DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

Iran Smuggling Uranium from Africa; Iran-Linked Sleeper Cells Eyeing UK Nuclear Plants - Jon Swain, David Leppard, and Brian Johnson-Thomas (Sunday Times-UK)
    Iran is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, a UN investigation has revealed.
    A July 18 report said there was "no doubt" that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.
    Tanzanian customs officials said it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.
    The Shinkolobwe uranium mine that produced the material in Lubumbashi, capital of mineral-rich Katanga province, has officially been closed since 1961, but UN investigators have told the Security Council they found evidence of illegal mining still going on at the site.
    It has also emerged that terror cells backed by Iran have been conducting reconnaissance at some nuclear power plants in Britain in preparation for a possible attack.

IDF Broadcasts Hizballah's Dead on Al-Manar TV (Ynet News)
    The IDF took over the airwaves of Hizballah's al-Manar television and replaced the broadcast with scenes of bodies of Hizballah operatives and assertions that fighters were fleeing from the battlegrounds.
    Since the beginning of fighting in Lebanon, the IDF has briefly taken control of the airwaves of al-Manar, Radio Nour, and Radio Sawt Al-Shab (the radio station of the communist party, which identifies with Hizballah) to relay Israeli messages aimed at boosting deterrence, demoralizing Hizballah, and presenting Nasrallah as a liar and incapable leader.

    See also Israel Fights Propaganda War Over Phones - Donna Abu-Nasr (AP/Washington Post)
    Hassan al-Harakeh answered his phone one evening to hear a deep voice asking: "How long will you go on supporting the gang of Hassan Nasrallah?" It was Israel calling, with a message denouncing Hizballah and its leader.
    Cell phones and land lines across Lebanon have been ringing with automated, recorded messages - part of a propaganda war being waged in Lebanon.
    The sophisticated campaign has given the impression that Israelis are everywhere, not just in planes overhead or on the front lines of the ground battle against Hizballah.

Al-Qaeda Claims Backing in Egypt - William Wallis (Financial Times-UK)
    Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, has announced that Gama'a al-Islamiya, the main militant group behind Egypt's bloody 1990s insurrection, has joined his global jihad.

11 Egyptian Students Vanish in New York - Dan Mangan (New York Post)
    Eleven Egyptian students who were supposed to travel to Montana State University in Bozeman after flying to JFK airport late last month disappeared in New York, spurring federal authorities to issue a nationwide alert, officials said Monday.

How China's Secret Deals Are Fueling War - Stephen Pllard (Times-UK)
    Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan have strong ties to China, which they may see as a counterbalance to American power in the Middle East.
    While Iran is the power and arms supplier behind Hizballah, the issue of where Iran's arms come from has been ignored.
    China has sold Iran tanks, planes, artillery, cruise, anti-tank, surface-to-surface, and anti-aircraft missiles as well as ships and mines.
    It is also Iran's main supplier of unconventional arms and is thought to be illicitly involved in supplying key elements in Iran's chemical and nuclear weapons program.

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

The Struggle Against Islamic Fascism - President George Bush (White House)

President Bush said Monday:

• "[UN Resolution] 1559 clearly laid a way forward for there to be a strong democracy in Lebanon, which will more likely yield the peace. And there is a level of frustration around the world with organizations that will take innocent life to achieve political objectives....We must deal with this movement with strong security measures, we must bring justice to those who would attack us, and at the same time, defeat their ideology by the spread of liberty."
• "And it takes a lot of work. This is the beginning of a long struggle against an ideology that is real and profound. It's Islamo-fascism. It comes in different forms. They share the same tactics, which is to destroy people and things in order to create chaos in the hopes that their vision of the world becomes predominant in the Middle East."
• "Part of the challenge in the 21st century is to remind people about the stakes, and remind people that in moments of quiet, there's still an Islamic fascist group plotting, planning, and trying to spread their ideology. One of the things that came out of this unfortunate incident in the Middle East is it is a stark reminder that there are those who want to stop the advance of liberty and destabilize young democracies. And they're willing to kill people to do so. I repeat, this whole incident started because Hizballah kidnapped two soldiers and launched rocket attacks. And it's been unfortunate that people on both sides of the border have lost life. And we're committed to helping the Lebanese government rebuild."
• "On the other hand, what we won't do is allow for a false hope. We believe that it's important to challenge the root cause now. We thought we had done so with 1559, but 1559 wasn't implemented. In other words, there was a way forward to deal with the problem. And now there's another chance to deal with the problem, and that's the role of the United States, working with others, to not only remind people about the problem, but to come up with solutions in dealing with the problem. And the solutions that we are working on with our friends are, in our judgment, the best hope for achieving stability and peace."