International:
Secret report: Terror threat worst since 9/11
The terrorist threat facing Britain from home-grown al-Qaeda agents is higher than at any time since the September 11 attacks in 2001, secret intelligence documents reveal.
Eliza Manningham-Buller warned there are over 1,600 'identified individuals' engaged in terror plots.
The number of British-based Islamic terrorists plotting suicide attacks against "soft" targets in this country is far greater than the Security Services had previously believed, the government paperwork discloses. It is thought the plotters could number more than 2,000.
Under the heading "International Terrorism in the UK", the document - seen by The Sunday Telegraph - states: "The scale of al-Qaeda's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we had previously judged."
It warns that terrorist "attack planning" against Britain will increase in 2007, and adds: "We still believe that AQ [al-Qaeda] will continue to seek opportunities for mass casualty attacks against soft targets and key infrastructure. These attacks are likely to involve the use of suicide operatives."
Cheney Says Military Option on Table Against Iran
Cheney, speaking at a joint news conference with Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, said that the United States was working with it allies to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear weapons programs, and that it was Washington's preference for that to happen peacefully.
"But all options are still on the table," Cheney told reporters, reiterating his administration's long-standing position on Iran.
The next step toward getting Iran to abandon its nuclear programs was still being debated, he said.
"It would be a serious mistake if a nation such as Iran became a nuclear power," Cheney said.
Cheney said Iran has sponsored terrorism in the Middle East, and he accused Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of making inflammatory statements.
Hersh: U.S. Funds Being Secretly Funneled To Violent Al Qaeda-Linked Groups
New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.
Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”
Hersh summed up his scoop in stark terms: “We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.” Watch viedeo here.
National:
Bush ‘Could Easily Build Political Support’ For Iran Attack ‘At The Beginning Of 2008′
Today on Fox New Sunday, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol said the Bush administration was doing a “decent job at threatening Iran,” but said he “would like a little more” rhetoric like Vice President Cheney’s recent claim that military strikes are still on the table.
Kristol added that while “you can’t just suddenly use force,” the question is, “can the President build a predicate if he feels he has to use force.” Kristol was confident: “I think if things have stabilized in Iraq, then you could easily build political support for being much tougher on Iran at the beginning of 2008.”
Watch here
Farrakhan Stresses Unity in Farewell
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity Sunday during his final major speech, saying the world is at war because Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths are divided.
The 73-year-old Farrakhan told the thousands at Detroit's Ford Field that Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad would embrace each other with love if they were on the stage behind him.
"Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," he said. "That's why the world is in the shape that it's in." Read more here
Secret report: Terror threat worst since 9/11
The terrorist threat facing Britain from home-grown al-Qaeda agents is higher than at any time since the September 11 attacks in 2001, secret intelligence documents reveal.
Eliza Manningham-Buller warned there are over 1,600 'identified individuals' engaged in terror plots.
The number of British-based Islamic terrorists plotting suicide attacks against "soft" targets in this country is far greater than the Security Services had previously believed, the government paperwork discloses. It is thought the plotters could number more than 2,000.
Under the heading "International Terrorism in the UK", the document - seen by The Sunday Telegraph - states: "The scale of al-Qaeda's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we had previously judged."
It warns that terrorist "attack planning" against Britain will increase in 2007, and adds: "We still believe that AQ [al-Qaeda] will continue to seek opportunities for mass casualty attacks against soft targets and key infrastructure. These attacks are likely to involve the use of suicide operatives."
Cheney Says Military Option on Table Against Iran
Cheney, speaking at a joint news conference with Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, said that the United States was working with it allies to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear weapons programs, and that it was Washington's preference for that to happen peacefully.
"But all options are still on the table," Cheney told reporters, reiterating his administration's long-standing position on Iran.
The next step toward getting Iran to abandon its nuclear programs was still being debated, he said.
"It would be a serious mistake if a nation such as Iran became a nuclear power," Cheney said.
Cheney said Iran has sponsored terrorism in the Middle East, and he accused Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of making inflammatory statements.
Hersh: U.S. Funds Being Secretly Funneled To Violent Al Qaeda-Linked Groups
New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.
Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”
Hersh summed up his scoop in stark terms: “We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.” Watch viedeo here.
National:
Bush ‘Could Easily Build Political Support’ For Iran Attack ‘At The Beginning Of 2008′
Today on Fox New Sunday, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol said the Bush administration was doing a “decent job at threatening Iran,” but said he “would like a little more” rhetoric like Vice President Cheney’s recent claim that military strikes are still on the table.
Kristol added that while “you can’t just suddenly use force,” the question is, “can the President build a predicate if he feels he has to use force.” Kristol was confident: “I think if things have stabilized in Iraq, then you could easily build political support for being much tougher on Iran at the beginning of 2008.”
Watch here
Farrakhan Stresses Unity in Farewell
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity Sunday during his final major speech, saying the world is at war because Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths are divided.
The 73-year-old Farrakhan told the thousands at Detroit's Ford Field that Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad would embrace each other with love if they were on the stage behind him.
"Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," he said. "That's why the world is in the shape that it's in." Read more here
In Other News...
Some of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Iran has launched a sub-orbital rocket for scientific research not a missile capable of reaching space as earlier reported, an aerospace official told an Iranian news agency on Sunday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday his country would proceed with its disputed nuclear program, comparing its nuclear drive to a train that has no reverse gear or brakes.
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth Wins Best Documentary
From The Right: Kevin McCullough: 2008... Too much, too soon? Despite the fact that some in both parties strongly disagree, I believe the twenty-one month campaign cycle needs to become the norm, not the exception, and that in doing so we might actually get to shape elections that truly matter.
From The Left: Fort Worth Star-Telegram: General Plays Down Value of Capturing Bin Laden The Army's highest-ranking officer said Friday, "I don't know that it's all that important, frankly." "So we get him, and then what?" asked Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the outgoing Army chief of staff, at a Rotary Club of Fort Worth luncheon. "There's a temporary feeling of goodness, but in the long run, we may make him bigger than he is today."
Quote Of The Day: “Where we need a surge is not in Iraq. We need a surge of concern for our troops, for the veterans, for the injured, for the wounded, for the families of those who have lost loved ones. That’s the surge of concern and that’s the surge that we need,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
(Sources: MyWay, AP, FOXNews, DrudgeReport, CNN, ThinkProgress, TownHall, TimesOnline, Reuters, Breitbart, TruthOut)
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