FIRST EVENING UPDATE:  JULY 6,  2008

Posted at 8:26 p.m. ET

MORE FROM IRAN

Joined to the story below is something else out of the mullah mouths, a statement reeking of supreme confidence and arrogance.  And why not?  Again, it is the Iranian foreign minister doing the talking: 

Iran's foreign minister on Sunday expressed optimism about what he said was a "new environment" for talks with major powers over its nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said recent discussions over a package of incentives from major powers aimed at getting Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment program were "different from the previous discussions and negotiations."

"I believe that we are now in a new environment with a new approaching perspective," Mottaki said in an interview on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.

If it's good for him, it's probably bad for us.   This remarkable statement comes just a few days after the Iranian regime cast aside the latest Western offer of assistance, offered in exchange for Iran to stop its uranium-enrichment program.

Why his optimism?  No matter what else is said, the only important element in this conflict is the attitude of the United States.  And here we get revelation:

In the interview, Mottaki also sounded an optimistic note about future relations with the United States.

"We hear new voices in America. We see new approaches, and we think that the rational thinkers in America can, based on these new approaches, seek reality as it is. We are ready to help them in this endeavor," Mottaki said.

Asked specifically about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, Mottaki declined to comment, saying Obama had run into trouble in the past for expressing a willingness to negotiate with Iran.

"So by commenting on this we do not want to create further problems for the U.S. presidential candidates," Mottaki said.

What a remarkable comment.  The "rational thinkers" in America can "seek reality as it is."  In other words, we must go along with Iran "as it is."

And as for Obama, can there be any doubt where the foreign minister stands, when he openly says he doesn't want to "create further problems" for "U.S. presidential candidates"?  Which "candidates" do you think he's talking about?  Only one.

I think we can say with confidence that Mr. Obama has already done damage.  Why should Iran make a deal, when a better one is around the corner?  And as all this talk continues, so does the Iranian nuclear program.

It is hard to see this ending well, unless the American people, in November, reject a man who already seems to be making an enemy so serene.

July 6, 2008.      Permalink          

SECOND AFTERNOON POST:  JULY 6,  2008

Posted at 2:35 p.m. ET

IRAN WANTS...

My friend Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi refers me to the latest demands by the mullah government, as reported by the Iranian press:

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has urged unity among the Muslim countries to counter the challenges in the world today.

Mottaki briefed the envoys of 57 Muslim countries to the UN on Iran's policy in a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, IRNA reported.

Iran's top diplomat condemned recent moves in the West to undermine Islamic values and said that these initiatives are intolerable for Muslim nations.

Moves to undermine Islamic values?  What moves are those?

He also urged Muslim countries to support Iran's bid to hold a seat at the UN Security Council and noted that Iran is the only Muslim candidate from Asia eligible to join the UN Security Council this year.

Ten non-permament members of the UN Security Council are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms and are not eligible for immediate re-election.

Can you imagine this bunch on the Security Council?  Do you feel your security enhanced?  Notice that the foreign minister says that Iran is the only Muslim candidate from Asia eligible to join the Council this year.  It's put on a religious basis.  Now, imagine if a South American state announced, "We are the only Catholic state eligible to join this year..."  The international left would be in an uproar.  There is no uproar in response to the Iranian statement.  I thought the left was in favor of separation of church and state. 

Well, sometimes.

July 6, 2008.      Permalink          

AFTERNOON UPDATE:  JULY 6,  2008

Posted at 1:41 p.m. ET

DIRECT FROM IRAQ

In a story marked as "exclusive," the Associated Press reports on a shipment of "yellowcake" from Iraq, the remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. 

But I thought he didn't have a nuclear program.  That's right, isn't it?  Didn't BUSH lie and thousands die?  Read this.  It'll make your blood boil:

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium - reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" - the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment - was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

Now, repeat after me:  "This was for peaceful uses.  It was for nuclear power to charge iPods and run SONY PlayStations."  Repeat that and memorize it.  More:

While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called "dirty bomb" - a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material - it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.

Didn't Joe Wilson tell us that Saddam wasn't seeking yellowcake from Africa?  Why wouldn't he seek it?  Oh, wait, I know.  He thought he could get it on eBay.  More:

The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military initiatives - kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad, then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 8,500-mile trip to Montreal.

And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.

Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger - and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims - led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.

Ah yes, we remember well the "grave" business of outing Valerie Plame.  The Republic was in danger.

The article assures us that all this yellowcake dates from before 1991.  That's irrelevant.  Saddam had it.  We know from the report of American inspectors sent in after the initial military phase of the current Iraq war that he planned to restart his WMD programs once the UN sanctions on Iraq were lifted.  That might have been as early as 2003, the year we invaded.  It's now 2008.  What could Saddam have done with five years?  Would you have trusted him?

Yellowcake is obtained by using various solutions to leach out uranium from raw ore and can have a corn meal-like color and consistency. It poses no severe risk if stored and sealed properly. But exposure carries well-documented health concerns associated with heavy metals such as damage to internal organs, experts say.

