From AP, with thanks to Big Sleep.
VIENNA, Austria - Board members of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency approved a deal Thursday that exempts Saudi Arabia from nuclear inspections, despite serious misgivings about the arrangement in an era of heightened proliferation fears.Although the Saudis resisted Western pressure to compromise and allow some form of monitoring, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency had no choice but to allow it to sign on to the agreement.
Called the small quantities protocol, the deal allows countries whose nuclear equipment or activities are thought to be below a minimum threshold to submit a declaration instead of undergoing inspection.
There is little concern the Saudis are trying to make nuclear arms, but diplomats accredited to the meeting said Riyadh's resistance to inspections - and any new deals limiting the IAEA's powers to investigate - were disconcerting at a time of increased fears countries or terrorists might be interested in acquiring such weapons.
With the deal approved, delegates focused on a report on Iran, to be presented later Thursday to the closed board meeting and given ahead of delivery to The Associated Press.
It says Iran has acknowledged working with small amounts of plutonium, a possible nuclear arms component, for years longer than it had originally admitted and receiving sensitive technology that can be used as part of a weapons program earlier than it initially said it did....
The Saudis insist they have no plans to develop nuclear arms - and no facilities or nuclear stocks that warrant inspection.
As such, they qualify for the protocol, which has been implemented by 75 nations, most of them small and in politically stable parts of the world and which puts the onus on the nations to truthfully report that they have nothing to inspect.
But the timing of the deal for the Saudis comes amid persistent tensions in the Middle East and concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions. It also coincides with an agency push to tighten or rescind the protocol, as suggested in a confidential IAEA document prepared for the board and also made available to AP on Tuesday.
While the Saudi government insists it has no interest in nuclear arms, in the past two decades it has been linked to prewar Iraq's nuclear program and to the Pakistani nuclear black marketeer A.Q. Khan. It also has expressed interest in Pakistani missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and Saudi officials reportedly discussed pursuing the nuclear option as a deterrent in the volatile Middle East....
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/6/16/134231.shtml
Thursday, June 16, 2005 1:39 p.m. EDT
Saudi Expert: Al-Qaida Plans 'Catastrophic' Attack
Al-Qaida is far from being neutralized and is planning its next "catastrophic" attack, according to a top expert on the terrorist organization.
Dr. Saad al-Faqih, who heads the Saudi opposition group Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, was asked in an interview in London if there is any credence to reports of al-Qaida's "demise." His response was chilling: "Nobody knows how al-Qaida really works. Consider, for instance, that the time lapse between the Africa embassy bombings and 9/11 was more than three years. Therefore the fact that no major attack has taken place since 9/11 is not altogether very surprising.
OH REALLY YOU MUST REALLY THINK WE ARE SUCKERS???
SINCE YOU EVEN HAVE PEOPLE IN THE ROYAL FAMILY WHO FUND THEM??
Al-Faqih also predicted that 'al-Qaida in Iraq' leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would likely be killed soon – and said that ordinary Saudis view their government's support for the occupation of Iraq as "treason.”
HUMM???
COULD WE BE SEEING A POWER PLAY??/
WILL WE SEE DOWN FALL IN OIL PRICES
SEAMS WE HAVE OIL HERE IN THE USA WE WILL BE OKAY WILL IT COST SOME MONEY YEA BUT WE WILL HAVE FOOD ON OUR SHELVES!!!
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/6/16/153106.shtml
House Panel Votes to Cut Foreign Aid Plan
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, June 16, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Rebuffing President Bush's wishes, a Republican-led House panel slashed the administration's request for a program that aids global development.
THIS IS A GOOD THING!!!
He requested $3 billion in the fiscal 2006 budget, but the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Thursday recommended $1.75 billion, which is $262 million more than last year.
THIS IS GOOD!!!
Democrats lamented the relatively small amount to be allotted for aid programs compared to the estimated $350 billion military budget being considered - a figure that doesn't include emergency funds for the continuing wars.
ONCE AGIN THE DEMOCRATS PROVE THEY DON’T WANT TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE???
STOP PAYING THAT DIMMI TAX!!!! NOW THEY CALL IT AID???
THE DEMOCRATS ARE OUT THERE SAYING AMERICANS ARE BAD PEOPLE WELL THOESE MONSTERS STILL HAVE ALL THEIR LIMBS AND THEIR LIFES!!
NAZIS KILLED HOW MANY HOW MANY DIED IN THE GUGLAGS
HOW MANY DID POL POT KILL??
OH YEA LET US NOT FORGET ROSEVELT PUT 8 TO DEATH TRIBUNAL??
DEMOCRATS AND RINOS ARE REALLY MAKING ME PISSED OFF!!
REMEMBER WALTER B. JONES WAS A DEMOCRAT???
THESE COLORS DON’T RUN!!!
Small Quake in Calf?? Better look to see how many mulsums are there??
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/6/16/130712.shtml
Democrats Use Brit Memo to Question Iraq War
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, June 16, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Some congressional Democrats, brandishing a document known as the "Downing Street Memo," are insisting that the White House provide more information about what led to the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,
ISN’T THAT THE GUY TRYING TO SELL OUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO THE MULSUMS TO SAY THEIR quran IS HIGHER THAN ALL AMERICANS???
NO DEMORCRATS ARE A DANGER TO THE SECURITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!
THEN WE PUT THE STUFF THE SAUDIS HAVE AND THEIR CONECT WITH ISLAMIC TERRORIST THEN WE LOOK AT ALL THE SAUDIA MONEY PUMPING INTO THE DEMOCRATS??
CONYERS???
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength, Wisdom, Sight, and Courage to Destroy ALL islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
PS
What will the American People demand from their Goverment if this happenes???
I hope Saudi Arabia got a good deal for the exemption!
We all know that the UN and committes/counsels votes are for sale, so I wonder what it cost Saudi.
With the UN advancing the muslim countries along the nuclear pathway, and the west ignoring reality, Isreal will be the one to deal with this. The UN is now a muslim outreach program.
Lol tis aint a news to me. Pak's nuclear program has been financed by KSA. Bhutto had declared after India went nuclear in 1974 "We'll get the (nuclear) bomb even if my ppl have to eat grass." Arabs actually believe they can do an India on the west. Every few months there an odd editorial in Khaleej Times saying that how India & Israel got away wit it and that it is a western consipracy to deprive Muslims from getting the bomb. But those maggots forget politically and stragetically India enjoys a superior position to them. KSA simply doesnt have the indegenous manpower to make a matchstick let alone a N-Bomb coz that place virtually runs on Indian scientists,engineers,doctors,cabbies,labourers all 6 million of them. If given citizenship Dubai wuld actually have an Indian majority!
Why would anyone in his right mind think that Saudi Arabia would try to acquire nuclear weapons?
Why would anyone in his right mind think that Saudi Arabia would try to acquire nuclear weapons?
Posted by: Hugh at June 16, 2005 07:42 PM
ROTFL!!!
Godl Star for you today!!
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
GOD BLESS THE USA AND HER FIGHTING FORCES AND ALL WHO FIGHT WITH HER GIVE THEM STRENGTH, WISDOM, SIGHT, AND COURAGE TO DESTROY ALL ISLAMIC ETRRRORIST AND ALL WHO SUPPORT THEM AMEN
"The indians went "That", way Mr Custer".
I bet the Saudi's already have what they say they dont want.
Very disappointing news. Like alaskan1000 said above, "The UN is now a muslim outreach program."
Maybe this is where Saddam sent his WMD's?
(Without the Saudi government's knowledge, of course.)
Does the Ka'aba glow at night of its own accord, lately?
(It is about the same size as the original nuclear pile, for the Manhattan Project, at the University of Chicago's squash courts.)
UN = United Nothings
Welcome to the bizarro world.