Update: Iran says NIE Report is a Declaration of Surrender
So the Left thinks we should conduct a more “sensitive” war against Islamic-extremism?
From Reuters:
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran’s president said on Sunday the publication of a U.S. intelligence report saying Iran had halted a nuclear weapons program in 2003 amounted to a “declaration of surrender” by Washington in its row with Tehran.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also dismissed in an interview with state television the prospect of new U.N. sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work.
“It is too far-fetched,” he said when asked whether he expected the U.N. Security Council to impose fresh sanctions on Iran following two such resolutions since last December.
Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West, told a rally earlier this month that the December 3 publication of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate was a “victory” for Iran.
He said on Sunday: “It was in fact a declaration of surrender … It was a positive action by the U.S. administration to change their attitude and it was a correct move.”
So, just how does a defeated nation handle the negotiations now that Iran is emboldened? We’ll see where “sensitive” gets us.
A portion of the “CYA” National Intelligence Estimate (“NIE”) report made public recently has apparently thrown gasoline on the proverbial fire in regard to the Iranian nuclear standoff.
The report, “liberally” written, gave Tehran a un-deserved geopolitical victory while attempting to discredit the Bush administration. The attempt IMHO didn’t completely succeed.
However, NIE reports are supposed to be designed to bring clarity to an issue. It seems as though this report did the exact opposite. Which can lead to dangerous and unforeseen consequences.
From the AP via Yahoo! News:
JERUSALEM - Israel’s public security minister warned Saturday that a U.S. intelligence report that said Iran is no longer developing nuclear arms could lead to a regional war that would threaten the Jewish state.
In his remarks — Israel’s harshest criticism yet of the U.S. report — Avi Dichter said the assessment also cast doubt on American intelligence in general, including information about Palestinian security forces’ crackdown on militant groups. The Palestinian action is required as part of a U.S.-backed renewal of peace talks with Israel this month.
Dichter cautioned that a refusal to recognize Iran’s intentions to build weapons of mass destruction could lead to armed conflict in the Middle East.
Read more: Israel, US report on Iran may spark war.
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December 15, 2007 , by
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This according to Reuters:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hizbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
Full story: New Yorker arrested for broadcasting Hizbollah TV
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August 24, 2006 , by
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UPDATE: AllahPundit posted the Centanni / Wiig hostage video over at HotAir.com (audio enhanced).
UPDATE: New Group Claims Fox News Kidnappings
A previously unheard of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.
Read more.
Fox News Channel reporter Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig are still missing a week after they were kidnapped in Gaza by unknown gunmen. I am surprised at the lack of persistent MSM coverage of the kidnapping. Especially by competing news agencies.
Michelle Malkin has more information about what's been going on, on her blog.
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August 22, 2006 , by
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This is a major win for the American blogger class. Once again, the mainstream press was called to account for their sloppy fact-checking and, what often appears to be, the printing of stories sympathetic to the enemy's cause. Whether its out of fear or just plain stupidity who knows?
More importantly, the retraction is a major setback for Hezbollah's media and propaganda effort. People will now question the validity of every single photograph coming out of Lebanon.
From Reuters (London):
LONDON (Reuters) - Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.
Global Picture Editor Tom Szlukovenyi called the measure precautionary but said the fact that two of the images by photographer Adnan Hajj had been manipulated undermined trust in his entire body of work.
"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Szlukovenyi said in a statement.
"Reuters has zero tolerance for any doctoring of pictures and constantly reminds its photographers, both staff and freelance, of this strict and unalterable policy."
The news and information agency announced the decision in an advisory note to its photo service subscribers. The note also said Reuters had tightened editing procedures for photographs from the conflict and apologized for the case.
Removing the images from the Reuters database excludes them from future sale.
Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after it found that a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more and darker smoke rising from buildings.
An immediate enquiry began into Hajj's other work.
Must read: the entire story.
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August 7, 2006 , by
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Grim at Blackfive writes "Where are We Going?" A concise analysis of the situation facing the U.S. in Iraq and the wider middle east. Iran has sparked off a potentially larger world conflict when it ordered its Hezbollah fighters to lure Israel into a military engagement. Many observers see Iran as benefiting from the stir up in trouble. However, I see Iran having put itself in a very risky situation.
If Hezbollah is defeated Iran, having admitted to providing material and financial support to the group, will lose any credibility it has left in the eyes of the international community.
Another often overlooked weakness in the Iranian strategy is the fact that while Iran and the Arab world focus on defeating Israel, the U.S. and its allies have a golden opportunity to strengthen their positions in Iraq, renew strikes against terrorist armies in the region, and perhaps even strike Iran.
The media has reported a possible push by Islamic extremists to take control of Baghdad in the coming months. If the coalition forces are able to defeat the Islamist and Israel routes Hezbollah the West will have won a massive victory against Islamic extremists.
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August 6, 2006 , by
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UPDATE I: Left & Right and Ace of Spades throw their two cents in too.
UPDATE II: The Jawa Report has jumped into the fray.
UPDATE III–Reader, Rick, points out:
When you get dust on your LCD it would print black dots on the image and be impossible to see without say a solid blue sky. Then the sky would have very small specks (Blak)[sic] in the sky. To remove you would use clone stamp with the smallest circle choice to replace the black spot with the blue sky. This joke of a shot has used very large circle clones.
UPDATE IV: Below is the corrected edition of the photo from Reuters:
Blog, Little Green Footballs is on top of yet another possible piece of propaganda from Beirut. This time published by Reuters.
This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop “clone” tool to add more smoke to the image. (Hat tip: Mike.)
Here's the original image from Reuters via Yahoo! News:
Other bloggers have contributed their own analysis. So here's mine:
(Click the picture below for a larger image.)
Posted on:
August 5, 2006 , by
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Watch this video:
Then watch this one:
The common thread is not only hatred of Jews, but the use of hate speech to rally the people to a cause.
Credit goes out to the authors of these videos: AbuSufyaan, aethercries.
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August 3, 2006 , by
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This letter was originally posted by Jihad Watch on behalf of one of their readers:
To Whom It May Concern,
Many powerful photographs were taken following the recent tragedy at Qana. Legitimate questions have arisen regarding the actual times certain photos were taken.
News agencies have begun responding to some of the questions raised. Here is AP's response:
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/
ap/2006/08/01/ap2920008.html
The AP had three different photographers there who weren't always aware of what the others were doing, and filed their images to editors separately, said Santiago Lyon, director of photography.
There are also several reasons not to draw conclusions from time stamps, Lyon said. Following a news event like this, the AP does not distribute pictures sequentially; photos are moved based on news value and how quickly they are available for an editor to transmit.
The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse all distributed photos of which questions have been asked relative to the time shot. What Lyon of AP does not address, is that the exact time of digital capture is recorded along with the image. This EXIF information cannot be altered, and would give accurate timings as to the sequence of all photos released.
We urge AFP, AP, and Reuters to make available to this website a small JPEG file, with all EXIF data attached, of each of the photos analyzed on the various websites that have raised this issue. A list will be provided if they are not already known. Sensitive IPTC data may be removed, if any responding agency wishes. The EXIF is the only important data.
The actual capture times, between photos of all agencies, would then be made a public record — chips falling where they may.
It is the responsibility of a free press to ferret out information that those in power wish to withhold. It is the responsibility of an informed citizenry to openly request information from press sources when there is the appearance that they are withholding information critical to their mission of maintaining the public trust.
We await response from AP, AFP and Reuters that could lay to rest this one important issue.
America's blogger class is challenging the mainstream media like never before.
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August 3, 2006 , by
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