"The big problem comes with any inhalation of any of the yellowcake dust," said Doug Brugge, a professor of public health issues at the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Ignore that.  Quack doctor.  Quack doctor.  It's all BUSH propaganda.  And Halliburton.  I'm sure they're involved here somewhere.

The yellowcake wasn't the only dangerous item removed from Tuwaitha. 

Earlier this year, the military withdrew four devices for controlled radiation exposure from the former nuclear complex. The lead-enclosed irradiation units, used to decontaminate food and other items, contain elements of high radioactivity that could potentially be used in a weapon, according to the official. Their Ottawa-based manufacturer, MDS Nordion, took them back for free, the official said.

More scare stories.  That's all.  The neocons are at it again.  That's true, isn't it?

July 6, 2008.      Permalink          

SUNDAY:  JULY 6,  2008

Posted at 8:12 a.m.

HORROR IN THE UK

We reported in Snippets yesterday the latest stabbing horror in London.  Violent crime in Britain is reaching horrific proportions, and Britain is taking action we never felt necessary here, even when crime in American was at its worst.  Here the left-wing Guardian reports, and there isn't a word about "the root cause" or "socio-economic factors."  Maybe there's some learning going on:

The growing fear of knife crime in Britain is forcing hospital trusts and local authorities to supply body armour to frontline workers, including A&E staff, hospital porters, teachers, benefits officers and traffic wardens.

Stab and bullet-proof vests are being ordered in their tens of thousands to protect employees from increased levels of aggression, a move described as 'a shameful indictment of violence in Britain today'.

The Local Government Association said councils had started responding urgently to staff who 'need a greater level of protection'. Already more than 20,000 sets of Home Office-approved body armour have been issued to local government staff.

The revelations came as Scotland Yard announced that knife crime had eclipsed terrorism as the number one priority for the Metropolitan police.

And...

The Oxfordshire-based Body Armour Company said it had received about 10,000 orders for protective vests from local government, with frontline NHS staff accounting for most of them. The most popular item requested by councils is the £300 Home Office-approved KR1 stab vest. The firm said it was also receiving more orders for body armour from teachers, whom it views as its 'biggest growth market.'

Imagine that.  Teachers are seen as the "biggest growth market."

More:

Experts believe councils are responding to new corporate manslaughter laws that mean organisations failing adequately to protect employees may be prosecuted. Warren said: 'If a schoolteacher can sue for £300,000 for stress, what price a school that failed to protect its staff from knives?'

Tomorrow, body armour firms will meet staff from the Royal Parks authority, which maintains London's green spaces, to discuss supplying stab vests for its 120 staff.

Warren said an order had also been placed by a railway operator for 'ballistic body armour' to protect workers.

One thing I've noticed about some European countries, and the UK:  They tend to take internal security very seriously.  French airports in the 1980s, for example, had vastly greater security than ours did.  It took 9/11 to wake us up...a little.  Most Americans seem to have gone back to sleep.

We used to think of London as such a peaceful, polite city.  The Jack the Ripper murders were fascinating to us in part because they were so rare for England.  That is no longer the case.  For safety, stay in the U.S.

July 6, 2008.      Permalink          

OH, NOT AGAIN!

What is this with Obama, this "evoking" business?  Isn't he happy with himself?   Now, again, he wants to "evoke" other presidents.  Lynn Sweet, of the Chicago Sun-Times, who never seemed to buy into the Obama madness, reports on the senator's travel plans:

WASHINGTON--A German friend passed along the news Saturday that local sources in Berlin are confirming that the Obama campaign was in contact with city authorities to discuss the possibility of presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) delivering an outdoor address in front of the Brandenburg gate. The thinking is Obama would follow in the footsteps of two very famous Cold War-era speeches of U.S. presidents speaking in Germany: JFK "Ich bin ein Berliner" and Reagan "tear down this wall."

What is he going to say, "I, too, am a Berliner, but from the wrong neighborhood"?  Or, "Chancellor Merkel, tear down that public housing!"  Yikes.

Germany's ambassador to Washington, Klaus Scharioth, has reportedly worked for weeks to convince Obama's campaign that the candidate's only large European appearance should take place in Berlin. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier talked to Obama by phone last April and learned that he might visit Germany. In the meantime, according to SPIEGEL sources, Steinmeier's staff has set plans in motion for an Obama appearance in the capital by the end of July.

There'll be plenty of adoring fans out there.  Apparently, the Germans love Obama.  But, Senator, there may be things about adoring Germans screaming for a political leader that may give some Americans the creeps.

What's next on Obama's itinerary?  A speech at Gettysburg? 

Oh, he's visiting Israel on his trip.  You know, he could go to a place near Jerusalem, find a mount nearby, and deliver a sermon...

No, no.  That already is too much.  But, it's Obama, isn't it?  Is anything too much?

July 6, 2008.      Permalink