UPI International Intelligence articles from September 2007

UPI International Intelligence archives from September 2007

Walker's World: APEC's golden eggs.
September 4, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- There are few better ways to measure how much the world has changed than by comparing this week's summit in Australia of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation with the early hopes that...

Atlantic Eye: A deceptively quiet Golan.
September 4, 2007... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN GOLAN HEIGHTS, Israel, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A tour bus perched atop the Golan Heights waits for tourists taking pictures of U.N. peacekeeping forces below. A young man hugs and kisses his girlfriend as someone takes...

Analysis: Adding centrifuges to the fire.
September 4, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- New reports from Iran say the Islamic republic is running more than 3,000 centrifuges, an announcement that is certain to augment fears in Washington and Western Europe that Iran's...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 4, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Ahmad Chalabi's Al Mutamar newspaper said Monday that in Najaf governorate, south of Baghdad, five men were arrested trying to enter Iraq illegally through Saudi Arabia. The newspaper said...

Analysis: Germans foil massive terror plot.
September 5, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- German authorities arrested three men who planned to carry out massive, casualty-heavy bombings against U.S. institutions and other targets in Germany that could have been more deadly than the...

Outside View: A Sept. rollout for Iran war.
September 5, 2007... Byline: DAVID ISENBERG WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card once famously said of the administration's 2002 campaign to get support for the invasion of Iraq, ''From a marketing point of view, you don't...

Analysis: India sets up IW directorate.
September 5, 2007... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- India says it has created a directorate for information warfare aimed at formulating policy and guidelines on all aspects of information warfare and monitoring its implementation in the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 5, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Al Sabah newspaper reported Wednesday Iraqi forces were taking over security in Diyala province. Taiseer al-Meshehadani, member of Parliament, told Al Sabah Iraqi forces will take full...

Walker's World: Reds vs. blues in Asia.
September 6, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- In the red corner is the Eurasian alliance, formally known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which last month held a Peace Mission 07 exercise with 6,500 Russian and Chinese troops...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 6, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Al Itijah Al Akhar newspaper, an anti-U.S. occupation newspaper whose editor is based in Syria, carried an editorial Thursday with the headline, "400 checkpoint shred Baghdad's organs." ...

Analysis: Iran looks to Africa.
September 6, 2007... Byline: DEREK SANDS WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Iran's growing ties with Africa may reflect economic necessity under pressure of international sanctions, but it also may signal an attempt to secure uranium supplies and spread its own...

Feature: Some militants take break.
September 7, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- An Israeli major last week mistakenly drove into the West Bank town of Jenin, a city even foreign correspondents were warned not to enter in cars bearing Israeli license...

Analysis: Court nixes Patriot Act subpoena.
September 7, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A federal judge in New York has ruled that a provision of the Patriot Act allowing the FBI to issue secret subpoenas to Internet service providers and other communications companies is...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 7, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Al Mada newspaper reported Friday on the arrest of 14 wanted figures who were disguised as women in Diyala. In details, the paper said Baqouba police announced the arrest of the 14 wanted...

Walker's World: The North African brew.
September 10, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- This weekend's peaceful elections in Morocco and the al-Qaida bomb attacks in neighboring Algeria gave two sharply contrasting images of the realities of power and politics in North...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 10, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Al Mashriq newspaper Monday reported that the commander of security forces in southern Iraq accused London and Washington of failing in the country. The report quoted Mohan al-Freiji as...

Commentary: Symbiotic sandcastles.
September 10, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE PARIS, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Several "once in 100,000 years" events "cost billions and point to flaws in the design of quantitative trading strategies" was how one learned analysis explained the subprime mortgage...

Analysis: Homegrown terror worries Germany.
September 10, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Experts say the foiled German terror plot carries a new dimension of homegrown terrorism after it surfaced that two of the arrested are German converts to Islam and the remaining suspect is a...

Analysis: A third of U.S. watch list wrong.
September 10, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S government's consolidated terrorist watch list contains more than three-quarters of a million names, is growing at the rate of 20,000 names a month, and is consulted several...

Analysis: Nation split on war on terrorism.
September 11, 2007... Byline: KRISHNADEV CALAMUR WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Six years after terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people, Americans are divided on the nature of the war on terrorism and its...

Analysis: Bin Laden is back. Or is he?
September 11, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A videotape emerged late last week on an Islamist Web site showing someone who appeared to be the leader of al-Qaida delivering a message intended for the American people, asking them to...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 11, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Al Mada newspaper reported Tuesday that one suspected terrorist was killed and 54 arrested in various operations around Baghdad over the past 48 hours. A Ministry of Defense statement...

