provide for the common defense

JERUSALEM – Syria used a cell of Palestinian terrorists directed by Hezbollah, responsible for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, to attempt further attacks against Israel today, security sources told WorldNetDaily.

Two Israelis were wounded in a shooting by terrorists tonight near a West Bank Jewish settlement. A more lethal attack was averted when Israeli troops seized a car bomb rigged with hundreds of kilograms of explosives. According to an IDF spokesperson, the car, in the final stages of preparation for an attack, was discovered with a long cable attached to a battery and a video camera, intended for the documentation of the terrorist attack. The bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion.


Israeli security sources told WorldNetDaily the terrorist cell behind Friday's Tel Aviv attack had prepared tonight's car bomb for another attack. They say gunmen financed by Hezbollah were responsible for the West Bank shooting.

Iran's quest for nuclear technology dates back to 1987:

International investigators have uncovered evidence of a secret meeting 18 years ago between Iranian officials and associates of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan that resulted in a written offer to supply Tehran with the makings of a nuclear weapons program, foreign diplomats and U.S. officials familiar with the new findings said.

The meeting, believed to have taken place in a dusty Dubai office in 1987, kick-started Tehran's nuclear efforts and Khan's black market. Iran, which was at war with Iraq then, bought centrifuge designs and a starter kit for uranium enrichment. But Tehran recently told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it turned down the chance to buy the more sensitive equipment required for building the core of a bomb.

Iran says it was offered nuclear parts by associates of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

There is evidence, however, that Iran used the offer as a buyer's guide, acquiring some of the pricier items elsewhere, officials said.

...

Khan's network of nuclear manufacturers and suppliers stretched across more than 30 countries and sold goods to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He was put out of business in 2003, mostly as a result of the Iran investigation and the exposure of Libya's now-dismantled weapons program.

...

Two Western diplomats familiar with its contents described it as a five-point, phased plan in which the network offered to supply Iran with drawings for Pakistani centrifuges and then a starter kit of one or two centrifuges. Phase three included as many as 2,000 centrifuges, which could be used to enrich bomb-grade uranium. Auxiliary items for the centrifuges and enrichment process would have been delivered afterward, followed by reconversion and casting equipment for building the core of a bomb.

Libya's confiscated centrifuges have been determined to have come from the Khan design starter kit. Centrifuges reportedly in Syria likely did as well. So it would make sense that the Iranian centrifuges and other equipment would also have originated with the Khan network.

Amidst these revelations, Russia signed an agreement with Iran to provide nuclear fuel by the end of April and to finish the Bushehr reactor by year's end. Debka asks whether Europe and Russia are ganging up on the US:

The crisscross movement began the minute Air Force One took off from Europe for Washington last Thursday, February 24. It was then that a private plane landed in Paris and the man who stepped out briskly was Iran’s supreme national security council director and senior nuclear negotiator Hasan Rohani. He was taken straight to the Elysee Palace where he was awaited by president Jacques Chirac. He then flew to Berlin to meet German foreign minister Joschke Fischer.

When the Iranian official took off for home, he left his European hosts with the misapprehension that Iran would be willing to forgo uranium enrichment in return for the generous political, security and economic concessions France and Germany (though not Britain, which has little faith in this deal working) were holding out: the latest Airbus, telecommunications equipment as well as the supreme economic perk of WTO membership. The two leaders told Rohani that their meeting with the US president in Brussels had convinced them they could sell him the deal.

Rohani returned to Tehran in time to receive Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia’s Federal Energy Agency, who had come to sign the nuclear fuel delivery agreement Moscow had avoided for two years. DEBKAfile reported on the day that the Russians not only agreed to let Iran have nuclear fuel rods, but also promised to complete the Bushehr reactor’s core by the end of the year, giving Iran its first functioning nuclear reactor in 2005.

So why would Bush have made nice with the idea of joining the EU Three "negotiations" with Iran?

According to DEBKAfile’s intelligence and Washington sources, the rationale behind this rush of events is simple: The Bush administration had decided to put the issue of uranium enrichment to one side after concluding that Iran has already secretly procured sufficient fissile material to make a bomb or warheads for nuclear missiles; Tehran is most likely in possession of most of the quantity it needs - or else has access to the missing portion. Therefore the offensive against enrichment has become almost irrelevant.

