Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Serangan dekat konsulat AS di Turki




Tiga polisi terbunuh dalam tiga orang bersenjata tewas dalam suatu serangan bersenjata di dekat konsulat Amerika Serikat di kota Istanbul, Turki, kata gubernur wilayah tersebut.

Jati diri para penyerang masih samar, tapi mereka dilaporkan mulai menembaki polisi di luar gerbang utama pukul 1100 (1500 WIB).

Seorang polisi dan pengemudi truk polisi terluka dalam baku tembak yang terjadi kemudian, kata sang gubernur.

Tidak ada laporan soal korban cedera di antara staff yang bekerja di konsulat itu sendiri.

Kedubes Amerika Serikat di Ankara mengatakan kepada kantor berita Reuters bahwa pihaknya mengetahui insiden tersebut, meski tidak memberikan rincian lebih lanjut.

Setelah Serangan 11 September 2001 terhadap New York dan Washington, konsulat AS dipindahkan dari pusat kota Istanbul ke sebuah bukit di pinggiran kota.

Sejak dibuka tahun 2003, kompleks diplomatik tersebut memiliki pos pemeriksaan dan pagar penghalang jauh dari gedung utama.

Mengejutkan polisi

Saat berbicara dalam konferensi pers, Gubernur Istanbul Muammer Guler mengatakan, salah seorang opsir polisi tewas di tempat penembakan. Sedangkan, yang lain meninggal akibat luka mereka di rumah sakit tak jauh dari TKP.

Guler mengatakan, orang-orang bersenjata itu tidak membawa identifikasi dan dia tidak mau berspekulasi soal jati diri mereka.

Seorang saksi, Yavuz Erkut Yuksel, mengatakan, para penyerang awalnya muncul dari sebuah mobil putih dan mengejutkan para polisi yang menjaga konsulat.

Turkey telah mengalami serentetan serangan bersenjata dari beragam kelompok dalam beberapa tahun terakhir.

Yang menelan paling banyak korban terjadi bulan November 2003, ketika 58 terbunuh oleh militan muslim dalam pemboman bunuh diri di luar dua sinagoga, konsulat Inggris, dan sebuah bank Inggris di Istanbul.

Partai Pekerja Kurdi, PKK, juga dipersalahkan atas beberapa serangan, termasuk serangan bom mobil yang menewaskan enam orang di kota Diyarbakir bulan Januari.

Iran ujitembak rudal jarak jauh




Iran menguji-tembakkan peluru kendali jarak jauh, Shahab-3 yang bisa menjangkau lawan utamanya di kawasan, Israel, lapor media pemerintah Iran.

Ujitembak ini ditafsirkan sebagai peringatan terhadap Israel dan Amerika Serikat.

Rudal Shahab-3, yang dilaporkan memiliki jangkauan 2,000km, adalah salah satu dari sembilan rudal yang diluncurkan dari sebuah kawasan gurun terpencil.

Iran sudah pernah menguji Shahab-3, namun peluncuran terbaru ini terjadi di tengah ketegangan yang merebak dengan Amerika Serikat dan Israel terkait program nuklir negara tersebut.

Amerika mengutuk ujicoba tersebut, dan mendesak Iran agar menghentikan program rudalnya.

Iran sebaiknya "menahan diri dari ujicoba rudal lanjutan jika mereka benar-benar berusaha mendapatkan kepercayaan dunia," kata jurubicara Gedung Putih
Gordon Johndroe.

'Bahasa agresif'

Peluncuran misil Shahab-3 pada Rabu pagi bertujuan untuk menunjukkan "tekad dan kekuatan [Iran] kepada musuh-musuh yang menggunakan bahasa agresif dalam beberapa pekan terakhir", lapor media pemerintah.

"Kami siap membela integritas bangsa Iran," kata panglima Angkuatan Udara Pengawal Revolusi Iran, Brigadir Jenderal Hoseyn Salami.
Misil Shahab-3

Peluru kendali kami siap diluncurkan ke mana saja dan kapan saja, secara cepat dan akurat

Brigjen Hoseyn Salami
Panglima AU Pengawal Revolusi


Dua jenis rudal lain dengan jangkauan lebih pendek juga ditembakkan sebagai bagian dari latihan perang Nabi Besar III yang dilancarkan Pasukan Pengawal Republik.

"Misil kami siap ditembakkan ke mana saja dan kapan saja, secara cepat dan akurat," kata Brigjen Hoseyn Salami.

"Musuh jangan mengulangi kekeliruannya. Sasaran-sasaran lawan diawasi," tambahnya.

Wartawan BBC Jon Leyne di Tehran mengatakan, perkembangan ini merupakan peringatan tegas dari Iran.

