Before our readers get their feathers in a ruffle, that's a tongue-in-cheek headline up there.

Still, an item from Persia House, the excellent Iran-watching cell at Booz Allen Hamilton, caught our eye. They report that this weekend, Iran will hold the first summit of "Palestinian Combatant Groups." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to attend the confab, according to Farsi-language media translated by Persia House. Guests include Khaled Meshal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas' political wing, as well as Ramadan Abdullah, head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also known as PIJ.

The event appears to Persia House analysts, and to us as well, as an attempt by Iran to show allies and adversaries alike that Iran's recent internal turmoil hasn't curbed its ability to flex its muscles in the Middle East.

"The decision to hold a summit of 'Palestinian Combatant Groups' in Tehran represents a public diplomacy effort to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic’s support of the Palestinian resistance remains steadfast despite Iran’s post-election turmoil," Persia House's analysts write. "Tehran and the Palestinian resistance groups likely will leverage the high-profile summit to issue stern anti-Israeli and US pronouncements, as well as pledge strengthened political and military cooperation."

This comes on the heels of a series of Middle East visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Undersecretary of State William Burns and others, aimed at solidifying a Sunni Arab bulwark against Iran, and trying to draw Syria away from its alliance with Tehran.

But Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashir Assad held a joint news conference on Thursday and told the United States, in some any words, to take a hike with its ideas.

The enemy, as they say, gets a vote.

For as long as we here at N&S can remember, the US Embassy in London--with whom the United States has a "special relationship," it is said--has been at Grovesnor Square in downtown Mayfair.

But the 1960s-era building is getting old and crowded, and the U.S. State Department is moving to new turf, both physically and stylistically.

This artists' rendering is a conception of what the new US Embassy in London will look like when it opens around 2017.

The State Department announced on Tuesday that the Philadelphia firm KieranTimberlake has won a hard-fought design competition for the new Embassy, which is expected to cost about $500 million.

For those of us who have spent a fair bit of time in US embassies overseas, one thing stands out: this one is a big departure from the forbidding, fortress-like structures that one can see in many a foreign capital, such as Baghdad; Amman, Jordan; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those designs, the product of embassy attacks in the 1980s, were often a major turn-off, U.S. image-wise, in the host country.

This one departs from the "Standard Embassy Design," incorporating such security feartures as the partial moat (very British!) and setbacks from the road. It will be built on the south bank of the Thames River. Oh, and it's supposed to be energy efficient, too.

Iran has just sent a letter to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, repeating its request for fuel to run a research reactor in Tehran that produces nuclear isotopes for medical purposes, according to U.S. and European officials.

They are reading the letter as Iran's latest, and perhaps final, rejection of an offer the United States and five other countries made last October to provide the fuel by taking low-enriched uranium out of Iran and enriching it for use in the research reactor. (The plan would have significantly reduced Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile available for enriching into weapons-grade fissile material).

News of Iran's letter comes a day after the IAEA said for the first time in a report that it suspects Iran may be trying to develop a nuclear warhead that could fit inside the nose-cone of a ballistic missile.

"We understand that Iran has recently sent a letter to the IAEA that simply repeats its request from last year for assistance to acquire fuel - a request the IAEA has responded appropriately to with its offer last October," National Security Council spokesman Michael Hammer said.

"We see nothing new, and it would appear to reiterate Iran's rejection of the IAEA's proposal. Coupled with the IAEA's latest report on Iran's nuclear program, this reinforces why our concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions are deepening," Hammer said.

N&S doesn't have the full text of the Iranian letter yet, but stay tuned.

One line of thought here is that Iran may be setting the stage for a deeper confrontation with the IAEA. Under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the international community, through the IAEA, is supposed to help non-nuclear weapons states with atomic energy for peaceful purposes, such as nuclear medicine. Is Iran getting ready to charge that the IAEA is abdicating its responsibilities and to further curb cooperation with the agency and its inspectors? 

Hard to believe this guy once sat behind First Lady Laura Bush during the State of the Union address.

Iraqi politician and invasion booster Ahmed Chalabi and the United States are locked in an increasingly bitter war of words and policies.

