Posts Tagged ‘british’

WASHINGTON — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed a British newspaper report that said Iran is working on a trigger for a nuclear bomb as a “fabrication,” in an interview with US television released Sunday. Ahmadinejad waved away a copy of the purported document when presented it by ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer during a sit-down interview, according to excerpts released ahead of its scheduled airing Monday. “No, I don’t want to see this kind of document. These are some fabricated papers issued by the American government,” he says through a translator, in his first public remarks on the matter. Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman has previously dismissed the claim as a “scenario” hatched by Western powers. The British newspaper the Times reported last week that foreign intelligence agencies dated the documents to early 2007 — four years after US agencies had assessed Iran had suspended efforts to produce nuclear weapons.

The US State Department said Tuesday it would investigate the report, adding the “revelation” fueled concerns about Iranian intentions. It said the documents detailed a plan to test whether the device works — without leaving traces of uranium that the outside world could detect. Asked on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday about Ahmadinejad’s assertion that the documents were a US fabrication, senior White House David Axelrod dismissed the talk as “nonsense.” “Of course that’s nonsense. Listen, nobody has any illusions about what the intent of the Iranian government is,” Axelrod said. “And we’ve given them an opportunity to prove otherwise by allowing them to ship their nuclear material out to be reprocessed for peaceful use. And they have passed on that deal so far. And the international community is going to have to deal with that if they don’t change their minds.” Axelrod said Tehran would face “consequences” if it did not change direction, with time is running out ahead of a year-end deadline for Iran to seize the US offer of diplomatic engagement for resolving nuclear and other issues. Read the rest of this entry »

An Army officer has said it is not enough for the public to support UK troops in Afghanistan – they must also back the “cause” they are fighting for. Capt Andrew Tiernan told the BBC that “the soldiers support the cause” and discussion in Britain of abandoning the mission did not help them. He said he had chosen to speak out because he was “frustrated with the negative reporting” of the conflict. Capt Tiernan also said Afghan policemen had saved the lives of his men. Last week, five British soldiers were shot dead by a police recruit, but despite this Capt Tiernan said it would be “foolish” not to work closely with local forces. “If we were just there on our own we would be far less effective,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“For instance, the Afghan national policemen who I work with have saved the lives of my men by finding improvised explosive devices in the ground. “The Afghan desert to me looks pretty similar, but to the policemen that are from those areas a little bit of disturbed earth is telling to them.” ‘Ink spot approach’ The officer, from the Grenadier Guards, is about to embark on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He said that while “the tragic events of last week need to be reported… lots of the talk subsequently about a wholesale pullout from Afghanistan does not support the soldiers who are out there risking their lives”.

“Often we hear people say, ‘Yes, we support the soldiers, but we don’t support the cause,’” he said. “Well, the soldiers support the cause, so if you really want to support the soldiers then we too as a public should support the cause in Afghanistan.” A BBC poll on Sunday found that 64% of Britons believe the war is “unwinnable”, up from 58% in July. The head of the armed forces Sir Jock Stirrup also told the BBC that public was not convinced that victory was “doable”. But Capt Tiernan said British troops were making progress, and in his case, his company was creating a “gated community” in one part of Helmand province to protect local people from insurgents. “A classic counter-insurgency campaign will talk about the ‘ink spot approach’. That means that you secure an area.. and because you then demonstrate to the population how life is better… that attracts people into that area and the ink spot can spread.

“So in my area we opened up a school two weeks ago which is a huge thing for local people.” Capt Tiernan said his company was implementing the strategy of “embedded partnering” with Afghan forces as proposed in a directive by US commander Gen Stanley McChrystal. As a result, British soldiers were “completely working hand-in-hand” with local troops and police, “living with them, planning with them, operating with them”. “His directive is one of those rare documents that is so strikingly correct that everyone who reads it from the lowest ground commander to the most senior military commander understands it worth,” Capt Tiernan added. Source

The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman must not prevent co-operation between the two nations, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan said. Brigadier James Cowan, who heads up 11 Light Brigade, said partnering with the Afghan army and police was the “only way forward” and the incident showed “far from not doing it, we should be doing more of it”. Speaking during his first visit to newly-arrived troops in one of the most dangerous areas of Helmand, Brig Cowan said it was a winnable war and he believed the military had the support of the British public. Soldiers, mainly from 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, only arrived in Babaji a few weeks ago. The region was at the centre of the summer’s Panther’s Claw operation when 10 British soldiers were killed trying to clear the area of Taliban forces. Brig Cowan, who took over in Helmand province on October 10, said controlling principal areas like Babaji was crucial if British troops were to succeed. Asked if it was a winnable war, he said: “I absolutely think that it’s a war that’s winnable and in fact we are winning it.

“Because although those sad losses have happened we are actually taking the fight to the enemy and whatever losses they may have inflicted on us I can assure you we’ve inflicted a lot more on them.” But he added: “It’s not about defeating the enemy, it’s about winning the people. This is the area that was taken during operation Panther’s Claw. The people are sick of the Taliban. What they want is peace and security and they welcome our presence.” On Tuesday five soldiers – three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police – died when one of the policemen they had been training opened fire on them in a secure compound. Brig Cowan said: “We’re going to find out what happened with the individual. We have a very good relationship here with the Afghan National Army, I’m here today with my friend who commands the local battalion.” Source

Gordon Brown has told Afghan President Hamid Karzai he will not put UK troops “in harm’s way for a government that does not stand up against corruption”. The UK prime minister said the Afghan government had become a “by-word for corruption” and President Karzai had to take action against it. In a speech, Mr Brown said the UK “cannot, must not and will not walk away” from its mission in Afghanistan. But he said continued coalition support would depend on the delivery of reform. He called for the creation of anti-corruption commission to investigate abuses, warning President Karzai that “cronies and warlords should have no place in the future of Afghanistan”. Mr Brown said he hoped Mr Karzai would use his inauguration speech on 19 November to set out detailed plans to fight corruption, build up his security forces and improve the governance of his country.

And he set out a series of tests he said President Karzai’s government had to pass to ensure continued international backing. “International support depends on the scale of his ambition and the degree of his achievement in five key areas: security, governance, reconciliation, economic development and engagement with its neighbours,” said Mr Brown. “If, with our help, the new government of Afghanistan meets these five tests, it will have fulfilled an essential contract with its own people. And it will have earned the continuing support of the international community, despite the continuing sacrifice. “If the government fails to meet these five tests, it will have not only failed its own people, it will have forfeited its right to international support.”

LONDON — The UN nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence that it has experimented with highly advanced nuclear warhead designs, a British newspaper reported Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes Iranian scientists may have tested components of the sophisticated technology, known as a “two-point implosion” device, the Guardian reported. This technology — whose existence is secret in the United States and Britain — would allow for the production of smaller and simpler warheads and reduce the diameter of a warhead and make it easier to put on a missile, it said. The Guardian cited previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the IAEA, drawn in part from reports submitted by western intelligence agencies, and presented to Iran for response. An unnamed European advisor on nuclear issues told the newspaper: “It is breathtaking that Iran could be working on this sort of material.” Western powers have long feared that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, something it denies. Iran and western powers are currently engaged in talks over how to procure nuclear fuel for an Iranian research reactor. Under a UN-brokered proposal Iran would send its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into fuel for the reactor. Iran says it would rather buy the fuel directly.  Source