SPB News for Friday.

Iran President Says Bush Confrontational Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that President [sic] Bush sent a "message of confrontation" during his recent Mideast trip. Bush spent much of his visit to the region, which he wrapped up on Wednesday, rallying support among Arab allies for a strong stance against Iran -- calling the country the world's top sponsor of terrorism.

Germany Urges Broadening Iran Sanctions Germany wants a show of solidarity for other world leaders when dealing with Iran and will push for tougher sanctions at a meeting next week. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is expected to push the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to take a tougher stand on Iran when the countries meet in Berlin on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Top Rumsfeld Aide Wins Contracts From Spy Office He Set Up A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America -- and was once reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists -- has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a company that employs one of Donald Rumsfeld’s former aides. That aide, Stephen Cambone, helped create the very office that issued the contract. On January 7, QinetiQ North America (QNA), a major British-owned defense and intelligence contractor based in McLean, Virginia, announced that its Mission Solutions Group, had just signed a five-year, $30 million contract to provide a range of unspecified "security services" to the Pentagon’s Counter-Intelligence Field Activity office, known as CIFA.

Opium fields spread across Iraq The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops. Afghan with experience in planting poppies have been helping farmers switch to producing opium in fertile parts of Diyala province, once famous for its oranges and pomegranates, north- east of Baghdad. American 'successes' in Iraq over the past year have been largely through encouraging the development of a 70,000-strong Sunni Arab militia, many of whose members are former 'insurgents' linked to [US] protection rackets, kidnapping and crime.

U.S. Boosts Its Use of Airstrikes In Iraq --U.S. dropped 4 bombs per day on Iraqis in 2007 The U.S. military conducted more than five times as many airstrikes in Iraq last year as it did in 2006, targeting civilians, 'insurgent' bombmaking facilities and [US-provided] weapons stockpiles civilians in an aggressive strategy aimed at supporting the U.S. troop increase by overwhelming enemies with air power. The U.S.-led occupation dropped 1,447 bombs on Iraq last year, an average of nearly four a day, compared with 229 bombs, or about four each week, in 2006.