Seems I Just Can't Leave This Topic Alone

‘Fears of man-made global warming exaggerated’

"Two of three scientists at a session on climate change and society at the Indian Science Congress on Tuesday felt fears of man-made global warming were greatly exaggerated. Their presence at the conference was particularly significant in light of the current 'development-versus-environment' debates.

"While I agree that glaciers are melting because of global warming, if this is because of man, then what was the reason for the melting of the glaciers in the Gondwana period long before man arrived on the planet?" asked Dhruv Sen Singh, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow."

[---]

""The Cretaceous period 65 million years ago was the hottest in the history of the earth. Man was not around at the time," he added.""

RTWT

Retired professor turns whistleblower on climate change

"While much of the debate over climate change surrounds whether or not it is occurring, one glaciologist and retired professor says the real issue is that the topic is being used as a political pawn to siphon money and votes.

Dr. Terry Hughes, in an interview with The College Fix, said researchers want to keep federal funding for climate change alive, and politicians want to earn environmentalist votes, and both predict global pandemonium to that end."

[---]

"Hughes, a professor emeritus of earth sciences and climate change at the University of Maine, said for years his colleagues urged him to be in lockstep with former Vice President Al Gore – “the drum major in the parade denouncing global warming as an unmitigated disaster,” he told The College Fix.

But Hughes – who believes global warming is actually a good thing because more carbon dioxide is good for the environment in many ways – said he does not want to march to that beat.

“Too many (the majority) of climate research scientists are quite willing to prostitute their science by giving these politicians what they want,” he said."

More than Six Years Later, Keystone XL Is Still a Good Idea

RTWT

Let's Hear It For Saskatchewan!!!!!

AAARRRGGGHHH!!! I spoke too soon.
===========Original Starts Here============
Whoopie!! Political correctness takes another hit:

Sask. judges don't follow Supreme Court's direction on aboriginals, says retired B.C. judge

"A retired judge from British Columbia aimed strong words at Saskatchewan judges for failing to follow the direction of the Supreme Court of Canada in dealing with aboriginal offenders.

In a presentation to a Saskatchewan Legal Aid conference last week, Judge Cunliff Barnett said judges in this province are often "reluctant" to acknowledge the decisions of the Supreme Court in the Gladue and Ipeelee cases, which directed judges to consider the historical and personal circumstances of aboriginal offenders during sentencing and bail hearings.

"I really think the judiciary in Saskatchewan has been really slow to educate itself," Barnett said in an interview. "I do think judges in Saskatchewan have been reluctant, and I think it's past time for the judges to do some learning."

He highlighted the recent case of Trevor Machiskinic - a young aboriginal man serving a jail sentence for beating his cousin with a baseball bat. Machiskinic's sentence is currently under appeal.

"One might say that Trevor is (unfortunately) a 'poster child' for Gladue principled sentencing," Barnett told the Legal Aid lawyers, according to speaking notes he supplied to The StarPhoenix."

I Wonder If This is What Baby Julian..

...had in mind?

Arab states scorn Iran

"King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia urged Iran's foreign minister to "spare us your evil" in a meeting that reflected profound Arab hostility to the Islamic Republic – a recurrent theme of high-level private conversations in the Middle East in recent times.

Leaked state department cables catalogue a litany of complaints from the Saudis and smaller Gulf states, as well as Egypt, Jordan and others, on issues from Tehran's nuclear ambitions, to its involvement in Iraq and support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas.

"You as Persians have no business meddling in Arab matters," the Saudi monarch was quoted as telling Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister. "Iran's goal is to cause problems," he continued in a conversation with a senior White House official. "There is no doubt something unstable about them.""

Nothing new there.

Israelis see PR windfall in WikiLeak's tips on Iran

"The secret cables leaked by the whistleblower website on Sunday showed Israel trying to prod a sometimes skeptical Washington into tougher action -- such as sanctions, subversion, and even a military strike by 2011 -- against Tehran.

But the documents also described Saudi Arabia urging the Americans to "cut off the head of the snake" by attacking Iran, a hawkishness echoed by other Arab leaders, and outline suspicions that North Korean missiles may have given the Iranians the range to reach western Europe and beyond. "These (disclosures) don't hurt Israel at all -- perhaps the opposite," said Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general who served as national security adviser to former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.

"If there is something on the Iranian issue that, in my opinion, happens to help Israel, it is that these leaks show that Arab countries like Saudi Arabia are far more interested in Iran than they are in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for example," Eiland told Israel Radio."

On a related note, I wonder who did this?

Blast 'kills top Iranian nuclear scientist'

Oh yah. I forgot. It was Israel, of course.

All told, not a bad way to start the day. Might even speed this along.

I Wonder...

...what would have happened in the Middle East if they had gone from monarchy, directly to democracy, instead of Arab Nationalist dictatorships?

Government of Jordan Is Dismissed by the King

"In a statement announcing the change, King Abdullah said, “We have accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit, taking into consideration the views of the various sectors of society as well as a letter we have received from the parliamentary majority.”

Mr. Bakhit was seen by many as dragging his feet on political changes. His government also angered Jordanians with a new law that made it a crime, punishable by a steep fine, to falsely accuse someone of corruption. The law is seen as an infringement on the news media and free speech.

Also of concern are episodes of lawlessness, especially by groups thought to be working with the government, who have attacked opposition gatherings. The most recent example was on Saturday when an anticorruption conference, attended by opposition figures and members of four prominent tribes, was disrupted by attackers firing guns and throwing stones."

[---]

"The new prime minister is Awn Khasawneh, 61, who has been a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague since 2000. He is also a former chief of the royal court and was a legal adviser to Jordan when it negotiated its peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

A spokesman for retired military service members, Gen. Ali Habashneh, said, “Awn Khasawneh is known for his integrity, and has no corruption issues in his past like the rest, and more importantly, he has very high legal capabilities, which is essential now in this phase of constitutional amendments, laws and legislation which will define the future of Jordan.”"

Are there better days ahead for Jordan, or is this just the same old, same old? Personally, I've always liked the Hashemite kings of Jordan. They've got a trendy website, just like the House of Windsor, and they're far more forward thinking than anything Arab Nationalism has ever produced.

Round Up

Meh! It's hot and muggy here today. Tried doing some yard work but it got too hot out.