Chalabi plays a leading role on Iraq's Justice and Accountability Commission, which has been weeding out suspected Baathists - members of Saddam's Hussein's outlawed Baath party - from participating in the March 7 election. Critics and Iraq's Sunni politicians, say the effort is politicized, designed to keep Sunnis out of power and strengthen the Shiite majority's hold on Iraq's government. The Obama administration, eager to see political reconciliation in Iraq, appears to sympathize with that view.

Chalabi; top aide Entifadh Qanbar; and Ali Faisal al-Lami, who heads the commission, have been sending daily email broadsides, denouncing what they say is U.S. interference in Iraq's election. (A bit ironic, since it was U.S. "interference" in Iraq with hundreds of thousands of troops that ended Chalabi's multi-decade exile from Iraq and helped him get where he is now).

Then on Tuesday, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told a Washington audience something that McClatchy and others have reported. Chalabi and al-Lami "clearly are influenced by Iran," he said. "We have direct intelligence that tells us that."

Al-Lami, in a statement today, said he was "surprised and dismayed" at Odierno's "inappropriate diatribe."  

"The pique and anger of the US officials including General Odierno’s with regard to their failure to re-introduce Baathists into the Iraqi political process is not the responsibility of the" commission, he wrote. "The efforts of intimidating the JAC are counterproductive." (The statement didn't mention the substance of Odierno's comments about the two men's ties to Iran).

Fast forward to this afternoon, where US ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill briefed the press. He seconded Odierno's comments and expanded on them, noting that Chalabi originally was appointed to a De-Baathifcation Commission by then-U.S. consul Paul Bremer. That panel went out of business two year ago, but Chalabi, unlike the other members, stayed on "in a new committee, to which he was never named," Hill said.

"I don't need to relate to you or anyone else here the fact that this is a gentlemen who has been challenged over the years to be seen as a straightforward individual," Hill added. Ouch. The U.S. government hasn't cut off all contact with Chalabi, but has "kind of moved on," he said. Indeed.

 

 

 

So what is the first thing you say when the highest-ranking military officer from your closest allied nation comes for a visit, particularly when you are situated in the Middle East and your ally provides you $1 billion in aid annually, including $360 million for military training? Thanks for the money and training? Let’s talk about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What are you doing about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? No, such introductions are simply too heavy between friends, or so it turns out. No, when the leader is King Abdullah II of Jordan and the visitor is Adm. Mike Mullen of the United States, the best introduction to a visit is: “I saw you on the Daily Show, and it was great.” Or so I discovered today while traveling with the chairman here.

Sources in the room tell N&S that the king went on to explain that he often watches the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to measure the pulse of American sentiment on world affairs. And that was how today’s meeting began. The chairman apparently thanked the king for his sentiments and explained that he hadn’t seen his segment on the show himself. (Why would, I suppose, since he was there.) But if you would like to see what the king of Jordan was talking about, click here.

Greetings from Amman, Jordan where I am traveling with Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his week-long sweep through the region. The United States enjoys an exceptionally close relationship with Jordan. But the Dec. 30 bombing in Khost, Afghanistan, which killed seven CIA agents and a Jordanian official (in addition to the Jordanian double agent/suicide bomber) has kicked off a political maelstrom that culminated with the arrest of two commentators on charges that include “incitement to topple the government.” And it renewed a debate here about how much of a threat terrorism is to Jordan.

The death of the Jordanian official alongside the CIA exposed the extent of Jordan's military’s involvement in the war. Because the laws restrict many, including journalists, from critcizing the government, Royal Kingdom or military, publicly or privately, people here instead quietly seethe over their government’s ties with the CIA. The public knew and could embrace that Jordan had a field hospital in Afghanistan but the idea of troops working alongside the always reviled CIA was too much for many here. Jordanians, they argued, should not be spying or dying for a war that is not theirs to fight.

Two weeks after the bombing, 65 prominent scholars and thinkers signed a petition called “This is not our War” in which they declared Jordan’s role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “humiliating.” And around this time, Muwaffaq Mahadin and Sufyan al-Tell made separate media appearances and questioned why Jordan was in Afghanistan. According to Reuters, Mahadin told al-Jazeera that Jordan had “unfortunately turned to capitalizing on the war on terror.” A group of retired Army field officers sued the two commentators. And shortly afterward, a military court charged them with five counts under sedition and defamation laws, including charges of trying to topple the government. Together, the charges amounted to a possible fifteen-year sentence.