This is the background to the disclosures appearing in American newspapers about the offer the Pakistani nuclear black marketeer Abdul Qadeer Khan made to Iran as early as 1987 of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of nuclear technology. A.Q.Khan is now known to have made the same offer plus weapons-grade fissile materials to Libya and North Korea. Washington is taking it for granted that Tehran made its acquisitions from the Pakistani scientists ahead of Libya.

In his talks with European leaders, therefore, Bush did not make a song and dance about the uranium enrichment issue. Instead, he laid stress on their common consent that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. In Bratislava, he declared alongside Putin: “We agreed that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. We agreed that North Korea should not have a nuclear weapon.”

In other words, while the Iranians and Europeans were still bickering over uranium enrichment, the US president was looking ahead to the final stage of the weapon’s manufacture. (emphasis added--ed.)

So it may be too late to prevent Iran from producing a bomb. Yet that is Bush's stated goal. How might he accomplish that? Carrots? Sticks? Maybe a popular Iranian Ukranian-styled "Orange" revolution or a call for a referendum this summer?

Meanwhile, the Israelis have planned for hard rather than soft diplomacy by declaring that they would bomb a reactor as soon as the nuclear fuel was delivered. The end of April--if the Russians deliver as promised--might be crunch time for all involved.

Memri has more nuclear details, via Windsofchange.

Events are rushing forward in the Middle East. From the battle of Fallujah, the Iraqi elections, the Afghan elections, the Palestinian elections, the murder of Hariri in Lebanon, the banners of "Enough!" from the Lebanese reformers to the Syrian occupiers, the handover by the Syrians of Saddam's half brother and the recent resignation of the Syrian-installed Lebanese government. A telling quote from Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and the head of the Lebanese opposition after Hariri's assassination:

"It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

Add to that Hosni Mubarak's abrupt decision to allow candidates (aside from himself) in the coming Egyptian elections and the partial opening up of local elections in Saudi Arabia. The Syrian regime is at a precipice and must soon decide which way to go. Meanwhile, the most dangerous regime in the region, Iran, faces a growing reform movement and elections this summer that may one way or another finally challenge the unelected Mullahs. Their quest for nuclear weapons may be the least of their problems.

Taken together, events point to a conclusion that seems more probable than not. The Middle East status quo isn't just tipping--it is already toppling.

Suspicious assassination:

Hariri, 60, left office in October but had the wealth and the prominence to maintain some degree of independence from Syria, while never moving toward total defiance.

His shift toward the opposition in recent months had given a boost to calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops — and his death silenced an influential and moderate voice that could prove hard to replace.

It was unclear if his killing would delay parliamentary elections that had been expected in April and May.
...

He moved toward the opposition camp after leaving office in October — in large part because of a dispute involving Syria. Hariri had rejected a Syrian-backed demand that his rival, Lahoud, remain in office as president for a longer period.

Despite the Palestinian shown in the Al Jazeera video accepting responsibility, Syrian intelligence likely was behind it. From the Jerusalem Post:

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Tuesday pointed a finger at Syria, blaming Damascus for being behind the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.

Speaking after a briefing with the IDF Northern Command at an army base near the Lebanon border, Mofaz said the attack was launched by "a pro-Syrian terror organization, which, from what we know, is apparently supported by Syria."

...

Also in France, Lebanon's most prominent exile, former army commander Gen. Michel Aoun, said Tuesday that he suspects Syria was behind the assassination.

The Syrians "totally control the country," Aoun said on France-Info radio. "Nothing moves without it being controlled by the Syrians."

Aoun said Hariri's killing was a challenge to the international community and he asked for help from the United Nations "because the Syrians can repeat their crimes."

"Each time that we wanted to get the Syrians out, there was a series of attacks that targeted Lebanese people who opposed Syria," Aoun said.

There have been no credible claims of responsibility. A previously unknown group, Support and Jihad in Syria and Lebanon, claimed in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television that it had carried out the bombing, saying it was a suicide operation. But security officials have not confirmed that.

Security authorities raided the west Beirut home of Ahmed Abu Adas, a Palestinian they said appeared in the video, and had fled during the day. They confiscated computers, tapes and documents, the Interior Ministry said.

Lebanese Justice Minister Adnan Addoum said responsibility claims could be an attempt "to mislead the investigation."

Debka has more. The US-led reform movement in Lebanon seems to have been the larger target. A possible deal between the Lebanese opposition party and Israel may have been the last straw for the opponents of the peace process:

For the first time in the annals of the Arab-Israeli dispute, Lebanon’s senior opposition politicians are pressing for the government in Beirut to recognize Israel and sign a separate peace treaty with the Jewish state - without reference to Damascus.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Middle East sources report that the move was initiated this week by former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and the Christian Maronite archbishop Nasrallah Sfeir, acting on a signal from Washington.

The demand for Lebanon’s divorce from Syria for the purpose of making peace with Israel is the direct consequence of the January 29 UN Security Council resolution drafted by France and adopted by all 15 Council members, which ruled that the controversial Shabaa Farms along Israel’s northern border was part of Syrian Golan prior to the 1967 War - not Lebanon.

That resolution was supported by Washington to knock the stuffing out of the Shiite terrorist group Hizballah’s main justification for attacking Israel and to free Lebanese leaders to start talks with Israel. With that issue out of the way, the Lebanese trio maintained that Beirut has no further territorial or border quarrel with Israel and had nothing to do with the Syrian-Israel dispute or the Golan issue. There was no bar therefore to the two neighbors establishing normal peace and economic relations.

This action was meant to supplement the February 8 Israel-Palestinian ceasefire accord in Sharm el-Sheikh and deflect some of the popular ire directed against Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon over his evacuation plan. Above all, the Assad regime and the Hizballah would have found themselves isolated in a corner.

But Syria is not quite alone, since some neighbors will no doubt approve of the assassination.

John Loftus on the John Batchelor show puts Iran ultimately behind the Harari assassination. Iran and it's surrogates, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, apparently will put up a fierce fight ahead of any moves by the US or the international community to free Lebanon of Syria's occupying military and puppet government.

Just as representative politics began inching forward in Iraq despite the best efforts of the Iranian and Syrian assisted paramilitary deathsquads, another front in the regional war has opened. It is likely no coincidence.


UPDATE--a decent, fitting tribute for the assassinated Rafik Hariri from both Lebanese and Saudis alike:

“I feel sick and disgusted over what has happened,” said a Lebanese business executive who wished to remain anonymous. “I would like to point out that there are certain parties involved in Lebanese lives and politics. Every time Lebanese of different sects and affiliations reach a common understanding to determine their future, such parties step in to sabotage peace and stability in Lebanon. Their vested interest is served by desperate attempts to put the clock back and divide Lebanese society.”

But Arab News rarely misses an opportunity to deflect blame onto Israel:

Karim Assad, general manager of a pan-Arab advertising agency, said he suspected Israeli hand in Hariri’s assassination...

Mehmood Berry, production manager at the same agency, said the finger of blame was pointing in Israel’s direction. “Who will benefit from political and economic instability in Lebanon? Obviously, it is Israel.”

The hypocracy of Arab News once again flies in the face of reality. If Debka's report is accurate that Hariri was assassinated in part due to his decision to urge Lebanon's opposition party to push for peace with Israel despite Syria, then it would be in Israel's interest to see Hariri live and run in the elections this spring.

Beirut-based Dar al Hayat has a good summary of events. But it also quotes the Syrian "Information" Minister pointing a finger at...Israel.

The more moderate Beirut-based Daily Star voices the charges of Syrian complicity:

At an opposition meeting last night at Hariri's home in Koraytem supporters gathered shouting anti-Syrian slogans and demanding revenge for the former premier's death.

Reading a prepared statement from the opposition, Baabda MP Bassem Sabaa said: "We hold the Lebanese government and the power behind it, the Syrian government, responsible for the crime."

Sabaa demanded the formation of an international investigation committee to examine the events surrounding Hariri's murder, adding "the authorities cannot be trusted to conduct such investigation."

The statement also called for the departure of all Syrian troops from Lebanon, and for the formation of a transitional government.

Gebran Tueni, a member of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, added that the transitional government "should not include the current regime."

The opposition also called for a three-day general strike in condemnation of the crime but announced they would continue to meet over this period.

The opposition statement added: "We will fight the current regime and demand our right for a neutral government that makes sure Lebanon steps forward from being a captive state to regaining its full independence and sovereignty."

...and refutes the "blame Israel" charge:

Tueni also rebuffed government allegations that Israel was behind the assassination.

He said: "Every time they commit a crime they accuse the Israeli intelligence of having a hand in it, but we ask who controls everything that happens security-wise in the country? It's the Syrians and their puppet Lebanese regime."

Whether any investigations will be thorough or fair enough to track down the terrorists and their backers, the Lebanese elections this spring must go on. And the calls for Lebanese sovereignty will likely grow louder in the runup to the elections. As has happened elsewhere in the Middle East--these terrorist acts might simply further the movements for freedom.

FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), a web-based system replacing the current email request system, will begin March 1. FinCEN will allow law enforcement and financial institutions to share information on suspected money laundering and financial support for terrorism activities.

Under the USA Patriot Act, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies can ask financial businesses to search their records for data about suspects. The businesses report any matches to the Treasury Department’s FinCEN.

The Patriot Act Section 314(a) system will modernize and secure that information flow, FinCEN officials said.

The requests contain subject and business names, addresses and as much identifying data as possible for a financial organization to search its records. Over the past two years, the requests have led to nine arrests and two indictments, according to FinCEN.

Hopefully FinCEN will fare better than Virtual Case File, which the FBI and contractor SAIC seemed to have irretrievably botched.

The DHS has released a report on its Privacy Office. Via the Homeland Security Institute:

The fundamental objective of this office is to maintain an appropriate balance between freedom and safety consistent with the values of American society. The report explores the use of biometric technology, radio-frequency identification devices, data mining, and distributed data environments--where data is shared with users but remains with the owner. The report also considers the effect of emerging technologies, including geospatial information systems and services, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ubiquitous sensor networks, which may raise separate privacy protection concerns, according to the report.

No surprise.

"We ... have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the Bush administration's ever-more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the (North)," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Good thing they started cheating on the NPT in the early 90's in a 10-year "preemption" "to cope with" Bush's North Korea policy . Apparently North Korea and Iran have cooperated in a two-front simultaneous nuclear challenges, according to John Loftus. The six-party talks are at this point at an impasse, as are the EU-3 talks with Iran. And Syria continues to defy the international community in Lebanon as well as in supporting the killing in Iraq.

What is left in the face of ineffective diplomacy? Now it will get interesting for Bush and the Rice state department.

The Bush budget calls for the Department of Homeland Security to create an office called Screening Coordination and Operations that would absorb some programs of TSA and other divisions.
...
If approved, the Screening Coordination and Operations office would include:

• Secure Flight, a proposed TSA program that would probe the backgrounds of each traveler who books an airline ticket and determine whether they should receive additional screening.

• Registered Traveler, TSA's program now being tested at Reagan National Airport and four others that allows frequent travelers to submit digital fingerprints and undergo a background check in exchange for receiving a fast pass through the airport checkpoint.

• Transportation Worker Identity Credential, a pilot TSA program that verifies the identities and backgrounds of airport workers, truck drivers and port employees and allows them access to secure areas.

• US VISIT, a program from the Customs and Border Protection division of the department that collects digital fingerprints and photographs of foreign visitors.

• International Registered Traveler, a newly announced program that would speed customs and immigration processing for some frequent international travelers who submit to a background check. It is now being tested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The landmark implications of the much heralded photo op, from Debka:

1. A new Middle East Club of Four came into being. With a good measure of audacity and inventiveness, this bloc could dictate the next steps towards lifting the Israel-Palestinian dispute out of its stalemate – or even play a role in other conflicts, such as Lebanon and Iraq. Mubarak hinted as much in his closing speech when he urged Israel to embrace Syria and Lebanon in its peace diplomacy. This call was taken as a token response to a request from Syrian president Bashar Assad to raise the Syrian issue at the summit. In fact, the Egyptian ruler was already beginning to weave other regional issues in with the conflict on the table.

