته اند که شما برويد و هواپيما ها بدزديد و نقشه چيز ديگري بوده است و قرار نبوده که اينها هواپيماها را به جايي بزنند. بعد که هواپيماها دزديده شده است با کنترل زميني به هدفهاي از پيش تعيين شده هدايت شده اند. دليل ديگر براي اين فرضيه اين است که درست در بحبوحه بعد از اين حادثه گروه خلبانان اتريشي اعلام کردند که هيچ خلباني نمي تواند هواپيماي مسافربري را اينقدر دقيق هدايت کند و به اين برجها بزند!حالا از همه اين حرفها که بگذريم نکته جالبي براي اولين بار در آخر فيلم توجهم را جلب کرد و بقول معروف به معرفت جديدي رسيدم. اينها چهار گروه بودند: دو گروه قرار شد که به برجهاي تجارت جهاني بزنند. برای من یک لحظه این سئوال پیش آمد که اینها چرا به برجهای تجارت جهانی حمله کردند. در هدف دیگر برای حمله معقول تر نشان می دهد ولی حمله به دو ساختمان غیر نظامی آنهم در وسط نیویورک به نظر مقداری غیرعادی جلوه می کند. همانطور که می دانیم هواپیماربایان مسلمان
بوده اند و از نظر دین اسلام حمله به افراد بی پناه جایز نیست. در ثانی اگر کسی بخواهد به اهدافی در داخل خاک آمریکا حمله کند به نظر میرسد بهترین هدفها عبارت باشند از کاخ سفید که مرکز سیاستگذاری کلان این کشور است; پنتاگون که مرکز سیستم نظامی است, ساختمان سیا که مرکز اطلاعاتی آمریکاست و بسیاری مراکز دولتی که هم صدمه بیشتری وارد میشد و هم بیشتر از ابهت این کشور می کاست چرا که نشان میداد این کشور از تامین امنیت مراکز حساس خود
هم عاجز است. اگر این فرضیه بسیار قوی را بپذیریم که کل این جریانات زائیده افرادی در درون خود حکومت آمریکاست آنوقت حمله به ساختمانهای تجارت جهانی در میان یک شهر بزرگ توجیه خیلی خوبی پیدا میکند چرا که بعد از این حادثه خبرگزاریها به سرعت مردم را نشان دادند که وحشت زده به اطراف می دویدند و به سرعت آمار تلفات غیرنظامی را منتشر کردند و این مسئله خیلی سریع عواطف افکار عمومی دنیا را تحت تاثیر قرار داد چه افکار عمومی مردم آمریکا و چه افکار عمومی مردم سایر نقاط جهان. همه به یکباره علیه حمله کنندگان متحد شدند و آمریکا هم از این حادثه کمال استفاده را کرد که اتفاقات بعدی را همگی میدانیم چه شد.

دست هودر از تنبان چه کسی در می آید؟

2005-01-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

اخیرا هودرخان در مقاله جدیدشان به مناسبت بسته شدن بعضی از سایتهای اینترنتی به شرکت پارس آنلاین تاخته اند.معلوم نیست که چه دشمنی بین هودر و پارس آنلاین بوجود آمده که این چنین مورد تعرض قرار گرفته است. هودر میگوید:
خوش‌بختانه جمع شدن جلوی شرکت‌های خصوصی مانند پارس‌آن‌لاین یا داتک یا بقیه‌ -- که می‌دانیم مطیع امر مرتضوی هستند، ولی چون دستمان به مرتضوی نمی‌رسد سراغ آنها می‌رویم و به آنها فشار می‌آوریم تا شاید کمی جلوی مرتضوی مقاومت کنند -- هنوز ممکن است.
نمیدانم از این حرف خنده دار تر هم میشود یا نه که حالا که دستمان به مرتضوی نمی رسد به سراغ یک سرویس دهنده اینترنتی برویم. البته برای هودر نشستن در تورنتو و دادن دستورالعملهای انقلابی خیلی راحت است ولی کاش حالا می خواهیم دستور بدهیم اقلا مقداری هم فکر کنیم و شعور خوانندگان به زعم خود زیادمان را به مسخره نگیریم. آخر فرضا که در بهترین حالت اصلا در پارس آنلاین را هم تخته کردیم و بسته شد این چه کمکی به مرتضوی میکند این که به نوعی کمک اوست. مرتضوی از خداشه که در تمام سرویس دهنده های اینترنتی یسته بشه. این مسئله یک مقداری از طرف هودر بودر هم هست.
نکته دیگر در وبلاگ نویسی رعایت ادب و نزاکت است. بکار بردن اصطلاحات من دراوردی مثل استین از تنبان در آمدن تنها به ضرر نویسنده مطلب است که سطح خود را به یک آدم چاله میدانی تنزل می دهد.

لحن صحبت خاتمى جفا در حق شوراى نگهبان بود

2004-12-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

اصولا خط قرمز همانجایی که شورای نگهبان حرکت می کند بنابراین شورای نگهبان هیچگاه نمیتواند از خط قرمز عبور کند

تيمورعلى عسگرى عضو فراكسيون اكثريت در خصوص اظهارات رئيس جمهورى در مراسم ۱۶ آذر پيرامون عملكرد شوراى نگهبان در انتخابات مجلس هفتم اظهار داشت:
در حقيقت به آن نحوه كه ايشان اظهار كردند، نبود. نه رهبرى خواستند كه شوراى نگهبان از خط قرمز عبور كند و نه شوراى نگهبان چنين كارى كردند، در كل تجديدنظر مدنظر رهبرى بود كه يك بازبينى در كار صورت گيرد كه اين كار هم انجام گرفت و تاييد صلاحيت هاى بعدى هم در همين ارتباط بود و طبق نظر رهبرى عمل كردند و اين لحن صحبت آقاى خاتمى را جفا در حق شوراى نگهبان مى دانم.

سخنگوى البرادعى: استراق سمع مكالمات تلفنى البرادعى و ايران تعجب آور نيست

2004-12-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

این سخن درستی است که استراق سمع آمریکایی ها تعجب آور نیست ولی تعجب آور حرف شماست که می گویید چون میدانستید پس اشکالی ندارد. شما بجای اعتراض به این کار زشت سر بالا گرفته اید و می گویید من می دانستم. این مثل کسی است که کتک می خورد و بعد که نمی تواند از خودش دفاع کند می گوید من می دانستم که کتک خواهم خورد

مارك گوآزدكى سخنگوى آژانس بين المللى انرژى اتمى دوشنبه درباره ماجراى استراق سمع مكالمات تلفنى محمد البرادعى مديركل آژانس بين المللى انرژى اتمى از سوى امريكاييها گفت، «ما هميشه احتمال مى داديم كه روزى چنين اتفاقى بيافتد.»
ايرنا به نقل از گوآزدكى نوشت، «ما آرزو داشتيم استراق سمعى انجام نميگرفت، اما اين موضوع اتفاق افتاده زيرا موقعيت البرادعى به گونه اى است كه احتمال استراق سمع مكالمات او را تقويت ميكند.»
روزنامه واشنگتن پست يكشنبه نوشت بود كه مراكز اطلاعاتى امريكا مكالمات تلفنى البرادعى با ديپلمات هاى ايرانى را استراق سمع كرده اند.
برخى از اعضاى دولت امريكا، البرادعى را به اتخاذ سياست مدارا در برابر ايران متهم ميكنند و هم اكنون امريكا تلاش مى كند تا از سومين دور مديريت البرادعى بر آژانس بين المللى انرژى اتمى در سال يييى ميلادى جلوگيرى كند.»
البرادعى ديپلمات مصرى از ساليييى به عنوان مديركل آژانس بين المللى انرژى اتمى فعاليت دارد و بسيارى از كشورهاى عضو از او خواسته اند كه براى دور بعدى اين سمت نيز نامزد شود.
آمريكا براى جلوگيرى از نامزدى مجدد البرادعى بايد نظر بيش از يك سوم ازيى كشور عضو شوراى حكام اين سازمان را كسب كند، زيرا مديركل با راى دست كم دو سوم اعضاى شوراى حكام آژانس بين الملليانرژى اتمى انتخاب ميشود.

شيرهاي خشمگين نگهبان باغ وحش آمل را كشتند

2004-12-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

خبر زیر عینا از کیهان نقل شده است. بخوانید تا چند مطلب درباره آن بگویم :

آمل-خبرنگاركيهان:شيرهاي باغ وحش آمل نگهبان خود را كشتند.اين شيرها هنگامي كه رحمت الله صمدي نگهبان باغ وحش براي بردن غذا به داخل قفس رفت، وي را از پاي درآوردند و از قفس گريختند.شيرهاي عصباني سرانجام با تلاش نيروهاي انتظامي و پس از آنكه يك شتر و يك سگ را هم كشتند، توسط گلوله هلاك شدند.جزئيات اين حادثه ازسوي مسئولان مربوطه در دست بررسي است

اولا معلوم نیست که چرا شیرها عصبانی بوده اند ثانیا چرا مسئول باغ وحش وارد قفس شیرها شده است و ثالثا چرا شیرها را کشته اند چون بالاخره شیر قیمت دارد حتی شیر پاکتی تازه در آمل شتر از کجا آمده اند که شیرها آنها را کشته اند

Bush Says Iran Must Go Beyond Nuclear Suspension

2004-11-30T16:31:00.000-08:00

مثل اینکه ارباب هنوز راضی نشده است. باید تمام دستگاههای اتمی ایران را مثل لیبی بار بزنند ببرند آمریکا تا دنیای آزاد راضی بشه

OTTAWA (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday welcomed a decision by Iran to freeze sensitive nuclear activities but said that was not the final step and the Islamic republic needed to go further to show its commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons ambitions.
"The Iranians agreed to suspend but not terminate their nuclear weapons program. Our position is that they ought to terminate their nuclear weapons program," Bush said during a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
In his first public comments on Iran since the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Monday passed a resolution approving Iran's week-old suspension of sensitive nuclear activities, Bush said Iran had "obviously got more work to do."
The passage of the resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency allowed Iran to escape censure over its nuclear program.
Bush reiterated U.S. demands that the suspension must be verifiable.
"I viewed yesterday's decision by the Iranians as a positive step, but it is certainly not the final step and it is very important for whatever they do to make sure that the world is able to verify the decision they have made," Bush said.
"It is taking a long time to get to the stage where Iran is willing to suspend," he added.

U.S. Group Urges Rumsfeld War Crimes Probe in Germany

2004-11-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - A U.S. human rights group urged German prosecutors Tuesday to investigate accusations that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior U.S. officers are guilty of war crimes over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

In an unusual legal move, the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has filed a criminal complaint with Germany's Federal Prosecutors along with four Iraqis who say they were tortured and humiliated alongside other prisoners by U.S. soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

CCR is taking advantage of a 2002 German law allowing prosecutions for human rights and war crimes regardless of where the acts took place or the nationalities of the perpetrators.

