Explosions tore through two buses traveling on a highway Feb. 13 near Ein Alaq, a mountain town northeast of Beirut, leaving at least 12 dead and 10 wounded. Ein Alaq is near Bikfaya, the ancestral home of the Gemayel family, a powerhouse of Christian politics in Lebanon. Pierre Gemayel, a Cabinet member, was assassinated in November. His father, former President Amin Gemayel, visited the White House and met with Bush last week. (AP, Feb. 13) The blasts come a day before Lebanon is to mark the second anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Al-Hariri's son, S'ad A-Din Hariri, head of the Al-Mustaqbal movement and one of the country's most influential politicians, called yesterday on all Lebanese to participate in the memorial ceremony. A huge rally is planned at Hariri's grave—just feet from the site of ongoing Hezbollah protests seeking to topple the government. (MediaLine, AP, Feb. 13)

US military officials and Japanese police have confirmed an explosion near the Camp Zama base outside Tokyo, adding no one was hurt and there was no damage from the blast. A similar incident was reported near Camp Zama in 2002, when police found a metal projectile after two blasts were heard in the area. (Bloomberg, Feb. 13) Global Security informs us that Camp Zama is home to the US Army Japan/9th Theater Army Area Command. In addition to the usual speculation about al-Qaeda, reports are raising the possibility of Japanese left-wing radicals.

Michael R. Gordon's Feb. 10 New York Times story, "Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, US Says," backs up some administration claims: "The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran... In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing 'lethal support' to Shiite militants in Iraq. The focus of American concern is known as an 'explosively formed penetrator,' a particularly deadly type of roadside bomb being used by Shiite groups in attacks on American troops in Iraq. Attacks using the device have doubled in the past year... Because the weapon can be fired from roadsides and is favored by Shiite militias, it has become a serious threat in Baghdad. Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators. But the device produces more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs." Note the usual suspects: "The link that American intelligence has drawn to Iran is based on a number of factors, including an analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants believed to be working at the behest of Tehran."

Somalia's transitional government has announced it will take tough measures against those behind the violence and killings that are increasing in the capital, Mogadishu. "The security forces of the government will double its clearing operation against the insurgents hiding in Mogadishu to ensure the security and fight against crimes," said deputy defence minister Salad Ali Jelle, pledging an "iron first" against "extremists." (Somali NetRadio, Jan 30)

An international campaign to boycott diamonds polished in Israel coincides with the Valentine's day season, Moyiga Nduru writes from Johannesburg, South Africa, for IPS Jan. 26:

Avocados, Diamonds at Core of Anti-Israel Trade Campaign
A call from a South African trade unionist for national supermarket chains to stop importing avocado from Israel could ultimately lead to the banning of all imports from the Jewish state, if unions and human rights activists have their way.

On the same day as the "Soldiers of Heaven" battle in Najaf—and eclipsed from the headlines by it... From The Scotsman, Jan. 5:

7 pupils killed as schools in Iraq are targeted

SEVEN children died and 30 were wounded in Iraq yesterday when one school came under mortar fire and another was hit by a suicide bomb blast.

Last year we noted US plans for new military bases on the Black Sea coast of Romania and Bulgaria. Now a Jan. 28 report in Scotland's Sunday Herald indicates these bases could be used to launch air-strikes on Iran:

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia.

Francis Boyle has had some good stuff to say in recent years, but he now seems to be losing it. He is going way overboard here, but this is the stuff that the relentlessly annoying Alex Jones laps up. Yes, Bush wanted Saddam dead, as we have argued. But we do not believe the Bushites orchestrated the unseemly orgy at his execution, which has only inflamed the sectarian slaughter that is making Iraq ungovernable for the occupation. What started as a divide-and-rule strategy has now taken on a life of its own and is working against the interests of its own authors. On a related point, the neocons are no longer strictly in control (as we have also argued), and whatever the neocons are, they are not "neo-nazis." Boyle has in the past pointed to legitimate and frightening parallels between the neocons and the Nazis—most obviously in their hubristic visions of remaking the world and their fetish for aggressive war. But a part of the neocons' hubris is that they think they are spreading democracy. Hitler and the real Nazis had complete contempt for democracy. Failure to grapple with this critical difference—engaging in a sloppy neocon/neo-nazi conflation—will only get us into trouble in several critical areas. First, it will get us dismissed as wingnuts. Second, we'll miss the boat on how the neocons and their allies appeal (or attempt to appeal) to dissidents in places like Iran, Syria and Lebanon who legitimately hunger for democracy. Finally, it will blind us to the threat of real neo-Nazis—which is a particularly ironic and insidious threat given Alex Jones' ongoing embrace of the xenophobe right. From Alex Jones' InfoWars.net, Jan. 5: