Focus




Articles


WEEK OF MAY 24 THROUGH MAY 30

 

Remembering The Price of Liberty on Memorial Day

May 28….(FOJ) In yet another season of seeing our nation at war, we pause to reflect upon the many who have suffered and died to help preserve the inalienable rights of freedom and liberty that almighty God bestowed upon our nation at its founding. As America’s fighting forces today attempt to help the people of Iraq experience the blessings of freedom, we must be reminded that the great Destroyer still hates liberty, and still conspires among the nations to extinguish the light of freedom. It is sad to see so many politicians today screaming about the betrayal of our President and condemn his every action to combat the enemies of our precious freedom, while our soldiers remain at the forefront of battle. It is one thing to disagree on policy, but quite another to instigate internal political turmoil that can only serve to benefit the enemies of America. Public or political dissension in time of war should be held in a proper discourse that does not lend itself to undermine the security of our nation. Honor and Statesmanship demand that we all conduct ourselves in a manner that would edify those serving on the frontlines of the battle. We need to remember that freedom has a price!
 Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Major Gen. John A. Logan declared it should be observed on May 30. It is believed that this date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large Decoration Day observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The ceremonies centered on the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the proud home of Southern General Robert E. Lee. General and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and other Washington officials presided. After speeches, children from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns. Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in the battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well. By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all of America's wars. In December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law "The National Moment of Remembrance Act," P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission's charter is to "encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity" by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance. The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: "It's a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day."

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  As America dedicates its new WWII memorial in Washington DC on Monday, we will memorialize a great generation of Americans. They defeated the evil forces of Nazism and Facism and preserved freedom and liberty for all of us that have come along in the 59 years since 1945. However, today yet again, we face the dark gathering forces of a demonic evil all around the world that are again threatening our precious freedoms. And again, we need a generation to stand up against the storm-tide of evil. And as I look for that generation to stand, I know deep down in my heart that our times will demand a spiritual revival to succeed and push the evil one back one more time!



Let Your Light Shine

May 27….(John Terry/Prophezine) A handful of liberal judges have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the law of the land and are ignoring centuries of tradition, in direct violation of the separation of powers act that restricts judges from making legislation. In the 1960’s, a woman named Madelyn Murray-O’Hare challenged the rights of kids to pray in school, and the church was slient. In the 1970’s, Roe vs. Wade gained national attention as a woman challenged the law of the land for the right to have abortion on demand, and the church was silent. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, other challenges to the moral foundation of the United States came to the forefront, and the church was silent. In the 21st century, the tearing of the moral fabric of the United States continued as liberal groups have escalated their efforts to remove every reference to Christianity from the public eye, and the church was silent. Yes, we can pray and petition God, but we as a People of Faith can (and should) do more. Jesus said our light should not be hidden, but placed on a hill for all to see. Light illuminates the darkness, that is what it was created to do. Yet if we, as believers, remain silent, we hide our light and the world remains in darkness. Jesus spoke out against those who would pervert the faith, and lovingly called people to repentance while He and His followers sought to make a difference in the world. Should we be any different? What’s worse, if we, as a People of Faith, fail to speak out on issues of faith and morality, our silence gives an unspoken approval to the wishes of those who wish to pervert the very moral foundation upon which the United States was founded. History tells us that homosexuality and sexual perversion destroyed the Roman Empire from within, crumbling the mightiest empire of old. History unchecked will do the same to the United States. When Moses and the children of Israel stood before the Red Sea with the armies of Egypt approaching, Moses prayed. God told Moses to quit praying and take action, and the people saw the hand of God perform a miracle in their midst. If we wish to see a harvest of righteousness in our nation, we’ve got to plant the seeds of righteousness (by our actions) because no harvest can take place without a seed being planted. So I challenge those of you who call yourselves Children of God living in the United States to be silent no longer, but rather to let your light shine, and to take a stand (as Jesus did) and call sin by its name. We can love the sinner (as Jesus did) yet hate the lifestyle and sinful acts of the sinner. This nation stands on the brink of destruction, and if the Church remains silent and every man looks to his own selfish desires and fails to stand for righteousness, the nation that helped to evangelize the world is doomed to fall victim to the very forces of hell that it’s ministers have stood against for centuries. Pray, but don’t stop there. Let the Church be silent no longer. Sin flourishes when Godly people do nothing. Let your voice be heard, and share the Truth with those around you.