The group says Rumsfeld, former CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet, a senior defense official and seven U.S. military officers, including the former top U.S. commander in Iraq (news - web sites), Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, were ultimately responsible for the torture and humiliation of the Iraqis by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib.

CCR says the action is a last resort after the failure of the U.S. Congress to properly investigate Abu Ghraib. It argues that the Pentagon (news - web sites) has essentially appointed investigators into the abuse, while U.S. prosecutors look away.

"In a way I am here with a very heavy heart... I would have preferred that our own courts would have taken what happened seriously... but that is not the case in the United States at the moment," CCR President Michael Ratner said in Berlin.

The U.S. embassy in Berlin has declined to comment. Rumsfeld, Sanchez and the other senior officers named in the complaint have not commented on the case.

Photographs of U.S. soldiers tormenting naked detainees shocked the world when they emerged in April, prompting claims that policies adopted for President Bush (news - web sites)'s "war on terror" created the environment for breaching human rights enshrined in U.S. and international law.

A top-level U.S. inquiry blamed the military chain of command for creating conditions that allowed the abuses to take place, but only seven lower ranking military police and an intelligence soldier have been indicted so far.

CCR says it wants German prosecutors to investigate thoroughly, but has no firm expectation as to the outcome.

"I would also want to see this case possibly prompting the United States government to say we have to seriously investigate these crimes ourselves," Ratner told reporters.

"I don't know where this will lead but certainly if war crimes have been committed it should lead to significant jail sentences for people," he added.

CCR vice president Peter Weiss said a 1998 Spanish attempt to extradite and prosecute former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet (news - web sites) for human rights abuses during his 1973-1990 military dictatorship had prompted Chile to lift Pinochet's diplomatic immunity, curtailing his travel.

German lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck said the bid to prosecute the 10 might affect their travel plans to avoid Germany, although three of the charged are based in the country.

"We think of our action possibly in terms of small successes."

Weiss said that Washington's failure to pursue those responsible and its justification of legal violations due to "extraordinary circumstances" had set a dangerous example.

"This authorization that has come from the highest levels... gives a green light for those kinds of violations throughout the world," he said.

Childhood friends die together in Iraq

2004-11-13T03:05:00.000-08:00

این بنده های خدا فکر کردند که در عراق برایشان آب پرتقال سرو می کنند و هر جا هم رفتند برایشان هورا می کشند. حالا حساب کنید این دوتا از هزار و صد سرباز آمریکایی است که در عراق کشته شده اند. در حالیکه طبق آمار پنتاگون از پارسال تا الان یکصد هزار عراقی کشته شده اند خیلی هاشان از این دو تا خیلی دوستتر هم بوده اند خیلی ها خانوادگی کشته شده اند و خیلی ها هم در مراسم عروسی کشته شده اند تنها به این دلیل که زمانی منافع آمریکا ایجاب می کرد صدام هر غلطی با ملتش بکند و آنها هم لام تا کام چیزی نگویند و حالا دیگر زمانه آن است که برای ارضای منافع خود بایستی خود مردم عراق را بکشند. آنها که خواب آمریکا را می بینند بیدار شوند.

FRESNO, California (AP) -- Childhood friends who enlisted in the Marine Corps together and died together in Iraq were buried side by side.
Jeremiah Baro and Jared Hubbard, who played together, wrestled each other in high school and toughed it out together through boot camp, died November 4, after a roadside bomb exploded. They were in Iraq's Anbar province, where the military was preparing to attack the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Members of the armed forces, classmates from the nearby high school, more than 700 friends and family members packed the church pews and stood pressed against the walls at Thursday's memorial.
Many wore red armbands with the Marine motto -- Semper Fi, or always faithful. Friends said the phrase described the young men's dedication to each other and their families as much as it defined their commitment to their country, and to their mission as Marines.
"You couldn't say anything about Jared without saying something about Jeremiah, and you couldn't say something about Jeremiah without saying a little something about Jared," said the Rev. Tim Rolen.
Hubbard, who wrestled and played football in high school, and the slighter but pugnacious Baro were "two peas in a pod," said Bert Baro, Jeremiah Baro's father.
"You can't have one without the other," he told the Fresno Bee. "If one or the other survived, I don't think they would have been the same people."
Hubbard, 22, and Baro, 21, enlisted in December 2001, acting on an idea they'd had since high school, but motivated by the terrorist attacks that September.
The two men were dedicated athletes with a close group of friends -- among them the dozens of high school classmates who attended the memorial.
When a group of friends went out, Hubbard was the last to go home, and the first up in the morning, ready for breakfast and a hike, said Benny Clay, who had known him since the fifth grade. Baro was more intense, and had a way of earning the respect of those around him, said Rolen.
Baro's girlfriend, Stephine Sanchez, also showed his lighter, caring side by reading a poem he gave her. Her voice broke into sobs before she reached the end: "You were meant to be my heart, my soul mate, my everything."
It was their second tour in Iraq. They returned home during the summer and trained together as snipers when they returned to their unit.
Two weeks before he was killed, Jeremiah Baro told his father of the latest action they had seen, when they had run into insurgents setting up a roadside ambush, Bert Baro said.
Bert Baro said he wished he had paid closer attention to the 30-minute conversation, not knowing it would be their last. He had been concentrating, he said, on enjoying "the sound of my son's voice."

Nicaragua Promises Rumsfeld to Destroy Missiles

2004-11-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

جناب وزیر دفاع پس سرمست از پیروزی انتخاباتی هفته قبل که همه دنیا پیروزی حماقت بر شعور خواندند گردشی در حیات خلوت آمریکا در منطقه آمریکای لاتین می کنند. دراین میان نوکران حلقه به گوش و سرسپردگان هم به صف ایستاده اند تا در مقابل ارباب دمی تکان دهند شاید ارباب استخوانی برای آنها بیاندازد.
نگرانی آمریکا از اینکه سلاحهای دیگر کشورها به دست به اصطلاح تروریستها بیفتد شاید منطقی باشد ولی بجای اینکه از کشورهای به ظاهر مستقل بخواهد که مواظب سلاحهای خود باشند از آنان می خواهد که آنها را نابود سازند. به این می گویند احترام به حقوق کشورها. آنانی که خواب آمریکا را می بینند بیدار شوند

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaragua assured Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday it would destroy more than 1,300 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that Washington fears could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos told a joint news conference after meeting Rumsfeld that the missiles, left from the former Marxist Sandinista government two decades ago, would be be destroyed within 18 months and Managua wanted no U.S. financial compensation for doing so.
"We have a plan. We are moving ahead with the plan. It is of our own will. We seek no compensation for the plan," said Bolanos of the intent to destroy the missiles capable of downing civilian airliners.
"I think it's going to take about a year and a-half more," he said, adding that he and the presidents of other Central American countries had agreed to make military cuts "for a reasonable balance of defense forces that will include destroying the missiles."
High on the agenda when Rumsfeld flew here on the second leg of a Latin American tour on Friday was the question over about 2,000 SAM-7 missiles provided by Cuba and the Soviet Union to the Sandinistas in the 1980s.
The Nicaraguan government destroyed 666 missiles earlier this year, but Washington wanted assurances the others would go as well.
"Nicaragua is a strong and resolute partner in the global war against terrorism," Rumsfeld told the news conference. And he said that impressions that he had come to put pressure on Nicaragua over the missiles "would be in error."
Rumsfeld will visit Panama on Saturday for talks with leaders there and then go to Quito, Ecuador, for a meeting of Western Hemisphere defense ministers next week.
EL SALVADOR TROOPS IN IRAQ
Rumsfeld flew to Nicaragua from El Salvador , whose defense minister assured him it planned to keep its elite troops in Iraq where it is Washington's only Latin American ally.
El Salvador has 380 special forces soldiers serving in Iraq and, although the contingent is fairly small, it has real symbolic value for the Bush administration because the Iraq war is deeply unpopular across most of Latin America.
U.S. officials have repeatedly paid tribute to Salvadoran President Tony Saca's conservative government, and Rumsfeld visited the country to reinforce the close alliance.
Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic also sent troops to Iraq but later withdrew them. El Salvador, however, has held firm despite being threatened with retaliation by Islamic militant groups.
"You can be sure that Salvadoran soldiers will continue to serve just causes in whatever part of the world where humanity requires them," Defense Minister Gen. Otto Romero said on Friday.
Rumsfeld met with Saca and Romero and also went to a national commando school where he presented U.S. military Bronze Star medals for valor to six Salvadoran soldiers
On March 5, the troops saved the lives of six American members of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the body that preceded Iraq's interim government, when a convoy from Baghdad to Najaf came under attack from heavily armed insurgents.
The United States backed a series of right-wing governments with heavy military aid during El Salvador's civil war against Marxist guerrillas during the 1980s, when Central America was a Cold War battleground.

Washington also aided Contra rebels fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the same period. Nicaragua's civil war ended in 1990 and it has been run by conservative governments since then.

Israeli Commander Probed in Girl's Death

2004-10-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM - Israel's top military prosecutor has opened an investigation into a platoon commander whom soldiers accuse of emptying an ammunition clip into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to make sure she was dead, the army said Monday.
In media interviews, soldiers said the commander approached the girl, who had already been shot and possibly killed, and repeatedly shot her as they pleaded with him to stop.
In an unusual move, the top military prosecutor, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelbleet, ordered an inquiry into the incident before the army finished its own investigation, an army spokeswoman said. In addition, the battalion and division commanders are conducting their own investigations and will submit their findings to Army chief Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, she said.
The issue surfaced when soldiers who serve under the platoon commander — whose name was not made public — told Israeli newspapers and TV reporters about the incident.
Iyman Hams, 13, was shot and killed Oct. 5. Initially the army said soldiers shot and killed Hams as she planted a bomb near an army outpost in southern Gaza.
But after soldiers recounted a different version of events to the media, an investigation was launched. The soldiers told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper they were unhappy that the platoon commander had not been suspended.
Dozens of Palestinian children have been killed since fighting erupted four years ago, but the army rarely launches investigations into the incidents.
In disguised voices and without revealing their identities, the soldiers told a chilling story to Israeli television stations Sunday night of a platoon commander who fired two bullets from close range at the girl, who had already been shot, to confirm that she was dead. Two soldiers then described the commander going back a second time and spraying her with automatic weapon fire.
The soldiers told Yediot that before the commander shot the girl they shouted to him over the two-way radio: "Don't shoot, she's a little girl."
"We saw her from a distance of 70 meters. She was fired at ... from the outpost. She fled and was wounded. I understood that she was dead. The platoon commander neared her shot two bullets at her, returned toward the force, turned back to her, put the weapon on automatic — and emptied his entire clip," one soldier said.
"We were in shock, we held our heads. We couldn't believe what he had done. Our hearts ached for her. Just a 13-year-old girl. How do you spray a girl from close range? He was hot for a long time to take out terrorists and shot the girl to relieve pressure," the soldier said.
Dr. Ali Musa, director of the hospital in Rafah, said Hams was hit by at least 15 bullets, most in the upper body.
Ihab Samir Hams, the girl's brother, said his sister was on the way to school when she was shot. He said soldiers didn't allow an ambulance into the area for 70 minutes. He said she had bullet wounds in her head, chest, legs — "everywhere."
Brushing off the investigation, Hams asked: "Will this bring her back to life? Will this bring her back home? Will this heal our wound? They are murderers and they killed her in cold blood."