Anywho, here's some interesting items from the news:

Male bird loses interest when mates' beauty fades

"Not unlike some among their human counterparts, male blue tits lose interest when their mates' beauty starts fading, staying out longer and neglecting their offspring..."

Meh. What self-respecting male would carry the name "Blue Tit" anyway?

Former police officer finds ‘back seat baby’ 50 years later

"Long retired and just weeks shy of his 80th birthday, Cameron’s years with the Edmonton police may be long behind him. But he vividly recalls the wee hours of June 26th, 1962, when as a 29-year-old constable, he rolled up to a red light on 111th Avenue and 101st Street, just after midnight.

Looking north, Cameron spotted a speeding 1956 Ford Meteor headed his way. The white and black sedan zoomed past another southbound car and blasted its horn. At the intersection where Cameron waited, it hung a sharp right. Cameron flicked on his police lights and pursued.

Less than two blocks away, the lead-footed speedster pulled over into a parking lot — on the east side of the Royal Alexandra Hospital, undergoing expansion at the time — and jumped out.

“My wife’s having a baby in the back seat,” blurted the young man. “I’ll go get help!”"

[---]

"...the officer found himself alone with a woman quite evidently in the final stages of labour.

The next moments were a blur..."

[---]

"Then he watched as hospital staff whisked woman and child onto a gurney and into the building.

“Where’s the afterbirth?” a nurse demanded. “That would be on the back seat, ma’am,” he replied, pointing to the car and his recently laundered and freshly bloodied uniform. The ordeal over, Cameron was soon being heckled over the radio by his duty officer.

“Well, what are you doing, Cameron, are you back in service?” asked the sergeant. “Boy or girl? Do you know the difference?”"

Har, har.

I often wonder about these stories about police officers delivering babies in the back seat of a car. Do cops receive mid-wifery training? Hell, I've had two kids and I would probably panic, but maybe that's because I've been there, done that.

And apparently he didn't know the difference. He told the sergeant it was a boy.

Shrinking Newfoundland caribou herds still a mystery

It's global warming, stupid.

Seriously, though, have you noticed lately that global warming is no longer the standard excuse for everything? What am I going to blog about?

...if your capital city is burning

How Bush decided on the surge.

The link is the title of a fascinating article describing the process inside the Bush administration that lead to the strategy known as the surge.

Here are some key quotes (emphasis in bold added), together with some of my own commentary. It may be a bit confusing for anyone who hasn't been following the Iraq story since day one, but then even the article itself assumes the reader will be highly informed of all the twists and turns that have plagued the Bush presidency in his effort to bring freedom to Iraqis, but it's worth a read, if for no other reason than to experience a lesson in what it means to be a leader. Bush's decision to implement the surge and to sack Rumsfeld were major turning points in the conflict, in my opinion, as clearly, Rumsfeld's reluctance to admit that his strategy of keeping troop numbers low and training Iraqi troops to do the job instead was failing, was part of the problem:

"Now, a year later, it's clear the surge has been a success. Violence is down, Baghdad mostly pacified, many Sunni leaders have abandoned their insurgency, and Al Qaeda in Iraq has been crushed (though not eliminated).

The war is not over, nor have the Iraqi government's steps toward sectarian reconciliation between Shia and Sunnis amounted to much. But should progress continue to the point that American troops begin coming home in large numbers and Iraq emerge as a reasonably secure democracy, a possibility arises: that because of his surge decision, Bush not only won the war in Iraq but saved his presidency."

[snip]

"The president had been impressed by a plan developed by his NSC (ED. National Security Council) aides with advice from a loosely knit group of retired and active duty Army officers and civilian experts. It called for adding troops, protecting Iraqi citizens, securing Baghdad, and eventually pacifying the country."

I am amazed how similar that sounds to what Alaa at The Mesopotamian was counseling a couple of years ago, especially the part about securing Baghdad. The Mesopotamian, by the way, has a great summary of the Year of the Surge in his latest entry. But, to continue:

"There was another crucial assumption shared by American military leaders: Iraqis had to step up first. Violence wouldn't subside until the new Iraqi government took tangible steps toward reconciliation between Sunnis and Shia. Reconciliation was a precondition for security."

This assumption is what lead to increasing frustration among American citizens, most especially those who had supported the war. But it was time to reassess...

"The reigning assumptions about the conflict were discarded. American troops weren't seen as targets and catalysts for violence anymore. Iraqis wanted their protection. Nor was the insurgency the biggest threat to stability. Sectarian violence, fueled by Al Qaeda in Iraq, was. To tamp it down, a new strategy was required."

[snip]

"Crouch visited Anbar and found what O'Sullivan (ED. Crouch and O'Sullivan were members of the National Security Council, an agency advising President Bush) and others had also discovered in Iraq: American soldiers were now welcomed. Anbar, once controlled by Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda in Iraq, had turned. The Sunnis had revolted against their al Qaeda allies and joined forces with Americans. With more troops, U.S. officers said they could gain control of the entire Anbar region."

"On November 30, the day after Hadley's memo became public (ED: Hadley is another advisor whose memo criticizing Iraqi PM Maliki was leaked to the press), Bush met with Maliki in Amman, Jordan. He had "a couple of important factors" to work out before committing to a surge. "One was, would I have a partner to deal with in the prime minister of Iraq," Bush said. "I went out to the region to have a little sit-down with him, to get a sense of his intensity in dealing with killers, whether they be Sunni or Shia. In other words, there had to be Iraqi buy-in to any new strategy in order for it to be effective."

This one, of course, will not sit well with lefties, as they want to believe that Bush calls the shots in Iraq and the Iraqi government is only a puppet.

[snip]

"Finally, in a speech four days before Bush announced the surge, Maliki gave public assurances that Iraqi troops would be fully engaged in pacifying Baghdad and would act in a nonsectarian manner."

"In Washington, the president got little satisfaction from the interagency review of Iraq policy. Instead of a surge, the State Department favored a strategy of pulling troops out of Baghdad and allowing the Sunnis and Shia to finish their bloody struggle. When Bush heard about this idea, he rejected it out of hand. "I don't believe you can have political reconciliation if your capital city is burning," he said."

[snip]

"And if a question lingered about his intentions on Anbar, Bush answered it in his speech. "I have given orders to increase American forces in Anbar Province by 4,000 troops," he declared.

