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ABC News
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May 23, 07 5:00 AM CDT
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President Bush has secretly approved a CIA "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, ABC reports. Sources tell ABC the covert mission deploys propaganda, misinformation, and financial manipulation. A retired senior CIA official says economic pressure may be the most effective means to curb Iran's nuclear buildup.
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Washington Post
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May 22, 07 11:20 AM CDT
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The Iranian government has charged an Iranian-American scholar already in custody in Tehran with working for "the soft-toppling of the country." Haleh Esfandiari, 67, was arrested May 8 after being under house arrest since January. The accusations come just days before American and Iranian diplomats are to meet in Baghdad for talks about the Iraq war.
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Guardian (UK)
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May 22, 07 8:19 AM CDT
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Iran is secretly allying with al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents to launch a major summer offensive against the US in Iraq, reports the Guardian . The goal is to trigger a political mutiny in Congress to force a withdrawal of US troops. Iran had previously been linked to Shia militias but had not collaborated with Sunnis.
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Commentary
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May 21, 07 5:16 PM CDT
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The only way to protect the West from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to bomb Iran now, writes Norman Podhoretz in Commentary . The irascible neocon blasts left-wingers who downplay the threat of a nuclear Iran, and argues that deterrence won’t stop the Iranian leader once he’s armed.
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Guardian (UK)
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May 19, 07 7:13 PM CDT
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The southern Iraqi city of Basra is under the control of an array of private militias, some of which have strong ties to Iran, the Guardian reports. Factions like "God's Revenge" mete out patronage and enforce a fragile order in Iraq's second-largest city at the behest of competing warlords taking their orders—not to mention cash and weapons—from Tehran.
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New York Times
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May 14, 07 5:36 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Iran has made a quantum leap in its nuclear program, and now has the capacity to enrich uranium on a much larger scale than previously believed, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports after a short-notice inspection last weekend. With dramatically improved centrifuge technology, engineers are turning out reactor-grade uranium.
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Washington Post
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May 14, 07 7:33 AM CDT
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The US will sit down with Iran to enlist its aid in quelling violence in Iraq as early as next week, reports the Washington Post . US ambassador Ryan Crocker will meet with his Iranian counterparts in Baghdad to encourage the country, frequently accused of sponsoring sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq, to take on a "productive role."
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Los Angeles Times
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May 11, 07 1:34 PM CDT
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Under the nose of Iran's fundamentalist Islamic government, Western standards and customs are gaining ground. From satellite dishes to hip-hop parties to screenings of banned films, temptations abound. The LA Times goes behind the scenes of a fashion show in Tehran, where women and men mix freely and models flash plentiful skin.
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International Herald Tribune
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May 4, 07 2:49 PM CDT
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It didn't involve the American Secretary of State or the Iranian foreign minister, but a brief meeting of high-level diplomats today in Egypt signals a thaw in relations between the countries, the International Herald Tribune reports. U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the three-minute conversation concerned the situation in Iraq.
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New York Times
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May 4, 07 5:56 AM CDT
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conferred with her Syrian counterpart Thursday in an unexpected half hour sit-down that ended a two-year cold-shoulder between the Bush administration and a state it considers a sponsor of terrorism. Rice asked asked Sryia's help in restricting the flow of foreign fighters across the Syrian border into Iraq.
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Fox News
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May 2, 07 4:00 PM CDT
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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at the center of an unlikely sex scandal today, after being caught on camera kissing the hand—even if it was gloved—of a retired schoolteacher. Ahmadinejad's sexy faux pas, at a ceremony honoring the country's teachers, is a violation of Shariah law, hard-liners say.
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Newsweek
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May 2, 07 1:58 PM CDT
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The Madhi Army is letting loose. Officially locked down by leader Moqtada al-Sadr during the troop surge, renegade Mahdis are unleashing a wave of random violence on once-peaceful areas of central and southern Iraq, Newseek reports. That worries even al-Sadr's commanders, who are now seeking U.S. help to control their wayward acolytes.
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Prospect
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May 1, 07 10:05 PM CDT
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As experts scramble to respond to escalating crises in the Middle East, think-tanker Edward Luttwack has a novel solution—leave 'em be. The strategic implications of the Arab-Israeli crisis ended with the Cold War, he argues, and local regimes don't control oil supplies—oil companies do.
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