Iraq bomb blast kills 34 children

2004-09-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

An Iraqi father mourns over the body of his 8-year-old son along with his brother at al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad. At least 49 people were killed, most of them children, in a series of devastating car bombs that left a trail of carnage in Baghdad and northern Iraq (news - web sites), medics and the US military said.

Iraqi men cry over the body of a dead relative at the Yarmouk hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, September 30, 2004. Insurgents detonated three car bombs near a convoy of U.S. military vehicles in southern Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 120, many of them children, officials and doctors said.

U.S. soldiers tend to their injured colleagues as another victim lies on the ground after a bomb exploded in Baghdad, September 30, 2004. Insurgents detonated three car bombs near a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, killing 41 people, 34 of them children, and wounding scores.

ماجراي دو خودروي همزاد! در مشهد

2004-09-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

براي يك خودروي پي كي در مشهد همزاد پيدا شد.در واقعه اي جالب در مشهد دو خودروي پي كي يك رنگ، يك مدل و با پلاك مشابه به هم رسيدند.اين واقعه زماني روي داد كه يكي از شهروندان مشهدي در حال قدم زدن در يكي از خيابان هاي شهر مشهد متوجه خودروي خود شد كه در كنار خيابان پارك شده و فردي ناآشنا پشت فرمان آن نشسته است.به گزارش واحد مركزي خبر، نگراني اعتراض آميز اين فرد به خانمي كه پشت فرمان خودرو نشسته بود و خودرو را از آن خود مي دانست نتيجه نداد تا اينكه فرد معترض به منزلش تلفن كرد و به او گفته شد كه خودروي او همچنان در حياط منزل است. سرانجام دو خودرو در كنار يكديگر قرار گرفتند و معلوم شد كه اشتباه از جاي ديگر بوده است.نمايندگي فروش پي كي در مشهد اختصاص يك شماره به دو خودرو را اشتباهي دانست كه در جريان اجراي طرح واگذاري پلاك جديد به خودروها روي داده است

Cat Stevens' Peace Plane Grounded

2004-09-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Next time, better just take the Peace Train.

A Washington, D.C.-bound United Airlines flight carrying Yusuf Islam, the London-based artist formerly known as Cat Stevens (news), landed prematurely in Maine Tuesday after his name popped up on a U.S. terrorist watch list.
The "Morning Has Broken" singer was denied admission to the United States on national security grounds, according to a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department. The singer-songwriter was heading to Dulles International Airport when his plane made an unplanned stop in Bangor, Maine around 3 p.m.
Islam was met by federal agents and detained for interrogation while the rest of the passengers were allowed to continue to D.C.
According to government officials, Islam, 56, was red-flagged by a computer system that analyzes passenger data before international flights enter U.S airspace. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center matched Islam's name on the passenger list for the D.C-bound United jet, then relayed the information regarding a possible terrorist match to the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA, in turn, requested that the plane land at Bangor International.
The Washington Post reported that Islam is identified as "Usef Islam" on several government watch lists, including the no-fly list. According to some print and broadcast reports, Islam's name is on the lists because he allegedly contributed funds to groups supporting terrorism.
However, he was allowed to visit New York as recently as May for a charity event without incident. No immediate comment from the feds on why he was permitted to fly then and not now.
The Homeland Security Department says Islam would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday after spending the night in custody.
Ooh, baby, it's a wild world, indeed.
Stevens, famous for his easygoing demeanor and 1960s and '70s folk songs like "Moonshadow" and "Peace Train," converted to Islam in the late 1970s.
He abandoned his music career in 1977 and released his final record, Back to Earth in 1978. In accordance with life as a Muslim, Islam famously auctioned off his possessions gained from a lucrative career (Islam penned several well-known tunes in addition to his own hits, including Rod Stewart (news)'s "The First Cut Is the Deepest") and founded a Muslim school near London.
"I came to Islam in my late 20s, during my searching period as a wandering pop star," he wrote in a 2001 article for London's Guardian newspaper. "I found a religion that blended scientific reason with spiritual reality."
He was widely criticized for supporting Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses, but he later backtracked.
Last year, he rerecorded "Peace Train" for a star-studded fundraising CD benefiting children suffering from the war in Iraq (news - web sites). Shortly afterward, he told BBC News, "As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution to the dangerous path some world leaders today seem to be taking."
Islam recently condemned the school seizure by Chechen rebels in Russia, and has consistently been an advocate for peace since the Sept. 11, 2001. "No right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action," he said in a statement following the attacks. "The Koran equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity."
A statement on the YusufIlsam.com Website says, "We all know that Yusuf does support many charitable organizations...However, he does not support terrorism. He has consistently denounced the acts of terrorists as being directly contradictory to the peaceful teachings of Islam...[and he] has donated thousands of dollars to the 9/11 Fund in addition to his many other projects. Any suggestion that he has donated any funds to terrorist organizations is untrue.
"It is our hope that this situation will be quickly resolved and Yusuf's name removed from the FBI (news - web sites)'s list."

CBS Fined $550,000 for Jackson Stunt

2004-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on Wednesday fined CBS a record $550,000 for Janet Jackson (news)'s "wardrobe malfunction," which exposed the singer's breast during this year's Super Bowl halftime show.

The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) voted unanimously to slap each of the 20 CBS-owned television stations with the maximum indecency penalty of $27,500. The total penalty of $550,000 is the largest fine levied against a television broadcaster. Most of the FCC (news - web sites)'s bigger fines have been against radio stations.
"As countless families gathered around the television to watch one of our nation's most celebrated events, they were rudely greeted with a halftime show stunt more fitting of a burlesque show," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell. "The show, clearly intended to push the limits of prime time television."
The commission decided not to fine CBS' more than 200 affiliate stations, which also aired the show but are not owned by the network's parent company, Viacom.
The two Democrats on the 5-member commission said the fine should have been higher. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the fine amounted to a "slap on the wrist" and suggested that the agency could have sent a stronger message about indecency by reprimanding CBS' affiliates as well.
MTV, a Viacom subsidiary, produced the Feb. 1 halftime show, which featured Jackson and singer Justin Timberlake (news) performing a racy duet. At the end, Timberlake ripped off a piece of Jackson's black leather top, exposing her right breast to a TV audience of about 90 million.
Timberlake blamed a "wardrobe malfunction," and CBS was quick to apologize to viewers. The breast-baring song generated a record number of complaints to the FCC — more than 500,000.
CBS said it was extremely disappointed with the decision.
"While we regret that the incident occurred and have apologized to our viewers, we continue to believe that nothing in the Super Bowl broadcast violated indecency laws," the network said in a statement. "Furthermore, our investigation proved that no one in our company had any advance knowledge about the incident."
Viacom has said it will fight any fines leveled against its stations for the Jackson performance. Over the summer, Viacom co-president Leslie Moonves said a fine would be "grossly unfair" and promised a court challenge.
Federal law bars radio and non-cable television stations from airing references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children may be tuning in. Once a complaint is made to the FCC, the agency determines whether the broadcast was indecent.
Within days of the Jackson incident, lawmakers on Capitol Hill began grumbling about smut on TV, and both houses passed legislation — still pending in Congress — that would raise indecency fines. The House has voted to raise the maximum indecency fine to $500,000. The Senate voted to increase the top fine to $275,000 per indecent incident, with a cap of $3 million per day.
The FCC launched a crackdown on indecency soon after the Super Bowl, resulting in several high-profile fines. Among them: a $755,000 fine against Clear Channel for graphic drug and sex talk on a "Bubba the Love Sponge" radio program and a record $1.75 million fine, also against Clear Channel, for indecency complaints against Howard Stern and other radio personalities.
Television networks also began taking pre-emptive action by implementing broadcast delays so censors could scrub anything deemed too racy. CBS, for example, aired the Grammy awards ceremony a week after the Super Bowl with a five-minute delay. More recently, the NFL kicked off its season with a live, pregame show on ABC that was aired with a 10-second delay.

Windows may be free in Iran, but security fears spark Linux drive

2004-09-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has become the latest country to edge towards ditching the ubiquitous Microsoft computer operating system in favour of the open-source Linux (news - web sites) solution, even if its refusal to abide by copyright laws means that the Islamic republic does not pay a penny to Bill Gates (news - web sites).
According to Mohammad Sephery-Rad, the man in charge of the Islamic regime's computer systems, long-term political and security considerations have sparked a major initiative to make the switch.

"All the software in Iran is copied. There is no copyright law, so everybody uses Microsoft software freely," said the secretary of Iran's High Informatics Council.

"But we cannot continue like this much longer," he said.

The reason has nothing to do with the guilt of using pirated software (a cracked Windows XP (news - web sites) CD costs the same as a blank CD), but more pragmatic considerations -- not least because of the irony that Iran's information technology (IT) backbone is based on software from its arch-enemy the United States.

Firstly, Iran is trying to gain entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a step that would entail respect of international intellectual property laws.

"We would have to pay a lot of money," said Sephery-Rad, noting that most of the government's estimated one million personal computers (PCs) and the country's total of six to eight million computers were being run almost exclusively on the Windows platform.

"Secondly, Microsoft software has a lot of backdoors and security weaknesses that are always being patched, so it is not secure. We are also under US sanctions. All this makes us think we need an alternative operating system."

Even users of pirated Windows software can download patches and updates, but as piracy control techniques improve that could change -- meaning the Islamic regime's computers could be caught with their pants down.

The alternative selected is Linux -- an operating system adapted by computer makers and other users to meet their own specifications.

Derived from the Unix (news - web sites) system by a Finn, Linus Torvalds (news - web sites), it has become one of the biggest competitors of Microsoft, even if Windows is still used on nearly 90 percent of the world's computers.

Whereas Microsoft's code is a closely-guarded secret, the Linux core code -- or Kernal -- is the subject of ongoing development and is available for free download and adaptation, hence the term "open-source".

"Our strategy is to have the option to change over if we have to. We need to have a solution that is ready, otherwise one day we may be caught with our hands in the air," Sephery-Rad told AFP in an interview.

"Then we will try to convince people it is the best option. We want to switch over as much as we can."

Around the world, several governments have been embracing Linux as a way to save money, break free from Microsoft's virtual monopoly and evade the daily barrages of viruses that bombard Windows systems.

Linux advocates also tout what they say is superior stability, fewer crashes and those "Blue Screens of Death" that drive many Windows users to despair -- hence the already widepsread use of Linux in server applications.

"Microsoft is a national security concern. Security in an operating system is an important issue, and when it is on a computer in the government it is of even greater importance," said the official.

