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First US soldier captured in E. Afghanistan as US Marines launch big anti-Taliban in the south

DEBKAfile Special Report

July 2, 2009, 3:36 PM (GMT+02:00)

US Marines in new Afghan offensive

US Marines in new Afghan offensive

The US military spokesperson provided no details about the missing US soldier, the first abduction in America's eight-year Afghan war, except to say that he went missing Tuesday, June 30. DEBKAfile's military sources report that big US air bases are located between Herat in the east and the Iranian border.

News of the capture broke after 4,000 US marines and 650 Afghan troops launched Operation Strike of the Sword against the Taliban heartland in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.
More...


US commander warns: Iran continues to back violence in Iraq

DEBKAfile Special Report

June 30, 2009, 10:03 PM (GMT+02:00)

US troops leave Iraqi cities

US troops leave Iraqi cities

Parties, processions, a parade in the fortified Green Zone seat of government and embassies, and prime minister Nuri al-Malikii's proclamation of June 30 National Sovereignty Day celebrated the US military's handover of towns and cities to Iraqi security personnel on the way to a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Yet DEBKAfile's military sources stress that unresolved tensions among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds still simmer and may erupt after the withdrawal of 130,000 US troops to 39 remote rural bases - nowhere near on hand for emergencies.
More...


DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals: Iran and Israel eye war options

DEBKA-Net-Weekly

June 30, 2009, 7:56 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran and Israel are each thinking about using the fallout of the domestic unrest in Tehran for attacking the other: Iran to flex muscle, Israel to strike a looming nuclear menace.

In its next issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly weighs the chances of a clash, discloses how the Obama administration plans to hold the two back from a major conflagration.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .


TOP STORIES

Iran setback generated Obama's thaw on Israeli settlement construction

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

June 30, 2009, 9:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli settlement - no longer an obstacle to peace

Israeli settlement - no longer an obstacle to peace

Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak and prime minister's adviser Yitzhak Molcho arrived in New York Tuesday June 30 for talks with US envoy George Mitchell on the settlement construction row between the two governments. Except that while they were airborne, the White House suddenly switched to a new, flexible willingness for compromise. This is explained by sharply altered US circumstances in the Middle East, as DEBKAfile's Exclusive Analysis below explains.
Full article


The changing Mossad: Frontrunner for next director is former Air Force chief

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

June 29, 2009, 1:38 PM (GMT+02:00)

Former Air Force command Eliezer Shkedi

Former Air Force command Eliezer Shkedi

The Israeli government's decision Sunday, June 28, to extend Meir Dagan's service as director of Israel's external intelligence service, the Mossad, until the end of 2010 raised some dust in political circles - especially after his deputy resigned in a huff over the long wait for his turn at the helm.

As DEBKA-Net-Weekly 396 revealed on May 15 this year, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu mad this the decision last May for the sake of an orderly transition.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .
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Washington: Weakened Ahmadinejad may seek military adventures

DEBKAfile Special Analysis

June 28, 2009, 4:13 PM (GMT+02:00)

Washington seeks to divide them.

Washington seeks to divide them.

Two fundamental conceptions underpinning the Obama administration's Middle East policies have been swept away by the upheaval in Iran: the principle of nuclear negotiations with Iran and the premise that progress on the Palestinian peace front is the key to a US breakthrough with Iran.

Sunday, June 28, Washington observers familiar with White House thinking cited insiders as speculating that Binyamin Netanyahu's government is too weak to survive defying the US over the settlements. If it did, Netanyahu would fall and Ehud Barak take over.
More...



Full Articles and Analyses

Obama thaw on Israeli settlement construction follows Iran setback, Saudi brush-off

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

June 30, 2009

An Israeli West Bank community

An Israeli West Bank community

The Obama administration signalled a new mood of compromise on settlement construction just ahead of the key talks in New York between Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak and prime minister's adviser Yitzhak Molcho and US envoy George Mitchell Tuesday, June 30.

While the Israeli delegation was still airborne, the US state department spokesman Ian Kelly said: "We've been working with all the parties to try and come up with... an environment conducive to the resumption of negotiations. I'm not going to prejudge what happens tomorrow."

Asked by reporters if that meant the US administration was ready to compromise and accept a suspension of settlement activity instead of a total halt, Kelly said that some level of flexibility was part of the negotiation process.

"Working our way to our resolution, I'm not going to say we're not going to compromise. Let's just see what happens."

