The US wants war bad with Iran. Iran is now in a position of strength, I believe. They know the world isn’t going to support a US invasion, and they also know that their military is not going to collapse like Saddam’s. Will the US continue to threaten Iran if no weapons program is found? Will we hear the “they are lying and hiding” mantra once again?

Iran ‘will allow nuclear checks’
Iran will allow snap inspections of its nuclear facilities if the UN Security Council returns the case to its nuclear watchdog, an Iranian official has said. But Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said uranium enrichment will continue. On Friday the IAEA said Iran had failed to meet a council deadline to suspend its uranium enrichment programme. Mr Saeedi said the IAEA report was “not completely satisfactory”, while the US said it showed Iran to be intransigent. The US and EU have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has strongly denied.

Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment!
Within the next several weeks, both the United States Senate and House of Representatives will vote on passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment (also known as the so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment”). Americans United has taken a leading role in opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment, particularly on religious liberty grounds. It is imperative you take action as soon as possible to urge your Senators and Members of Congress to oppose this misguided proposed constitutional amendment.

If this is important to you, please !

Under the Geneva Convention, the USA — the occupying force — has the obligation to protect the occupied land’s leaders and citizens. As if the premise of war was not enough, this is just another example of how miserably the US has failed so far.

CHRONOLOGY-Attacks on Iraqi leaders and families
27 Apr 2006 14:50:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
April 27 (Reuters) - A sister of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad on Thursday.

Here is a chronology of attacks on senior Iraqi leaders and their families since the U.S. invasion of 2003.

2003

April 10 - Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a leading Shi’ite cleric returned from exile in Britain, was stabbed to death in Iraq’s holiest Shi’ite shrine, the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.

Officials have accused followers of rival Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr denies any role in the killing.

Aug 23 - Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, head of the major Shi’ite political party SCIRI, died in a car bombing that killed 80 people after Friday prayers at Najaf’s Imam Ali mosque. He had returned from exile in Iran just a few weeks earlier.

Sept 20 - Aqila al-Hashemi, a Shi’ite woman member of the U.S.-backed Governing Council, was killed by gunmen in Baghdad.

2004

May 17 - Shi’ite Governing Council head Izzedin Salim was killed by a suicide car bomber in Baghdad.

May 27 - Gunmen attacked the convoy of Shi’ite Governing Council member Salama al-Khafaji south of Baghdad, killing her son and a bodyguard. Khafaji, a professor of dentistry, had replaced Aqila al-Hashemi on the Council.

Nov 10 - Ghazi Allawi, a 75-year-old cousin of secular Shi’ite Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, was kidnapped along with his wife and daughter-in-law in Baghdad. They were later freed.

2005

Feb 8 - The two adult sons of secular Sunni politician Mithal al-Alusi were shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad. Some months earlier Alusi won notoriety and criticism for visiting Israel.

April 27 - Shi’ite National Assembly member Lamia Abid Khaduri was shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad.

June 28 - Another Shi’ite member of parliament, Dhari al- Fayath, was killed by a suicide car bomber in Baghdad. He was a tribal leader and the oldest member of the Assembly.

July 19 - Gunmen in Baghdad killed Mijbil Shaikh al-Issa, a Sunni Arab representative on the committee that drafted Iraq’s new constitution, days after he started work on the panel.

Oct 30 - Ghalib Abdul Mahdi, brother of Shi’ite Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi and a government adviser, was killed by gunmen in Baghdad.

2006

Jan 3 - A sister of Bayan Jabor, the Shi’ite Interior Minister, was kidnapped from her car in Baghdad. She was released a couple of weeks later.

March 6 - Mubdir al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Army General, was assassinated while traveling in his convoy in western Baghdad.

April 13 - Mahmoud al-Hashemi, a brother of Sunni politician Tareq al-Hashemi, was killed by gunmen in Baghdad. Having been speaker of the outgoing National Assembly, Tareq al-Hashemi was named vice president a few days later.

