Assad and Jimmy Carter two lying jokes!

In Wednesday's WSJ, Carl Rove has an op ed piece urging Republicans to make Health Care their central campaign theme and he responds to Senator Clinton's government approach by suggesting a free market one, claiming it will provide better care, more choice and at lower costs. Rove is right and Clinton has resorted to a Rube Goldberg approach as before but has offered more bells and whistle sounding "choices" while acknowledging it will cost $100 billion in more taxes. When was a politician's estimate ever believable? You can double it from the git go and then expect more. They always low ball to get the ball rolling.

More evidence that fake photography and biased reporting is a fact. (see 1 below.)

Syria greets Ms Rice with car bomb and Syria's finger prints all over evidence. (See 2 below.)

Avi Dichter says Abbas and Palestinians must fight terror before any meaningful agreement over statehood can move forward but it is reported in two versions that differ. (See 3 below.)

America's most lying ex-President, Jimmy Carter, does not consider Iran a threat to Israel. Carter is a threat to himself and would do himself some good if he kept his mouth shut but he is incapable of doing so because he wreaks with contempt and animus regarding Israel on both personal and religious grounds. But considering that his Center has been funded by enormous Saudi funds it is understandable. See Vol 17, Number 1 Winter 2007 Issue of "On Campus" which is devoted to a complete documentation and expose of Carter's lies and purposeful misstatements and intentional ignoring of facts.

But then Assad is Carter's equal! Former Syrian VP sums up Assad and considers him a fool. (See 4 and 5 below.)


Dick

1) Al Dura Trial Takes Huge Turn - UPDATE

Fauxtography?

PJM PARIS….FLASH: The French Appellate court trial of Phillippe Karsenty in the matter of Mohammed Al Dura - the epochal case of the Palestinian boy allegedly shot by Israeli troops in 2000 - took a huge turn today. Photos of the boy have been accused of being the birth of fauxtography. For the first time the court has ordered France 2 to produce the original tapes that could prove the whole enterprise a fake.

2) Murder of another anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker was Damascus’ greeting for Middle East visitor US Secretary Rice: Car bomb kills Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem and five others



Wednesday, Sept 19, the day Condoleezza Rice arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, a car bomb in East Beirut killed lawmaker Antoine Ghanem, further reducing the anti-Syrian majority in parliament six days ahead of its election of a new Lebanese president. Bashar Assad was signaling that he was not deterred from his policies by the Israeli air attack of Sept 6 and would not let American influence displace his grip on Beirut.

Counter-terror sources note Syria’s fingerprints all over the assassination of Antoine Ghanem, 64, the 8th anti-Syrian MP to be murdered in two years. Two days earlier, this member of the Christian Phalangist party returned secretly from Abu Dhabi. He had been in hiding after being threatened with death should he run for election. On his return, he told his friends the Syrians and their Lebanese supporters were after him to whittle down parliamentary support for an anti-Syrian president.

The tip-off on his return to Beirut must have come from a regional intelligence service with spies in the oil emirate. That, plus the method and speed with which the plot was assembled, point to Damascus’ experienced hand. The bomb car loaded with 40 kilos of explosives perfectly tallied with the means used to assassinate another anti-Syrian lawmaker, Walid Eido, on July 14.

Syria was bluntly accused of the crime by leader of the 14 March majority Saad Hariri, whose father was blown up in February 2005, and Druze leader Walid Jumblat, whose father also died at Syrian hands in the 70s, when Bashar Assad’s father Hafez was Syrian president.

The US secretary of state did not have an easy ride in her effort to inject substance into President Bush’s international conference in Washington two months hence. Israeli leaders made a show of goodwill - Ehud Olmert’s close adviser Haim Ramon even conjured up a largely unfeasible plan to transfer parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians – but by and large Israel prefers declarations to deeds. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, said that without substantial progress towards establishing a Palestinian state, there is no point in him attending.

Without the Palestinians and the Saudis, the conference is a non-starter.

In other areas, Rice’s arrival found Israel on the move:

1. The security cabinet declared the Gaza Strip a hostile territory controlled by a hostile force, Hamas. While this decision could pave the way for Israel to cut off electricity, water and other services to Gaza - if the Qassam missiles continue to fly against Israeli populated areas in the Negev, which has not yet been decided – it also cuts Abbas off from possible steps to restore his dialogue with Hamas.

2. The IDF’s Givati armored infantry brigade began a large training exercise on the Golan backed by engineering and air units. Only two weeks ago, Israeli politicians harped on the need to ease military tensions with Syria. They promised the summer maneuvers being wound up would not be followed by further military activity. Yet all of a sudden, Givati was pulled out of the Gaza Strip sector and moved up north.

And on the very day of her arrival, Israel’s opposition leader, former PM Binyamin Netanyahu let the cat out of the bag and became the first Israeli politician to confirm foreign media reports of an Israeli air operation against Syria on Sept. 6, saying he had been privy to its details from its outset. He was roundly condemned as an irresponsible blabbermouth.

Rice may have set out on her journey meaning to promote Middle East peace diplomacy. What she found was a climate of confrontation, animosity and war tension.

3)Dichter: demand PA fight terror- mistake to speak of final agreement


Hebrew version has a radically different quote since the main thrust is not stripped out by the English editor's "...": "It is a mistake to speak of a final agreement.
We should demand the implementation of the first stage of the Roadmap -
Palestinian fighting (terror) as is written in the Party platform. We
should demand the anchoring of the borders as mentioned in Kadima's election
program, which includes a united Jerusalem." ]

====


Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Thursday, Israel should
unilaterally demarcate its final borders with the West Bank.

"It is a mistake to speak of a final agreement . We need to demand the
demarcation of the borders as mentioned in Kadima's election program, which
includes a united Jerusalem," he told Kadima delegates.

4) Carter: Iran not yet a threat to Israel


Former President Jimmy Carter said that he does not think Iran poses an immediate threat to Israel, despite claims by Iranian officials that they have drawn up bombing plans if the Jewish state should attack.



Speaking on Wednesday at Emory University, Carter, who brokered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, said Israel's superior military power and distance from Iran likely are enough to discourage an actual attack.

"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."

Iran's deputy air force commander said Wednesday that Israel is within range of Iran's medium-range missiles and bombers and that Teheran would strike back if Israel "makes a silly mistake."

The White House said the comments almost sound geared toward provoking a fight and Israeli officials said they take the threats seriously.

Responding to a question from an Emory student during a public forum, Carter did not dismiss the desire of the Iranian government to attack Israel, noting a nuclear program Iran's leaders claim is to fuel nuclear reactors, not make weapons.

"Obviously, we all hope we can do whatever we can to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power," Carter said.

Carter said unease between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is a far greater threat to the nation's security than Iran. He criticized President George W. Bush's administration for not doing enough to broker peace in the region.

"Since President Clinton made his heroic effort at Camp David, there hasn't been a single day of peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis," he said.

Carter spoke roughly a year after he completed his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid".

Jewish groups and other critics condemned Carter for comparing Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories to the oppression under South Africa's apartheid regime.

Carter said he chose the title to be provocative, not inflammatory, and that he hoped to encourage debate over Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

In a new 'afterword' to editions of the book released this month, Carter criticizes the lack of "balanced debate" in the US about the Middle East and warns officials against being "seen as knee-jerk supporters of every action and policy" of Israel's government.

The Emory event was Carter's 26th annual town hall meeting at the Atlanta university, where he holds the title of distinguished professor and lectures about once a month.

5)Former Syrian VP: Assad's a joke: Exiled Syrian opposition leader Abdul Halim Khaddam says President Bashar Assad 'incapable of defending the country'. He condemns Syria-Iran collaboration, and notes that last week's IAF infiltration was 'one of many' which Syrian regime opts to keep silent about
By Roee Nahmias


Syrian President Bashar Assad "is a child, he's simply a joke," Abdul Halim Khaddam, the nation's former vice president, said Thursday.


Khaddam, who was expelled after alleging that Syrian leaders were involved in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese President Rafik Hariri, made the comments during an interview with the Nazareth-based Arab daily a-Sinara.


Syrian Response
'Israel's actions will have consequences' / Yitzhak Benhorin
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Khaddam currently lives in exile in France and frequently speaks out against Assad's regime and calls for an ouster. In the interview he disparaged the Syrian president, accusing him of "tying Syria to Iran's interests."


"Iran aspires to regional hegemony," he said. "Syria's ties to Iran will make it one of the battlefields in the struggle (between Iran and the West) – and for issues that have nothing to do with Syria's national interests. Therefore, in our opinion it is dangerous to link Syria with Iranian policy, whose results have been Arab and international isolation."


When questioned about the Israeli Air Force's infiltration of Syrian airspace two weeks ago, Khaddam said he had no concrete information on the incident, but added: "What Israel did against Syria is aggression. We condemn this aggression and there is not a soul in Syria who would accept such aggression against it."


"It is aggression against the Syrian people, Syrian sovereignty and independence. On the other hand, the Syrians are more and more concerned because the Syrian regime can't protect the Syrian air, sea or ground."



Regarding whether Syria can even respond to the IDF aerial infiltration, Khaddam answered, "The Syrian regime is too busy oppressing people and being corrupt. If it focused on building the country, making significant infrastructure changes and establishing a democratic government, then Syria could have responded to this or any type of aggression.



"At present, when the regime is occupied with insignificant matters and isn't dealing with the economic crisis, it can't provide the elements that would allow it respond to such aggressions."



'Syria has the means'
However, he added, "Syria has the means to respond, but it doesn't have the will to do so. The regime failed to make the political decision to respond, and therefore it is incapable of defending the country."


Khaddam also said that this wasn't the first IAF infiltration, but rather one of "many incidents" which Damascus chose not to publicize.


He scorned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's policy of making belligerent moves with one hand while extending the other in peace. "Olmert's talk demonstrates that he mocks Bashar Assad's intelligence. He tells him, 'I respect you, I respect your policy,' but then makes aggressive moves towards him. That's really respectful. What is this silence on Assad's part?"


"We think he's a child," Khaddam wrote off the Syrian president. "He's a joke. Assad can't do anything but oppress the Syrian people."




Regarding reports that the Syrian military was arming and cooperating with Iran's army as well as with Russia, Khaddam said: "There is talk of cooperation, but under that very cooperation the aggression occurred. Cooperation that doesn't benefit the nation's interests isn't really cooperation."


Khaddam heads the Syrian opposition organization in exile, the National Salvation Front, which recently held a conference in Berlin on how to mobilize the Syrian people in the struggle to topple the "dictatorial Syrian regime and building a democratic, civil, and modern state".