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Shooting in the city at 26.09.07

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Written on 8:08 PM by yahoo

Are we having war in the town? ... war need two side to fight each other with guns, now we got bare hand, junta got guns and military equipment made by China.




from reuters

At 27.09.07
from reuters

Shot dead trying to show the truth In Burmafrom Japan


by aljazeera

Today pictures(30.09.07)



from DVB






Death list by junta violent crush (from AAPP)


Name: Ko Soe Than (b) Si Tone
Address: 716 , 26 Street , No 5 Quarter, S\Okkalapa
Age: 41 years old
Date of death: 27 September, 2007

Name: Kenji Nagai
Adress: Nakano Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Age: 50
Date of death: 27 September, 2007
Remark:He is a photo journalist of freeland

Name: Myo Min Htun
Address: 287 , 24 Street , No. 7 Quarter, S\Okkalapa
Age: 22
Father: U Than Htun
Date of death: 27 September, 2007

Name: Zayar Naing
Address: Mahor Video rent shop , Thura 2 Street, No. 9
Quarter, S\Okkalapa
Age: 18
Date of death: 27 September, 2007
Remark: He is a tenth student of Basic Education High
School- BEHS (2) School , S\Okkalapa, Rangoon

Name: Pho Zaw
Address: Dan Ohn Set, Marga street, N/Oakkalapa,
Rangoon
Age: 40
Date of death: 29 September 2007
Name: Sunny (alais) kalamalay
Address: Bo Htun Zan Quarter, Daw Bon, Rangoon
Age: 18
Date of death: 29 September 2007




To trick Mr.Gambari, UN envoy, the junta announces through their mouth-piece-media that there is a demonstration in Myitkyiinar . Actually that demonstration is a fake one for the junta wants to prove that their soldiers are not terrorist and not shooting at people and it's also the junta's plan to hide the truth of their terrorist evidences. At the same time, in Rangoon, the riot police are hitting with iron bar to any group of people whether they are demonstrators or not. After hitting violently, they arrest the people who collapse.


Internet line in Burma is not stable yet, now it is off again.



Above figure is the brain of a young student who was beaten violently to death by soldiers of the junta found in the drain near No. (3) Tarmway high school.


Now Internet is back online from Burma.
but it is difficult to use proxy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday pictures in Yangon ( thanks to mizzima.com)





Home industry Owners Mr Pho Zaw who lives in Mar Ga Street, South Okkalapa T/S, on 27.09 he drove his own car to downtown to buy the floor tiles, on the way to the downtown near by Kyikkason Pagoda he headed on the Military car, he give a Horn whilst the soldiers pulled off from his car and beaten him then drown into Pagoda compond, Heard he died, the death body is missing. His properties (eg, hand phone, cash and car were no return and missing.
Thandar Ngwe Oo (father U Tin Oo) age 29, pregnant 6monts whom was arrested by Military on 27.09 night.
At mid night on 28.09, The chairman of NLD SanChang T/S was arrested.




Where is Gambari? Where is he going? how junta is palning to trick on UN?



Gambari will arrive YGN 3:30 pm local time with the Silk Air today. The Junta is planning to take him to NAYPYITAW, which is the official capital of the country where there are not civilian apart from civil servant.

So, what is the reason for Gambri to go to Myanmar? He is ... shown the place where no people live and junta trying to blind him, and they will lie to him as usual, finally he might come back with answer ... well! .. SPDC is moving toward to Democracy. They will continue to cause blood shed in the streets of Rangoon and other cities ….

In order prevent the crowd gathering near the airport they are asking anyone going near the airport they are also blocking the road to prevent protest at the Air

i copy this news in blog of ko-htike

An email message from burma

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Written on 10:03 PM by yahoo

this is how they come out and try to kill people




The courage of our peacefull people( this is now happening in downtown in YGN 14;10 27.09.07)

3 men were shooted
one is already dead
in Sule there are only people
they are shooting in the group
but never run away the people
NOWthis is how they come out and try to kill people




The courage of our peacefull people( this is now happening in downtown in YGN 14;10 27.09.07)

3 men were shooted
one is already dead
in Sule there are only people
they are shooting in the group
but never run away the people
NOWi got a news from inside, as below

2.40 am in Burma. Sept 27 morning.