The 20-minute speech on January 10, 2007, was not Bush's most eloquent. And it wasn't greeted with applause. Democrats condemned the surge and Republicans were mostly silent. Polls showing strong public opposition to the war in Iraq were unaffected.

But the president, as best I could tell, wasn't looking for affirmation. He was focused solely on victory in Iraq. The surge may achieve that. And if it does, Bush's decision to spurn public opinion and the pressure of politics and intensify the war in Iraq will surely be regarded as the greatest of his presidency."

Of necessity, these brief passages from the article leave out a lot of the detail. Bush had to seek advise from many quarters, much of it suggesting very different strategies, in some cases, such as the Baker-Hamilton Commission, abandonment and those suggesting no change at all, both of which would surely have been catastropic.

You need to read the whole thing to get the flavour of what transpired in the fall of 2006 and early 2007. In any case, the whole scenario brings to mind the much loved poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. I wonder if Bush ever recites this poem to himself? It surely describes the situation his presidency has had to deal with:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
…… you'll be a Man, my son!

And THAT, my friends, is the sign of a leader.

Interesting Interview

...with a retired climate scientist.

Unions in Crisis?

Maybe if they stuck to their original purpose, they might have a better chance of survival. Look at this:

It could be hike-dues-or-die time for federal union

"One of Canada’s largest federal unions could face extinction as an independent organization unless its members accept a 42-per-cent dues increase to forestall a financial crisis triggered by the Conservatives’ job cuts."

Too bad. So sad.

Or this:

Caw tackles social issues to boost ranks: Union steps in to pro-choice debate

Are you telling me that each and every member of the CAW is pro-choice? Or those that aren't are okay with their money going to support that cause?

Or this:

Elections Canada orders NDP to pay back some union sponsorships at convention

"For the second time in a year, the NDP has run afoul of political financing laws.

Elections Canada has ordered the NDP to pay back money it collected from unions who sponsored events at the party's national convention last year.

The party, which has criticized the Conservative government for a lack of transparency, offered no details on how much it paid back or to whom."

And this is just hilarious:

Public sector sick days cost $1B a year

From the CBC, yet! Whose annual budget costs the taxpayer the same amount and a bit more, if you call $100,000,000 a "bit more".

And this?

Unions see benefit to open membership

"Two of Canada's biggest unions are considering opening member-ship to everyone, including the unemployed and retired, when they merge. A committee working on the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions floated the proposal in a recently released report outlining the potential structure of the new union."

Let's just say they're getting desperate. Or the Union bosses want a bigger raise.

No wonder they are getting nervous:

Union bill causes stir in labour circles

"A proposed private member's bill that would compel unions to disclose their spending is causing ripples in Canada's labour community.

Bill C-377 -- put forward by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert -- would reveal how labour groups use funds collected through union dues."

Some good background reading here.

Back to Egypt

Here's a rather long article recapping some of the pivotal events and people in Egypt's revolution, or at least the opening round of it.

Behind the barricades: How Egypt was won

And a sample of what you'll read:

"Protesters in the Arab world's most populous country no longer occupy the streets. But as Mohammed tried to make clear to anyone who would listen, the revolution is far from secure.

The military ousted Mubarak on Feb. 11 after pro-democracy protests crippled the country's economy and grew larger by the day.

The same generals who long supported the former president now promise democratic reforms. But with 100 protesters still detained in military camps, and another 50 missing, many question the sincerity of a military that has backed autocrats since generals overthrew the monarchy in 1952.

The tens of thousands who made up the state apparatus of repression are keeping a low profile. It's unclear how they'll react, however, if a future civilian government tries to bring some to trial.

The generals have so far been reassuring. The most concrete step has been the military's appointment on Tuesday of a panel to revise the constitution. It's headed by a retired judge, Tarek el-Bishri, known as a critic of Mubarak's regime, and includes a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, long banned as a terrorist organization.

The panel is on a fast track to limit the number of terms a president can serve, to establish judicial oversight of elections, and to abolish the state of emergency, which allows detention without charges."

[---]

"Meanwhile, the informal youth network that propelled the uprising through Facebook pages has been meeting with an assortment of long-marginalized or fledgling political parties to hammer out a common position for the transition to democracy.

The meetings, with about 200 people, have been raucous affairs.

“There's a lot of shouting, and a lot of people being told to shut up,” says Ahmed Salah, a key organizer in the Internet movement.

In these and other talks, the Muslim Brotherhood is on its best behaviour. It's the best organized group in the country but was slow to join the uprising. In a bid to ease concerns of an Islamist takeover, it says it won't run a candidate for president and will only contest about a fifth of the seats in parliamentary elections.

What all agree on is the historic achievement of even this unfinished revolution. Removing an 82-year-old president responsible for a military-backed police state was no small feat.

Six decades of rule by military-backed strongmen — not to mention a history of colonial powers, sultanates, dynasties and pharaohs — developed a lethargic acceptance of widespread corruption and stunted futures, with 40 per cent of the population living on less than $2 a day."

Good luck folks. You're asking a lot, but you might just surprise us all.

"Egypt is a diplomatic heavyweight in the Arab world. Its young were inspired by the toppling of Tunisia's dictator on Jan. 14. But it is Egypt's revolt, more than Tunisia's, that has placed autocratic Arab regimes on notice.

The anatomy of Egypt's uprising indicates they have good reason to be afraid.

If there is a face to Egypt's revolt, it is printed on a white pillow that Laila Said can't seem to put down. It's the thin face of her son, Khaled, who witnesses say was dragged out of an Internet café last June and beaten to death by two plainclothes policemen.

“I see him among the people in Tahrir Square,” says Said, 67, sitting in her daughter's marble-floored penthouse condo in Cairo. “I think his death inspired many of them.”"

Be sure to read the whole thing....and don't be surprised if a Libyan version of Khaled Said or Neda Soltan appears.

In the meantime, I await with bated breath the results of Judge Tarek el-Bishr's panel's deliberations.

Oh Dear!!

Howling and screaming to ensue from all the usual suspects. 4...3...2...1

Canadian Forces quietly get a new, tougher name

"Having already re-inserted “royal” into the names of the Canadian air force and navy, the Harper government is making another change to Canada’s military identity.

It is now quietly working to remind Canadians that their soldiers carry guns by doing away with the Chretien-era “Canadian Forces” to describe the military, and instead returning to former moniker “Canadian Armed Forces.”

