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Politics : Should The West Bomb Iran? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SARMAN who wrote (55)	9/28/2007 11:19:21 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 109

Pakistani court says Musharraf can run By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's Supreme Court removed the main obstacle to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's bid for another five years in power when it dismissed legal challenges to his candidacy on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The judges' 6-3 ruling was hailed by the government and reviled by the opposition, which vowed to keep fighting to sideline him. It keeps the way clear for the U.S.-allied military leader to contest the Oct. 6 election while still holding the powerful position of army chief. "Absolutely, there is no hurdle for it," Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said. The ruling coalition says it has enough support among the federal and provincial lawmakers who will vote to ensure Musharraf's victory. Presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas gave no immediate reason for the ruling which drew howls of protests from lawyers in the gallery of the packed, cavernous courtroom. "These petitions are held to be non-maintainable," Bhagwandas said, to chants of, "Shame, shame!" and "Go, Musharraf, go!" Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has faced growing political opposition since his failed attempt to oust Pakistan's top judge in March and is struggling to contain growing Islamic militancy. With his popularity and clout eroding, the general has said he would leave his army role if he wins the election and so restore civilian rule in a country that has lurched between unstable elected governments and military's regimes during its 60-year history. The government has insisted all along that Musharraf is a qualified candidate. Critics have countered that he cannot run because he has retained his military position. Rashid Quereshi, Musharraf's spokesman, said the president "respects and honors" the ruling. "Justice triumphs," Quereshi added. But the ruling bitterly disappointed activists from the opposition and the legal fraternity who saw the case as an acid test of whether the judiciary, rejuvenated by its success in blocking the chief justice's ouster, could keep the military out of politics. About 100 supporters from an Islamist opposition party threw tomatoes and eggs at the court's front gate as they chanted slogans against the president. Police kept them separated from about 100 Musharraf supporters. Farid Piracha, a lawmaker for the Jamaat-e-Islami party which had filed one of the several petitions challenging Musharraf's eligibility to run, said he refused to accept the decision. "The judges have not fulfilled their constitutional obligation," Piracha said. "Now our fight against dictatorship will be on the streets. ... This decision does not reflect the sentiments of the people, and it will not be accepted." Javed Hashmi, acting leader of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party, said their lawmakers would resign from Parliament — an opposition strategy aiming to rob the election of legitimacy. After Friday's ruling, opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto told Geo TV that her party could consider joining the other opposition parties in resigning from parliament if Musharraf did not move toward restoration of democracy. "We thought the judiciary had become independent. But what we have seen today shows that we have a long way to go," said Hamid Khan, a lawyer for cricket star-turned politician, Imran Khan. "It is a wrong decision and it will be proven wrong by the history of Pakistan." On Saturday, the Election Commission is due to assess the eligibility of the 43 presidential candidates. The main challenger to Musharraf is likely to be retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, nominated by lawyers. Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, was also nominated but the PPP has said he would only run if Musharraf were disqualified. Bhutto's party is still holding out hope of a power-sharing deal with Musharraf after parliamentary elections due by January. But she told CNN on Thursday that she was increasingly pessimistic. "I worry that time is running out," she said. Bhutto plans to return next month from self-exile. She has threatened to withdraw her lawmakers from Parliament if Musharraf does not compromise. She wants an amendment in the constitution that would allow her to serve a third term as prime minister if elected. Khursheed Ahmad, a senator for Jamaat-e-Islami party, said they would ask the court to review its decision. Munir Malik, head of the Supreme Court Bar Association said more legal challenges would follow the Election Commission's expected approval of Musharraf's nomination. "The war is not over. It was a skirmish. It was disappointing. But we will be back," Malik said. Authorities have gone to great lengths to forestall any street protests planned by Musharraf's opponents. Some 200 or more opposition activists have been arrested since last Saturday, drawing rare public criticism from the U.S., Pakistan's main ally. But on Thursday the Supreme Court ordered their release and said they should be compensated. It also ordered police to lift a security lockdown on the capital. ___ Associated Press writer Sadaqat Jan contributed to this report.

To: SARMAN who wrote (55)	9/28/2007 11:22:39 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 109

Official: Iran Ordered Terrorist Bombing in the Americas Thursday, September 27, 2007 AP July 18, 1994: Rescue workers search through the rubble after the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Iranian government directly ordered an act of terrorism in the Americas after being frustrated in its secret nuclear ambitions, a former chief of Argentine intelligence tells FOX News in an exclusive interview. Miguel Angel Toma, the former head of the Argentina's intelligence service, tells FOX News' Dan Senor that the Iranian government directly ordered a terror bombing on a Buenos Aires Jewish community center in 1994. The interview will air on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on FOX News Channel. Toma's investigation into a Middle East-style terrorist bombing targeting Argentinean Jews found that the orders for the attack were given at the highest levels of the Iranian government in response to the ending of secret nuclear and missile agreements between Iran and Argentina. On March 17, 1992, a homicide bomber drove an explosive-filled truck into the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 and injuring hundreds more. Two years later, on July 18, 1994, an attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish community center killed 85. Click here to watch a clip from the documentary. Related * FOX News Poll: U.S. Should Take Tougher Line With Iran "The attacks in the '90s against the Jewish community center and the Israeli embassy brought up many distinct questions because they came from many thousands of miles away and obviously were plotted from many thousands of miles away," Toma told FOX News. Responsibility for both bombings was pinned on Hezbollah, but Toma's investigation into the community center bombing found the decision for that bombing came straight from Tehran. The Iranian President at the time, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of the Iranian Supreme Council of Security met in Mashhad, Iran, on Aug. 14, 1993 to plan the second bombing, Toma said. "It's a mistake to think those operations do not reach the highest levels of the Iranian government," Toma told FOX News. "They study them at the highest levels case by case." Arrest warrants were issued for nine Iranian officials and Hezbollah leaders, but they all remain at large. Iranian involvement came as a shock for the South American nation, which had enjoyed active trading with Iran to the tune of $400 million in the 1970s and '80s. "During the '80s the government of Argentina signed agreements with them in the areas of technological investigation with the purpose of a nuclear and missile programs," Toma said. The replacement of Argentina's military dictatorship soured the nation's relationship with Tehran. In 1989, a new civilian government headed by Carlos Menem took power and cancelled nuclear and missile development treaties. "We never thought in Argentina this would be a factor for determining a terrorist attack," Toma told FOX News. "We found out that later after the two bombs exploded in Buenos Aires." "Iran: The Ticking Bomb," a FOX News documentary exploring Iran's support of global terrorism, its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its proxy war with the United States, airs at 9 p.m. on Sept. 29 on the FOX News Channel.

To: SARMAN who wrote (55)	9/29/2007 11:17:35 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 109

U.S. Successfully Tests Missile Defense System Saturday, September 29, 2007 * E-MAIL STORY * PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A ground-based missile successfully intercepted a target missile Friday in a test of the nation's defense system, the Missile Defense Agency said. An intercontinental ballistic missile interceptor blasted out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base shortly after 1:15 p.m., and tracked a target missile that had lifted off from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, the Boeing Co. said in a statement. The Missile Defense Agency said initial results show the interceptor's rocket motor system and kill vehicle performed as planned. Boeing said the warhead was tracked, intercepted and destroyed. Boeing is the prime contractor for what is formally known as the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. The MDA expects to invest $49 billion in ballistic missile defense development and fielding over the next five years. Two operational interceptor missiles are currently based at Vandenberg and there are 11 deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska.