OPS AND INTEL UP DATE

Photo by Gerald; copyright 2008

Israeli intelligence revises estimate: Iran is progressing fast towards a nuclear bomb

DEBKAfile Special Report

September 21, 2008, 7:37 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli military intelligence chief of research, Brig. Yossi Baidatz

The director of research at Israeli military intelligence (AMAN), Brig. Yossi Baidatz, surprised the Israeli cabinet Sunday Sept. 21, with a new appreciation of Iran’s nuclear timetable. Tehran, he disclosed, has already stocked one-third or even half the quantity of enriched uranium needed for a nuclear bomb. He warned the ministers that Iran is dashing at top speed towards a nuclear weapons capability and nothing stands in the way of its headlong advance, including international sanctions. 
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CIA: Intent makes al-Qaeda top nuclear concern

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iran and North Korea both have the capability to produce nuclear weapons but al-Qaeda is the CIA's top nuclear concern because it is most likely to use them, agency director Michael Hayden said Tuesday.

"There is no greater national security threat facing the United States than al-Qaeda and its associates," Hayden said, according to a copy of his remarks prepared for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

With regard to North Korea, a known nuclear power, and Iran, Hayden said: "The question is not of capability, but intent."

In 2006, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, removing any doubt it had the means to make a nuclear warhead.

Iran has not yet demonstrated a nuclear explosion, but Hayden said it has the scientific and industrial capacity to produce nuclear weapons "eventually." It fuels suspicion by refusing to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities.

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"Modernized" TalibanIslamOnline.net & NewspapersToday's Taliban has a much greater degree of formal organization. (Google)CAIRO — Appointing judges and officials in some areas, presenting letters of introduction to local leaders, and operating websites and around-the-clock propaganda apparatus, a new Taliban is emerging in Afghanistan."This is not the Taliban of Emirate times. It is a new, updated generation," Waheed Mojda, a former foreign ministry aide under the Taliban Islamic Emirate, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, told the Washington Post on Saturday, September 20."They are more educated, and they don't punish people for having CDs or cassettes."Today's Taliban has a much greater degree of formal organization.Unlike the old movement, whose ministries were run by barefoot mullahs who gave orders on scrapped paper, the new Taliban now appoints defense and finance councils for each area of governance.It also appoints officials in controlled areas and confers swift justice for crimes and disputes.The new Taliban also presents letters of introduction to local leaders.According to the Post, an Afghan journalist cited a visit by a man to a radio station in Logar province, south of Kabul, and politely introduced himself to the manager as the new Taliban provincial spokesman.Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, were ousted by the US-led foreign forces following the 9/11 attacks.Since then, Taliban have been engaged in protracted guerrilla warfare against foreign forces and the West-backed government of Hamid Karzai.A recent report by the Senlis Council said Taliban has permanent presence in more than half of Afghanistan.

Savvy MORE: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3 terror cells here in USA. g Gerald ,