Unlike the great fanfare that accompanied the Harper government’s decision to reinstate the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force, this most recent change is much more subtle.

But analysts say it is notable as part of a continuing trend of various Canadian governments rebranding the military in images more to their liking.

“I’m guessing the government wants to re-establish the image that the Canadian Forces is not Boy Scouts, as (former prime minister Jean) Chretien called them,” said Douglas Bland, a retired lieutenant-colonel and now chair of defence management studies at Queen’s University."

Stonehenge Wannabes...

...popping up all over the place:

North American Stonehenge Discovered Under Lake Michigan

Related:

Has this man discovered how Stonehenge was built?

"A retired engineer has developed an incredible technique to move huge rocks without the use of any heavy machinery.

Wally Wallington is capable of moving and lifting huge pieces of stone weighing more than a tonne, using nothing but his own hands and a few clever tricks.

He believes these same technique must have been used by the people who built ancient monuments such as Stonehenge in England and the pyramids of Egypt. Both were built in the era around 3000BC and 2000BC."

The Canada-India Dustup: Some Context

These are the relevant points/opinions that I've been able to glean from news reports, so far.

From SIFY (this appears to be an Indian owned and operated website), May 27:

• "Lt. Gen. (retd) A.S. Bahia, a decorated Indian Army officer who is now a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh, was denied visa in May on grounds that he had served in a "sensitive location" of Jammu and Kashmir.

• In yet another case, two brigadiers were denied visas in 2008 and another in 2009.

• S.S. Sidhu, a retired IB officer, was denied visa on March 26, with the Canadian high commission contending that he belonged to the "inadmissible" category of persons.

• In the rejection letter, the Canadian high commission said Sidhu could not be given visa as he had served in an organisation like IB and, therefore, he could "engage in an act of espionage or subversion", or "violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada"."

• "(Indian) Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said when asked if Canadians would be denied visas to India as a retaliatory measure: "The home ministry made it clear that if the IB officer was not given visa, Canadian citizens wanting to go to the war-ravaged Afghanistan from India may face similar problems."

From the Globe and Mail May 28,'10

• Fateh Singh Pandher's visa application was for immigration to Canada, not for just visiting. He had already visited Canada a few years earlier to attend a wedding.

• Other Indian applicants have been denied immigration visas due to their association with violence in Amritsar, a city that figured prominently in the conflict that led to the Air India terrorist attack.

• Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued an apology on Friday.

• India’s booming economy makes it a major target for attempts to build trade ties to the East.

• At home, the visa flap won’t help Conservative efforts to woo a diaspora of more than one million Indo-Canadians; some were offended by the insult, others by the apology.

• Civil servants in the Canadian embassy in New Delhi are being stabbed in the back and blamed for their decisions.

And from CTV:

• "The issue has been a top news story in India, with editorial writers pillorying Canada for what one newspaper called "the foul language used by its officials against Indian security and intelligence establishments."

• (Regarding the apology) "The government of Canada therefore deeply regrets the recent incident in which letters drafted by public service officials during routine visa refusals to Indian nationals cast false aspersions on the legitimacy of work carried out by Indian defence and security institutions, which operate under the framework of democratic processes and the rule of law."

• "After that story (Fateh Singh Pandher's) emerged, others started coming forward and Indian newspapers and television reported on every new case, which included members of India's army, police, paramilitary and intelligence forces.

• Their complaints were similar: that Canadian visa officials had broadly interpreted a rule forbidding entry for war criminals to unfairly encompass the Indian military and police."

• "The visa officers' letters were taken by many as a national insult, written under official Canadian letterhead. Canada's high commissioner was summoned by the Indian government to explain.

• Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna declared the Canadian actions "entirely unacceptable" and threatened retaliation if no corrective steps were taken by Canada."

• "The Harper government is anxious not to offend India as it tries to tap into its powerhouse economy. But the apology is also likely aimed at the one million Indo-Canadians who have followed the controversy closely."

So. What have we got? Men from India's armed forces and policing services, people who are authorized to do violence on behalf of the state, who may or may not have stepped over a line with respect to the use of that violence in the performance of their duties, were determined by Canadian immigration officials to be inadmissible to Canada as a result.

Sounds to me like the Canadian officials were just doing their duty. However, the question as to whether these individuals applying for visas were wrongfully refused is left undetermined, at least by the media. Much deeper investigation would be required to satisfactorily resolve that question, but it would certainly not be beyond the realm of possibility to believe that human rights violations did indeed take place. (h/t SDA)

However, in the interests of maintaining good relations with a very important ally in a critical region of the world, the politicians have overridden decisions made by bureaucrats. Their rationale is reasonable enough. India is an important ally in the war on terror, and in particular, their cooperation with respect to Afghanistan is essential. India has it's own issues with violent Islamic totalitarianism and it's in their interests to be tough on it's practitioners.

The economic argument is also compelling. India is a rising star on that front, and Canada is home to a great many enterprising and innovative business people with family and financial ties to the ancestral homeland. That's an important link that needs to be nurtured and strengthened. In addition, the Indian Prime Minister will be visiting Canada very shortly for the G20 summit. Now is not the time to be complicating matters with unnecessarily ruffled feathers, but perhaps ongoing talks with India about immigration matters and fight against terror, human rights, etc., etc., etc. will follow and that would be very productive.

But...what if the bureaucrats were right? What if this interference in their work dampens future investigations?  Have we just opened a big gaping hole in our borders through which unsavory characters from the Indian sub-continent can slither?  We need to delve deeper, that's for sure.

In the meantime, as SDA's guest blogger, Mark, points out, there's some delicious leftie hypocrisy on display here. Grab some popcorn.

Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Speaks

UPDATE: After I wrote this entry, I was curious to find out if the ex-brother-in-law still worked at the embassy in Washington, so I emailed my ex. His reply was more than a little interesting as it told me a story that I had not heard before, likely because it happened after my ex and I broke up. It's a story about, guess who? The Butcher of Baghdad himself, Saddam Hussein. I tell you folks. When you know personally, people who lived under the Butcher of Baghdad, it puts a whole different perspective on the war and on George W. Bush. Here it is, verbatim (emphasis mine):

"He was employed by the Iraqi Government as a councilor in the Iraqi embassy in Washington, DC. This year he retired having added to his service the years that he was in (exile) in London, UK. These years put service up to 35 years (25 years is the requirement). The reason I say (exile) is because back in early 80's and while he was working in the Iraqi embassy in London, Saddam call upon him to return back to Baghdad. When Saddam asks you to return, you do not. needless to say he quit and took legal refuge in the UK and later he became British citizen. He lives in Baghdad now. I talk to him from time to time but I don't know what he does now."