2. The Middle East Club of Four will need to pace itself against that of the absent nations – Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, all the Gulf emirates and even East Africa. Interestingly, by coming together alone, the four leaders cut themselves off from big power or even regional intervention. If the group endures long enough, it might even solidify into a distinct Egyptian-Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian military-intelligence pact. A candidate for fifth member might be Iraq, which might find useful alternative export routes for its oil through Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba and Israel’s Mediterranean ports of Haifa or Ashkelon.

For all of the talk about "peace" and "justice," the most time-tested path to peace will likely be through the convergence of interests. That is as it should be.

The Andean region countries of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru face a disturbing anti-Democratic upsurge. Michael Radu details the somewhat overwhelming alphabet soup of Marxist, Socialist and other movements bordering on the Fascistic.

Together with the gangs like MS-13 involved in the drug and illegal immigrant trades, the presence of Al Qaeda, and the apparent coming together of the two, these developments in South America ought to be alarming to our homeland security officials.

But in case they are not, perhaps some politicians are willing to try:

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives begins floor consideration of the Real ID Act (H.R. 418), legislation drafted by House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, which contains the antiterrorist provisions dropped from the intelligence-reform (post-9/11 Commission) legislation late last year.

The bill, introduced by Sensenbrenner and cosponsored by 115 of his House colleagues on January 31, improves U.S. border security in a variety of tangible ways. Sensenbrenner said the main purpose of the bill is to "...prevent another 9/11 attack by disrupting terrorist travel." It establishes uniform rules that states must follow in granting temporary drivers' licenses for foreign visitors, making sure they expire when visas do. It also establishes tough new rules for confirming identity before licenses are issued. Moreover, the legislation tightens the existing asylum system abused by terrorists and closes a three-mile hole in the fortified U.S./Mexico border fence.

The bank is owned by the prominent Palestinian Shoman family, and its shareholders include the Saudi Oger Co., which is owned by former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Central Bank statement, made available to the Associated Press, did not refer to the suits filed in a federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., by different groups of victims of suicide bombings in Israel.

Andrew C McCarthy on Seymour Hersh: "Dude, the Neocons Are Stealing My Country."

What has Hersh atwitter this time is that the Bush administration may actually be making contingency plans for military operations against Iran. We can and should assume that this is true — though not because Hersh is reporting it. It should be true because it would be national suicide if it weren't.

Hersh's blindspot for the mullahs prevented him from reporting some stubborn facts:

Prior to 9/11, Iran's wholly owned subsidiary, Hezbollah, had killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization on the planet. The 1983 attack on the marine barracks in Lebanon and the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia (which collectively killed 260 American military personnel) tell only a small part of the story. For years, Hezbollah has provided al Qaeda with training. Iran, meantime, has given safe harbor to high-ranking al Qaeda members (under the charade of house arrest) — effectively making them untouchable short of an invasion. Iran has likely backed Muqtadar al-Sadr's destabilizing Mahdi Army in Iraq, and likely has a cooperative relationship with Iraq terror "emir" Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It is working energetically behind the scenes to kill American forces and cause the failure of our mission.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Relatedly, Russia and Iran showing signs of coziness:

Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak visited Teheran, meeting with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Gulam Hoshru and several other high-level Iranians.

According to Russia's official news agency, the meeting was in large part to determine the "peaceful nature" of Iran's nuclear program, a diplomatic language hurdle to Russia helping the Islamic nation finally bring the Russian-built plant at Bushehr online. Aaron Klein of World Net Daily reports sources have told him that Russia has "installed a mobile radar system to protect Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear reactor, and similar systems allegedly are in the works for other Iranian nuclear facilities, including a facility in central Iran." It's called protecting your investment.

Also relatedly, whoops: "Iran denied yesterday any involvement with the case of an Egyptian charged with spying for Tehran and preparing for the assassination of an unnamed Egyptian figure in return for $50,000."

Update: John Loftus believes that the "unnamed Egyptian figure" was Hosni Mubarak himself. Apparently the mullahs in Iran don't appreciate his "cooperation" with Israel.

And uh-oh: "Rumsfeld Seeks to Revive Burrowing Nuclear Bomb."

Update: Not a new story, but a relevant Iranian-North Korean nuclear connection:

Iran 'covered up nuclear spill'

Western intelligence officials are examining reports that Iran's Revolutionary Guards attempted to cover up a nuclear accident that occurred during the delivery of a secret shipment of weapons-grade uranium from North Korea.

...

In December 2002, according to officials with access to the airport, a North Korean cargo jet delivering a consignment of nuclear technology, including some weapons-grade uranium, was being unloaded at night under military supervision. During the delivery, a container slipped and cracked on the Tarmac. All personnel in the vicinity were taken from the site and given thorough medical examinations.

Crews from the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) wearing protective suits were brought in to clean up the spillage. The scientists worked at the site for several days, staying indoors during daylight and working only in darkness.

The airport still remains closed, at least to commercial traffic. Apparently it is nearly impossible to remove nuclear material from the asphalt of the airport tarmac or from even the ground beneath it.

So if the international community were interested in getting to the bottom of the nuclear proliferation ring, they probably could. But since their nuclear "watchdog"--the IAEA--has shown itself to be no more interested in doing so than many of its member nations, the job will likely fall on US intelligence by default. Let's hope that that will be enough.

Update:

Upcoming Time piece reports more countries than have been publicly identified may have been involved, via LGF.

The list of suspected nuclear clients is dizzying. Investigators believe that as head of Pakistan’s nuclear research laboratory, Khan traveled the world for more than a decade, visiting countries in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, TIME’s Bill Powell and Tim McGirk report. U.S. and IAEA investigators believe that Khan also traveled to Saudi Arabia and Egypt and to such African countries as Sudan, Ivory Coast and Niger. The purpose of those trips remains unclear, but intelligence officials have hunches: Saudi Arabia and Egypt are believed to be in the market for nuclear technology, and many African countries are rich in raw uranium ore, TIME reports.

Unsurprisingly, the investigation is being pursued not by the international organization tasked to monitor nuclear proliferation--the IAEA and/or the Security Council--but by none other than "U.S. officials." Sigh.

"North Korea May Have Sent Libya Nuclear Material." And even with the "may have" disclaimer, this report comes years after the story had been reported by others, such as John Loftus. Apparently the WaPost even waited until the New York Times came out with the story the day before.

Neither newspaper apparently bothered to report on the trail of evidence leading to other disturbing clients of North Korea, namely Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and yes, even Iraq. Not only did the uranium hexafluoride found in Libyan containers very probably originate in North Korea. North Korean nuclear parts have apparently also been found in some of these countries, including centrifuges operating in Syria.

But those stories will likely need to wait for another few years before they are enough news "fit to print."

Walid Phares testifies as to the international effect of Bush's SOTU speech:

As soon as the President finished his last sentence and began greeting the legislators, my phone didn't stop ringing. From Baghdad, Beirut, Europe, and many U.S. cities, many of my Arab and Middle Eastern colleagues expressed their gratitude and confidence. They told me they wept when they saw one of their own – Iraqi female voter Safia Taleb al-Suhail – raising her hand to show the blue ink on her finger. They, and all Americans, were moved when she embraced the mother of the U.S. soldier killed in Fallujah. They cried even more when they saw the standing ovation celebrating the "courage of the Iraqi people, challenging the terrorists last Sunday."

Oil-rich Gulf states may replace Iraq as top priority, reports Debka:

From back stage of al Qaeda's Iraq and Saudi theaters, the Gulf emirates have been promoted to al Qaeda’s prime target for Islamist terror on a par with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Recent al Qaeda publications appearing in Saudi Arabia register dissatisfaction with the organization’s over-involvement in Iraq and urge the relocation of resources for a more even spread of armed violence across the Middle East.

Unfortunately for those countries, the solution that the Iraqi example has seemed to provide will be similarly difficult--a combination of tough counter-terrorism and visible steps by autocratic monarchs toward representative government.

Irwin Stelzer puts together the pieces of the potentially troubling future of the geopolitics of energy. The "Axis of Oil":

SO PICTURE THIS WEB OF INFLUENCE that is being woven by countries eager to constrain American power. Canada and China become joint venturers, as do Venezuela and China. Canada is America's largest source of imported oil, and Venezuela sells us the light, sweet crude oil that our refineries are best equipped to handle. This means that a significant portion of the incremental production from these countries--and perhaps some of what is now headed here--goes to China, rather than to the United States, as energy planners here have been assuming. More important, no one believes that these deals are strictly economic, or would meet shareholder approval were such a force present in China. These are deals by state agencies, designed to extend China's influence to corners of the world from which it has until now been absent.

