-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 28, 2007 8:03:18 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: U.S. Troops Seize Iranian Guests of the Iraqi Gov't in
Baghdad Sheraton Hotel
U.S. troops raid Baghdad's Sheraton hotel
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-08-28-iraq-us-iran_N.htm
BAGHDAD (AP) — American troops raided a Baghdad hotel Tuesday night
and took away a group of about 10 people that a U.S.-funded radio
station said included six members of an Iranian delegation here to
negotiate contracts with Iraq's government.
The Iranian Embassy did not confirm the report. But it said seven
Iranians — an embassy employee and six members of a delegation from
Iran's Electricity Ministry — were staying at the Sheraton Ishtar
Hotel, which was the one raided by U.S. soldiers.
An arrest of Iranian officials would add to tensions between
Washington and Tehran already strained by the detention of each
other's citizens as well as U.S. accusations of Iranian involvement
in Iraq's violence and alleged Iranian efforts to develop nuclear
bombs.
Videotape shot Tuesday night by Associated Press Television News
showed U.S. troops leading about 10 blindfolded and handcuffed men
out of the hotel in central Baghdad. Other soldiers carried out
what appeared to be luggage and at least one briefcase and a laptop
computer bag.
A U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, declined to
comment, saying the action was part of an operation that had not
been completed.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, "I've
seen that report but I can't verify it."
The Internet site of Radio Sawa, an Arabic language station
financed by the United States, said Iranian officials were detained
and taken to an unknown location. It said the Iranian delegation
was in Baghdad to negotiate contracts on electric power stations.
An Iranian diplomat told The Associated Press that the Iranian
Embassy had notified Iraqi authorities about the Radio Sawa report.
The diplomat refused to give his name.
Iran has constantly complained about the U.S. detention since Jan.
11 of five Iranians who were in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
U.S. officials say the five include the operations chief and other
members of Iran's elite Quds Force, which is accused of arming and
training Iraqi militants.
The Iranian regime denies any involvement in the violence wracking
its neighbor.
On Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush lashed out at Iran for
meddling in Iraq's affairs and fomenting instability in its
neighbor. Bush made his remarks in a speech to the American Legion
convention in Reno, Nevada, in which he presented a ringing defense
of the unpopular Iraq war effort.
"I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront
Tehran's murderous activities," said Bush, whose administration has
accused Iran of arming Shiite militias in Iraq. "The Iranian regime
must halt these actions."
U.S. authorities are unhappy about Iran's arrest of four people
with dual American-Iranian citizenship for allegedly seeking to
undermine the Islamic republic's security. Two are imprisoned in
Iran, while two are free but barred from leaving the country.
Relations also are edgy over the suspicions of the U.S. and its
allies that Tehran is using its civilian nuclear power program as a
screen to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies that, saying the
program only has the peaceful aim of generating electricity.
The strains have many people in the region worried about the
possibility of fighting between the U.S. and Iran.
But while making his latest defense of Iran's nuclear program
earlier Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed
the possibility of any U.S. military action against Iran, saying
Washington has no plan and is not in a position to take such action.
Ahmadinejad declared that U.S. political influence in Iraq is
"collapsing rapidly" and that Tehran is ready to help fill any
power vacuum.
------------------
Bush warns of 'nuclear holocaust'
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/29/2018049.htm?section=world
The United States has demanded that Iran end any support for
extremists in Iraq "at once" and raised the spectre of a "nuclear
holocaust" in the Middle East if Iran gets atomic weapons.
US President George W Bush branded the Islamic Republic "the
world's leading state sponsor of terrorism", citing its backing of
Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters
killing US troops in Iraq.
"And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear
weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and
violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust," he told the
American Legion veterans group.
"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and
the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran's
regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger
before it is too late."
"They cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against
coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis," he said.
The United States has expressed its discomfort over the
increasingly strong relationship between the Iranian and Iraqi
governments, disapproving of comments made by Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki on a recent visit to Tehran.
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