Northman's Fury

An 11-year-old Ottawa girl was asked to leave the field at a soccer tournament in Laval this weekend for wearing a hijab.

The Ottawa Sun and Ottawa Citizen reports Asmahan Mansour was forced to leave the field after the referee expressed concerns the hijab was a physical threat to the other players.

The coach pulled Mansour and the Nepean Hotspurs under-12 girls soccer team out of the tournament. Four other Ottawa youth soccer teams also forfeited the tournament.

It must have been one of those wild and crazy, leap off their owner and strangle innocent bystanders hijabs. After all, its not like the good people of Quebec have ever done or said anything that would indicate a predisposition to bigotry concerning minorities

Although international concern is growing about Iran's nuclear program and its regional ambitions, diplomats here say most U.S. intelligence shared with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has proved inaccurate and none has led to significant discoveries inside Iran.

The officials said the CIA and other Western spy services had provided sensitive information to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency at least since 2002, when Iran's long-secret nuclear program was exposed. But none of the tips about supposed secret weapons sites provided clear evidence that the Islamic Republic was developing illicit weapons.

"Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that's come to us has proved to be wrong," a senior diplomat at the IAEA said. Another official here described the agency's intelligence stream as "very cold now" because "so little panned out."

Wow! Really! You mean the guys who kept insisting that Iraq had secret weapons facilities despite the fact that weapons inspectors couldn’t find them are now saying that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program despite the fact that nobody can find any evidence of it? Well, you can knock me over with a feather!

President Bush's tough new stance on Iran and his military buildup in the Persian Gulf recall some of the drumbeats that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

As then, the Bush administration is making allegations about Iran without providing proof.

It is suggesting Iran is sending weapons to Iraq, yet offering no evidence the supplies can be traced to Tehran. There are whispers, too, that Iranian intelligence agents were behind the recent abduction and execution of five U.S. soldiers.

Iran is the "axis of evil" country whose nuclear ambitions must be stopped. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is now Bush's primary Mideast nemesis, replacing the late Saddam Hussein.

Bush insists he has no plans to invade Iran, only to protect U.S. troops in Iraq.

But in recent days:

_Bush raised the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf to its highest level since 2003 by ordering a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region.

_The administration confirmed that Bush has authorized the military to kill or capture Iranian agents who are plotting attacks on U.S. forces.

_The administration has armed Iran's Arab neighbors with Patriot missiles. The Pentagon halted sales of spare parts from the its recently retired F-14 fighter jet fleet because of concerns they could be transferred to Iran.

The Intel is a bit ambiguous as well.

U.S. officials still maintain that Iran is helping Iraqi Shia insurgents build bombs that are particularly deadly because they can penetrate armored vehicles. But three U.S. officials familiar with unpublished intel (unnamed when discussing sensitive info) said evidence of official Tehran involvement is "ambiguous,"

. . .

Last week U.S. military officials in Baghdad were set to brief reporters about evidence American forces had assembled about Iran's interference in Iraq. But the briefing was canceled; one of the U.S. officials suggested it had been put off because intel officials couldn't agree about the info.

At least if I'm paranoid about the possibility of war, I'm not alone.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American adults say it is at least somewhat likely that the United States will be at war with Iran before another year goes by

In some ways this isn't at all a surprise. What they're saying is what all credible military experts have been saying since it became clear the Bush Administration was eyeing a strike on Iran.

They said such action would have "disastrous consequences" for security in the Middle East and also for coalition forces in Iraq.

They said the crisis over Tehran's nuclear programme must be resolved through diplomacy, urging Washington to start direct talks with Iran.

Why this is interesting is that the letter was published in a British newspaper and it's the BBC that is carrying the story. I looked over at CBC, CNN, and Sun Media and found no mention of the warning. Hard to make an informed decision when you don't get all the information.

Update: CNN has posted the story.