"Even with Linux, security is an issue -- but maybe less so."

But if there is one weak point with Linux, it is user-friendliness when ported to the desktop. Sephery-Rad acknowledged that you may not need to be a geek to use Linux, but it certainly helps.

"It is very promising. Students and universities are showing great enthusiasm, but for older people it is difficult," he explained, adding that graphical environments such as KDE or Gnome were getting close to matching the easy task manipulation that a Windows-based PC provides.

"It is not as easy as we thought. We will have to get people used to changing over. People are used to using Microsoft, so we'll need courses and seminars."

Iran's Linux initiative is now three years old, but the idea is beginning to catch on. A Farsi-language Linux "Live CD" -- a preview that does not interfere with a computer's hard drive -- has just become available in what is the first concrete step to a changeover.

Sephery-Rad, who also works as a physics professor, said the project should really get going in the next two to three years, with inspiration coming from similar efforts in Latin America, Europe and East Asia.

"Most people have come to the conclusion that sticking to an operating system controlled by one company is dangerous," said Sephery-Rad. "Microsoft is like having a car where the bonnet is welded shut."

نامه دختران بسيجي دانشگاه هاي اراك به ژاك شيراك

2004-09-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

جمعي از دختران بسيجي دانشگاه هاي اراك با صدور نامه اي خطاب به ژاك شيراك اعلام كردند: حجاب افتخار زن مسلمان، حق طبيعي و قانوني اوست و اين اقدام شما سبب رسوايي و مرگ ليبراليسم در بين ملت هاي آزاده دنيا و بويژه مسلمانان خواهد بود.به گزارش «شبكه خبر دانشجو» در اين نامه آمده است: جناب رئيس جمهور كشور به اصطلاح جمهوري ليبراليسم فرانسه و پيشتاز آزادي و حقوق بشر اقدام شما در نقض حقوق اجتماعي زن مسلمان در كشوري كه ادعاي ليبراليسم و حقوق بشر آن گوش فلك را كر كرده است، جاي بسي تعجب و تأسف دارد، شما كه به هر بهانه اي عليه كشورهاي اسلامي بيانيه صادر مي كنيد و براي زنان در اين كشورها اشك تمساح مي ريزيد، چه شده است كه چنين ناجوانمردانه حقوق زن مسلمان را در كشورتان نقض كرده و او را از حقوقش محروم مي كنيد؟ اين آزادي اجتماعي و ليبراليسمي كه شما مدعي پرچمداري آن هستيد، تحمل لباس زن مسلمان را هم ندارد، پس لطفاً اين همه شعار ندهيد!اين نامه مي افزايد: در كشوري كه حدود هفت ميليون مسلمان در آن زندگي مي كنند، محروم كردن آنان در انتخاب لباس چه مفهومي مي تواند داشته باشد؟ آيا اين كار نقض آشكار حقوق بشر نيست؟در بخش ديگري از اين نامه آمده است: البته ما قبلاً نيز اقدامات دولت شما را در محدود كردن آزادي بيان بويژه در مورد نظريات پروفسور روژه گارودي ديده ايم و از اقدام جديد شما خيلي تعجب نمي كنيم، چرا كه نقض حقوق اولين اقليت ديني در كشور شما در حالي صورت مي گيرد كه ميليون ها مسلمان فرانسوي حتي يك نماينده در پارلمان كشور مهد جمهوريت ندارند، ولي در كشور جمهوري اسلامي اقليت چند هزار نفري كليميان در مجلس داراي نماينده هستند، اما به ادعاي شما اروپايي هاي ليبراليسم منش، ما حقوق اقليت ها را نقض كرده ايم و شما به آنان حقوق اجتماعي ويژه داده ايد!! و البته اين حقوق از اقدام اخير شما در محدود كردن پوشش زن مسلمان بسيار پيدا و آشكار است.جناب رئيس جمهور فرانسه آزاد! در پايان از شما مي خواهيم كه به خود بياييد و قبول كنيد كه موج اسلام خواهي، پايه هاي دروغين ليبراليسم را به لرزه درآورده است و شما با اين اقدام نخواهيد توانست كه اسلام را در كشورتان منكوب كنيد، منتظر روزي باشيد كه فرانسه به تسخير اسلام درخواهد آمد

The fun in fundamentalism

2004-09-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

In Iran, making music and drinking are defiant acts. Broadcaster Andy Kershaw goes undercover to find rappers and guitar heroes.

Fun is not banned entirely in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The dervishes of Sanandaj in Iranian Kurdistan were having a whale of a time, as only mystics who frequently like to eat nothing more than one date a day can. We were watching them perform in their place of worship: a stark, fluorescent-lit room carpeted with Persian rugs. A line of cross-legged, turbaned men sat before us, pounding their dafs (oversized tambourines) and chanting their devotion to Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law. At great length.

Our Kurdish guide, a gentle and brave man who seemed to be in a permanent state of gloom and unease ("You must not name me or, in a month, you will hear I have been beheaded"), explained what it means to be a dervish.
"Before I was a dervish I did something very bad. And so I went to confess this to a sheik, who asks God to forgive me and then I am reborn and become pure. As a result, I consider that sheik to be so holy and pious that I think if I hit my head with an axe, for example, he will protect me and no harm will come to me."
There was evidence of this self-confidence in a glass cabinet in the corner. Next to a tatty ghetto blaster were an axe, several swords and some alarming photographs of the dervishes doing their party pieces - acts of ritual self-mutilation.
One man had a skewer through his torso, going in under one armpit and emerging out of the other. Another devotee had plunged a much larger skewer deep into his belly and out through his lower back. A third mystic, apparently unperturbed, had five daggers stuck into his head. And another chap appeared to be roaring with laughter as his colleague applied an electric drill to his stomach. In none of these photographs was there any blood.
Abdul Rahman, one of the dervishes, declined to impale himself for our benefit. "These actions are not always done," he said. "They are performed for a person who comes here and doubts the sincerity of our belief."
I wondered how it felt, for example, when his friend the chief dervish, Khalifa Ghozi, "examined electricity".
"We feel no pain. We are in a world of ecstasy. Our heart is with God. We don't feel anything."
When the chief "examines electricity" he picks up both ends of a live 220-volt electricity cable and pops them into his mouth.

Britney's trash is a fan's treasure

2004-09-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Britney Spears' fans don't think the pop star's chewed gum is "Toxic" -- they're buying wads of it on eBay.
There are over two dozen auctions of used chewing gum on eBay, each claiming their product has been spit out by the 22-year-old singer. Prices go as high as $14,000, but most are for significantly less.
Though there is no way to verify the authenticity of the various wads, many postings include photos of a small piece of chewed gum, a copy of a ticket stub from the place of finding and a personal story of procurement.
One posting claiming to be the originator of the craze says the gum for sale was spat out in anger by Spears outside her Los Angeles home in early August. A picture of the gum, now going for $26, accompanies the auction.
A seller from London who is asking $53 for a piece of gum obtained at Spears' 2000 Wembley Arena concert, declares: "I have had this item for over three years and am only listing it because of the current interest in Ms. Spears' habit for discarding gum!"
Brian Johnson, 25, of Mississauga, Ontario, had a posting asking for $1,000, claiming: "You could take a DNA test to prove this is the real deal." Though he has since taken down the ad, Johnson told The Associated Press in a recent e-mail that he obtained the gum while working backstage at a Toronto concert in April.
"While I was holding the camera, I saw her spit it out," Johnson said. "I thought it would be funny to bring the gum home and show some of my friends. They got a big laugh out of it."
Why would someone pay money for a piece of used gum? Psychologist Joyce Brothers is reminded of the prices that people paid for the clothes and possessions of President John F. Kennedy and actress Katharine Hepburn.
"People want a piece of someone they like and admire," Brothers told the AP Wednesday. "It's like obtaining somebody's halo."
But buyer beware! Some of the auctions are fake. One seller offers a piece of Spears' gum from the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards that "still has her teeth marks in it." Spears didn't attend the event.
The bidding is also often fake. The gum now priced at $14,000 was driven up by one person who bid against himself. Winning bids are mostly closer to $5 to $100.
Chris Donlay, a publicist for eBay, says the veracity of the gum claims isn't the business of the Web site. "As long as it doesn't violate our policies, then it's really between the buyer and the seller."
Whether true or not, more than a few eBayers find the whole thing laughable. One fan offers not Britney's gum, but her own. The auction -- for 1 cent -- reads: "Why waste your money on one of those other super expensive gum auctions when you can get this one here for a steal?" Another offers photos of Spears along with a peach bitten by the seller, who advises, "And remember, please don't spit your gum out. Use a bin or stick it behind your ear."
Still, gum isn't the only Spears' garbage being sold. Also up for auction are a tissue and cigarette butts, making the singer look like quite a litterbug. An allegedly used bath towel and bar of soap, which the seller calls "priceless," are also being auctioned.
And the trend appears to be spreading. There is already a posting selling the gum of another celebrity chewer: Eminem.

يك دختر در برابر يك ارتش

2004-08-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

شبكه معتبر «سي.بي.اس» آمريكا در برنامه پربيننده «60 دقيقه»، موضوع عشق ممنوعه ميان يك سرباز آمريكايي و يك دختر عراقي را به تصوير كشيده است.
به گزارش سرويس بين‌الملل «بازتاب»، عشق شون بلك‌ول، سرباز جوان آمريكايي به اهدا، پزشك جوان عراقي، به تمرد بلك‌ول از دستورات ارتش آمريكا و مسلمان شدن او منجر شده است.
در گزارش «سي.بي.اس» با توصيف چگونگي آشنايي سرباز آمريكايي و دختر عراقي، ازدواج آنها را پس از مخالفت فرماندهي ارتش آمريكا، قدرت عشق در برابر ارتش توصيف كرده است.
سال گذشته، هنگامي كه يك سرباز آمريكايي در بغداد به يك دختر عراقي علاقه‌مند شد، فرمانده وي دستور منع ازدواج او را صادر كرد اما نتيجه اينكه شون بلك‌ول، سرباز آمريكايي، عمليات مخفيانه‌اي را براي ازدواج با اين زن عراقي انجام داد و درست در همين‌ هنگام بود كه ارتش با اصرار، دستور بازگشت بلك‌ول به خانه‌اش ـ 7000 مايل دورتر از نامزدش ـ را صادر كرد. با اين حار احتمالا «اهدا» ديگر نمي‌توانست همسرش را ببيند، اما در بهار گذشته، چيزي را كه ارتش روي آن حساب نكرده بود، علاقه اين دو نفر بود.
اهدا مي‌گويد: بعضي اوقات شما به كسي علاقه‌مند مي‌شويد و نمي‌دانيد چرا، فكر مي‌كنم، سرنوشت ما هم همين بوده است.
حال در نيمه‌اي ديگر از كره زمين در پنساكولا، شون بلك‌ول در حال رفتن به فرودگاه است و درست 6 ماه از زماني كه حلقه ازدواج خود را به دست «اهدا» كرده مي‌گذرد و از آن زمان وي را نديده است.