Latihan tersebut merupakan tanggapan atas latihan militer baru-baru ini oleh Israel, yang dipandang sebagai gladi penyerangan terhadap Iran terhadap fasilitas nuklirnya, kata wartawan kami.

Hari Senin, penasihat Pemimpin Tertinggi Iran mengatakan, akan membalas setiap serangan militer dengan menghajar kota utama Israel, Tel Aviv.

Jajaran panglima militer Iran juga mengancam akan menutup Selat Hormuz, yang menjadi jalur lalulintas banyak minyak dunia, dan mengincar Amerika dan para sekutunya di seluruh dunia jika Iran diserang.

Namun, Presiden Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kemudian bersikukuh menyatakan negaranya tidak berniat menyerang Israel.

Dia juga mengatakan, Iran tidak takut diserang Amerika atau Israel soal kegiatan nuklirnya, dan menyatakan kemungkinan penyerangan "kelakar lucu".

Ahmadinejad mengatakan, situasi ekonomi, politik dan militer akan mennghalangi Presiden AS George W Bush menempuh langkan semacam itu.

"Saya jamin anda tidak akan ada perang di masa datang," kata Ahmadinejad dalam kunjungan ke Malaysia hari Selasa.

Ujicoba rudal ini berlangsung tidak lama setelah Departemen Keuangan AS mengumumkan sanksi keuangan baru terhadap jajaran pejabat Iran yang dicurigai AS terlibat program nuklir negara itu.

Iran menyatakan program nuklirnya untuk maksud-maksud damai.

Mereka yang dijadikan sasaran sanksi terbaru termasuk seorang ilmuwan senior pada kementerian pertahanan, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, dan tiga perusahaan yang diyakini terkait dengan industri persenjataan.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Mugabe rush to be sworn in after claim of poll 'landslide'





Re-elected President plans to face down his critics at an African Union summit after a poll conducted amid violence and threats
Chris McGreal in Harare
The Observer, Sunday June 29, 2008
Article history

Voters check the initial results after the run off presidential elections at a voting station in Harare. Photograph: EPA


Robert Mugabe is expected to be sworn in as President of Zimbabwe again today after one of the bloodiest and most controversial elections in African history. Zimbabwean officials said that Mugabe had won a landslide victory with most of the count completed in Friday's widely derided presidential run-off.

Officials were reported as saying that, with two-thirds of the count completed, there had been a dramatic reversal of Morgan Tsvangirai's lead in the first round of elections three months ago, giving Mugabe a resounding victory before he heads to an African Union summit to confront growing criticism from the continent's other leaders.

But the ruling Zanu-PF party's claims that voters have deserted the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in droves to support Mugabe's claim that the vote is part of a struggle to maintain Zimbabwe's independence have met with incredulity and anger.

Washington called the vote a sham and said it will seek a UN Security Council resolution this week to send a 'strong message of deterrence' to Zimbabwe's leader. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said Washington 'will use everything in our power for appropriate sanctions'. The US is also expected to press for an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and a travel ban on its officials.

Gordon Brown yesterday said that Zimbabwe had reached a new low point with the election. 'We will work with international partners to find a way to close this sickening chapter that has cost so many lives,' the Prime Minister said.

The head of one foreign election observer mission, Marwick Khumalo, who leads the Pan-African Parliament monitors, said that many Zimbabweans had voted only out of fear and that the turnout was in truth 'very, very low' after Tsvangirai withdrew from the race because of the violence.

Khumalo also suggested that many voters deliberately defaced their ballots after they were intimidated into going to the polls. He said that at one polling place in rural Matabeleland nearly 40 per cent of the ballots were spoilt, and that at another in Harare the combined numbers of opposition and spoilt ballots matched the vote for the President. 'There was a lot of intimidation for people to vote,' said Khumalo, a parliamentarian from Swaziland. 'You can tell people just wanted to get the indelible ink [on a finger to prove they had voted] to protect themselves from the hooligans.'

The ballot appears to have produced a low turnout in cities, but terrorised voters were herded to the polls in some rural areas and intimidated into voting for Mugabe. He is apparently in a hurry to be sworn in so he can attend the AU summit in Egypt tomorrow from what he perceives to be a position of strength.

Tsvangirai last week called on the AU to oversee a transitional administration in Zimbabwe until legitimate elections can be held, although how such an arrangement could work is still unclear. 'It's now a matter of peace and security,' said Tsvangirai's spokesman, Nelson Chamisa. 'We hope the matter gets the urgent attention it deserves. We should not wait for rivers of blood and the complete breakdown of order.' In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Tsvangirai suggested that Mugabe could still play a role in such a transitional regime, stating that it was 'not inconceivable' that he could remain as ceremonial president, with Tsvangirai taking of the role of executive Prime Minister.

Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town, urged African states to declare Mugabe an illegitimate leader and impose a blockade on Zimbabwe. Mugabe said last week that he will tell his critics that many of their elections are worse than Zimbabwe's.

The AU is divided. While countries such as Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania have all criticised the poll to some degree, there is less inclination for a confrontation with Mugabe from South Africa and his allies, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. The AU commission chairman, Jean Ping, has urged compromise.

Mugabe's Foreign Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, attempted to forestall a debate on Zimbabwe at a preparatory meeting on Friday and asked to be allowed to read a statement. But there were strong objections from a number of countries, including Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

The European Commission, meanwhile, upped the ante by calling for future talks on a political solution to be based on the first-round election result in which Tsvangirai won most votes. AU diplomats say Tsvangirai now needs to radically rethink his position that he would not consider power-sharing or a transitional government.

'That was never going to happen,' said Zimbabwean political analyst John Makumbe. 'They are going to have to swallow their pride. Don't forget that the post-Mugabe era has already begun and there are many figures within the ruling party who are already jostling for position.' Tsvangirai fears that, as a Prime Minister under Mugabe, he would be emasculated, just as Mugabe's former opponent Joshua Nkomo was in the 1980s.

· Additional reporting by Alex Duval Smith

Is White House Blocking Search for Bin Laden?



Pentagon Would Use Special Forces to Nab Bin Laden in Pakistan, New York Times Says
By MARTHA RADDATZ

The Pentagon has drafted a secret plan that would send U.S. special forces into the wild tribal regions of Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, but the White House has balked at giving the mission a green light, The New York Times reported today.

The Bush administration, which has seven months left in its term, gave the go-ahead for the military to draw up the plan to take the war on terror across the Afghan border and into the mountains of Pakistan where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, according to the newspaper.

Intelligence reports have concluded that bin Laden has re-established a network of new training camps, and the number of recruits in those camps has risen to as many as 2,000 in recent months from 200 earlier this year.

Although the special forces attack plan was devised six months ago, infighting among U.S. intelligence agencies and among White House offices have blocked it from being implemented, the Times reported.

Militants kill 7 in attacks in eastern Iraq




BAGHDAD - Militants killed seven people in a series of attacks Tuesday in Iraq's eastern Diyala province, and a local official said government crackdowns against Sunni extremists elsewhere in the country were driving them back to the area. ADVERTISEMENT



Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has launched operations against Shiite and Sunni militants in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul in recent months.

He recently singled out Diyala province as a possible next target, a move called for by the head of Diyala's provincial capital, Ibrahim Bajilan.

"The Iraqi government must start a military campaign to enforce law in Diyala and its outskirts," Bajilan told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Last year, U.S. troops regained control of Diyala's capital of Baqouba, which had been held by al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni militants.

But the extremists appear to be regrouping, targeting a network of U.S.-backed Sunni fighters — known as awakening councils — organized by the Americans to fight al-Qaida.

Bajilan said militants escaping government crackdowns in Baghdad and Mosul were arriving in Diyala and making their presence felt.

"They have spread their control in the villages in those towns, and the emergence of female suicide bombers in Diyala recently proves that," said Bajilan.

A female suicide bomber struck outside a government complex a week ago in Baqouba, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 40, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. Awakening council members foiled another female suicide bomber when they shot her Sunday as she was approaching their headquarters outside Baqouba.

Violence across Iraq increased slightly in June from the month before, with 546 Iraqis killed or found dead from war-related violence, according to AP figures. This was slightly higher than May, when 515 Iraqis were killed or found dead.

Militants killed three family members and wounded a fourth Tuesday with a bomb in Buhrez, four miles south of Baqouba, said a Diyala police report. Three mortar shells landed in the same area, killing one civilian and injuring a second, it added.

Extremists also used a suicide car bomb to target a police checkpoint in Mandali, 30 miles east of Baqouba, killing three policemen and wounding a fourth, said the police report.

The violence continued in Abbara, 10 miles south of Baqouba, where militants struck an awakening council with a roadside bomb as the group was mourning the loss of a fellow member. The blast wounded eight people, including a policemen, said the police report.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy in western Baghdad missed its target, wounding five civilians and causing extensive damage to nearby shops, said a local police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. military said Tuesday that it had detained two suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists the day before in Baghdad and Mosul.

Also Tuesday, the U.N. envoy to Iraq Staffan de Mistura said it was unlikely that the country would be able to hold provincial elections by the beginning of October as planned because lawmakers had failed to approve a new election law.

But he said after meeting with members of parliament that elections could be held by the end of the year if they finalize the law this month.