Soldiers Beating and capturing in the Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastry of S/ Oakalapa Tsp now.
People hearing noises from the monastry until.Monks are crying and running arround there.
Please try to spread to spread this URGENTLY.
Another friend told me "now army from ygn is changed with the army from chin state
so there can b worse condition tomorrow than today and now they entering into the monestries at the mid nite time and arrest the monks by trucks."
Please ask buddhist people to protact the buddhism for the lowest humiliation and insult by taking security duty in the monastries.
Another suggestions her! Very importent too!
As the Junta pointed 86 points to say that protesting monks are not monks but fake. So please also try to find the rules and regulations of a soldier and quote these to say that these soldiers and those who commend them are not soldiers because they break the rule of a good soldier. So please declare publicly that they are terrorist, not soldier. So fight them back.
Thanks

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An email message from burma

Today, the people’s uprising lead by the monks, NLD members, students and citizens of Burma are entering the battle with their lives and blood.

In the aftermath of 8888 (18 Aug 1988) pro-democracy uprising, the Burmese democracy activists were forced to leave the country in exile. They tried achieving democracy from abroad. Both the exile oppositions organizations and the international community share the similar opinion to bring about a change in the country from force within. We also believe in a change by standing up against the regime from within with a united force. Today is the tenth day that the monks have led the protest in the streets with the students and citizens to defy the junta.

In this revolution, 15 monks and people including a Japanese citizen have sacrificed their lives in this cause. In Burma, the only path to oppose the military junta is to demonstrate peacefully. The military junta repressed the peaceful demonstration brutally by hiding truth. The longer the military junta represses the people we are bound to loos more lives.

Would the Burmese community in exile and the institutions like the UN and EU wait till the situation in Burma gets worse like Darfur in Sudan?

The neighbouring countries like China, and so called democratic countries like India and ASEAN countries selfishly avoiding the problems in Burma by brushing pass as our internal problems. It does not matter how many people the military kills, we woe to struggle and scarify our lives to restore democracy for our future generation.

On behalf of the Burmese people I salute the courage of Mr Kenji Nagai, a Japanese journalist employed by the APF Tsushin based in Tokyo, who scarified his life whilst recording media footage of gun shots to educate the global citizens.



This is the pic from yesterday near Sule, a person who have no leg but breave enought to face theis regime




Blood Line running all through fear
People sending all food to be shiver...
Land of blood shed to wrong run tear
Men of Sun set to be song gun hear.
!!hey people, you all took our economics
freedom, you all took our knowledge,
you all took our children, you all took
our song of peaceful...
This is called our Mother Land of 19
years...

(Guyzordianry Guyz)



007




today.... 26/9/07 my duty time part is working on Emergency YGH... at about 2:00 pm 5 patients was coming to our Emergency ... for Gun Shot from Government militaries... 1 patients died on d spot on arriving Hospital... ( shot on Bladder ) 4 r still bad in Diagnosis... The patient's attendant said " the patient r not in d line of protest... they ( victims ) are just chatting and watching d protest line and sitting on Cafe Bar near Shawe Dagon Pagoda , some r pedestrians" when they watching.... Government military Car was crossing to d protest line and randomly shot all of them ... what the insanity and inhumanity of their mind don't they have self-mind.. that can desire to do or shouldn't do? don't they have Family? don't they have Brain? i was very sorry for victims ( pateints ) and victims' relatives really insanity , really inhumanity, really selfish to get holding their stupid military Government... really unintelligence .. how to manage the country like in this situation ... i always ready to support Protest Monks and People... and wanna treat whenever they get injuries ... and all my friends ... u also wanna see like that or not .... This PROTEST is our chance to get improving our country among neighbours ...his is what i got from my mail and telling what was happening with him on 27/09/07


Below is an actual of what had happen yesterday on 27/9/07.

I am a Singaporean working in Myanmar for the past 11 years.
I was on my way to office( near Thuwana area) at around 4 to 4.30pm when the riot police block the road near "Super one, ILBC area". I stop my car with my wife and walk out. suddenly riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and start firing shots at the crowd. we quickly ran to the side and squat down near the wall.
The soldiers came down and start to shoot at us. I was shot twice but i did not know what hit me. My both leg were bruised. the soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them.