او مي‌گويد: نمي‌توانم احساس خود را توصيف كنم. خيلي هيجان‌زده‌ام. اهدا هم براي ديدن مردي كه ارتش دستور داده بود از زندگي وي خارج شود، لحظه‌شماري مي‌كند.
روياي اين دو نفر كم‌كم به واقعيت تبديل مي‌شود. اهدا در خانواده‌اي ثروتمند در كشوري در حال جنگ بزرگ شده است و شون در صلح در فلوريداي آمريكا. شون به موسيقي كشورش گوش مي‌داد و اهدا به حرف‌هاي صدام. اهدا به دانشكده پزشكي رفته و شون سنت خانوادگي‌شان را ادامه مي‌دهد و مانند پدر و 6 عمويش به ارتش پيوسته است.
شون پس از سقوط بغداد به اين شهر اعزام شد و در جايي كه بيشترين تنش‌ها در آنجا بود، يعني بيمارستان بغداد، مأمور به خدمت شد و روزي يك دكتر جوان به نام اهدا را ملاقات كرد.
بلك‌ول مي‌گويد: ديدن او براي نخستين بار براي من بسيار جذاب بود و هرچه‌قدر بيشتر با هم صحبت كرديم، سعي كرديم چيزهاي بيشتري را در مورد يكديگر بدانيم.
اهدا مي‌گويد: من يك مرد قدبلند، خجالتي و خوش‌تيپ را ديدم. او آدم صادق و مهرباني بود و هنگامي كه او نزديك من آمد، قلب من مانند يك پسربچه به سرعت مي‌زد.
اهدا تا آن وقت هيچ آمريكايي‌اي را نديده بود، اما بارها و بارها اين آمريكايي را ديد. بلك‌ول تنها چند هفته در عراق بود اما در زمان‌هاي استراحت و فراغت از جنگ، ساعت‌ها به گفت‌وگو با وي مي‌پرداخت.
اهدا مي‌گويد: من فكر كردم و ديدم ازدواج من با وي ناممكن است، چراكه من مسلمان و او مسيحي بود. من عراقي و او آمريكايي بود، اما سرانجام شد؛ عشق مي‌تواند معجزه كند و من هم‌اكنون به اين حرف ايمان دارم.
پس از سه ماه حضور در منطقه جنگي، بلك‌ول ماشه را كشيد و از اهدا خواستگاري كرد. برادر اهدا در جواب وي گفت: از اينكه مي‌خواهي با خواهرم ازدواج كني خوشحالم، اما بر پايه قوانين اسلام، زن مسلمان تنها مي‌تواند با مردم مسلمان ازدواج كند. بنابراين بلك‌ول پيش يك قاضي رفته به زبان عربي شهادتين را بر زبان آورد:‌ «اشهد أن لااله‌الاالله، أشهد أن محمد رسول‌الله».
با گفتن اين جملات، بلك‌ول مسلمان شد. هر دو زوج آماده گفتن «بله» بودند كه فرمانده بلك‌ول، دستور توقف اين كار را داد. هيچ قانوني در ارتش عليه ازدواج وجود نداشت، اما فرمانده نگران اين بود كه در يك منطقه جنگي، اين كار خطرناكي است.
بلك‌ول مي‌گويد: ما به وسيله نيروي بسيار قوي‌تري به سمت هم جذب شده بوديم و اين كار مي‌بايست صورت مي‌گرفت و هيچ كس نمي‌توانست جلوي آن را بگيرد.
براي نخستين بار در طول خدمت، بلك‌ول از دستورات سرپيچي كرد. در صبح يك روز، وي با عده‌اي از سربازان به مأموريتي اعزام شد. آنان در راه بازگشت به مقر سربازان، خودسرانه به سمت يك رستوران رفتند.
دو سرباز در بيرون رستوران ايستادند و بلك‌ول به رستوراني كه اهدا و خانواده‌اش به همراه يك قاضي و دو حلقه منتظر وي بودند، وارد شد. دوستان آنها الفاظ عربي را براي وي ترجمه كرده و بر روي نوار ضبط كردند؛ چند دقيقه صلح در ميان يك جنگ بسيار بزرگ.
پس از ازدواج، بلك‌ول به همراه همرزمانش به مقر خود بازگشتند و از آن زمان ديگر همديگر را نديدند. هنگامي كه فرمانده ارتش متوجه اين امر شد، بلك‌ول به جزيره‌اي در رودخانه دجله تبعيد و در ماه دسامبر از واحدش به خانه خود اعزام شد.
هنگامي كه خبرنگار «سي.بي.اس» در بغداد، اهدا را ديد، وي هيچ اميدي به ديدن دوباره همسرش نداشت.
اهدا مي‌گفت: بعضي اوقات گريه مي‌كردم، اما به خودم مي‌گفتم، بايد قوي باشم. من نبايد بگذارم آنها پيروز شوند، نهايتا عشق است كه پيروز است.
بلك‌ول از نظر نظامي هيچ اتهامي نداشت و سرانجام از ارتش جدا شد، اما 6 ماه پس از ازدواجش، او از مادرش خداحافظي كرده به سمت منطقه جنگي كه 6 ماه پيش آن را ترك كرده بود به راه افتاد.
اهدا نيز به همراه برادر كوچكش با گذشتن از مناطق جنگي فلوجه و رمادي، خود را به مرز عراق و اردن رساند، اما هيچ تضميني براي خروج او از عراق وجود نداشت، چراكه تحت حكومت صدام، دكترها حق خروج از كشور را نداشتند.
وي چند ساعت در مرز عراق و اردن بازرسي مي‌شود و سرانجام يك سرباز اردني وي را شناسايي مي‌كند و مي‌گويد، ‌من تو را مي‌شناسم، تو همان زني هستي كه با يك سرباز آمريكايي ازدواج كردي. من عكس تو را در يك مجله ديده‌ام. در نتيجه پاسپورت اهدا صادر شد.
اكنون او تنها 5 دقيقه ديگر با همسرش فاصله داشت و احساس خود را بسيار خوب توصيف مي‌كرد.
بلك‌ول، نمونه كامل نگراني‌هاي پنتاگون در عراق است كه از جذب سربازان آمريكايي توسط عراقي‌ها مي‌ترسد؛ سربازي كه از دستورات قلبش سرپيچي نمي‌كند.
بلك‌ول و اهدا مدتي در اردن بودند تا ويزاي ورود به آمريكا را دريافت كنند و نهايتا هفته گذشته، موفق به بازگشت به فلوريدا شدند. يك سال بعد و 7 هزار مايل دورتر از محل ازدواجشان، شون همسرش را به مادر خود معرفي كرد و زندگي جديدشان آغاز شد.

BMW Delivers Cars to Iran

2004-08-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

German carmaker BMW on Tuesday delivered 10 vehicles to Iran for the first time in many years, a BMW representative in Tehran told the AFP news agency. Customs had passed two vehicles from BMW's Five series, while formalities for the remaining cars were expected to be completed in the coming days. The cars had all already been sold before being transported to Iran. Iran has only allowed car imports since 2003, and then only after imposing custom duties ranging from 130 to 300 percent of the vehicle's sale price. The BMWs, which would have cost around €45,000 (around $54,500) in Germany, cost a total of €120,000 in Iran. An Iranian city resident would have to work 38 years to earn that much money, AFP reported.

Gay Icon Freddie Mercury Gets Official Seal Of Approval In Iran

2004-08-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Aug 23 (AFP) - Rock band Queen, fronted by outlandish gay icon Freddie Mercury, have become the first rock band to be given the official seal of approval in Iran with the release of an album of their greatest hits, a source in the company that released the album told AFP Monday.
Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, was proud of his Iranian ancestry and supposed Zoroastrian origins, which made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran, but western music is largely frowned upon in the Islamic republic, where homsexuality is considered a crime.
"Authorities approved of the tunes that had a social theme, leaving out the love songs," an executive in the company said.
The album contains smash hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Miracle" and "I Want to Break Free".
Western music is strictly censored in Iran and those selling foreign music need special permits, although millions of bootlegged banned CDs and cassettes are sold on the black market throughout the country.
The album is already selling very well. "It is the first rock album to hit the market legally and people are surprised and pleased to see it has the lyrics, not just the music," said Akbar Safari, a salesman at a Tehran book and record store.
The cassette, costing less than one US dollar, comes complete with explanatory leaflet, which tells rock fans that "Bohemian Rhapsody" is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil. On the night before his execution he calls God in Arabic, "Bismillah", and so regains his soul from Satan.
Other western acts to have had albums of selected songs released on the official Iranian market are Elton John, Julio Iglesias and Gypsy Kings.
There are also books containing original and translated lyrics by many western singers such as Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion and even white rap artist Eminem, published to respond to the ever increasing demands of a nation where 70 percent of the population is under 30.

Kerry files FEC complaint against critical veterans group

2004-08-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

نکته جالب در رقابتهای انتخاباتی این است که اولا پته همدیگر را می ریزند روی آب و بعد هم جنایات و کثافتکاریها گذشته را بازگو می کنند

