CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Will Have Knowledge to Build Atomic Bomb in Six Months

The Associated Press reports that will have the knowledge to build nuclear weapons within six months:

"In six months they will finish the tests to have the knowledge to produce weapons of mass destruction," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said during a visit to London, repeating long-standing Israeli government warnings about 's nuclear capabilities.

This is not only Israel's problem, but an international problem, as the long-range missiles can reach Europe.

The Associated Press article gives more perspective to the reports of U.S. warplanes buzzing , U.S. Special Forces being on the ground in , U.S. flying surveillance drones over , .

At The Glittering Eye, Dave Schuler posts that we may we may already be at war with . In his excellent post, Dave frames the critical question for our policy:

Can we live with a nuclear-armed mullahocracy in ?

I don't think we can, not with 's support for terrorism. Even though Israeli plans to buy 500 "bunker buster" bombs from the United States, we can't rely upon the Israeli Air Force to take out 's nuclear program as it did Iraq's reactor Osiraq in 1981. has made such an operation much more difficult by dispersing and developing many of its nuclear programs underground.

We need regime change in and we need it before the ian mullahocracy has a nuclear weapon.

CBS' RatherGate Employees Lawyer-up

The New York Observer reports that the three CBS employees asked to resign over the biased "60 Minutes" story that resulted in RatherGate are lawyering-up and are still drawing paychecks from CBS.

Five weeks later, the crisis is not yet behind Mr. Moonves. And far from resolving the problem of the network’s credibility, the independent report commissioned by CBS appears instead to be leading to a confrontation, with defenders of both the ousted CBS staffers involved in the debacle and top CBS management asserting two different truths from the same document.

Mr. Howard and two other ousted CBS staffers—his top deputy, Mary Murphy, and CBS News senior vice president Betsy West—haven’t resigned. And sources close to Mr. Howard said that before any resignation comes, the 23-year CBS News veteran is demanding that the network retract Mr. Moonves’ remarks, correct its official story line and ultimately clear his name.

Mr. Howard, those sources said, has hired a lawyer to develop a breach-of-contract suit against the network. Ms. Murphy and Ms. West have likewise hired litigators, according to associates of theirs, and all three remain CBS employees and collect weekly salaries from the company that asked them to tender their resignations.

The article is fascinating and illustrates that CBS is as incompetent in employment law as it is in determining whether a document is faked.

The three sacrificial lambs designated by CBS are going to cost CBS a lot of money, not to mention even more public ridicule.

Sunnis Admit Election Boycott Was A Blunder

The Guardian reports that Iraq's Arab Sunnis now realize that boycotting the election was a blunder:

Iraq's Arab Sunnis will do a U-turn and join the political process despite their lack of representation in the newly elected national assembly, Sunni leaders said yesterday.

Many Sunnis protested that the election was flawed and unfair, but in the wake of Sunday's results, which confirmed the marginalisation of what was Iraq's ruling class, their political parties want to lobby for a share of power.

"Our view is that this election was a step towards democracy and ending the occupation," said Ayad al-Samaray, the assistant general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic party. He said unnamed Sunni leaders blundered in depicting the election as a deepening of the occupation.

Maybe the Sunnis finally figured out that they are a minority and now that they don't have Saddam to guarantee them preferred status they might have to play by the same rules as everyone else. Or maybe the seeing the joy of Iraqis participating in election was truly transformational.

Either way, if the Sunnis have decided that it is their best interest to participate in Iraqis fledgling democracy a truly important threshold has been crossed.

The Desert Tusk posts that The Sunni's gambled that the elections would turn out badly and are now trying to salvage what they can.

Thanks to Captain Ed for the tip.

UPDATE: Stephen Green calls this the biggest story of the day. Steve is right.

Newspaper Threatens Blogger

The Vice-President [sic] of the Tulsa World has threatened legal action against Michael D. Bates of BatesLine for "reproduc[ing] (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials" and for allegedly "inappropriately" link[ing his] blog to Tulsa World content:

Dear Mr. Bates:

I am writing on behalf of World Publishing Company, publisher of the Tulsa World. We have recently learned that your website, www.Batesline.com, has reproduced (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials from the Tulsa World newspaper or has inappropriately linked your website to Tulsa World content.