The arrests were problematic. King Abdullah II has repeatedly called for a free and open press, despite the laws on the books. And the arrests seemed more about politics and intimidation than law and order. As Mullen arrived here, Mahadin and al-Tell were released (The two events are not connected.) Their lawyer predicted the issue would disappear.

But here the tensions still fester. Mullen heard an earful from one journalist during his press conference here about his objections to Jordan’s serving in Afghanistan. That is, while the United States mourns the loss of some of its best intelligence officers on the region, the bombings in Khost kicked off a very fundamental debate about what the impact of the war of terror really has on Jordan.  And during our brief visit here, it seems the debate is not over yet.

      Even as the Obama administration calls for stronger UN sanctions against Iran, especially its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Treasury Department today announced new steps aimed at the IRGC. Specifically, Treas said in a press release that it is invoking existing U.S. sanctions against an IRGC general and four companies affiliated with the Guard's engineering and construction arm, the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.

Some background: the IRGC was created to be guardians of Iran's Islamic revolution shortly after the fall of the Shah in 1979. Iran's new leaders felt they couldn't trust the regular armed forces, which had been loyal to the shah. But in the years since, and especially in the last decade or so, the IRGC, known in Farsi as the Pasdaran, has become something of a state-within-a-state, with increasing control over key sectors or the economy. Through companies it controls, the IRGC has built Tehran's new international airport, the city's subway system, ports on Iran's coast and much else.

In 2006 alone, Khatam al-Anbiya secured $7 billion worth of contracts in the oil, gas and transportation sectors, according to the U.S. government.

Back in October 2007, Treasury designated Khatam al-Anbiya for its alleged activities regarding weapons proliferation under Executive Order 13382. That means transactions between U.S. persons (individuals and companies) and the Iranian firm are banned, and any assets under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.

Today's action, according to Treasury, goes further, targeting Khatam al-Anbiya's commander, identified as IRGC General Rostam Qasemi, and four other firms allegedly owned or controlled by the company. They were named as the Fater Engineering Institute; Imensazen Consultant Engineers Instititute; Makin Institute; and Rahab Institute.

In the Treasury statement, Undersecretary of Treasury Stuart Levey, the department's sanctions guru, said: "As the IRGC consolidates control over broad swaths of the Iranian economy, displacing ordinary Iranian businessmen in favor of a select group of insiders, it is hiding behind companies like Khatam al-Anbiya and its affiliates to maintain vital ties to the outside world. ...  Today's action exposing Khatam al-Anbiya subsidiaries will help firms worldwide avoid business that ultimately benefits the IRGC and its dangerous activities."

 Expect more attempts to target the IRGC in coming weeks. One prominent Iran-watcher told us recently that Levey, one of the few top Treasury officials carried over from the Bush administration, has been a "caged tiger" for the first year of the Obama presidency. He's about to be unleashed, this person said.

PS: According to Iran Watch, an effort run by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, Khatam al-Anbiya was also designated for its alleged proliferation-related activities by the European Union in June 2008.

For the last several weeks, the U.S. military has been signaling to anyone who will listen that it is planning an offensive in Marjah,  a town in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province said to the a nexus of the nation’s opium production. It is also a hot bed of Taliban activity. And the hope is that if the Marines can flush the Taliban out and set the conditions for the Afghan government forces to retake the town, the  government will demonstrate to its populace its ability to push out the Taliban from its towns. You can read our coverage of the upcoming offensive here and here.

It turns out the military is signaling the upcoming offensive to members of Congress as well, specifically those looking to visiting Afghanistan. These are often referred to as CODELs, short for congressional delegations.

These visits are common (there are 535 potential visitors after all) and demand tremendous resources of those on the ground – commanders’ time, the time of the troops and helicopters to take them from base to base quickly. Most soldiers don’t enjoy it, frankly. They complain they spend their time answering questions that congress members could have learned through Google. At times, they feel like political props forced to pose in scores of photos that eventually make their way onto campaign literature and the like.

While CODELs are often eager to visit Afghanistan, they are just as eager to leave. As such, they demand helicopters in a war zone where transportation is at a premium. Their need for travel usually supersedes everyone else’s. In light of that, the U.S. military has quietly asked the CODELs to delay their trips until after the operation in Marjah as they want to focus the use of helicopters on the war, not the Hill.

