MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

I understand Captain, it makes me wanna vent some frustration, too.  These hidden, clandestine weapons programs are intended primarily for one enemy.  Its capital starts with a “J”, ends with an “M”, and the “USA” stands somewhere in between …

“UN investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gaddafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan’s guidance, officials told The Associated Press.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency also has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official, Muhidin Issa, who proposed scientific cooperation and a visit to Khan’s laboratories following Pakistan’s successful nuclear test in 1998.

The complex, in the city of Al-Hasakah, now appears to be a cotton-spinning plant, and investigators have found no sign that it was ever used for nuclear production. But given that Israeli warplanes destroyed a suspected plutonium production reactor in Syria in 2007, the unlikely coincidence in design suggests that Syria may have been pursuing two routes to an atomic bomb: uranium as well as plutonium.

Details of the Syria-Khan connection were provided to the AP by a senior diplomat with knowledge of IAEA investigations and a former UN investigator. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The Syrian government did not respond to a request for comment. It has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons but also has stymied an investigation into the site bombed by Israel. It has not responded to an IAEA request to visit the Al-Hasakah complex, the officials said.” Read more.

Syria’s Assad warns of ‘earthquake’ if west intervenes – “Western powers risk causing an “earthquake” across the Middle East if they intervene in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said, after protesters called for foreign protection from a crackdown in which 3,000 people have been killed. Assad’s warning came ahead of Syrian government talks with the Arab League on Sunday aimed at starting a dialogue between the government and opposition and ending violence that has escalated across Syria in recent days… ‘Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake.'” Read more.

“TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday hailed the coming withdrawal of troops from neighboring Iraq as a ‘golden’ victory.

President Barack Obama plans to withdraw his 40,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year after negotiations on keeping some forces there failed, a move some politicians say could give Tehran more room to assert its influence.

‘The uniform stance of all tribes and religions in Iraq over America’s pressure to get legal immunity for its occupying servicemen, and ultimately the coercion of America to exit Iraq, constitute a golden page in that country’s history,’ Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after a meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani, the ISNA news agency reported.

The troops are leaving more than eight years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Tehran welcomed the fall of Saddam, a secular Sunni Muslim who took majority Shi’ite Iraq into a bloody 1980-88 war with Iran, but has always criticized U.S. military intervention.

While it has been rebuilding ties with post-Saddam Iraq, Iran’s relations with the United States have worsened. Washington has warned Tehran not to underestimate its large military presence in other nearby countries.” Read more.

U.S. Planning Troop Buildup in Gulf After Exit From Iraq – “The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Obama’s announcement this month that the last American soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December. Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but American military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake.” Read more.

They should have been deported a long time ago.  But wait, the UK doesn’t deport hate mongers and extremist agitators.  It only keeps some of them from entering, sometimes …

“An extreme Muslim group which caused outrage by burning a poppy last Remembrance Sunday is planning further disruption on November 11, with a twisted ‘Hell for Heroes’ campaign.

The demo, which mocks charity for injured soldiers Help for Heroes, is due to take place outside the Royal Albert Hall, the same location where a poppy was burned last year.

Emdadur Choudhury, who burned the poppy, was fined just £50.

The Muslims Against Crusades protestors, who have sought permission from police to hold the rally, aim to chant and disrupt the minute’s silence held in honour of the war dead.

Firebrand cleric Anjem Choudary, who has links to the Muslims Against Crusades group, said: ‘It’s going to be called Hell for Heroes and it will be around the Royal Albert Hall.

‘It will involve a protest and not observing the minute’s silence. We had a significant amount of support from Muslims around the world last year.

‘It’s one thing to remember the dead from the First World War and subsequent wars but it’s quite another when they say we need to remember the dead from Afghanistan and Iraq.

‘It’s become a political football and if they are going to use Remembrance Day for that purpose it’s only right that we have a counter protest, which we say is for Muslims.

‘The army is currently at war with Muslims in Muslim countries.’

Choudary also played down reports that MP Mike Freer had feared for his safety after a protest at a north London mosque where he was holding a surgery.

Up to a dozen protesters forced their way into the mosque where Mr Freer was meeting constituents, prompting officials to lock him in a private room for his own safety.” Read more.

Muslims Stone Catholic Festival-Goers in France – “Muslims have attacked Christians attending a Catholic celebration in southern France. The Joyeuse Union Don Bosco [Joyous Union Don Bosco] takes place in Nîmes, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady the Virgin of Santa Cruz, built by French people repatriated from the Algerian city of Oran following Algerian independence. These people were driven out of the place they grew up in by Muslim aggression. Now they face it in France too! ‘After a day of welcoming and reunions, around 7 pm, the participants were leaving in their cars and vehicles when ‘young Arab immigrants’ from the city started to throw stones at the vehicles descending from the sanctuary. The local police, whose station is in this area, were immediately notified and the event organisers had to arrange a diversion to another route to protect the occupants of the vehicles from the savage attacks which continued.'” Read more.

Way to go, NATO …

By Sherif Elhelwa – “It was here at the courthouse in Benghazi where the first spark of the Libyan revolution ignited. It’s the symbolic seat of the revolution; post-Gaddafi Libya’s equivalent of Egypt’s Tahrir Square. And it was here, in the tumultuous months of civil war, that the ragtag rebel forces established their provisional government and primitive, yet effective, media center from which to tell foreign journalists about their ‘fight for freedom.’

But according to multiple eyewitnesses—myself included—one can now see both the Libyan rebel flag and the flag of al Qaeda fluttering atop Benghazi’s courthouse.

According to one Benghazi resident, Islamists driving brand-new SUVs and waving the black al Qaeda flag drive the city’s streets at night shouting, ‘Islamiya, Islamiya! No East, nor West,’ a reference to previous worries that the country would be bifurcated between Gaddafi opponents in the east and the pro-Gaddafi elements in the west.

Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that ‘there is no God but Allah’ and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, ‘Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don’t publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.’

He followed me inside the courthouse, but luckily my driver Khaled was close by, and interceded on my behalf. According to Khaled, the guard had angrily threatened to harm me. When I again engaged him in conversation, he told me ‘this flag is the true flag of Islam,’ and was unresponsive when I argued with him that historically Islam has never been represented by a single flag. The guard claimed repeatedly that there is no al Qaeda in Libya, and that the flag flying atop the courthouse is ‘dark black,’ while the al Qaeda flag is charcoal black. To many locals, it’s a distinction without a difference. One man approached me with a friendly warning: ‘I recommend that you leave now; [the Islamist fighters] could be watching you.'” Read more.

Flashback: US Intelligence Report Says Libyan Jihadists Planning to Subvert Post-Gadhafi Gov’t and Create an Islamist State – “Jihadists among the Libyan rebels revealed plans last week on the Internet to subvert the post-Moammar Gadhafi government and create an Islamist state, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. U.S. officials said spy agencies are stepping up surveillance of Islamist-oriented elements among Libyan rebels. A government report circulated Tuesday said extremists were observed ‘strategizing’ on Internet forums about how to set up an Islamist state in Libya after the regime of Col. Gadhafi is defeated.” Read more.