Walker's World: Dangerous times.
September 12, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Under the old rule one should never believe anything until it has been officially denied, then whenever some authoritative public figure solemnly asserts that "the economic fundamentals...

Analysis: India wants Maoists to disarm.
September 12, 2007... Byline: KUSHAL JEENA NEW DELHI, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- India says it won't hold peace talks with Maoists rebels unless they end violence and give up their arms. "There will be no peace dialogue by the affected states with Naxal groups...

Outside View: After Iraq.
September 12, 2007... Byline: COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Nations and their leaders tend to learn by experience, which means they often discover the right way forward only when it is too late. America, alas, is no exception to this...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 12, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Al Taakhi newspaper reported Wednesday on the front page that youths from non-governmental organizations, student movements and unions protested the attacks by Iran and Turkey on...

Analysis: Berlin committed to Afghanistan.
September 12, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The German government has updated its Afghanistan strategy and is now fishing for parliamentary support to continue its military and reconstruction missions in the country. "The...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 13, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Al Adada newspaper reported Thursday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said terrorist organizations had become imbalanced after losing their hideouts and havens because Iraqis were...

Analysis: Thousands may join Sept. 11 list.
September 13, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The list of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will swell by hundreds or even thousands in the coming years, say experts, as more die from diseases resulting from their exposure to...

Commentary: Musharraf meltdown.
September 14, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Some 80,000 Pakistani soldiers who man the non-existent border between the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Afghan border have stood down, but no one knows who gave the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 14, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Azzaman newspaper reported Friday that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the release of Iranian prisoners convicted of drug smuggling, stealing and destructive actions in Iraq. The...

Analysis: Poll cuts Bush, Congress at war.
September 14, 2007... Byline: BEN LANDO WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Most Americans remain opposed to the war and give both President Bush and Congress thumbs down on its Iraq war effort, according to a new UPI-Zogby Interactive poll. The results were...

Analysis: Sulick new head spy for CIA.
September 17, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden has named a new head for the National Clandestine Service, the part of the agency that recruits spies -- or human sources, as they are called by...

Analysis: Berlin debates anti-terror moves.
September 17, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Germany is still heatedly debating tougher security measures roughly two weeks after authorities arrested three terror suspects who planned to carry out massive bombings against U.S....

Analysis: U.S. wants tough immigration law.
September 17, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Two-thirds of Americans support more restrictive immigration polices and more than a third believe they would benefit the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, most have more confidence in the...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 17, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Alsabah Al Jadeed newspaper reported Monday on growing concerns about the possibility of renewed violence in Anbar after last week's assassination of Sattar Abu Reesha, head of the Anbar...

Analysis: Al-Qaida's Achilles' heel.
September 18, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Since President Bush's Labor Day visit to Iraq's Anbar province, questions have been raised regarding the pacification of what was not too long ago considered the most rebellious and...

Analysis: Pakistan militants seize the day.
September 18, 2007... Byline: ANWAR IQBAL WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- When a high-level U.S. team arrived in the Pakistani capital for talks this week, something unusual happened. In the past, whenever a senior visitor came from Washington, the Pakistani...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 18, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Al Sabah newspaper reported Monday that five mass graves were found in the city of Umara, in Missan. Separately, the newspaper reported that three carjackers were arrested. "They had...

Commentary: Networked and lethal.
September 19, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who once denied the World War II holocaust that consumed 6 million Jews ever took place, has had his wings clipped by his superiors. Iran's...

Walker's World: Super-Sarko's overreach.
September 19, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- France's hyper-energetic new President Nicolas Sarkozy throws off some very dangerous ideas. His latest, offering French nuclear weapons to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was politely...

Analysis: Iran dog arrests masks bad econ.
September 19, 2007... Byline: DEREK SANDS WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Mullah bites dog might have been the humorous headline when stories about pooch prisons in Iran surfaced over the past few months, if times were not so tense with Tehran. The policy has...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 19, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Al Itihad newspaper reported Wednesday that Iraqi police announced Tuesday two car-bomb explosions in Baghdad. "Nine people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the two explosions,"...

Analysis: Venezuela, Russia team up on oil.
September 19, 2007... Byline: CARMEN GENTILE MIAMI, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- PDVSA is teaming up with Russia's Lukoil to build a refinery in Venezuela pending a thorough exploration of a block in the oil-rich Orinoco Reserve the two nations agreed to develop jointly....

Analysis: Al-Qaida's video production unit.
September 20, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A central plank of the al-Qaida resurgence noted by U.S. analysts is its sophisticated messaging and propaganda strategy, spearheaded by a state-of-the-art in-house multimedia production...