April 17 - Taha al-Mutlak, brother of nationalist Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlak, was found dead in Baghdad, some three weeks after he was abducted near the city of Samarra.

April 27 - Meysoun al-Hashemi, a sister of the Sunni vice president, was killed by gunmen in Baghdad.

Ahh… what a time we’re living in!

The Fifth Visit
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, April 27, 2006; 1:00 PM

Karl Rove has a long history of doing his best work when he’s facing disaster, and that’s where he was again yesterday as he made a startling fifth appearance before grand jurors investigating the leak of a CIA agent’s identity.

Was he able to clear up the contradiction in his previous sworn testimony? Or did he provide the grand jurors with further evidence of perjury or obstruction?

From http://thinkprogress.org/:

60 Minutes: CIA Official Reveals Bush, Cheney, Rice Were Personally Told Iraq Had No WMD in Fall 2002

Tonight on 60 Minutes, Tyler Drumheller, the former chief of the CIA’s Europe division, revealed that in the fall of 2002, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and others were told by CIA Director George Tenet that Iraq’s foreign minister — who agreed to act as a spy for the United States — had reported that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction program. Watch it:

It certainly does seem to me that Osama is reaching on this one. I’ve never considered the Darfur conflict to have anyhting to do with religion, but to each his own I guess:

Bin Laden Tries to Put Religious Spin on Darfur Conflict
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
April 24, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Osama bin Laden is trying to portray the bloodshed in western Sudan as part of a Western anti-Islamic crusade, even though victims of the three-year-old Darfur conflict are Muslims.

Some experts saw the attempt to exploit the crisis as a sign of weakness as the fugitive al Qaeda terrorist tries to reestablish his authority in the eyes of jihadists.

An audiotaped message ostensibly from bin Laden, broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera television, contained repeated references to a “Zionist-Crusader” war against Muslims. Citing intelligence officials, the White House said the recording was believed to be authentic.

“I call on mujahideen and their supporters in Sudan … and the [Arabian] peninsula to prepare all that is necessary to wage a long-term war against the Crusaders in western Sudan,” the message said.

“I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur.”

War broke out in Darfur three years ago between government-sponsored tribal militias and rebel groups claiming to be fighting to end the economic and political marginalization of the region. Since then, some 200,000 people have died and two million more have been displaced.

The Islamist government in Khartoum and its proxy militias are identified as Arabs, while the rebels and civilians have an African ethnic background.

But unlike Sudan’s 21-year civil war between Arab Muslim northerners and Christian and animist African southerners, which ended with a comprehensive peace agreement in January 2005, analysts say the sides in Darfur are not divided along religious lines.

Russia and the Palestinians have talked about purchasing weapons, and now this. I really do wonder what Russia’s motive is…

U.S. Wants Russia to Stop Iran Arms Sales
April 22, 2006, 3:14AM

By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Lacking assurances from Russia and China that they would approve of U.N. sanctions, the Bush administration is trying to deny Iran technology, assets and especially weapons to slow down a suspected nuclear weapons program.

As part of that campaign, a top State Department official urged Russia on Friday to drop its plan to sell Tor anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

“We hope and we trust that the deal will not go forward because this is not time for business as usual with the Iranian government,” said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. He has been trying to line up support for the sanctions proposal the United States and the European Union are hoping to make at the U.N. Security Council early next month.

Referring to Russia and China, Burns told reporters, “The message privately was that we do not have an agreement” about specific tactics in the U.N. Security Council.

Well, it took a while, but the results are in. They don’t look good either:

Boston Archdiocese Releases Results of a 2-Year Audit Showing It Has a $46.3 Million Deficit
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON — The Boston Archdiocese, responding to calls for financial accountability in the wake of the clergy sex abuse crisis and parish closings, released the results of a two-year audit Wednesday that shows a deficit threatening programs and ministries.

The audit, covered the 2004 and 2005 fiscal years, shows a $46.3 million deficit. It shows assets of nearly $330 million, but most of the money is restricted or earmarked for specific purposes.