(CNN) -- The Kerry presidential campaign on Friday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging ads from an anti-Kerry veterans' group are inaccurate and "illegally coordinated" with Republicans and the Bush-Cheney campaign.
The complaint was filed against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It states that "based on recent press reports and SBVT's own statements there is overwhelming evidence that SBVT is coordinating its expenditures on advertising and other activities designed to influence the presidential election with the Bush-Cheney campaign."
Members of that group have denied any coordination with the GOP campaign, as have members of the Bush-Cheney team.
A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign dismissed the complaint as "frivolous and false," but said it welcomed a broader look at the role 527 groups -- named for a section of the federal tax code -- have played this election season.
"For months we've been trying to shine a spotlight on the coordination between the John Kerry campaign and 527 groups," Bush campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin told CNN.
Kerry's complaint came as the veterans' group released a new ad Friday, reaching back more than 30 years to take issue with some of Sen. John Kerry's comments as an anti-war activist.
The 30-second spot compares Kerry's comments upon his return home from service to confessions sought through torture inflicted on American captives in Vietnam.
The ad, part of a $600,000 ad buy in battleground states, is funded primarily by Republican contributors from President Bush's home state of Texas, according to federal records.
"This Republican front group for Bush is out of credibility after being caught in lie after lie day after day," said Kerry campaign press secretary David Wade.
The group, however, has no direct connection to the Bush campaign, and group members said they have acted independently of the president's re-election effort.
It was during a campaign stop Thursday that Kerry, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, said the fact that Bush won't denounce the ads "tells you everything you need to know -- he wants them to do his dirty work."
The White House rejected that criticism. "I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Friday.
The latest ad from the swift boat group selects quotes from Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 about fellow soldiers. He is seen saying, "They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads," "randomly shot at civilians," and "razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Kahn."
Selected comments
Not shown on the ad is Kerry's preface to those comments, in which he said he is reporting what others said at a conference of Vietnam veterans in Detroit. Instead, a member of the Swift Boat group refers to the statements as "the accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam."
A Swift Boat member says, referring to captives in Vietnam, "That was part of the torture, was to sign a statement that you had committed war crimes" and says Kerry "betrayed us" by his comments upon his return.
Another says Kerry "gave the enemy for free what I, and many of my comrades in North Vietnam, in the prison camps, took torture to avoid saying. It demoralized us."
An official transcript of Kerry's testimony shows he was referring to the meeting in Detroit, part of what was called the Winter Soldier investigation. He told the Senate committee that at that meeting "many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia" and relived the "absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
Kerry has said he regrets some of the comments he made as a young man just back from war three decades ago, but he stands by his protests against the Vietnam war.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth recently released another ad accusing Kerry of lying to get his Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, a charge Kerry and some veterans with whom he served vigorously dispute.
"The bottom line is this: The United States Navy awarded John Kerry a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts for his service in combat," said campaign spokesman Wade.
The "Republicans running these lying ads" told the Navy of Kerry's leadership decades ago, "before Karl Rove's attack squad convinced them to lie about it because George Bush is afraid to talk about jobs, health care, and making America safe," Wade said.
Ad's reach
Meanwhile, a new survey suggests the ad about Kerry's service medals is reaching a wide audience.
More than half the country has seen or heard about that ad, a survey by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found.
The ad, began airing in battleground states August 5. But the survey of more than 2,200 people between August 9 and August 16 found it was the heavy news media attention that gave the ad its reach.
"The influence of this ad is a function not of paid exposure but of the ad's treatment in free media," said Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the survey, in a written statement. "The advertisement has received extensive coverage, particularly on conservative talk radio and cable news channels, and has been the subject of some attention in broadcast news as well."
Of all people polled, 59 percent believe Kerry earned all of his medals, while 21 percent believe he did not. Responses fell largely along party lines -- more than three-fourths of Democrats believe Kerry earned his medals, while 59 percent of Independents do, and only 39 percent of Republicans.
Bush has said he would not question Kerry's service in Vietnam. He has called for an end to all political ads being put out by 527 committees. Many such groups favor Kerry.
The Bush campaign has challenged Kerry to echo the call for an end to the 527 ads. And the Kerry campaign has challenged Bush to denounce the ads attacking the Democrat's military service.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a Republican and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, has also urged the White House to condemn the swift boat ads. Bush has not done so.
McClellan asked "where has the Kerry campaign been for the last year while more than $62 million in funding from these shadowy groups have been used to negatively attack the president?"
One, MoveOn, released an ad accusing Bush of using family connections to get into the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, and then failing to report for duty for part of his time. The Bush campaign says the president fulfilled his Guard obligations and was discharged honorably.
Kerry has denounced the MoveOn ad.
The Kerry campaign also released its own ad Thursday, featuring former Green Beret Lt. Jim Rassmann -- the man Kerry pulled from the water in the now-disputed engagement. "All these Viet Cong were shooting at me," Rassmann says. "I expected I'd be shot. When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."

Saddam a bust at Kentucky fair

2004-08-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- The head from a damaged statue of Saddam Hussein is on display at the Kentucky State Fair, piquing the curiosity of many tourists but angering some who say it's in poor taste.
The bust, about a foot and a half high, is from a statue that was damaged last year by U.S. forces. It's not from the statue that was toppled by jubilant Iraqis in one of the defining images of the war.
Kelly Barron, a tourism director, said the "quiet, simple display" has attracted many people eager to snap pictures of the deposed Iraqi dictator. Alongside the glass-encased bust is a small Iraqi flag and description of how soldiers captured the statue. The display also includes photographs of the intact statue and tank fire striking it.
The bust was first shown for Independence Day at the George S. Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, and will return there after the fair.
Henry Penn, exhibit specialist at the museum, acknowledged receiving criticism that the display is in poor taste but said the statue is a historical item.
"It's a symbol of the end of dictatorship," he said.
Francene Cucinello, a Louisville talk-radio host, said a state fair is not the appropriate place for a war relic "that represents so many American and Iraqi deaths in the quest for freedom."
"A museum has the reverence that's necessary. It's too important to have on display at a fair," said Cucinello, who said her callers are about evenly split on the issue.
"How would we feel if another country was gloating over its wartime successes? America's too good for that," she said.
The fair runs through August 29.

Wrongfully convicted man free after 40 years behind bars

2004-08-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

LUFKIN, Texas (AP) -- A 76-year-old man who spent nearly every day of the last four decades in prison walked free after a judge found that deputies extracted his confession to a 1962 robbery by crushing his fingers between cell bars.
After walking out of the Angelina County jail Tuesday with his wife, Robert Carroll Coney said he was not bitter.
"I'm going to try to pick up the pieces," Coney said. "If I was angry, what could I do about it?"
Coney was convicted of robbing a Safeway supermarket in 1962 and sentenced to life in prison. Many times he escaped from facilities in other states -- including South Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi -- only to be recaptured each time. He was returned to the Texas prison system last year.
Coney said his identity had been confused with a man he had carpooled with through Lufkin on the day of the robbery.
State District Judge David Wilson, who dismissed Coney's charges, investigated and found that the sheriff of Angelina County at the time and his deputies used physical force to extract confessions, often crushing prisoners' fingers between jail cell bars.
When Wilson questioned Coney, the prisoner held up two twisted and bent fingers.
"I remember the sheriff well," Coney said.
He said the jailers, in addition to mangling his hand, threatened his life and scared him into confessing. Wilson's findings stated Coney probably did not see a lawyer until he stood before a judge in the case with then-court-appointed lawyer Gilbert Spring. Spring said he didn't remember Coney's case and told Wilson that courts frequently called attorneys in the 1960s to stand with defendants for no money.
"It really contains everybody's worst fears about what went on during certain darker years in this country," said Huntsville attorney David P. O'Neill, who worked on Coney's case.
Coney said he may consider a civil suit at some point but initially wants to focus on his family.
Holding his wife's hand as he left the jail Tuesday for their Dallas home, Coney said little about the ordeal.
"We're going home," Coney said

Iran Threatens Israel on Nuclear Reactor

2004-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran - Accompanied by a warning that its missiles have the range, Iran on Tuesday said it would destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

"If Israel fires a missile into the Bushehr nuclear power plant, it has to say goodbye forever to its Dimona nuclear facility, where it produces and stockpiles nuclear weapons," the deputy chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, said in a statement.
Bushehr, a coastal town on the Persian Gulf, is the site of Iran's first nuclear reactor. Built with Russian assistance, it's due to come online in 2005.
Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for generating electricity. But Israel and the United States strongly suspect Iran is secretly building nuclear weapons.
Israel has not threatened to attack the Bushehr reactor, but it has said it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb. In 1981 Israeli fighters destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction outside Baghdad because it feared Iraq would acquire a nuclear weapon.
Israel has never confirmed nor denied having nuclear weapons, but it is widely believed to be a nuclear power. Its reactor at Dimona in the Negev Desert is said to be the source of plutonium for its alleged nuclear warheads.
Zolqadr did not say how Iran would attack Dimona, but the head of the Revolutionary Guards' political bureau, Yadollah Javani, said Iran would use its Shahab-3 missile.
"All the territory under the control of the Zionist regime, including its nuclear facilities, are within the range of Iran's advanced missiles," Javani said in a separate statement.
Iran announced last week it had successfully test-fired a new version of the Shahab-3, which has a range of about 810 miles. Israel is about 600 miles west of Iran.
U.S. officials say the missile, whose name means shooting star in Farsi, is based on the North Korean "No Dong" rocket. Iran says Shahab-3 is entirely Iranian-made.
With help from the United States, Israel has developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system. It is said to be capable of intercepting and destroying missiles at high altitudes.

Bush is wrong, Kerry is wrong

2004-08-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Never mind that Iraq had no significant weapons of mass destruction, and no capacity to develop any such weapons in the foreseeable future.
Never mind that there was no serious collaboration between Iraq and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Never mind that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been replaced by a thuggish "strongman" who has ordered violent attacks on Iraqis that do not share his politics, who has shut down news media that question his authority, and who talks about delaying elections until he deems them appropriate.
Never mind that Iraq has become a staging ground for terrorist groups that never operated there before the United States invaded the country on George W. Bush's order.
Never mind that a clear majority of Americans say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, and worry that it has made America more vulnerable.
Never mind that more than 900 American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives have been lost, and that more will be lost in what has become a quagmire.
Never mind any of the facts.President Bush, who seems to think that the whole war on terror is some kind of Wild West costume show, declared last week that he would do it all over again.
The president grudgingly acknowledges that most of the pre-war claims he and his aides made about a supposed "need" to attack Iraq were wrong. Yet, he says without a hint of irony, "Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision."
Bush's don't-bother-me-with-the-facts approach should close the case against his re-election to the presidency. Any leader who gets things as horribly wrong as Bush did ought to be viewed skeptically when he asks to have his tenure extended. But when that leader says he does not care that he screwed up so miserably, or that thousands of Americans and Iraqis have died as a result, it is time to move beyond skepticism. Common sense argues that the man must be replaced.
Unfortunately, Democratic candidate John Kerry was almost as foolish in his response to the president's know-nothing rant.
When Bush challenged his challenger to say whether he would still vote to give the president the authority to invade Iraq, Kerry responded, "Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it was the right authority for the president to have."
The only difference, Kerry said, was that he would have used that authority "more effectively" than Bush.
Kerry pointedly refuses to say that it was wrong to go to war, or even to admit that he was mistaken to vote to give Bush the authority to do so. That's too bad. The Democratic nominee does himself few favors by suggesting he would be a kinder, gentler George W. Bush.
Kerry should pay attention to a point made by U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. Feingold says that Democrats make a mistake by assuming that so-called "swing" voters are centrists who support the war. A lot of undecided voters, Feingold suggests, are Americans who believe this war is a terrible mistake and who want a leader who recognizes that fact and will bring it to an end.
In fact, the majority of Americans say the war was a mistake. It is too bad that neither of the major party presidential candidates shares the common sense of the electorate.

Soldier Sues U.S. Military Over Extended Service

2004-08-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California Army National Guard sergeant filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asserting that the government can not prevent reservists from leaving the military when their enlistment periods end.

The suit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials names the plaintiff only as John Doe. It says he served with distinction in the Marine Corps and Army for nine years on active duty and three years as a reservist.
"This lawsuit seeks to stop the forced retention of men and women who have fulfilled their service obligations," said attorney Michael Sorgen. "When their period of enlistment ends, they should be entitled to return to their families."
"It's not that he's a coward," he added. "He's just had it up to here."
The Army has issued "stop-loss" orders preventing tens of thousands of soldiers designated to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the military if their volunteer commitment ends during their deployment. The Pentagon has relied heavily on reservists to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The order violates Doe's right to due process and the terms of his enlistment contract, and is contrary to law," the lawsuit reads. "The involuntary extension of Doe's military enlistment constitutes a serious infringement on his liberty protected by the Constitution."
The San Francisco-area man, who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Northern California, fought during the invasion of Iraq last year. Married with two young daughters, he is seeking a release from service when his Army National Guard term ends in December.