The Tulsa World copyrights its entire newspaper and specifically each of the articles and/or editorials at issue. The reproduction of any articles and/or editorials (in whole or in part) on your website or linking your website to Tulsa World content is without the permission of the Tulsa World and constitutes an intentional infringement of the Tulsa World's copyright and other rights to the exclusive use and distribution of the copyrighted materials.

Therefore, we hereby demand that you immediately remove any Tulsa World material from your website, to include unauthorized links to our website, and cease and desist from any further use or dissemination of our copyrighted content. If you desire to use (in whole or in part) any of the content of our newspaper, you must first obtain written permission before that use. If you fail to comply with his demand, the Tulsa World will take whatever legal action is necessary to assure compliance, Additionally, we will pursue all other legal remedies, including seeking damages that may have resulted as a result of this infringement.

We look forward to your immediate response and cooperation in this matter. Please acknowledge your compliance by signing below and returning to me.

Sincerely,

(signed)
John R. Bair
Vice-President [sic]
Tulsa World

Bates posts, "excerpting copyrighted material for the purpose of criticism is covered by the fair use exemption, and linking to content cannot be a copyright violation because nothing is actually copied."

At Outside The Beltway, James Joyner posts some worthwhile, cautionary considerations concerning the fair use doctrine.

The Tulsa World is making a huge mistake here. Bates' "criticism" of the Tulsa World doesn't harm the newspaper. It probably adds to the World's readership. Someday the mainstream media will figure out there is a synergy between blogs and the old media. Usually this is good for both blogs and the old media blogs comment on. In the case of the Tulsa World's threatening BatesLine, the World will be the loser. The so-called newspaper should have welcomed every on-line mention it received from Bates and others. I sure it will not like how it is going to be seen in the blogosphere now.

At Slant Point, Scott Sala posts that "if this is a sign of a trend where big media barricade themselves from criticism in an effort to project their unopposed viewpoints, big media is indeed is more trouble than we thought."

Michelle Malkin sums up this kerfuflle posting, "If the MSM can't beat bloggers, they'll sue 'em."

At Confederate Yankee, Bob Owens calls the Tulsa World's threat a heavy handed attempt to stifle free speech.

At Snapshot, George Gaskell predicts the main stream media will call for some kind of journalism licensing scheme to lock the competition [I think he is referring to people like us] out.

At A Dusty Life, Douglas Ott makes a terrific point with the title of his post "Old Media is Afraid of Dying."

At Wizbang, Kevin Aylward posts the terrific e-mail he sent to Mr. Bair.

In his letter to Mr. Bair, Kevin explains why the Tulsa World's attempt to muzzle Bates is important to the blogoshpere:

Even though you are only targeting a couple small weblogs, when you attempt to silence them you attempt to silence us all.

Car Bomb Kills Lebanon's Former Prime Minister Hariri

Reuters reports that a car bomb killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri:

Hariri's motorcade was blown up as it passed along an exclusive section of the city's waterfront Corniche.

The explosion close to the St George Hotel gouged a deep crater out of the road, ripped facades from luxury buildings and left half a dozen cars ablaze on streets carpeted with rubble.

[. . .]

Hariri, a billionaire businessman who resigned from government last October, had recently joined calls by the opposition for Syrian troops to quit Lebanon in the run-up to a general election in May.

According to the BBC, Mr Hariri has been the leading Lebanese politician since the end of the civil war in 1990, and prime minister for most of the last 15 years. He resigned in October amid differences with Lebanon's pro-Syrian President, Emile Lahoud.

CNN's Brent Sadler provides some perspective on the bombing hinting that the bombing may be related to efforts to get Syria to stop meddling in Lebanon's affairs:

CNN correspondent Brent Sadler was near the scene when it happened and told CNN anchor Monita Rajpal: "I haven't seen anything on this scale in Beirut since the dark days of the civil war."

MONITA RAJPAL: Was there any warning, any speculation, any fears or concerns that there could be a terrorist attack?

BRENT SADLER: There have been concerns raised in various quarters. Let me just set the scene for you, Monita. The Lebanese are in the throws of a fierce political battle over Syria's involvement in Lebanese political and military affairs. There's a lot of international pressure on Syria right now to stop meddling in Lebanon's affairs. Lebanon today has a very staunchly pro-Syrian Lebanese government. There is an emerging opposition front, the kind of opposition uniting, that we haven't seen in Lebanon in recent history. Really coming up against what they see as Syria's control and domination of this country.