---

I think I may have mentioned sometime a long time ago on this blog that my ex's brother works (or worked, because I'm not sure if he's still there) in the Iraqi Embassy in Washington DC. This video of the current Iraqi ambassador to the US reminds me of my ex's family. Despite our differences, most of my ex's family were very decent people. It was through meeting and conversing with people just like him that I came to believe that Iraq could rise and some day be a great nation. I haven't lost that hope. Not for a minute.



h/t Pat Dollard

More Articles About Egypt

I fully admit that I search for editorial content that conforms to my beliefs. So sue me.

Fears of a Muslim Brotherhood Takeover are Overblown

"The controlled public rage against corruption, oppression, and marginalization at the hands of tyrannical Arab regimes that has unfolded in recent weeks is unprecedented and probably unstoppable, but it caught most Western observers by surprise. While they accept the Arab revolt for what it is—a rejection of dehumanizing conditions—most Western analysts have dug out their old notes and recycled their customary predictions: The inevitable outcome will be that Islamists will take over and mobilize the Arabs against Western interests.

Now that Mubarak has stepped down as president of Egypt, worries persist that Islamists will impose their theocratic totalitarianism on the Egyptian people, despite the fact that power has been transferred to the military high command as a temporary caretaker until the Egyptian people decide what form of government they will adopt.

Apprehension that Islamists will turn public discontent to their advantage is understandable and legitimate, but that outcome should not be taken as a foregone conclusion.

From what we know now, the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen have been organized and carried out mostly by nonsectarian citizens who are driven by worldly needs and by the rejection of corrupt systems that enslave them through fear, intimidation, hunger, and contempt for human rights. The vast majority of the protesters in Maydan Al-Tahrir (Liberation Square) were not waving Muslim textbooks or pictures of terrorists and religious fanatics, but flashing signs that read “shukran Facebook”—Thank you, Facebook.

The chance that Islamists will capture the Arab uprisings is slim unless anti-democratic, oil rich Arab dynasties like the Saudi and other Gulf monarchs, or their Iranian rivals, are allowed to pour billions of dollars into the coffers of their respective proxies, as they did in Gaza, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The West can prevent this from happening, but even if it does happen, whoever seizes power in the countries in revolt will be forced to remember the fate of the ousted rulers they replaced.

The millions of Arabs who took to the streets and risked their lives to bring an end to centuries of oppression are not likely to accept theocratic dictatorships after ridding themselves of tyrannical ruling dynasties.

Most of the rebelling generation grew up in the age of transformative modern technologies and knowledge of their human rights. They spend more time debating worldly issues over social media than reading the Koran or going to mosques. Their perceptions of themselves and the world they want to be part of supersede nationalism, tradition, and religious indoctrination. This reality is overlooked in the current avalanche of analysis and predictions."

[---]

"For the first time, the Arab people have publicly recognized that their misfortunes are not the fault of outsiders— the West, Israel, colonialism—but the result of the hierarchical and totalitarian Arab methods of governing in which the individual is subservient to the state and to the whims of absolute rulers."

Bingo! They have risen up once. They can do it again.

One of the articles I've read (didn't save it or bookmark it) made the point that oppressed people will say and do things that they believe will keep them out of trouble. We should remember that when we hear casual comments that mimic the dictatorships' default rhetoric.

Analyst: Egyptian Protesters Want Democratic Secular Government

"An Egyptian scholar said there could be potential problems for Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections due to what he described as a systematic destabilization scheme to weaken legitimate opposition groups during former President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three decades of rule.

Said Sadek, professor of political sociology at the American University of Cairo, also told VOA pro-democracy demonstrators made their intent clear by chanting their dislike of theocracy and dictators during the 18-day protests that forced Mr. Mubarak from power.

“If it’s a matter of the presidential election, you can have a secular president for sure. The (Muslim Brotherhood) does not have (a) powerful candidate and they promised from the beginning that they would not present any presidential candidate,” said Sadek.

“The problem is with the parliament. The parliamentary election, if we do not give the chance to more secular forces to emerge, the (Muslim Brotherhood) may win, but I don’t think they will win more than 15 or 20 percent."

[---]

"Egypt's military rulers have appointed a retired judge to head a committee tasked with amending the constitution to allow for democratic elections later this year.

Former Egyptian judge Tareq el-Bishri will lead an eight-member panel, which also includes sitting judges, legal experts, and former lawmaker Sobhi Saleh of the officially banned Brotherhood. The panel held its first meeting Tuesday with the leader of Egypt's military council, Hussein Tantawi.

Pro-democracy activists, who met with the council Sunday, said it promised them the constitutional amendments will be drafted in 10 days and put to the public in a national referendum within two months.

Sadek said there are encouraging signs that demands of a secular democratic system advocated by pro-democracy protesters could finally be realized.

“There is a change in Egyptian political culture and, if you followed the Egyptian revolution slogan, they were saying openly, ‘No!’ to theocracy and ‘No!’ to military rule, and I don’t think anybody would be interested in replacing a secular…regime with a theocracy or a military regime,” said Sadek.

[---]

"A new constitution is one of the key demands of Egypt's opposition. The previous charter, suspended by the military, had provisions to keep Mr. Mubarak and his allies in power.

Opposition groups have called for democratic reforms that would enable more candidates to run for the presidency, impose term limits on the post, and enable more political parties to be formed."

Damn if this doesn't have George Bush's stamp all over it, eh?!! He's starting to smell a lot more like roses than his successor. But then again, he already did, in my books.

Look folks. History is filled with significant and sharp turning points. Remember 1776? 1789? Instead of dusting off old memes and focusing on the disaster that befell Iran, why not dig those ones up and do a comparative analysis. Try reading this one, for starters:

Pining for the Friendly Pharaoh Or Why Mubarak's Departure may yet be good for the Jews

"The owl of Minerva begins her flight with the onset of dusk.