SOME 'NOT OVERJOYED' ABOUT GOING
The suit names the plaintiff's commander as Capt. Kincy Clark, who heads the 131-person Bravo Company of the First Battalion, 184th Infantry regiment based in Dublin, California. The unit reported for duty on Monday and is expected to train for several months before going to Iraq in February or March.
"We have some soldiers who are obviously not overjoyed about being deployed," Clark, who is named as a co-defendant in the case, told Reuters by telephone. "I have had to look them in the eye and say, 'Hey, you are going."'
He added that reservists know when signing up that "stop loss" or extension of service is a possibility.
Lawyer Sorgen said the extension was a violation because the U.S. Congress had not declared war or a state or emergency. He called the suit the first of its kind in recent years, although he said a Georgia court ruled against a soldier after the first Gulf War in a 1991 case.
The attorney also said his client was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and had been temporarily excused from reporting with the rest of his unit this week.
A spokesman for the California National Guard had no comment. Joanne Swanson, head of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco, said she was aware of the suit but declined to comment.
The extension of service for U.S. soldiers has also become an issue in the presidential campaign, with Democrat John Kerry saying he will end what he calls a "backdoor draft."
The "stop loss" order means soldiers who otherwise could leave when their commitments expire will be compelled to remain until the end of a year-long overseas deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base.

Israeli at Heart of N.J. Gay Scandal Returns Home

2004-08-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli at the center of a scandal that led New Jersey Governor James McGreevey to quit over a homosexual affair returned home Wednesday complaining of a "difficult period" in his first public remarks on the case.

Golan Cipel, a former aide to McGreevey, told reporters outside his parents' home near Tel Aviv that he wanted to prepare for a legal battle against the governor over alleged sexual harassment.
McGreevey's spokesman has denied the governor, who announced last week he would resign over an affair with an unnamed man, sexually harassed Cipel or tried to buy his silence.
"I have gone through a difficult period. I came home to be with my family and friends," an unshaven Cipel, clad in jeans and a polo shirt, told reporters in his hometown of Rishon Lezion.
He said he could not divulge any more details of his sexual harassment accusations, pending legal action.
"Sexual harassment is very traumatic. Those who have not experienced it cannot know just how difficult it is," a spokeswoman, Einat Oren, quoted Cipel as saying.
"I came to Israel to renew my strength together with my family and my friends ... and I intend to return to the United States in the next few weeks so the truth will come to light," Cipel said in a statement.
McGreevey, who earlier this year said he opposed gay marriage, told a news conference Thursday he had had a consensual affair with another man and would resign on Nov. 15 to avoid rumors and "threats of disclosure."
Cipel worked as campaign aide for McGreevey during his election campaign and then in early 2002 took a $110,000-a-year job as New Jersey's homeland security adviser.
But Cipel stepped down after questions about his credentials -- he served as a lieutenant on an Israeli naval gunboat during his compulsory army service -- and about how a foreigner without security clearance could be an effective security adviser.
Cipel denied being gay and trying to blackmail McGreevey in an interview he gave to Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth daily on Sunday.
"While in the employ of one of the most powerful politicians in the state, I was the victim of repeated attempts by him to exploit me sexually ... He came on to me again and again, to the point where I was afraid to be alone with him," he said.
McGreevey, 47, took office in January 2002. His four-year term will be completed by Democrat Richard Codey, the current president of the New Jersey state senate

Why Iran Is Giving The West The Willies

2004-08-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

What should the West do about Iran's nuclear program? That issue will be one of the hot foreign policy questions of September, when the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency meet to discuss the best way to make sure Tehran does not build the bomb. The Iranians are talking tough: On July 31 they announced they would resume building the centrifuges that can enrich uranium to weapons-grade strength. Iran says it's for peaceful purposes, but the Europeans, who thought they had brokered a deal to stop Iran's march to nuclear power status, are outraged.

So are the Americans. And the Israelis. In early August, President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), said they would demand U.N.-imposed sanctions if Iran persists. Israel has set up a committee headed by the director of Mossad to monitor Iran's nuclear program, which Jerusalem thinks could yield a bomb by 2007, two years ahead of current estimates. Some Knesset members say Israel might eventually need to consider a surgical strike, like the one that took out Iraq (news - web sites)'s Osirak reactor in 1981. Even the Arabs are uneasy. "Iranian hegemony in the Middle East is feared in many quarters," says Ephraim Kam, a Tel Aviv University strategic expert.
But Iran isn't necessarily worried about any threats. When the U.S. invaded Iraq, Iranian leaders feared Tehran would be the next candidate for regime change. But the Pentagon (news - web sites) is so tied down in Iraq that the odds of a military operation to oust the mullahs are near zero. The U.S. "is not going to be in a position to leverage or threaten anyone," says Jon Wolfsthal, an arms-proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. U.N. sanctions might be vetoed by China or Russia, two of Iran's nuclear suppliers. And Iran has probably scattered its nuclear sites across its vast and mountainous terrain to thwart any Israeli attack.
Interwoven interests
Finally, Iran is not a collapsed state like North Korea (news - web sites), whose only bargaining chip is its nuclear menace. Iran's oil production is a vital part of the world energy picture, and it has extensive commercial relations with Europe. Europe's governments may denounce Tehran for its nuclear ambitions, but at the same time Renault and Volkswagen have signed large deals with local companies. Amir Mohebian, an editor of Resalat, a conservative Tehran daily, believes that neither Europe nor the U.S. wants to cut off dialogue with the Iranian government. "The Iranians feel they're on a roll," says Steven Everts, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London.
That confidence, adds Everts, could prove misplaced. He thinks the West will be forced to respond with stiff sanctions if Iran builds a bomb. Is there a way out, now that both the Europeans' diplomatic approach and the Americans' hard-nosed tack have failed? One option, analysts say, is for them to switch roles, with Europe playing the bad cop by advocating sanctions and the U.S. holding out the carrot of diplomatic relations in exchange for ending the nuke program. If Washington shows that kind of flexibility, "it increases the chances of Europe supporting a more robust course of measures later," says Everts. That's the hope. But success is hardly assured.

بهترين های امسال سينمای ايران

2004-08-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

خانه سينما اعلام كرد: پس از نمايش 54 فيلم سينمايي, برای داوران عضو آكادمی هشتمين جشن سينمای ايران در سالن نمايش خانه سينما (هر فيلم در دو نوبت)

بهترين بازيگران نقش اول زن به شرح زير
گلاب آدينه برای فيلم مهمان مامان

ترانه عليدوستی برای فيلم شهر زيبا

گلشيفته فراهانی برای فيلم اشك سرما

گلشيفته فراهانی برای فيلم بوتيك

فاطمه آريا برای فيلم روايت سه‌‏گانه (ايپزود ننه گيلانه)

و بهترين بازيگران نقش اول مرد به شرح زير

بابك انصاری برای فيلم شهرزيبا

پرويز پرستويی برای فيلم مارمولك حسن

پورشيرازی برای فيلم مهمان مامان

پارسا پيروزفر برای فيلم اشك سرما

بهرام رادان برای فيلم شمعی در بادانتخاب شدند

Nissan Blames Jewelry on Assembly Line

2004-08-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

Blame it on the jewels. Puzzled Nissan Motor Co. engineers inspecting the company's $1.4 billion Mississippi plant traced vehicle paint flaws and scratches to the watches, wedding rings, belt buckles and bracelets that assembly line workers were wearing on the job.
In June, Nissan dispatched 200 mechanical, structural, electrical, chemical and materials engineers from its Tokyo headquarters after a J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study published consumer complaints about Nissan vehicles manufactured in the United States. The study, published annually, questioned 51,000 consumers who bought or leased 2004-model trucks and cars.
Consumer gripes about vehicles made at the Canton, Miss. factory included wind noise, vibrating brake pedals and paint blemishes.
The plant, which opened in May 2003, produces the Altima sedan, the Quest minivan, the Armada sport utility vehicle and the Titan truck for Nissan and the QX56 SUV for Infiniti. Nissan also makes Altimas at a Smyrna, Tenn., plant.
"The engineers walked the Canton assembly line, watched workers getting in and out of cars, studied their movements," Nissan spokesman Tom Groom said. "Wet paint can be mutilated very easily so the engineers walked the whole assembly line then focused on the area where the paint is still wet."
That's when the engineers spotted jewelry inflicting scratches and paint smears.
He said workers have been ordered to remove their all jewelry and metal accessories before taking their places on the assembly line.