A few weeks ago there was an assassination attempt against a leading opposition figure who survived the attempt on his life. There have been many concerns in some quarters here that the political conflict might somehow go off into violence. Now, that's jumping from one conclusion to another. There's no evidence or confirmation that these are linked.

This explosion is set against a background of what people here have been concerned about -- openly concerned about -- and what the U.S. administration has also been concerned about. Making it clear to all parties involved in the political tug of war that there are red lines in terms of acts of violence against anybody who is involved in the political arena here. But certainly now we first have to await preliminary investigations into what's caused this blast.

But on the surface of it, the Lebanese are looking at this with a very concerned attitude indeed, not least for the casualties. We have to wait for what the casualty details are but certainly the Lebanese will be very concerned about just what is behind the explosion, whether it's linked to political conflict right now or whether it's something else terror-related.

There have been allegations that there are al Qaeda extremist supporters that operate in Lebanon, in the Palestinian refugee camps, particularly. There is certainly the potential, has always been the potential, for terror to reappear in Lebanon. Obviously the government is at pains to stress that Lebanon in a secure country, Beirut a secure city, after its own 15-year civil war, which ended in 1991. And for Lebanon to go back to those dark days of terror of the 1980s, if this is the case it will certainly cause a lot of anxiety -- not just here in Lebanon, but throughout this region.

The Command Post is also covering this story.

Annan Warns Of Nuclear Cascade

Agence France-Presse reports that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned of the danger of a "cascade" of nuclear proliferation unless new steps are taken to prevent it:

Annan told a conference of defence ministers and security experts that "the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has helped prevent a cascade of nuclear proliferation.

"But unless new steps are taken now, we might face such a cascade very soon," he said.

[. . .]

The UN chief believes that up to 30 countries could seek to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

"Those who have the nuclear weapons are quite well known, we have about seven (or) eight of them," Annan told the BBC in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Sunday.

"But there are estimates that about 30 countries can have it (and) have the capacity to have it," he said.

It's good that the Secretary General recognizes the danger. It's too bad the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can't seem do anything it.

Iraq Election Results

Reuters reports the Shi'ite list, known as the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Shiite Muslim Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, didn't do as well as expected winning 47 percent of the vote. This leaves it short of a majority in parliament:

The Electoral Commission said on Sunday the Shi'ite list, known as the United Iraqi Alliance, took more than 47 percent of the vote. But this was less than the bloc had predicted and leaves it six or seven seats short of a majority in parliament.

A powerful Kurdish alliance came second with 25 percent, while a grouping led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, came third with nearly 14 percent. Few Sunni Arabs took part in the voting, which effectively marginalizes the minority that has traditionally ruled modern Iraq and held a privileged position under Saddam, a Sunni.

The commission said 8.5 million Iraqis, or 58 percent of registered voters, cast ballots in the Jan. 30 poll, Iraq's first multi-party election for half a century.

According to Reuters, Sunni Arab turnout was low. Only two percent of eligible voters in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province cast ballots, and only 29 percent in the mainly Sunni Salahadin province.

The Command Post has a round-up of news reports.

ian UFOs Are U.S. Drones

Last April California Yankee posted Flying Saucers Invade :

State television on Wednesday showed a sparkling white disc it said was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday night.

More colorful Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been spotted beaming out green, red, blue and purple rays over the northern cities of Tabriz and Ardebil and in the Caspian Sea province of Golestan, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Newspapers and agencies reported people rushing out into the streets in eight towns on Tuesday night to watch a bright extraterrestrial light dipping in and out of the clouds.

Today the Washington Post explains that 's UFOs are U.S. reconnaissance drones. In December, ians living along the Caspian Sea and on the Iraq border began reporting sightings of red flashes in the sky, streaks of green and blue, and low, racing lights that disappeared moments after being spotted. ian air force commanders identified the UFOs as U.S. drones.

According to the Post, the U.S. has been flying surveillance drones over for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses:

U.S. officials confirmed that the drones were deployed along 's northern and western borders, first in April 2004, and again in December and January. A former U.S. official with direct knowledge of earlier phases of the operation said the U.S. intelligence community began using Iraq as a base to spy on shortly after taking Baghdad in early April 2003. Drones have been flown over since then, the former official said, but the missions became more frequent last year.