-- Hegel, Philosophy of Right

OK, I've been waiting for an opportunity to drop that quote since sophomore year of college. Pardon my pretension. But Hegel's insight is so amply demonstrated by historical change, time after time, and we always seem to miss the point. In the early 1970's Western observers tended to pass off southern Europe as a hopeless bastion of military dictatorships, a swath of politically benighted nations with no cultural affinity to constitutional government. Portugal? Greece? Spain? Their presidential wardrobes could never contain anything other than medallion studded uniforms. Back in the 1980's, Western intellectuals were still pining for the days of Kissingerian détente. Sure, the mass of humanity from the Black Sea to the Baltic and from Leipzig to Irkutsk were not genetically wired for Stalinism, but the geopolitical stability of communism had surely become the natural and permanent state of affairs in Eastern Europe. And who, just a generation ago, thought South Americans would be willing to risk entering a voting booth without disappearing into some army run torture cell? Remember Pinochet's Chile, Vidella's Argentina or Stoessner's Paraguay? Spanish speaking countries didn't seem to have a word for "government." They all had "regimes." Oh, and let's not forget Asia, that mysterious continent of eternal despotism. Free elections in the Philippines? South Korea? India? Taiwan? The oriental mind, Westerners seemed to assume, was culturally unsuited for the higher life (with the exception of the Japanese whom we A-bombed into the democratic club). I recite these examples of myopia only to underscore what should by now be obvious. The tectonic plates of historic change move into position on the sly, unbeknownst to those of us who think we know what must be known, only to erupt in a paroxysm of revolution, shattering the edifice of tyranny in region after region like an earthquake that flattens a Caribbean tourist venue just when we decide to buy a reasonably priced vacation package.

[---]

"Democracy in Egypt? For most Israelis you might as well suggest sunbathing on the North Pole. Listening to public discourse in this country, one could easily suppose that Mubarak's collapse has nothing to do with democracy. It's simply part of a broader global trend, typified by the Ayatollahs in Iran, the Turkish-backed flotilla in Gaza, Obama's opposition to West Bank settlements and the swift moving zipper on Silvio Berlusconi's pants."

And while we're on that subject, the blogger links to a website set up by Sandmonkey where people are making suggestions about what they want to see in the new Egypt and its constitution. It's a pleasure to read.

Aaaaannd, last but not least, an excellent article by Raymond Ibraham at Pyjamas Media:

Egypt's identity crisis

"With Egypt’s “July Revolution” of 1952, for the first time in millennia, Egyptians were able to boast that a native-born Egyptian, Gamal Abdel Nasser, would govern their nation: Ever since the overthrow of its last native pharaoh nearly 2,500 years ago, Egypt had been ruled by a host of foreign invaders — Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Brits, to name a few. After 1952, however, Egypt, it was believed, would finally be Egyptian.

Yet, though Nasser was Egyptian, the spirit of the times that brought him to power was Arab — Arab nationalism, or “pan-Arabism” — the theory that all Arabic-speaking peoples, from Morocco to Iraq, should unify. (Along with Nasser, the tide of pan-Arabism also brought to power Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, Syria’s Hafez Assad, and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.)

The revolution significantly Arabized Egypt. That Egypt’s official name became the Arab Republic of Egypt — as opposed to simply the Republic of Egypt — speaks for itself. Whereas before 1952, one could have spoken of a distinctly “Egyptian” character and identity, after it, this identity gave way to an Arab identity. From there, it was a short push to an Islamic identity. Or, as Egyptologist Wassim al-Sissy recently put it, the revolution “erased the Egyptian character, which had been known for its tolerance, love, freedom, and so on. The revolution created a nation of slaves.”

My Egyptian-born parents, who personally lived through the 1952 revolution before immigrating to America, often reminisced on this change. Growing up I used to hear how pre-revolution Egypt was absolutely nothing like it is now. According to them, because it was under British rule, it was freer and more secular; hardly any women wore the hijab; Alexandria was something of a “mini-Europe.” Indeed, if you look at pictures taken in 1940s Egypt and compare them to pictures from today, you might think the former were taken in Europe, the latter in Arabia."

Yes folks. Things do change and often suddenly.

(Warning. The comments are full of old-think.)

Gleanings from a Morning's Surfing

First, as sited via the institution built by a man I have always admired:The Preston Manning Centre for Building Democracy

Political fulcrum shifts west with the moving Canadian population

"The latest census results show that for the first time, more Canadians now live west of Ontario than east of the province — 30.7 per cent compared to 30.6 per cent. Yukon had the biggest growth spurt at 11.6 per cent between 2006 and 2011, followed by Alberta at 10.8 per cent, nearly double the national average.

Slowly but surely, the country's political attention has turned in the same direction. Debates over national unity, official bilingualism and the troubled Atlantic fisheries continue to recede into the background."

Political attention shifts west

"On his way to China, Mr. Harper flew over his own political heartland, the region that makes trade with Asia his government’s new imperative. The oil sands, potash, the diamond mines and the demands of the western premiers now occupy the national media’s attention more than ever before.

The latest census results show that for the first time, more Canadians now live west of Ontario than east of the province – 30.7 per cent compared to 30.6 per cent. Yukon had the biggest growth spurt at 11.6 per cent between 2001 and 2011, followed by Alberta at 10.8 per cent, nearly double the national average."

The rise of western Canada  (video)

As political centre shifts, Manning now fears ‘eastern alienation’

"Preston Manning is worried about eastern alienation. This, from the Alberta politician who created an entire political movement around the mantra, “the West wants in.”

“This will sound funny coming from me. I worry about eastern alienation,” Mr. Manning told The Globe.

It does sound odd – especially given his more than 20 year fight to have the West recognized as a political force in the country.

Mr. Manning, however, has come full circle with the West finally in after last May’s election that saw the Harper Conservatives win a big majority government. His success has now created this new concern.

“The different thing after this election is this shift in the political centre of gravity of the country,” observes Mr. Manning. “It’s now an alignment between Ontario and the West, not an alignment between Ontario and Quebec. And that’s got positive implications. It’s got things to worry about, too.”"

Be sure to read the whole thing. Manning is worried about Eastern alienation. That'll be a switch, but I'm afraid whatever alienation may arise will be from leftards. People in the east who are of the conservative mind-set are more mature than that, otherwise they would be liberals or dippers.

And while on the topic of Preston Manning, the last article delves into an upcoming conference in Ottawa sponsored by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. I got an email about this early this morning from the National Citizens Coalition. I won't be going, but it sounds like it could be as interesting as the recent CPAC gathering in Washington and you can be sure Sun TV will cover it extensively, while CBC and CTV and others will either ignore it or put as much negative spin on it as possible.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it sounds like the old Ontario and Quebec against the rest of us era is on its way out. What - a - relief!