We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 mins and gather by the into a group.
A commander came and gather his troops and drove off to Tamwe direction.
After that ,i looked at my injures and and found injures on my left and right legs.
My wife found the "40mm riot control munnition" empty cartridge that the soldiers shoot at me.

I would like the embassy and media to know the actions of this army.
We are just ordinary citizen going to work and they just shot at us for no reason.
Imagine what they would do to the protesters!

I would like the Singapore government would make a strong stand against this violence crack down on the monks and people.


attached is the photo of my injures .
I have been attended by a private doctor on my injures.
The doctor said i was very lucky that the shot missed the groin area.


This turn into



This ..... so, who is making violent.

I would like to apologise to everyone for last 2 hrs, i was too tired and i just can't bring myself still awake, I have 2 hrs sleep every night for 8 fays, sorry that i missed many phone calls and i missed some news, but now i am back online.

















Burma time 16;12

To all folk, it is really bad in YGN, pLs can someone do something for our country, now inside YGN it has been look like War Zone, i even heard stooting over the phone. it is over 50 shots, right now. but people are not giving up to protest and more and more people coming out to street.

they even used tear gas into primary school.


by:http://www.ko-htike.blogspot.com/

Mychal Bell of 'Jena 6' released on bail

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Written on 9:47 PM by yahoo

Mychal Bell, a black teenager accused of beating a white classmate and who was the last of the "Jena 6" behind bars, was released from custody Thursday after a juvenile court judge set his bail at $45,000.




Bell's release followed an announcement from LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, who said he would not appeal a higher court's decision moving Bell's case to juvenile court.

Wearing a blue striped golf shirt and jeans, Bell walked out of the LaSalle Parish courthouse a week after an estimated 15,000-plus demonstrators marched through Jena -- a town of about 3,000 -- to protest local authorities' handling of the teens' case.

"We do not condone violence of any kind, but we ask that people be given a fair and even chance at the bar of justice," the Rev. Al Sharpton said outside the courthouse.

"Tonight, Mychal can go home, but Mychal is not out of the juvenile process. He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," he said.

"Let America know -- we are not fighting for the right to fight in school. We're not fighting for the right for kids to beat each other. We're fighting to say that there must be one level of justice for everybody. And you cannot have adult attempted murder for some, and a fine for others, and call that equal protection under the law. Two wrongs don't make one civil right."

Demonstrators at last week's march were protesting how authorities handled the cases of Bell and five other teens accused of beating fellow student Justin Barker.

Many said they were angry that the students, dubbed the Jena 6, were being treated more harshly than three white students who hung nooses from an oak tree on Jena High School property.

The white students were suspended from school but did not face criminal charges. The protesters said they should have been charged with a hate crime.

Bell's attorney Lewis Scott said the teen was moved from jail to a juvenile facility earlier Thursday.

Walters said his decision not to appeal was based on what he believed was best for the victim in the case.

"While I believe that a review would have merit ... I believe it is in the best interest of the victim and his family not to delay this matter any further and move it to its conclusion," Walters told reporters. Video Watch the Rev. Al Sharpton discuss the teen's release »

He said last week's march, which included Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, did not influence his decision.

Bell, now 17, was the only one of the Jena 6 behind bars. His bond previously was set at $90,000.

A district judge earlier this month tossed out Bell's conviction for conspiracy to commit second-degree battery, saying the matter should have been handled in juvenile court. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, Louisiana, did the same with Bell's battery conviction in mid-September.

Prosecutors originally charged all six black students accused of being involved in beating Barker with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy. Walters reduced charges against at least four of them -- Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw -- to battery and conspiracy.

Bryant Purvis awaits arraignment. Charges against Jesse Ray Beard, who was 14 at the time of the alleged crime, are unavailable because he's a juvenile.

Wednesday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco announced that Louisiana State Police officers will protect the families of the Jena 6 and investigate any threats they have received. A white supremacist Web site posted the names and addresses of the six black teens after last week's march, calling on followers to "let them know justice is coming."

Thursday, the FBI said it had been made aware of allegations of threats.

"Threats are taken seriously, and as these investigations are ongoing we cannot comment further," said Sheila Thorne of the FBI's office in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The December 4 attack on Barker came after months of racial tension, including at least two instances of fighting in the town, sparked originally when three white teens hung the nooses.

Walters has said there was no direct link between the hanging of the nooses and the schoolyard attack, and defended the prosecutions ahead of last Thursday's peaceful march. Blanco defended the prosecutor Wednesday, saying, "He has a solid record and is highly respected among his peers."

Walters also addressed the stress and notoriety the town has been subjected to, saying the only way he and other residents "have been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community."

He also suggested that some kind of "disaster" was averted when thousands of marchers came to Jena last week.

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened," Walters said.

"The Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," he said, without explaining exactly what he meant.

Soon after the district attorney spoke, a local reverend took issue with his comments.

"Obviously, we are serving two different gods here," the Rev. Donald Sidley said. "My Bible says that we should do -- we should be loving, love your neighbor as yourself.
"For him to try and separate the community like he is and then using Christ Jesus to influence the people that Jesus is working on their side, well, that's -- that's absurd. ... God is god of the human race," said Sidley, of the New Evergreen Church.

Police Clash With Monks in Myanmar

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Written on 10:46 PM by yahoo

A government announcement said security forces fired at demonstrators who failed to disperse, killing one man. Foreign news agencies and exile groups reported a higher death toll, ranging from two to seven people.

Despite threats and warnings by the authorities and despite the beginnings of a violent response, tens of thousands of chanting, cheering protesters flooded the streets, witnesses reported. Monks were in the lead, “like religious storm troopers,” as one foreign diplomat described the scene.

In response to today’s violence, the United Nations Security Council called a special meeting for 3 p.m. today to discuss the crisis.

Though the crowds were large and energetic, they were smaller than on previous days, apparently in part because of the deployment of armed soldiers to prevent monks from leaving some of the main temples.

But it appeared that an attempt by the military to halt the protests through warnings, troop deployments and initial bursts of violence had not succeeded. Analysts said that the next steps in the crackdown might be yet more aggressive and widespread.

The foreign diplomat described “an amazing scene” today as a column of 8,000 to 10,000 people flooded past his embassy following a group of about 800 monks.

They were trailed by four truckloads of military men, watching but not taking action. The diplomat, in keeping with embassy policy, spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to news reports and telephone interviews from Myanmar, which is sealed off to foreign reporters, the day began with a confrontation at the giant, gold-spired Shwedagon Pagoda, which has been one focus of the demonstrations.

In the first reported violence in nine days of demonstrations by monks in the country’s main city, Yangon, police officers with riot shields dispersed up to 100 monks who were trying to enter the temple, firing tear gas and warning shots and knocking some monks to the ground. As many as 200 monks were reported to have been arrested at the pagoda.

Several hundred monks then walked through the city downtown to the Sule Pagoda, another focus of the demonstrations, where truckloads of soldiers had been seen arriving Tuesday. Another violent confrontation was reported here, with more shots fired and a number of arrests.

On a broad avenue near the temple, hundreds of people sat facing a row of soldiers, calling out to them: “The people’s armed forces, our armed forces!" and, "The armed forces should not kill their own people!”

Tens of thousands of people were reported to be demonstrating in the streets of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.

The demonstrations have grown from several hundred people protesting a fuel price rise in mid-August to as many as 100,000 Sunday, led by tens of thousands of monks in the largest and most sustained antigovernment protests since 1988.

That earlier peaceful uprising was crushed by the military, which shot into crowds, killing an estimated 3,000 people. It was during the turmoil a decade ago that the current military junta took power in Myanmar, and it has maintained its grip by arresting dissidents, quashing political opposition and using force and intimidation to control the population.

Now, emboldened by the presence of the monks, huge crowds have joined the demonstrations in protests that reflect years of discontent over economic hardship and political repression.

At first, the government held back as the protests grew. It issued its first warning Monday night, when the religious affairs minister said the government was prepared to take action against the protesting monks.

On Tuesday night, the government announced a dawn-to-dusk curfew, banned gatherings of more than five people and placed the cities of Yangon and Mandalay under what amounts to martial law. Troops began taking up positions at strategic locations around Yangon and tried to seal off five of the largest and most active monasteries.

