Iran Closes Some Border Crossings To Iraq

(CBS/AP)  A Kurdish official says Iran closed major border crossings with northern Iraq on Monday to protest the U.S. detention of an Iranian official the military has accused of weapons smuggling.

At least four border gates had been closed, with just one remaining open in a move that will severely curtail trade between the two countries, the governor of the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, Dana Ahmed Majeed, told The Associated Press.

At least four border gates have been closed and one remains open, the governor of the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, Dana Ahmed Majeed, told The Associated Press. The move threatens the economy of Iraq's northern region - one of the country's few success stories.

In Tehran, the public relations department in Iran's Interior Ministry said no decision had been taken to shut the border.

But Kurdish authorities said the Iranians began shutting down the crossing points late Sunday near the border towns of Banjiwin, Haj Omran, Halabja and Khanaqin.

The move came four days after U.S. troops arrested an Iranian official during a raid on a hotel in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.

U.S. officials said he was a member of the elite Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that smuggles weapons into Iraq. But Iraqi and Iranian leaders said he was in the country on official business and with the full knowledge of the government.

"This closure from the Iranian side will have a bad effect on the economic situation of the Kurdish government and will hurt the civilians as well," said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the autonomous Kurdish government. "We are paying the price of what the Americans have done by arresting the Iranian."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, also has protested the detention Thursday by U.S. troops of the Iranian in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. Talabani demanded the Iranian's release, warning the arrest could affect relations between the two neighbors.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the man, who has been identified as Mahmudi Farhadi, was in charge of border transactions in western Iran and went to Iraq on an official invitation.

The U.S. military said the suspect was being questioned about "his knowledge of, and involvement in," the transportation of EFPs and other roadside bombs from Iran into Iraq and his possible role in the training of Iraqi insurgents in Iran. No charges against the Iranian have been filed yet.

In other developments:

A suicide truck bomber blew up his vehicle Monday by an Iraqi security checkpoint near a northern city, killing five people, including two Iraqi soldiers and a police officer, the city's mayor said. Seventeen civilians were also wounded in the explosion which took place at the checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Ashiq, some 16 miles east of Tal Afar, said mayor Najim Abdullah. Several houses and shops were also damaged in the blast.

A woman from Baghdad who was the only confirmed case of cholera in the Iraqi capital has died, bringing the number of deaths from the disease in the country to 11, the World Health Organization said Monday. Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in Iraq, said the woman died Sunday. She was found to have cholera after she turned up last week at the hospital with a severe case of diarrhea. Iraq has a total of 1,652 confirmed cases of cholera, with more than 29,000 registered cases of acute watery diarrhea.

The U.S. Congress should stop funding the Iraq war to force President Bush and the Iraqi government to "change course," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation. "No matter how heroically and dedicated the performance of our young men and women and their officers are in Iraq - which it has been - they cannot referee successfully a sectarian civil war," Clinton told Bob Schieffer. (Read more)

Also Monday, the U.S. military said U.S. troops killed one suspected militant and detained four others said to be involved in kidnapping operations run by Iranian-backed Shiite militias during a raid in eastern Baghdad.

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[kynoto1]

To IOWEIGN:

Ever heard of making an argument more than 4 words long? The portions of the wikipedia entry on the incident use several pages to cover the IFF matter and it is NOT all supportive of your conclusion. Simplistic comments = simplistic thinking = waste of our time.

[kynoto1]

"The radiological dangers of pure depleted uranium are relatively low, lower (60%) than those of naturally-occurring uranium due to the removal of the more radioactive isotopes, as well as due to its long half-life (4.46 billion years)."

"The chemical toxicity of uranium salts is greater than their radiological toxicity."

"Studies of depleted uranium aerosol exposure have concluded that uranium combustion product particles would quickly settle out of the air [22]. Measurements made in areas where depleted uranium munitions were used extensively did not find significantly higher than average uranium concentrations in the soil, just a few months after contamination. [23] Most studies have shown that DU ammunition has no measurable detrimental health effects, either in the short or long term. The International Atomic Energy Agency, for example, reported in 2003 that, "based on credible scientific evidence, there is no proven link between DU exposure and increases in human cancers or other significant health or environmental impacts," although "Like other heavy metals, DU is potentially poisonous. In sufficient amounts, if DU is ingested or inhaled it can be harmful because of its chemical toxicity. High concentration *could* cause kidney damage"[19]"

[kynoto1]

As for DU - you are repeating the endlessly circular-referenced urban legend, CT crapola that has no connection to reality. The libertyforlife site is hilariously screwed up. It says, "DU emits 60% of the radiation of enriched uranium and behaves in the body the same way as other uranium.", when in fact, it has 60% of the radiation of NATURAL uranium, which is very low. It is nearly all U238, which is not radioactive AT ALL. The tiny remaining U235 has a half-life of 4.6 billion years, which means it is BARELY radioactive and the emmisions are incredibly weak.