China has also solidified relations with Iran and other countries on America's list of international pariahs, trading arms for oil, and using its financial clout to establish close diplomatic ties in the region that contains the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world.

Meanwhile, Russia is using its reserves to dominate the European energy market, and make Germany, France, and other countries heavily dependent on Putin's good will.
...
Add the emerging relationship of China and Russia, and you have something to worry about.

An improbable solution--"Neocons for Conservation?" And with folks like James Woolsey, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Newt Gingrich and Steve Forbes are on board, it might herald a growing movement among even some Republicans.

Background search companies demonstrate that information sharing is possible.

And how:

Personal Information:
Verify his name and address and phone number
Verify his age
Verify marital status
Determine if he has children
Determine if he's ever been charged with a DWI
Determine his social security number or check validity of a SSN he's provided
Litigation History
Have there been civil suits filed against him/by him?
Is he or has he ever been bankrupt?
Criminal History: Does he have a criminal record?

Educational Background:
What degree or degrees does he have?

Professional/Occupational Background:
Verify his profession/occupation
Has he published anything or been mentioned in a news story?
Does he have a website or contribute to online forums?

Asset Search:
Locate his real property assets
Locate his financial assets
Conduct Interviews to Verify Present and Past Employment & Check His References
How to get professional help with the reference-checking task

Business Background:
Does he own a business?
Is he a corporate officer?

Military Records:
Is he currently serving in, or was he honorably discharged from, the military?

Medical History:
Are there any indications in the public records of drug abuse, alcoholism,or other serious medical conditions?
Has he ever been injured on the job and collected workers' compensation?

Lifestyle Checks:
What's his personal lifestyle like?
What do people think of him?

Surveillance and Other Professional Assistance:
When surveillance is called for in order to complete the investigation (Examples: suspected drug/alcohol use, extramarital affair, fraudulent insurance claim, etc.)
When a professional in-depth investigation is called for.

Another site summarizes the information available, apparently mostly for free and available to the public with a little internet and phone skills:

Comprehensive Background Checks typically search;
Subject's Name, Aliases, AKA's -
Age - Month & year of birth - Date and Location where SSN issued.-
Others associated with SSN -
22 year address/phone history -
B&W - Satellite Photo of current location -
Nationwide Bankruptcy Search –
Nationwide Judgments, Liens Search -
Nationwide Real Property Search - Property Assessments -
Others listed at subjects address - Possible Associates -
Relatives summary, names & phone numbers -
Voter Registrations Records - Current Neighbors,
Names, addresses, phones -
Court cases involving subject -
FAA registrations -
Drug Enforcement Agency Search -
FAA Airmen, FAA Aircraft -
Social Security Death Index -
Professional Licenses -
Internet Domain Ownership -
Corporate affiliations -
UCC filings (Business Loans) -
Aircraft Ownership - Vessels Ownership -
Motor Vehicles, Motorcycles, Boats Ownership - (FL, ME, MN, MS, MP, NE, NC, OH, TX, WI) -
Drivers License Info - (FL, ID, MN, MO, OH, TX, WI) -
Concealed Weapons Permit - (AR, FL, IN, LA, ME, ND, VA) -
Hunting & Fishing Permits - (AK, AL, AR, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, MA, MS, MO, MT, ND, NV, NJ, NC, OH, OK, UT, VA, WI)

After seeing this, it's hard to see how the privacy advocates so successfully sunk the information-sharing programs attempted by the government so far. If so many of the individual pieces of the puzzle are publicly available, the aggregation of these pieces out to withstand the privacy critics.

Update...Looks like I spoke too soon. "Privacy advocates" like the ACLU and lobbying firms of some technology companies, among others, nixed requiring background checks for E-dating companies in Virginia:

Under the proposal, online dating services would have been required to conduct background checks to determine whether users have been convicted of a felony. If a service chose not to conduct the checks, it would have been required to disclose that in at least 12-point type on its Web pages and e-mails.

At least one site chooses to provide criminal background as well as marital status checks "Because we care." And singles can take prophylactic precautions at Rapsheets.com before risking finding less than true love at sites without background checks.