U.N. Report On Iran Nuclear Activities Due Out

    The International Atomic Energy Agency is due to issue its report on the nuclear activities of Iran and of course the report will confirm that Iran is still indulging in uranium enrichment activities. the report is due out today or on Thursday.

Once it is ready,the report will be sent to the agency's 35-nation board and to the Security Council. The council set a 60-day deadline on Dec. 23 for such a freeze and said continued Iranian defiance past that ultimatum, which runs out Wednesday, could lead to sanctions additional to those it imposed last month.

"The enemy is making a big mistake if it thinks it can thwart the will of the Iranian nation to achieve the peaceful use of nuclear technology," Iranian state TV's Web site quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Wednesday.

On Tuesday, he said his country was ready to stop its enrichment program, but only if Western nations do the same — something the United States and others with similar programs are unlikely to even consider.

"Do you believe that's a serious offer?" White House press secretary Tony Snow asked. "It's pretty clear that the international community has said to the Iranians, `You can have nuclear power but we don't want you to have the ability to build nuclear weapons.' And that is an offer we continue to make."

 

Technorati tags: Iran, Nuclear, U.N..IAE

 

Iraq Carnage Continues With 11 Deaths, So Far

   A suicide bomber hit a police checkpoint just outside the Shiite city of Najaf on Wednesday killing 11 people. This is right in the heart of factions ran by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

   In Baghdad the political climate is getting shakier after a Sunni woman claimed that she was raped  while in custody of the Shiite controlled police department.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fired the head of the influential Sunni Endowment, who had called for an international investigation into the rape allegations

A statement by al-Maliki's office gave no reason for the dismissal of Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour al-Samaraie, who directed the state agency overseeing Sunni mosques and seminaries. But suspicion fell on his harsh criticism of the government's handling of the rape allegations.

The government's quick rejection of the woman's claims have outraged many Sunnis, who accused al-Maliki of a high-level cover-up. The Association of Muslim Scholars, a militant Sunni group known to have links with insurgent groups, called it a "moral genocide" and warned of more fallout ahead.

  It would seem that al-Maliki has learned one thing from Bush and that is to get rid of those who say things that you do not like. Democracy at its finest!

 

Technorati tags: Iraq, War, al-Maliki, Sunni, Shiite