As the protests grew, public figures began to come forward, and on Tuesday the government arrested the first of them, a popular comedian, Zarganar, who had urged people to join the demonstrations. He had irritated the government in the past with his veiled political gibes.

The crackdown today came in the face of warnings and pleas from around the world to refrain from the kind of violence that has made the country’s ruling generals international pariahs.

A spokesman for President Bush, who was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, today denounced the crackdown and urged restraint. A day before, Mr. Bush had announced a largely symbolic tightening of American sanctions against Myanmar’s government, and White House officials had hoped that the announcement of the sanctions, which would affect the military government’s leaders directly, would intensify pressure on the government not to use violence.

“The United States is very troubled by the action of the junta against the Burmese people,” the spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said, referring to the country’s former name. “We call on them to show restraint and to move to a peaceful transition to democracy.”

The European Union has also threatened to tighten its own sanctions if violence was used. Today, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the first step after any meeting of the United Nations Security Council should be to send a United Nations envoy to Myanmar.

The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, the former South African archbishop and anti-apartheid campaigner, have spoken out in support of their fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

The junta was also hearing the message directly from diplomats based in Yangon. The British ambassador, Mark Canning, said he met with a government official Tuesday to urge restraint.

“You need to look very carefully at the underlying political and economic hardships,” he said he told the official. “The government must also understand what this is about — not fuel prices, but decades of dissatisfaction.”



by;nytimes

First curfew ends in tense Burma

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Written on 9:09 PM by yahoo

First curfew ends in tense Burma
Buddhist monks march in Yangon, Burma (25.09.07 - image released by the Democratic Voice of Burma)
Monks have called for political prisoners to be freed

The first night of a dusk-to-dawn curfew has passed in Burma's two largest cities, Rangoon and Mandalay.

Burma's military rulers are now waiting to see if defiant protesters attempt to continue a series of escalating anti-government demonstrations.

A ban is in force on groups of more than five people, and armed troops have been deployed on the streets.

Overnight, authorities arrested two prominent democracy campaigners who had been supporting the protests.

U Win Naing, 70-year-old a veteran democracy activist has been detained, his wife told the BBC, along with a popular Burmese film comedian, Zaganar.

At the weekend Zaganar and other local celebrities arranged a special meal for the protesting monks as a way of showing their support.

Vow to continue

Reports early on Wednesday said truckloads of soldiers and riot police arrived at a number of major monasteries in Rangoon where recent protests have taken place.

The restriction on gathering in public, and the night-time curfew, will stay in place for 60 days, officials say.

LATEST PROTESTS
Map of Burma and close up of Rangoon
1. Shwedagon Pagoda. Tens of thousands of protesters, led by monks, gathered for the march
2.Sule Pagoda. Students joined the protest, passing by city hall

BBC South Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says the feared military response to what has become a mass uprising against Burma's rulers has drawn closer, with the deployment of armed troops at some of the focal points for the recent protests.

State TV has repeated warnings to Burma's people not to join the demonstrations, and to the Buddhist monks not to meddle in politics.

But monks led tens of thousands of people through Rangoon and other towns on Tuesday for an eight day of protests, calling for democracy and an end to military repression.

Joining them were workers, actors and politicians from the opposition National League for Democracy party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.

Some chanted "we want dialogue" while others simply shouted "democracy, democracy".

People were also carrying flags, including some bearing the image of a fighting peacock used by students during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, witnesses say.

Students were also openly marching, whereas during earlier demonstrations they had simply formed a chain and clapped.

The young monks leading this movement have vowed to keep up their protests, but our correspondent says that now looks certain to put them on a collision course with the army.

Restraint urged

The junta, which repressed the 1988 protests by killing some 3,000 people, finally broke its silence over the mounting protests late on Monday, saying it was ready to "take action".

PROTESTS MOUNT
15 Aug: Junta doubles fuel prices, sparking protests
5 Sept: Troops injure several monks at a protest in Pakokku
17 Sept: The junta's failure to apologise for the injuries draws fresh protests by monks
18-21 Sept: Daily marches by monks in Burmese cities gradually gather in size
22 Sept: 1,000 monks march to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon
23 Sept: Up to 20,000 march in Rangoon
24 Sept: New Rangoon march draws at least 50,000 and 24 other towns join in


Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Burma's military to show restraint in the face of the rising tide of protests.