But one more thing, as much as I admire Preston Manning, I think we put way too much money and time into trying to keep this country's great divide together. I wish them the best, but I really don't care if central and eastern Canada are in or out. Western Canada has waited for very nearly 150 years to be in, and as it turns out we don't need to be let in. We're not even grabbing power for ourselves.  Power is shifting naturally and the rest of ya are just gonna have to deal with it. Quebec, at least the old sovereigntist one, Atlantic Canada and maybe Ontario can kiss our asses for a 150 years, if they choose to pretend this isn't happening. I, for one, am very weary of politicians wasting their time and our tax dollars trying to keep this country together. If you want in, then put down your snobbish liberal/leftist pretensions and recognize that conservatism is the future and Alberta is the new Centre of the Universe. /rant

Conservatives' agenda bold – and fraught with political risk

"Simply put, the Prime Minister, who has never had the luxury of a majority government before, has a year and a half left to be bold before the ticking of the election clock drowns out everything else.

Here is what we are going to see in the coming weeks, after Parliament resumes Monday.

• a budget that balances the books in two or three years;

• departmental spending slashed by upward of 10 per cent in order to achieve that target;

• major reforms to the immigration system, with a big push to bring in skilled workers who speak English or French, at the expense of reuniting families;

• passage of the bill to create pooled retirement plans for workers who currently don’t have pensions.

[---]

"Most contentious of all, the government plans to raise the age for receiving the Old Age Security pension supplement, probably from 65 to 67.

“The need for it is quite clear,” Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said in an interview. The cost of the plan will triple over the next two decades if nothing is done.

“It’s a question of having it sustainable over the medium and long term,” Mr. Van Loan maintained.

Both Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien vetoed their finance ministers’ proposals to reform the OAS, fearing the political cost of meddling with pensions. Susan Eng of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons is already at battle stations."

I don't think the old establish liberal media in Toronto understands what is happening in Canada. Mulroney and Chretien are beasts from a bygone era. The populous hasn't just moved west, it has moved on. They, and the Ontario elites are dinosaurs. So, welcome aboard, Ontario, but leave your liberal and socialist elites behind, in the grave they themselves have dug.

Spy Versus Spy: Update

The man who betrayed Iran to the CIA

"Reza Kahlili, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who spied for the US, says ultimately Shahram Amiri, the nuclear scientist who has returned to Iran amid claims he was kidnapped, will be killed."

[---]

"His nom de guerre is Reza Kahlili and he was a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the powerful military unit responsible for protecting Iran’s clerical regime. He also says he was a CIA spy. And not even his wife knew about his double life."

[---]

"He was well aware of the price he would pay if caught. Traitors had a specific punishment: his wife and son would have been raped in front of him in a prison cell, Mr Kahlili’s eyes would then be gouged out and he would be hanged. But he was willing to take a chance because of disillusionment with the Islamic Revolution and what he described as its brutality towards critics."

[---]

"Mr Amiri returned home to Tehran on Thursday and was reunited with his wife and seven-year-old son at Imam Khomeini International Airport. Appearing haggard, he immediately gave a press conference insisting that he was a simple university researcher kidnapped by Saudi and American intelligence agents while on pilgrimage in Medina in June last year. He was tortured and then offered US$60 million (Dh220m) to betray his country and give an interview on CNN, he said.

But the Americans have a different version of events.

Unnamed sources told The New York Times that Mr Amiri, 32, was in fact a spy in Iran for several years, who passed on important information to the US about how the Malek e Ashtar University had become a covert operation for Iran’s suspected nuclear arms programme. He was offered a $5 million (Dh18m) package to defect but got cold feet. Only Mr Amiri knows the truth.

But Mr Kahlili offered a grim prediction of what will happen once the fanfare of his return has faded.

“He is going to be used as a propaganda tool by the Iranian government for as long as they can. But ultimately they are going to dispose of him. One scenario would be a fake suicide but I want you to know that they will ultimately kill him.”"

Inside the CIA's slush fund informants

"As news broke of Amiri’s appearance in Washington, D.C., and subsequent return to Tehran, a number of unidentified U.S. officials highlighted the fact that Amiri received $5 million from the United States and that this amount was indicative of the value of the information he gave intelligence officials.

“Payments like this don’t happen every day,”  one U.S. official told NBC News. “This information was original and stood up well. We don’t give $5 million away for nothing.”

Others, however, said the figure was pretty normal, suggesting that hype around the $5 million exchange was overblown."

[---] 

"Reidel said U.S. authorities likely leaked that Amiri had received $5 million in order to rebut his claims he had been abducted and to counteract Iranian spin on the event."

[---]

"When he returned to Tehran on Thursday morning, Amiri told local media he had been kidnapped and tortured by U.S. and Israeli authorities, and that the CIA had offered him $50 million to stay in the United States, which he said he turned down.


Several U.S. officials told NBC News, however, that Amiri had been in contact with his family and that they may have felt threatened by the Iranian government, which knew of this contact."

Iranian Scientist's Propaganda Value Booms - For Now

"The unnamed Washington sources revealed that the scientist-turned-spy sneaked out secrets that eventually appeared in a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear capabilities, which predicted the regime would be able to build a bomb between 2010 and 2015. They also stated that Amiri described in detail how the college where he taught -- Malek Ashtar University outside Tehran, which has previously been linked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard -- became the headquarters of the regime's atomic program.

These intelligence releases are designed to undermine allegations Amiri has made since he arrived home Thursday. In a succession of interviews with Iranian media, the academic claimed he was snatched at gunpoint by American agents while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June 2009 and whisked away to the U.S., where he was tortured and ordered to reveal details of Iran's nuclear push. He claims he said nothing despite being offered $50 million and a new home in Europe by the CIA."

[---]

"But while Amiri may look like the regime's darling at the moment, that could soon change. "Maybe in a few months time, when his propaganda value has been depleted, he will be in for a surprise," Khosrokhavar says. "Perhaps he will die in a tragic car accident. These things happen in Iran.""

Iran defector could spend the rest of his life in fear

"U.S. officials countered aggressively, releasing glints of revealing information intended to chip away at Amiri's credibility.