پاسخ زنگنه درباره استات اويل، فقط «رسالت» را قانع كرد

2004-08-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

در انتهاي جلسه علني ديروز مجلس، سؤال‌هاي اكبر اعلمي، نماينده مردم تبريز، از وزير نفت مطرح شد و در حالي كه رييس مجلس قانع شدن وي را از تريبون اعلام كرد، وي از قانع نشدن خود به خبرنگاران خبر داد.
به گزارش خبرگزاري فارس، اكبر اعلمي، نماينده مردم تبريز و عضو كميسيون امنيت ملي و سياست خارجي، درباره صحت و سقم شايعه دريافت رشوه توسط بعضي از مسؤولان ايراني در ماجراي مربوط به استات اويل، نحوه انعقاد قراردادها و تشريفات قانوني آن و اينكه اعزام برخي از اشخاص حقيقي و مقامات سابق غيرمرتبط با وزارت نفت براي ادامه تحصيل در خارج از كشور براساس كدام توجيه قانوني صورت پذيرفته است، از زنگنه سؤال كرد.
وي در توضيح سؤالات خود گفت: در سال 1380 شركت استات اويل در خيابان ميرداماد تهران، دفتر خود را بازگشايي كرد و در همان سال با يكي از افراد با نفوذ در كشور تماس برقرار نمود و مجدداً در همان سال مسأله قرارداد جهت مطالعه سه مخزن بي‌بي حكيميه، مارون آسماري و اهواز آسماري با شركت استات اويل مطرح ‌شد.
وي افزود: شركت مذكور در جهت امتيازبندي شركت‌هاي مشاور مطالعه‌كننده مخازن كه توسط شوراي عالي مخازن وزارت نفت منتشر شده است، نمي‌باشد به ويژه اين كه به دليل ناتواني استات اويل در انجام تعهدات خود اين شركت را فاقد صلاحيت مي‌داند.
اعلمي تصريح كرد: در ماه ژوئن 2003 ميلادي شركت نفتي استات اويل با شركت مشاوره‌اي هورتون، به مديريت عباس يزدي كه از فارغ التحصيلان دبيرستان نيكان بوده است قراداد منعقد مي‌كند كه دفتر اين شركت در لندن قرار دارد اما در يكي از جزيره‌هاي درياي كارائيب كه به شركت‌ها ماليات مي‌دهد به ثبت رسيده است.
وي ادامه داد: براساس قرارداد منعقده شركت هورتون متعهد مي‌شود در قبال دريافت 158ميليون دلار، خدمات مشاوره‌اي براي فراهم كردن زمينه اخذ يك قرارداد 11 ساله در ايران به استات اويل بدهد و در ازاي اين قرارداد، دو پرداخت به ارزش 2/5 ميليون دلار به شركت مي‌دهد كه به يك حساب بانكي در سوئيس واريز مي‌شود.
وي گفت: يكي از كارمندان شركت استات اويل به هيات تحقيق و تفحص مجلس اعلام مي‌كند كه هنگام امضاي قرارداد با استات اويل مهدي هاشمي نيز حضور داشته است و از آنجايي كه نروژ رتبه اول جهاني در زمينه مبارزه با فساد اداري را براي خود كسب و حفظ كرده است، پس از افشاي پرونده اتهامي مبني بر پرداخت رشوه به شركت هورتون، بقيه قرارداد در سپتامبر 2003 لغو شده است.
اعلمي ادامه داد: خبرگزاري فارس در 9/4/83 به نقل از خبرگزاري اقتصادي «بلومبرگ» نقل مي‌كند كه در گزارش استات اويل در مورد امضاي قرارداد 15ميليون دلاري اين شركت آمده كه شركت استات اويل در مورد امضاي قرارداد 15 ميليون دلاري با شركت مشاوره‌اي ايراني هورتون كه متعلق به يك ايراني است و با مهدي هاشمي ارتباط دارد، مرتكب خلاف شده و از اين مشاوره براي كسب قرارداد در ايران استفاده كرده است.
وي افزود: آقاي هاشمي در كميسيون انرژي نيز به هشت، نه‌بار ملاقات خود با مسئولان استات اويل اقرار كرده و گفته از اين ملاقات‌ها چندين بار در خارج از كشور صورت گرفته است.
وي گفت: اخيراً بنا بر اعلام شركت نفتي استات اويل، وزارت دادگستري آمريكا نيز در حال پيگيري پرونده كيفري اتهام اين شركت است.
اعلمي همچنين در پرسش خود از زنگنه به گزارش گروه بازرسي نفت سازمان بازرسي كل كشور اشاره كرد و گفت: اولين پروژه‌اي كه استات اويل در ايران انجام داده از ديد ما مشكوك است و هر گاه اسناد آن را از مديرعامل وقت شركت مناطق نفت جنوب ايران را مي‌خواستيم به ما مي‌گفت اسناد محرمانه است.
پس از طرح سؤالات اعلمي، رييس مجلس از بيژن زنگنه خواست تا براي توضيح پشت تريبون قرار گيرد.
بيژن زنگنه، وزير نفت، در پاسخ به سؤالات نماينده تبريز گفت: اين باعث خوشحالي است كه براي اولين بار در مجلس هفتم حاضر مي‌شوم و به سؤالات آقاي اعلمي پاسخ مي‌دهم.
وي در پاسخ به سؤال اعلمي درباره موضوع رشوه از شركت استات اويل گفت: در شهريور ماه سال گذشته در يك روزنامه نروژي خبر قرار داد استات اويل كه شركت ملي نفت نروژ مي‌باشد و عمده سهام آن متعلق به دولت نروژ است، منتشر شد كه اين شركت از بزرگترين توليدكنندگان نفت است.
وي افزود: من از آقاي نقره كار شيرازي سفير ايران در نروژ خواستم تا پاي اين شركت براي عقد قرارداد با شركت ملي نفت باز شود چراكه ما در تحريم كامل نفتي از جانب آمريكا هستيم.
وي گفت: مديريت شركت هورتون فردي به نام عباس يزدان پناه، يزدي ايراني الاصل، تبعه انگليس مي‌باشد كه متواري است، وي سابقه محكوميت در ايران هم دارد، با وي قراردادي بسته شد كه طي آن مي‌بايست 11 سال به شركت ملي نفت ايران خدمات ارايه كند.
وزير نفت افزود: پليس نروژ بعد از مدتها اعلام كرد اين قرارداد خلاف قوانين است و تخلف صورت گرفته، به دنبال انتشار اين خبر ما نامه‌اي به وزارت امور خارجه نوشتيم و خواستيم درباره استات اويل و قرارداد آن، اطلاعات و سوابق را در اختيار ما قرار دهد.
زنگنه تصريح كرد: در پي اين مسائل تيم حقيقت ياب متشكل از نمايندگان وزارت امور خارجه، مجلس و نفت به نروژ اعزام شد ولي مقامات نروژي گفتند به دليل رسيدگي به پرونده، امكان افشاي مطالب آن وجود ندارد. براين اساس من نامه‌اي به آقاي خاتمي و وزير اطلاعات نوشتم كه ابزار تخصصي كشف جرم در اختيار اين وزارتخانه است و موضوع پيگيري ‌شود.
وزير نفت در ادامه افزود: اگر اثبات شود كه جرمي به وقوع پيوسته ما قاطعانه با آن برخورد مي‌كنيم زيرا اين اتهامات، هم اعتبار و حيثيت شركت ملي نفت ايران و هم به حيثيت افراد و اشخاص ما لطمه وارد مي‌سازد.
وي گفت: در پي اين اقدامات، آقاي يونسي وزير اطلاعات نامه‌اي در اسفند‌ماه سال گذشته به آقاي خاتمي نوشت و در آن اعلام كرد: پس از بررسي حساب‌هاي آقاي يزدي كه از نادرترين اتفاقات است كه در نروژ حساب‌هاي افراد باز شود، با همكاري پليس انگليس و سوئيس اين اقدام صورت گرفت تا مشخص شود 5 ميليون دلار به كجا رفته است و نتايج حاصله از اقدامات وزارت اطلاعات نشان مي‌دهد كه ادعاي پليس نروژ صحت ندارد و در اين خصوص از مرتبطين بازجويي به عمل آمد.
وزير نفت در ادامه تاكيد كرد: تمام اسناد و مدارك اين مذاكرات و تحقيقات در كميسيون انرژي وجود دارد و نيازي به ارايه اطلاعات جديد نيست.
زنگنه تصريح كرد: توسط وزارت امور خارجه از مقامات انگليس و نروژ كمك گرفتيم و موضوع بررسي شد و مشخص گرديد هيچ اعمال نفوذ و پرداخت رشوه‌اي صورت نگرفته است.
وزير نفت گفت: ما از كشف جرم در كشور استقبال مي‌كنيم و من شخصاً تاكيد مي‌كنم در صورتي كه تخلفي در كار ما صورت گيرد با آن برخورد مي‌كنم.
وي از قرارداد با شركت استات اويل دفاع كرد و گفت: هيچ شركت بين‌المللي حاضر به انجام پروژه‌هاي نفتي، در جنوب ايران نشد، اما بهترين كار را اين شركت در جنوب ايران انجام داده است.
زنگنه همچنين درباره انتصاب مديران توسط شوراي عالي مخازن نفت گفت: اعضا مديران را بنده نصب مي‌كنم و تاكنون هيچ اطلاعاتي درباره مخازن نفت به خارج از كشور نرفته است.
به گفته وي اطلاعات مخازن نفت محرمانه است و تنها مرجعي كه مي‌تواند گزارشي از آن را به خارج بدهد هيات مديره است كه طبق مصوبه صورت مي‌گيرد.
در پايان توضيحات زنگنه، رييس مجلس شوراي اسلامي از اكبر اعلمي خواست اعلام نمايد كه از توضيحات وزير قانع شد يا نه كه وي سكوت اختيار كرد و غلامعلي حداد عادل از تريبون اعلام نمود كه آقاي اعلمي قانع شده است و بيژن زنگنه از اينكه توانسته بود با رفت و آمدهاي مكرر به مجلس در اين باره اعلمي را قانع كند با خوشحالي صحن مجلس راترك كرد.
اما از سوي ديگر اكبر اعلمي پس از پايان جلسه گفت: من سكوت كردم، اعلام نكردم كه قانع شدم، من هنوز درباره قراردادها و اعزام افراد به خارج از كشور براي تحصيل سؤال دارم و مطلقاً قانع نشدم. اما درباره استات اويل با توجه به گزارش‌هاي وزارت اطلاعات و پليس نروژ سكوت كردم.
همچنين روزنامه «رسالت» نيز به دفاع از زنگنه پرداخت و پاسخ وزير نفت را پاياني براي انبوه شايعات رشوه‌گيري فرزند يكي از مسؤولان دانست.
اين روزنامه نوشت: از نگاه اغلب نمايندگان، پاسخ وزير نفت در موضوع شركت استات اويل، به اندازه‌اي مستند بود كه به تمامي مسائل مربوط به پرداخت رشوه از سوي اين شركت به فرزند يكي از مسؤولان پايا

N.J. Governor Resigns, Admits He Is Gay

2004-08-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

TRENTON, N.J. - In a stunning declaration, Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday and acknowledged that he had an extramarital affair with another man. "My truth is that I am a gay American," he said.

"Shamefully, I engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony," the married father of two said at a news conference. "It was wrong, it was foolish, it was inexcusable."

The Democrat said his resignation would be effective Nov. 15.
McGreevey, 47, said that "it makes little difference that as governor I am gay," but added that staying in office and keeping the affair and his sexual orientation secret will leave the governor's office "vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure."
"Given the circumstances surrounding the affair and its likely impact upon my family and my ability to govern, I have decided the right course of action is to resign," he said.
McGreevey did not elaborate on what the circumstances were.

The former suburban mayor took office 2 1/2 years ago, and despite inheriting a $5 billion budget deficit, he steadfastly refused to boost income taxes for most New Jerseyans. He instead raised taxes on millionaires, casinos and cigarettes.
But he has been dogged by several scandals involving fund-raising.
Among those caught up in recent scandals were his first chief of staff and former counsel; a top Democratic fund-raiser and former high school classmate; and real estate developer Charles Kushner, McGreevey's biggest campaign contributor, who was charged with trying to thwart a federal campaign-finance investigation by luring a grand jury witness — his own brother-in-law — into a compromising position with a prostitute and sending video and photos to the man's wife.
McGreevey is the second governor to announce his resignation in recent weeks, following the resignation in June of Connecticut GOP Gov. John Rowland amid corruption investigations and threats of impeachment.
McGreevey rose from suburban mayor to state chief executive by his tenacious pursuit of party politics, maintaining a power base days after he narrowly lost to Republican Christie Whitman in 1997.
McGreevey never truly stopped that campaign until he won in November 2001, beating Republican Bret Schundler by 15 percentage points.
Born in Jersey City, McGreevey graduated from Columbia University in 1978. He earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1981 and a master's degree in education from Harvard University a year later.
After briefly serving as a county prosecutor, McGreevey became a lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company, then a state government official. While in the Legislature, McGreevey voted for Gov. Jim Florio's $2.8 billion tax hike that prompted a voter rebellion against Democrats