"The NATO nations and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, of France, the United Kingdom and the United States have consistently rejected calls for a ban,[16] maintaining that its use continues to be legal, and that the health risks are entirely unsubstantiated.[17] "

"Other relatively minor consumer product uses have included: incorporation into dental porcelain used for false teeth%u2026"

"DU is also used for shielding for radiation sources used in medical and industrial radiography."

"External exposure to radiation from depleted uranium is generally not a major concern because the alpha particle emitted by its isotopes travel only a few centimeters in air or can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Also, the uranium-235 that remains in depleted uranium emits only a small amount of low-energy gamma radiation." (continued)

[kynoto1]

To Prinzowhales: I''ve encountered your type many times, so I know with certainty that none of what I''m posting has any chance of swaying your closed mind, but others may be deterred from the conspiracy theorist path.

According to the Dept. of Veteran''s Affairs link that YOU gave, if you do the math, you will see that there is no statistical differences between the combat troops, troops in theater, and the troops based elsewhere in the world. There is nothing in the report to substantiate the headline. One could say that 100% of Civil War veterans are dead, therefore, the Lincoln administration exposed them to some terrible danger.

[ioweign]

To Prinzowhales: "It was the Regime that shot down an Iranian passenger plane, murdering all aboard." This incident has been examined in detail and you only insist that it was murder because you are biased against the US. There is not only no evidence for it being intentional there is NO rationale.

"It has been the trillion dollars in aid to the Zionist state that has allowed it to grow and attack its neighbors and hold the inhabitants of the land in an apartheid existence while flouting the UN." The use of "Zionist state" instead of Israel reveals your viewpoint clearly, but you go on to drive it home. Israel only attacks as defensive measures. You cannot name an exception without relying on grossly misleading interpretations of fact. The "apartheid existence" is largely a result of decades-long policies of neighboring Arab states, the need to protect themsleves from suicidal terrorists, etc. Note that the sizeable Arab population of Israel shares all the benefits of full citizenship, are loyal citizens, and are the only Arabs outside of Iraqi Kurdistan to ever live in democracy.

Posted by kynoto1 at 12:47 PM : Sep 24, 2007



Ever hear of IFF ??

[prinzowhales]

Over 73,000 Gulf War vets have died. It was a ''cheap'' war, wasn''t it? Now a Bush has started two more wars and is dying--or at least our servicemen will be--for a third.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_clive_bo_070921_department_of_vetera.htm

Soldiers! The enemy is in Washington. The borders are open, our Constitution set at naught and as vile a pack of villains as ever disgraced any land are at the helm of government. Troops Home Now!

[voteronpaul3]

Stop The War In Iraq & Future War In Iran Now! Join The ReVoLuTiOn in Your City Right Now And be Heard! http://ronpaul.meetup.com/cities/ or http://www.ronpaul2008.com

[prinzowhales]

kynoto1(cont)You can "devine" the necessary information from your radar screen--as the USS Sides was able to discern that the plane was civilian and climbing, are we to say that Rogers was not only reckless, but incompetent as well? Kamikazes come at you, not away from you. It doesn''t take a genius to know this.

Rogers wasn''t driving carefully on any icy road. He was recklessly engaged in violating Iranian waters and incompetently managing his air defense. The USS Sides got it right. The Iranian got it right--his transponder was on and working. Rogers crossed the line between responsible management and reckless disregard for human life.

They are indeed, dead...the corpus delicti...it was upon them that Rogers'' crime was committed--whether the murder occurred due to pre-meditation, or whether it was due to the reckless conduct that he undertook...it would have ended badly in any event... and, of course, his reckless conduct was his signature in the Gulf engagements.

[prinzowhales]

kynoto1--When a blip comes up on your screen, you note not merely a presence but have the target''s speed, altitude and course and you can tell whether or not it is climbing or descending. The airliner did not pose a threat--to anything more important than careers. It is interesting to note that the blip was gaining altitude, not moving as though to attack. Captain Rogers was a lying, murdering dirt bag-- He had already broken the rules of engagement and his recklessness cost the lives of 300 souls. Admiral Crowe admitted later that Rogers fired his missiles from inside Iranian territorial waters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

As to your first point, the responsibility to determine the nature of the target lies with the attacker. Carelessness and supposition are not mitigating circumstances--The recklessness of the CO of the Vincennes was the primary reason for the tragedy. (cont)

[kynoto1]

To starleo146: But you can understand mine. My comment was meant to help you. Mosty people would simply give up trying to read your posts.