Analysis: Berlin and Paris move apart.
September 20, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- France and Germany -- for years this meant one of the strongest alliances in Europe. Yet the skies between Berlin and Paris have become clouded ever since President Nicholas Sarkozy took...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 20, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Al Mada newspaper, on its front page, reported that the head of the Iraqi National Security Council, Muafaq al-Rubaie, announced the release of 17 well-known members of the Sadr movement from...

Analysis: Blackwater -- Guilty as charged?
September 20, 2007... Byline: DAVID ISENBERG WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Even though the commission investigating the alleged indiscriminate shooting by Blackwater employees over the weekend has only just been stood up, some voices are already rushing to...

Analysis: Bhutto seeks U.S. hand.
September 21, 2007... Byline: ANWAR IQBAL WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- When former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrives in Washington next week, she is likely to seek U.S. support for her attempt to regain power after more than a decade. ...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 21, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The Kurdish Al Taakhi newspaper reported Friday on U.S. security firm Blackwater's position in Iraq. It said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on U.S. officials to replace...

Walker's World: Myanmar's Chinese crisis.
September 24, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The massed peaceful demonstrations by Buddhist monks, now joined by nuns and civilians, represent not only the most dramatic challenge in a decade to the military government of Myanmar....

Commentary: Al-Qaida on the run?
September 24, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Osama Bin Laden "is a man on the run, from a cave, who's virtually impotent other than the tapes" he releases from time to time. That was the mid-September assessment of Frances...

Analysis: Israel plans Gaza crackdown.
September 24, 2007... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- As military action failed to stop Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks into Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government moved to pressure the Gaza Strip's residents, hoping they...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 24, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The Baghdad-based Al Mada newspaper reported Monday on a Defense Ministry statement announcing that 15 suspected terrorists were killed and 20 suspects arrested in different parts of Iraq....

Analysis: Chertoff deputy quits DHS.
September 25, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson, the top deputy to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, announced Monday he would quit the department next month; an unexpected departure that has stoked...

Analysis: German-Chinese diplomatic crisis.
September 25, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama has sparked a serious diplomatic crisis between Germany and China. On Tuesday, Jiang Yu, China's Foreign Ministry...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 25, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Baghdad-based Al Mada newspaper reports on a statement from the Ministry of Defense announcing that "15 terrorists were killed and 20 suspects were arrested" in different areas in Iraq....

Analysis: Iran friendly to Jews -- sort of.
September 25, 2007... Byline: DEREK SANDS WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Iranian president's meeting with an anti-Israel Jewish group in New York Monday and a television series in Iran about the Holocaust reflect the country's complex relationship with its...

Analysis: Outsourcing war is good business.
September 26, 2007... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The private armies employed by the United States as auxiliary forces in the war in Iraq have come under criticism following an incident that drew the ire of Iraq's prime minister, who...

Analysis: EU to support Iran sanctions?
September 26, 2007... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The United States and France are pushing for EU sanctions against Iran if those fail to be agreed upon at the United Nations, but it remains unclear how many other powers in Europe would...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 26, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Al Taakhi newspaper Wednesday quoted security and medical sources as saying 11 people were killed in Baghdad and Basra provinces on Tuesday. Six of the 11 were killed in two car-bomb...

Walker's World: Sarko's price for NATO.
September 27, 2007... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Here we go again. France under President Nicolas Sarkozy has again signaled its readiness to rejoin the unified military command of the NATO alliance, which it left in 1966. France...

Analysis: Pakistan democracy get 2nd look.
September 27, 2007... Byline: ANWAR IQBAL WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The United States seems to have finally decided that Pakistan needs more democracy and hopes the forthcoming elections will not bring religious extremists to power. On Monday the U.S....

Commentary: Blogowar.
September 28, 2007... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Journalism of verification in the blogosphere has been displaced by a journalism of assertion where rumors become facts and where facts are censored by omission. Hardly surprising...

Analysis: New defense intelligence policy.
September 28, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A new Pentagon policy directive for U.S. military intelligence mandates information-sharing with U.S. domestic agencies and foreign partners and recognizes the leading role of the new...

Iraq Press Roundup.
September 28, 2007... Byline: HIBA DAWOOD NEW YORK, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Shebbab Al Iraq newspaper reported Friday the U.S. Amy is investigating an airstrike that resulted in the death of five women and four children in the south of Iraq this week. The...

Analysis: DHS' troubled transport contract.
September 28, 2007... Byline: SHAUN WATERMAN WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The company awarded a $25.4 million contract by the Department of Homeland Security for transportation services around the capital is not licensed to operate in the Washington area and...

Outside View: Blackwater -- armed & deadly.
September 28, 2007... Byline: SARAH HOLEWINSKI WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- When someone is shot in America, there's an investigation, a trial, damages might be paid. Not so in Iraq. The U.S. military has the power to investigate wrongful killings by its...