That the military had to ask the CODELs to delay their trip speaks to the helicopter shortage in Afghanistan and the tremendous amount of effort CODELs demand of commanders on the ground.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the first Vietnam veteran elected to the House of Representatives and an outspoken critic of the Iraq died Monday of complications of gallbladder surgery, a spokesman for the lawmaker told the Associated Press.

He was 77.

Murtha was an active duty Marine until 1955 and remained a reservist through the Vietnam War. Indeed, when he was elected to the House in 1974, he was a reservist officer.

Although he voted to authorize the Bush administration to use force in Iraq, by 2004, he soon questioned the reasons for the war, saying by 2005 that he no longer believed U.S. troops could do more there. 

He saved his harshest for the Marines involved in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The Marines first said they were reacting to an attack; Murtha dismissed their accusations. 

“There was no fire fight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that's what the report is going to tell,” Murtha said in 2006.

Here is what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had to say about Murtha’s passing.

Secretary Gates Statement on Death of Rep. Murtha:
 
I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Jack Murtha. America has lost a true patriot who served his country faithfully first in uniform as a decorated combat Marine, and then as an elected representative.
 
I've known Jack and worked with him for more than two decades, starting back in the Reagan administration when I was at CIA. I will always remember and be grateful for Congressman Murtha's personal efforts on behalf of the Afghan resistance fighting the Soviets - efforts that helped bring about the end of the Cold War.
 
In our dealings over the years, Jack and I did not always agree, but I always respected his candor, and knew that he cared deeply about the men and women of America's military and intelligence community. My condolences to Joyce and the rest of the Murtha family.

And from Mike Mullen:
I was deeply saddened to learn today of the passing of Rep. John Murtha. The men and women of the Armed Forces join me in extending to his friends and family our deepest regret and our heartfelt condolences.
 
John Murtha will likely be remembered as a lot of things to a lot of people: Husband, father, congressman, Chairman. But to those of us in uniform, he will be remembered most as a veteran -- as one of us. There wasn’t a single exchange I ever had with him -- in his office, in the hearing room, or even on the phone -- where he didn’t ask me how the troops were doing.
 
Oftentimes, he already knew the answer. So frequent were his visits to the war zone, to stateside bases and to military hospitals that he knew firsthand the challenges our troops and their families face every day. From health care to weapons procurement, from shipbuilding to pay and benefits, no one understood the needs of our modern military better than he did. And no one ever made a stronger case for those needs than Chairman Murtha.
 
Combining his own combat experience as a Marine in the Vietnam War with his characteristically blunt style, John Murtha led the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense with an ardor almost of another time, and a dedication -- thankfully -- very much for and of our time. This man knew war up close and personal.
 
That we remain the greatest military in the history of world is testament in no small part to his vigilance and stewardship.
 
In him, our troops and their families had no greater champion. For him, we will most certainly all grieve.

The United States and European Union issued a joint warning to Iran today, In advance of widespread anti-government protests (and counter-protests) expected in Tehran on February 11, the anniversary of the fall of the Shah's regime in 1979.

The statement, issued from the White House, says that the US and EU "condemn the continuing human rights violations in Iran since the June 12 election." It goes on to say, "We are particularly concerned by the potential for further violence and repression during the coming days" around the February 11 anniversary.

The statement, while a bit unusual, sticks to the Obama administration's script so far in dealing with the surprisingly robust Iranian opposition movement. The script:  criticize the Iranian government's human rights record; invoke international human rights laws and norms, but don't explicitly back the protesters or suggest any U.S. aid will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned for an interesting day in Iran on Thursday. Meanwhile, here's the full text of the statement.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

____________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 8, 2010

JOINT STATEMENT

 BY THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE UNITED STATES

CALLING ON THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT

 TO FULFIL ITS HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS

 

The United States and the European Union condemn the continuing human rights violations in Iran since the June 12 election. The large scale detentions and mass trials, the threatened execution of protestors, the intimidation of family members of those detained and the continuing denial to its citizens of the right to peaceful expression are contrary to human rights norms.

Our concerns are based on our commitment to universal respect for human rights. We are particularly concerned by the potential for further violence and repression during the coming days, especially around the anniversary of the Islamic Republic's founding on 11 February. We call on the Government of Iran to live up to its international human rights obligations, to end its abuses against its own people, to hold accountable those who have committed the abuses and to release those who are exercising their rights.