They have called Amiri's story a "fairy tale" and said the scientist was paid $5 million to provide the CIA with information about its suspected nuclear weapons program. They have said Amiri, who ran a radiation detection program in Iran, provided the CIA with significant information and had stayed here for months of his own free will.

All of this will make it harder for Amiri to convince Iranian intelligence officials of his claims that he was the victim of a forced rendition — the intelligence phrasing for a stealthy abduction.

How did he manage to escape from the CIA and make a series of videos questioning his treatment, and then make his way to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, former U.S. officials said, if he was being held captive? Why would the U.S. allow him to get on a commercial flight back to Iran if the CIA didn't want him to leave?"

[---]

"Even Iran's foreign minister reportedly told the BBC somewhat skeptically that "we first have to see what has happened in these two years and then we will determine if he's a hero or not."

Eventually, former CIA officials said, Amiri's value in the propaganda war will wane and he will then face hard questions while under some form of house arrest. Amiri won't have a lot of room to maneuver because his wife and young son are in Iran, a leverage point U.S. officials say that the Iranians used to lure him back home.

"He will be in huge trouble, and he will be in confinement, of some form, for a very long time," said Charles S. Faddis, who headed the weapons of mass destruction unit at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center until he retired in May 2008. "I assume they are going to be a little restrained for public relation reasons because this thing has become such a high-profile incident."

[---]

"Former CIA officials pointed to the case of Vitaly Yurchenko, a Soviet KGB agent who defected to the U.S. in 1985 only to re-defect back to the Soviet Union three months later.

Like Amiri, Yurchenko also claimed he had been drugged by his CIA "torturers." Yurchenko managed to escape to the Soviet Embassy in Washington. He, too, held a crowded news conference, and, again like Amiri, claimed the CIA tried to pay him to stay — in his cases, $1 million.

Yurchenko soon became yesterday's news.

"He'll fade away like Yurchenko," said Joseph Wippl, a former senior CIA officer. "He'll be alive but there will be times where he won't be sure it was such a good idea.""

U.S. Says Scientist Aided C.I.A While Still In Iran

"While still in Iran, he was also one of the sources for a much-disputed National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s suspected weapons program, published in 2007, the officials said. For several years, Mr. Amiri provided what one official described as “significant, original” information about secret aspects of his country’s nuclear program, according to the Americans.

This account by the Americans, some of whom are apparently trying to discredit Mr. Amiri’s tale of having been kidnapped by the C.I.A., provides the latest twist in one of strangest tales of the nuclear era. It also provides the first hint of how the United States acquired intelligence from Iranian scientists, besides its previously reported penetrations of Iranian computer systems."

[---]

"American officials, clearly embarrassed that he had left a program that promised him a new identity and benefits amounting to about $5 million, said his accusations that he had been kidnapped and drugged were manufactured, and an effort to survive what will almost certainly be a grilling by the Iranian authorities.

 “His safety depends on him sticking to that fairy tale about pressure and torture,” insisted one of the American officials, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified while discussing a classified operation to attract Iranian scientists. “His challenge is to try to convince the Iranian security forces that he never cooperated with the United States.”

[---]

On Thursday, even as Mr. Amiri was publicly greeted at home by his 7-year-old son and held a news conference, Iran’s foreign minister gave the first official hints of Iranian doubts about his story. “We first have to see what has happened in these two years and then we will determine if he’s a hero or not,” the BBC quoted the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, as saying to a French news agency. “Iran must determine if his claims about being kidnapped were correct or not.”

After more than a year of denying any knowledge of Mr. Amiri while he was living undercover in Tucson and then briefly in Virginia, American officials in recent days have been surprisingly willing to describe their actions in the case. That may be in part to fend off charges that the handling of the Amiri case was badly bungled."

The Washington Post first reported that Mr. Amiri had been given $5 million, which officials described Thursday as standard for someone who had provided essential information. But the money would have been paid over an extended period, the officials said, and Mr. Amiri was not able to take it with him because American sanctions prohibited financial transfers to Iran.

It is unclear how Mr. Amiri’s information fed into the 2007 intelligence estimate. That document contended that Iran halted its design work on a nuclear weapon in 2003. A new national intelligence estimate, which has been repeatedly delayed this year, is likely to back away from some of the conclusions in the earlier document. For example, American intelligence officials now believe the design work on a weapon was resumed and continues to this day, though likely at a slower pace than earlier in the decade."

[---]

"Administration officials conceded that Mr. Amiri’s decision to come out of hiding and return to Iran was both a large embarrassment and a possible disincentive to future defections.

But the incident is also an embarrassment for Iran. Analysts said that even if he is publicly greeted as a hero, Mr. Amiri will probably be viewed with suspicion by the Iranian government.

After Mr. Amiri arrived in Tehran, he added details to his claims that he had been abducted by the C.I.A. and Saudi intelligence officers on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. He said that he had no connection with Iran’s nuclear program and that he was the victim of an American conspiracy to wage “psychological warfare” against Iran."

[---]

"Mr. Amiri refused to describe how, if he was under armed guard, he had been able to release video messages in which he said that he had been kidnapped. He also did not answer questions about how he had eventually escaped detention."

CIA says it moved Iranian scientist, 2nd informant to US over safety concerns

"The Iranian scientist who returned to his homeland this week was one of two CIA informants whisked out of Iran last year by the agency amid concerns that the Tehran government had discovered they were providing secrets to the United States, current and former U.S. officials said.

Before his abrupt departure for Iran, Shahram Amiri was among half a dozen sources who had provided information to the CIA from inside Iran's nuclear program and were subsequently resettled in the United States, officials said. All were given reward packages -- including the $5 million set aside for Amiri -- administered by financial firms outside the CIA's control."

[---]

"Amiri has alleged that he was drugged and abducted by the CIA before being brought to the United States and was subjected to coercive interrogations on Iran's nuclear program. U.S. officials have adamantly denied Amiri's assertions, saying he defected voluntarily and is concocting stories to enable his return to a country that he betrayed."

[---]

"The CIA is expected to conduct a damage assessment to determine whether any sources or methods were compromised by Amiri's return. "They have to go over everything he did provide and put a big caveat on it," said a former high-ranking CIA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case.

If Amiri's information was being used in a widely anticipated assessment of Iran's nuclear weapons plans that has already missed several deadlines, the assessment could again be delayed, officials said."

Yup. Just like the old days.