President Bush announced a tightening of existing US economic sanctions against the military regime there.

The US has already imposed an arms ban on Burma, a ban on all exports, a ban on new investment and a ban on financial services.

Earlier, close ally China called for stability and the EU also urged the junta to show restraint and launch a process of real political reform.

The protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.


by:bbcworld

U.S. human rights record attacked by Iran

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Written on 9:00 PM by yahoo

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The nuclear issue in Iran is "now closed," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an address Tuesday loaded with broadsides against "selfish and incompetent" powers that have "obedience to Satan."

art.iran.gi.jpg

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks about nuclear power, Iraq and human rights at the U.N.

An agreement reached last month between his country and the International Atomic Energy Agency over its disputed nuclear program has, in the Iranian view, settled the matter, he said. The IAEA is the world's central nuclear technology governing body.

"Iran decided to pursue the issue through its appropriate, legal path, one that runs through the IAEA, and to disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"I officially announce that in our opinion, the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary agency matter."

Under the deal brokered in August, the Iranian government agreed to a timetable for resolving outstanding issues with the IAEA over its nuclear program, which the Iranians have said is solely for peaceful power generation. The deal received a tepid reception from the United States and other Western countries that fear Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Ahmadinejad said Tuesday the IAEA has taken the "correct approach," as opposed to the U.N. Security Council, which has been "influenced by some bullying powers and failed to uphold justice and protect the rights of the Iranian people." See some of Ahmadinejad's controversial remarks »

The Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iran suspend enrichment of uranium and has imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to comply.

Ahmadinejad on CNN

CNN's Christiane Amanpour goes one-on-one with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on "AC 360."
Wednesday, 10 p.m. ET

Ahmadinejad charged in his speech that the Security Council "ranks first" among ineffective international bodies because it is influenced by "monopolistic powers."

A senior State Department official in Washington, however, said it was "safe to say he is the only one who thinks the file on Iran's nuclear weapons program is closed."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Iran "knows what the international community is demanding regarding its enrichment and reprocessing programs, and we are going to work with our allies to ensure they do. We believe this can be solved diplomatically."

The outspoken Ahmadinejad also offered veiled but unmistakable criticism of the United States -- not mentioning Iran's long-time adversary by name, but offering blunt critiques of the Iraq war and Washington's larger war on terrorism.

"Human rights are being extensively violated by certain powers," he said in his U.N. address. "Setting up secret prisons, abducting persons, trials and secret punishments without any regard to due process, extensive tappings of telephone conversations, intercepting private mail and frequent summons to police and security centers have become commonplace and prevalent." Video Watch what Iran's president had to say about human rights »

Ahmadinejad also said Iraq "was occupied under the pretext of overthrowing a dictator and the existence of weapons of mass destruction."

"The Iraqi dictator, who had been supported by the same occupiers, was disposed of, and no weapons of mass destruction were discovered," Ahmadinejad said. "But the occupation continues under different excuses."

Ahmadinejad repeatedly criticized unnamed "powers" that he charged were responsible for insecurity, division and moral decline across the world. "Is it not high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God?" said Ahmadinejad, who also invited "all independent, justice-seeking and peace-loving nations" to join Iran in a "coalition for peace."

The Iranian leader did make one specific reference to the United States, saying "the rights and dignity of the American people are also being sacrificed for the selfish desires of those holding power."

U.S. diplomats, however, were not on hand to listen to Ahmadinejad's analysis. The chairs where the American delegation sits were unoccupied, except for one woman taking notes.

Ahmadinejad's visit to the United States has generated controversy and sparked demonstrations. Eighteen protesters were arrested Tuesday outside U.N. headquarters.

One day earlier, the firebrand Iranian leader spoke at Columbia University and challenged the audience to look into "who was truly involved" in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Hundreds gathered to protest Ahmadinejad's appearance, incensed that a leader who has publicly denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of the state of Israel was given a prestigious forum to espouse his beliefs.

by:cnn

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