USA spähen Iran mit Drohnen aus

--- Seymour Hersh berichtete in seinem Artikel über einen bevorstehenden Iran-Feldzug der USA bereits davon, jetzt legt die Washington Post noch einmal ausführlich nach: The Bush administration has been flying surveillance drones over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in air defenses, according to three U.S. officials with detailed knowledge of the secret effort. The small, pilotless planes, penetrating Iranian airspace from U.S. military facilities in Iraq, use radar, video, still photography and air filters designed to pick up traces of nuclear activity to gather information that is not accessible by satellites, the officials said. The aerial espionage is standard in military preparations for an eventual air attack and is also employed as a tool for intimidation. The drones were first spotted by dozens of Iranian civilians and set off a national newspaper frenzy in late December over whether the country was being visited by UFOs. ... U.S. officials confirmed that the drones were deployed along Iran's northern and western borders, first in April 2004, and again in December and January. A former U.S. official with direct knowledge of earlier phases of the operation said the U.S. intelligence community began using Iraq as a base to spy on Iran shortly after taking Baghdad in early April 2003. Drones have been flown over Iran since then, the former official said, but the missions became more frequent last year.

Uno-Generalsekretär Kofi Annan hat derweil vor einer massenhaften Verbreitung atomarer Waffen gewarnt und zu einer globalen Anstrengung aufgerufen, dies zu verhindern. Spiegel Online macht daraus gleich eine Warnung vor einer "Atomwaffen-Flut". Passend dazu berichtet Telepolis über das wachsende Desinteresse der USA am Atomteststoppvertrag -- stattdessen will die Bush-Regierung lieber selbst im großen Stil neue Atomwaffen entwickeln.