Apparently the U.S. drones have a variety of capabilities:

The small, pilotless planes, penetrating ian airspace from U.S. military facilities in Iraq, use radar, video, still photography and air filters designed to pick up traces of nuclear activity to gather information that is not accessible by satellites, the officials said. The aerial espionage is standard in military preparations for an eventual air attack and is also employed as a tool for intimidation.

The "UFO" reconnaissance drones, reports that U.S. Special forces are on the ground in , and reports of U.S. aircraft buzzing ian airspace should convince the ian mullahs that the U.S. is at least concerned about 's nuclear intentions.

House Approves Immigration Bill

The Associated Press reports that the House of Representatives approved Congressman James Sensenbrenner's Real ID Act of 2005, H.R.418 by a 261-161 vote.

The legislation will force the states to make sure they're not granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens, allow the federal government to complete a controversial fence on the border with Mexico, regardless of environmental concerns, and grant judges broader power to deport political asylum seekers.

States will have three years to comply with the new federal standards dictating what features driver's licenses must have. They could still issue special driving permits to illegal aliens, but those permits would not be recognized as identities for boarding airlines or allowing entry to federal buildings.

According to the Associated Press, ten states now don't require license applicants to prove they are citizens or legal residents:

Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Utah. Tennessee issues driving certificates to people who cannot prove they are legal residents.

"Today there are over 350 valid driver's license designs issued by the 50 states," said the bill's author, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. "We all know it's very difficult for security officials at airports to tell the real ID cards from the counterfeit ones."

Mexico is critical of the bill:

We oppose those measures and that our migrants be denied drivers' licenses," said Interior Secretary Santiago Creel. "We're against building any wall between our two countries because they are walls that increase our differences.

This bill, if it passes the Senate is an important step in securing our borders and bringing some sanity to U.S. immigration policy. These measures were among the corrective actions identified by the September 11 Commission.

The provisions about drivers licences are critical because driver licenses often used for such security-sensitive purposes as boarding commercial aircraft, gaining access to federal facilities and establishing bank accounts. Requiring that the states establish that an applicant has legal resident status in the United States, and that his or her license will be valid only as long as that remains the case is pretty sensible.

This will also help prevent circumstances that enabled the September 11 hijackers to obtain dozens of such IDs.

Making it more difficult for terrorists to seek and obtain asylum in the United States is also an important rationalization of our immigration policy. As Mr. Sensenbrenner has put it, the objective is to ensure that "terrorists, like the one who plotted the '93 World Trade Center bombing and the man who shot up the entrance to the CIA headquarters, could not get into the country and roam around as an asylum applicant."

Ensuring that environmental laws can no longer be used to prevent completion of a border fence near San Diego is also a no-brainer. Now a 3½ mile gap allows illegal aliens easy access to the United States.

The REAL ID bill also makes it clear that members of a terrorist organization or group that "endorses or espouses terrorist activity" are inadmissible to the United States and facilitates deporting any such individuals found in this country.

So why couldn't these reforms be passed last year? How could anyone be against these simple steps to improve our security?

You will have to ask the Senate Democrats that prevented these provisions from being included when the Congress acted on other September 11 Commission recommendations last year in the so-called "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act ."

The House Democrats voted against the Real ID Act by a 3 to 1 margin:

Yeas
Republican 219 Democratic 42 Total 261
Nays
Republican 8 Democratic 152 Independent 1 Total161
Not Voting
Republican 4 Democratic 7 Total 11

How could they?

Idaho Teen Scalped

The Associated Press reports that a 16-year-old girl was allegedly tied up and scalped with a 4-inch knife in what police say may have been an act of revenge by another woman:

Doctors could not reattach her scalp, which was found near a hot spring.

[. . .]

"When I say this gal was scalped, she was truly scalped," said Chief Deputy Bill Braddock. "The top of her head, her hair, was completely cut off."

According to the Associated Press, police are searching for 26 year old Marianne Dahle who disappeared after the Jan. 18 attack. Dahle and the victim were acquaintances and hung out with a punk clique.

You really can't make this stuff up.