In a pamphlet about the finances prepared for parishes, Cardinal Sean O’Malley sought to reassure parishioners that donations and the money from church closing was not used to defray the $150 million in lawsuit settlements and other costs related to the sex abuse scandal.

Critics had demanded more information about the archdiocese’s finances after it spent $85 million in 2003 to settle claims from more than 550 people who were sexually abused by priests.

It’s official

Who’s next

White House spokesman steps down

White House spokesman Scott McClellan has announced his resignation, amid a shake-up of US President George W Bush’s senior advisers. “It’s going to be hard to replace Scott, but… he made the decision and I accepted it,” Mr Bush said. Mr McClellan has been in the job for nearly three years.

In another move, Mr Bush’s chief policy adviser Karl Rove is expected to give up his policy role to focus on the November mid-term elections. It is thought that the policy role will be taken over by Joel Kaplan, the deputy White House budget director.

Amid the , it would be great to see Rumsfeld go. He’s a buffoon. The military says it; the left says it; the moderates say it; even members of his own party say it.

Close the book on Rumsfeld’s reckless, feckless leadership
Mercury News Editorial

The military brass who have spoken out recently have got it right: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should go.

His bold strategy led to a lightning victory in Iraq, but his strategic blunders since have bogged us down in a debilitating occupation. His arrogance and autocratic style have poisoned relations with commanders in the field and undermined military morale.

Rumsfeld has his defenders, including Richard Myers, the recently retired former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Peter Pace, his successor; both went on Sunday talk shows to make their case. President Bush, continuing to show misplaced loyalty and characteristic stubbornness, reaffirmed support for Rumsfeld on Saturday.

the plot thickens…

E-Mails Link Abramoff, Bush Official
By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON Apr 15, 2006 (AP)— A batch of 278 e-mails between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a Bush administration official show a highly inappropriate relationship where gifts and business interests mixed freely and frequently, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The prosecutors hope to use the e-mails in the criminal case against David Safavian, who is accused of lying and obstruction of justice in connection with investigations of an Abramoff-sponsored golf outing to Scotland in August 2002.

Egypt church attacks spark anger

Egypt’s Coptic Christians have protested in the city of Alexandria to demand greater protection following knife attacks at three churches. Hundreds rallied with banners reading: “Stop the persecution of Copts.” One person was killed and several others injured in the attacks during Friday Mass. The interior ministry said the assaults had been carried out by one “deranged” man but earlier police reports talked of three simultaneous attacks. Christians make up 10% of the Egyptian population and have complained of harassment and discrimination. Egypt’s opposition Muslim Brotherhood endorsed the Christians’ protest, calling the incident very sad news.

More information about this conflict can be found . It’s a good starting point. There was hope that finally peace would be made between the two groups, but it looks like a tough road still follows.

Sri Lankan peace talks in doubt
Police on patrol in Trincomalee after 16 died in bombings and rioting

Tamil Tiger rebels are threatening to pull out of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government because of a row over the safe transport of regional leaders. The rebels say it is crucial their eastern commanders travel to their northern headquarters for a meeting ahead of the scheduled talks in Geneva. But the trip was abandoned when they objected to the presence of a navy vessel monitoring the journey.

Jama Masjid rocked by blasts, 13 injured
DH News Service New Delhi:

Two blasts rocked the historic Jama Masjid complex in Old Delhi on Friday evening, injuring 13 people including a 10-year-old boy. The injured have been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital here and the condition of one of them is said to be serious. The Delhi Police, who cordoned off the area, said the blasts were of low intensity and there was no visible damage to the country’s biggest mosque, which is also the seat of the Shahi Imam.

…

Shahi Imam Bukhari appealed to the people to maintain calm and said it was an act of terrorism. “It is the handiwork of those forces who want to create communal tension and we should foil their designs,”Bukhari said. Undeterred by the explosions, the devotees went back to the mosque about an hour and a half later and offered namaz.