IHR News and Comment

A free public service of the Institute for Historical Review

October 31, 2007
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Weber To Appear Thursday on Portland Radio Show
http://www.larslars o n.com/

Mark Weber is scheduled to appear on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 1, at 1:30 p.m. on the Lars Larson show, a popular program broadcast on KXL, AM 750, a major talk radio station in Portland, Oregon. The IHR director was asked to appear in connection with his address the next day in Eugene about the power and impact of the pro-Israel lobby. Larson is a fervent supporter of Israel.

IHR Director to Address Meeting in Eugene on Friday
http://www.ihr. org/webpics/ Pacifica_ Foru m_Nov2_2007_ .pdf

IHR director Mark Weber will be speaking on “The Israel Lobby: How Powerful is it?,” at a meeting of the Pacifica Forum in Eugene, Oregon. The event is set for Friday evening, November 2, at 7:00 p.m., at McKenzie Hall, Room 129, near East Eleventh Avenue and Kincaid Street, at the University of Oregon. The meeting, organized by the Pacifica Forum discussion group, is open to the public. Admission is free.

When Reel Tales Rewrite Real History; Rethinking World War II
Leon Hadar
http://www.antiwar. com/hadar/ ? articleid=11832

In his new revisionist study, No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945, renowned British historian Norman Davies challenges the “very superficial and Americanocentric view” of World War II reflected in the popular war histories. For instance, the American author Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and American director Steven Spielberg’s movie Saving Private Ryan show World War II as a struggle between freedom, represented by the Anglo-American powers, and the forces of fascism and totalitarianism that climaxed with the Normandy invasion.

Cost of ‘War on Terror’ Could Rise to $2.4 Trillion
AFP
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20 071024/wl_afp/ usiraqafghanista ncosts

The total cost, including debt servicing, of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach 2.4 trillion dollars by 2017, a report by the Congressional Budget Office found Wednesday. The report, by the body which provides non-partisan budget analysis for Congress, said higher estimates for spending for the wars could top out at 1.7 trillion dollars by the end of the next ten year period. Under the most intense scenarios of US military activity, a further 705 billion dollars could be added to the cost by interest payments, assuming the wars continue to be largely financed by government borrowing, the report said.

‘Closer to Reality’: VP’s Plan for Iran Attack Starts With Israeli Strike
Der Spiegel (Germany)
http://www.spiegel. de/international /w orld/0,1518, 513572,00. html

US Vice President Dick Cheney — the power behind the throne, the eminence grise, the man with the (very) occasional grandfatherly smile — is notorious for his propensity for secretiveness and behind-the-scenes manipulation. He’s capable of anything, say friends as well as enemies … In the scenario concocted by Cheney’s strategists, Washington’s first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran’s uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran. This information was leaked by an official close to the vice president.

US Bunker-Buster Request Prompts Iran Attack Fears
Reuters
http://www.reuters. com/article/ idUSN24169 73620071024

Some Democratic lawmakers questioned on Wednesday whether a new Bush administration request for $88 million to fit “bunker-busting” bombs to B-2 stealth bombers was part of preparations for an attack on Iran. The proposal was included as part of a nearly $200 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Bush administration sent to Capitol Hill on Monday. The request included $87.8 million for further development of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a conventional bomb designed to destroy hardened or deeply buried targets.

Attack Iran and You Attack Russia: Closer Moscow-Tehran Ties
Pepe Escobar — Asia Times
http://www.atimes. com/atimes/ Middle_Eas t/IJ26Ak06.html

The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration’ s relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear strike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia … After the Caspian summit, Iran and Russia are officially entangled in a strategic partnership. World War III, for them, is definitely not on the cards.

No Evidence Iran Building Nuclear Weapons, Says UN Official
The Associated Press
http://www.dailyher ald.com/story/ ?id=66116&src=110

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Sunday he had no evidence Iran was working actively to build nuclear weapons and expressed concern that escalating rhetoric from the U.S. could bring disaster. “We have information that there has been maybe some studies about possible weaponization, ” said Mohamed ElBaradei, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency … “But have we seen Iran having the nuclear material that can readily be used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No.”

One in Ten US High Schools Are ‘Dropout Factories’
Associated Press
http://apnews. myway.com/ article/200710 29/D8SJ435G0. html

It’s a nickname no principal could be proud of: “Dropout Factory,” a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That description fits more than one in 10 high schools across America … There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That’s 12 percent of all such schools, about the same level as a decade ago.

Putin Honors Stalin Victims 70 Years After Terror
Reuters
http://www.reuters. com/article/ w orldNews/idUSL30624 75120071030

Russian President Vladimir Putin paid his respects on Tuesday to millions of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and called for the country to unite to prevent a repeat of its tragic past. Putin, a former KGB spy, marked Russia’s annual day of remembrance for the victims of Stalin’s purges with a visit to Butovo, a military training ground near Moscow where tens of thousands of people were executed by firing squads. Millions of people were executed under Stalin and many more perished from abuse and disease in a vast network of prison camps, known as the Gulags.

Ukraine Reburies Stalin’s Victims
BBC News
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/europe/ 7065913.stm

Ukrainian authorities have reburied near the capital, Kiev, the bodies of some 2,000 people killed by the Soviet secret police more than 60 years ago. Relatives of the victims watched as red coffins were lowered into graves and blessed by a priest at the ceremony. The bodies, including 474 Poles, were dug up this year in Bykovnya, where tens of thousands are thought to have been dumped during the 1930s and 1940s. Under Communist rule, the existence of the mass graves in Ukraine was denied.

Israel Military Training Centers for US Teen Jews
Chris Hedges — Truthdig
http://www.truthdig .com/report/ ite m/20071001_israels_ toy_soldiers/

… If you are an American Jew and you join hundreds of teenagers from Europe and Mexico for an eight-week training course run by the Israel Defense Forces, you can post your picture wearing an Israeli army uniform and holding an automatic weapon on MySpace. The Marva program, part summer camp part indoctrination … allows participants, who must be Jewish and between the ages of 18 and 28, to fire weapons, live in military barracks in the Negev desert and saunter around in an Israeli military uniform saluting and taking long hikes with military packs. The Youth and Education Corps of the Israel Defense Forces run four 120-strong training sessions a year.

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