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I don't want to get ahead of some very important...
In full


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President Obama favored losing candidate in Iran's election

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

June 13, 2009

Backers of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi

Backers of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi

Friday night, June 12, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was already on his way to victory in Iran's turbulent presidential election although only the first votes had been counted. By Saturday morning, it was clear he had won a landslide for a second term, widening the gap with his closest rival opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. According to final results, the incumbent won 62.6 percent of the vote, Mousavi 33.75 percent.

This contradicted Western predictions that the record-breaking turnout of 85 percent of Iran's 46 million eligible voters favored the challenger.

Yet strangely enough, even then, Washington and the US media were still doggedly insisting that that the reformist Mousavi could still make it in a run-off, although that door had been finally slammed shut by the president's broad majority.

Indeed a high-ranking White House official, quoted by a British TV correspondent, even stated that a second round was inevitable and Mir Hossein Mousavi was bound to win. Even before that,...
In full


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First round in Internet war goes to Iranian intelligence

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DEBKAfile lifts fog from the Obama-Netanyahu balance sheet

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis

June 13, 2009

Almost a week after Israeli prime minister held his first talks with US president Barack Obama at the White House, last Tuesday, May 18, some of the fog obscuring their content is finally beginning to clear.

The White House was forced to rebut a major misapprehension, that the US president would use his June 4 speech in Cairo to launch a new Middle East peace plan.

There never was such a plan, DEBKAfile's Washington sources confirm. Once that misapprehension was removed, some of the subjects really discussed by the two leaders hoved into sight - or proved false.

For instance, Obama did not demand the repartition of Jerusalem; neither was he keen to pursue the Palestinian issue at all at this time. Most of all, he was after space to engage in negotiation with Tehran without the threat of a surprise Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear sites hanging over the talks.

Who then had an interest in running the false hare of an Obama Middle East plan?

1. At some point, the...
In full


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Obama thaw on Israeli settlement construction follows Iran setback, Saudi brush-off

Washington infighting mutes Netanyahu-Obama differences

Netanyahu heads for collision with Obama administration


 

First round in Internet war goes to Iranian intelligence

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

June 28, 2009

Millions of sympathizers around the world looked forward to seeing Iran's protest movement using the Internet for the first online coup in history. Instead, the Iranian Islamic regime turned the tables: Its Internet police, arguably the largest in the world, pushed "control," "halt," "delete" and "send" buttons to activate a deadly weapon for suppressing the movement, as soon as it took to the streets to protest the June 12 election which was believed to have given Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a false victory.

By Sunday, June 28, when the Guardian Council was to hand down its final verdict on their complaints, the street rallies had petered out.

Part of the reason, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report, was their organizers' heavy reliance on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other social sites to orchestrate their protest movement. They did not at first appreciate that Iranian intelligence Internet experts, operating from secret headquarters established months ago, were using their...
In full


Related articles:

President Obama favored losing candidate in Iran's election

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Terrorism not ruled out in Air France crash mystery

DEBKAfile Special Report

June 9, 2009

Divers pull Air France tail fin out of Atlantic Ocean

Divers pull Air France tail fin out of Atlantic Ocean

A week after Air France A330's unexplained fatal dive into the Atlantic June 1, DEBKAfile reports from Paris that US, French and Brazilian investigators have begun going through the list of more than 200 passengers on the flight from Rio to Paris with a tooth comb. They are looking at the victims' countries of origin, family, social and denominational associations for possible clues to the mysterious disaster.

After the recovery of 24 bodies, some personal possessions and large sections of the doomed aircraft, there is still no understanding of what happened aboard the craft in the few short minutes before the crash when its automated monitoring systems transmitted a series of 24 error messages indicating the shutdown of critical systems.

As long as the fog surrounding the tragedy remains impenetrable, a man-made disaster cannot be ruled out. Both the French defense minister and Pentagon have said there were no signs that terrorism was involved in the crash. This was short of an...
In full


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Al Qaeda again switches tactics for Lahore bombing

DEBKAfile Special Analysis

June 9, 2009

Although Pakistan's Taliban took responsibility, the latest bombing attack in Pakistan's third city, Lahore, Wednesday, May 27, in which 27 people lost their lives and 294 people were badly hurt, was executed on its behalf by al Qaeda's new strike units.

These units, made up mainly of fighters from Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, have been reinforced lately by an influx of Saudis, Yemenis, Syrians and Libyans, who fought the Americans in Iraq. Their methods have changed four times in the last six months, adapted to their individual missions. DEBKAfile's counter-terror experts note that they are evidently being run by a proactive command, capable of great tactical flexibility.

Al Qaeda is no longer satisfied with simple massacres. The last six months show that each operation is designed to make a separate point.

In its last outrage in Lahore, the focus was on a northern Pakistani nerve center consisting of police emergency response headquarters and the local Inter-Services...
In full


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