World Trade Center Owner Scraps Rebuilding Schedule




FILE: An artist's rendering of proposed designs at the World Trade Center site in New York.

NEW YORK — The World Trade Center's owner on Monday scrapped the schedule for the prolonged rebuilding of the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying nearly every project is delayed and over budget and that the latest estimates are unrealistic.

Christopher Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, issued a report listing more than a dozen issues that have slowed rebuilding and have raised costs. These included an over-budget transit hub, the process of dismantling a condemned tower where another is going to be built and construction around a city subway line.

"The schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic," Ward wrote Monday to Gov. David Paterson.

Ward said a committee of developers and government agencies would set new "clear and achievable timelines" by the end of September.

The report ordered by Paterson suggested that the earliest estimates just after the attacks for rebuilding ground zero were not truthful.

Ward called the estimates, most issued during Gov. George Pataki's administration, "emotional dates," and Paterson promised that in the future, "we will tell the truth every step of the way."


The deadlines for building the office towers, memorial and Sept. 11 museum, a transit hub, and performing arts center at ground zero have been changing almost since planning began. At one point, the plan called for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower to be completed by 2006. Steel has just risen above street level for the tower, last estimated to open in 2013.

"Did we set aggressive timetables? Absolutely," Pataki spokesman David Catalfamo said Monday, adding that they were based on engineers' estimates at the time. "All the same people who are there now were there then."

Ward listed 15 issues affecting the rebuilding, which he said didn't become clear until full-scale construction began on most projects over the past three years.

A transit hub, featuring a winged dome designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, presents some of the greatest rebuilding obstacles because it affects office towers, the memorial and space for an arts center that surrounds it. Once budgeted at $2.2 billion, estimates have soared as high as $3.4 billion.

Ward said the Port Authority is working on several options to cut costs, including redesigning the dome so that its roof does not open and close as once designed.

He said no centralized command exists to oversee the rebuilding, which "has led to indecision that has resulted in significant schedule delays and cost escalation."

Ward proposed a committee to oversee new timelines that includes private developer Larry Silverstein — in charge of building three of five towers — the Port Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. rebuilding agency, the mayor's office, the foundation building the memorial and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Two years ago, in the last year of Pataki's administration, the agency said it had expedited development at the site by renegotiating a 99-year lease with Silverstein and shifting responsibility for who would build what.

It set clear deadlines and penalties, including $300,000-a-day payments to Silverstein if the agency didn't deliver land on time. The agency has paid Silverstein over $14 million in penalties after missing those deadlines.

Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’





Amy Chozick reports on the presidential race from Philadelphia.

Mobster wisdom tells us never to bring a knife to a gun fight. But what does political wisdom say about bringing a gun to a knife fight?

Sen. Barack Obama talks at a town hall meeting at Radnor Middle School in Wayne, Pa., Saturday, June 14. (AP)

That’s exactly what Barack Obama said he would do to counter Republican attacks “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said at a Philadelphia fundraiser Friday night. “Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”

The comment drew some laughs and applause. But it also struck a chord with his Republican rival. John McCain’s campaign immediately accused the Democratic candidate of playing the politics of fear. They also mentioned that Obama said he would use a gun that would be illegal under Obama’s plans to cut down on illegal firearms.

“Barack Obama’s call for ‘new politics’ is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun,” McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

Obama made the comment in the context of warning donors that the general election campaign against McCain could get ugly. “They’re going to try to scare people. They’re going to try to say that ‘that Obama is a scary guy,’” he said. A supporter yelled out a deep accented “Don’t give in!”

“I won’t but that sounded pretty scary. You’re a tough guy,” Obama said.

Iranian Official: Ahmadinejad Was Target of X-Ray Assassination Plot





Foes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to kill the hard-line leader with X-ray radiation during his recent visit to Italy, Iran’s former ambassador to Rome told Russian news service RIA Novosti on Monday.

Ex-ambassador Abolfazi Zohrevand said the rising concentration of high-intensity radiation at Ahmadinejad’s temporary residence in Rome earlier this month led to the claims.

"We found out that the radiation was higher than normal and its intensity was rapidly increasing," Zohrevand told Iran’s IRNA news agency. He added that several devices were used to avoid potential error in readings, but they all showed the same results.

Ahmadinejad is currently at odds with Iran's new reformist parliament due to growing social and economic unrest.

In addition, the Iranian president is under fire worldwide for his comments on the destruction of Israel, his "suspicions" of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and his belief that homosexuals deserve to be executed and/or tortured.

Ahmadinejad said last week that the U.S. was behind another attempt on his life during a recent visit to Baghdad. The West has denied the claim.