 

A Spirit of Hate & Deception

May 27….(FOJ) It is all too obvious to me that there is an empowered growing spirit of intense deception permeating our world. In our modern era of mass communication and instant information, it seems odd that we could possibly be uninformed about anything. Yet with each passing day and every unfolding news event, we seem to be constantly inundated with a plethora of news-phenomena known as spin, and or political correctness. One only needs to watch the evening news analysts and commentators or listen to the conservative versus liberal political media jousting to realize that everything about the news can easily get twisted into a confusing information network of indoctrination and image-perception manipulation. You could call it information brainwashing! Something has happened in America in the past decade or so. Right and wrong aren't as clear as they were just a mere twenty or even ten years ago. The absolute truth is more elusive than ever. But then polls indicate that we have become a country that does not believe in absolutes, let alone in the absolute truth.
  One might have thought that America would have awakened from out of its spiritual slumber after 9-11, seeing that our nation is in peril and subjected to the most unspeakable of threats from a devious and dark enemy. But lo and behold, the political, judicial, and cultural wars that are coupled with the anti-Christian liberalism that beset our nation before 9-11 have increased exponentially even as we try to wage the war-on-terror. I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s remarks during our nation’s other Civil War: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” President Bush has stated on more than one occasion that the war-on-terror and the war in Iraq are wars that we must win if America is going to continue to live in freedom. Yet the war in Iraq has caused so much division and confusion in the American media-body-geo-politic that it is obvious that our nation is as much at risk from the internal secular war as we are from the terrorists. I don’t think I have ever seen a time when there was so much misinformation and intent of deception as there is today. Furthermore, it all seems to be diabolically contrived to disenfranchise the American Christian sector from any semblance of public credibility. It is easy to perceive that there is a spirit of hate and deception waging warfare against the truth. Someone has said that the first casualty in warfare is the truth, and in today’s demonic warfare being waged by the forces of darkness against the American Christian Republic, misinformation and deception are the weapons of the Satanic arsenal. (Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace)



Homeland Security Fears Major Strike

May 26….(AP) Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Wednesday sought to temper warnings that a major terrorist attack against the United States may be planned for the summer, saying that new intelligence does not necessitate raising the national alert level. Yet, Ridge acknowledged that some potential terrorists may already be on U.S. soil. Ridge said that there is simply a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard.” The Intelligence he referred to has heightened concern throughout the government and tends to indicate that a group of terrorists already deployed inside the United States is preparing to launch a major attack this summer, U.S. counter-terrorism and law enforcement officials say. The intelligence was described Tuesday by a senior counter-terrorism official on condition of anonymity as extremely credible and backed by an unusually high level of corroboration. The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the official said. "There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," the official said. The prediction was made public after a study by the International Institute of Strategic Studies revealed that despite the elimination of many top terror leaders – President Bush says two thirds of al-Qaida's leadership has been killed or captured, the terror network responsible for 9-11 still has a functioning leadership and over 18,000 potential terrorists in its global network.

 

US Discovers Smuggling Base For Terrorists

May 26….(Middle East News Line) The U.S. military has identified and located a major facility used for the smuggling of Al Qaida-inspired insurgents from Syria into Iraq. U.S. officials said the facility was located about 80 kilometers east of the Syrian border and contained weapons as well as equipment for the production of forged identity cards and passports. They said the facility contained bedding for more than 300 people. The facility was said to have processed thousands of insurgents smuggled across the Syrian border over the last year. Officials said Sunni operatives provided the foreign volunteers with new identities and clothes in Iraq. "What was interesting is that the building seemed to be somewhat of a dormitory," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of coalition operations, told a briefing on Saturday. "There were more than 300 sets of bedding gear in it and about 100 sets of prepackaged clothing. It's suspected that when foreign fighters come in from other countries they change their clothes into typical Iraqi clothing sets."

 

Feast of Shavout (Pentecost)

May 26….(Arutz) Today is the feast of Shavuot, one of Judaism's Three Regalim. They include the "pilgrimage to Jerusalem" festivals (along with Passover and Sukkot). The holiday marks several landmarks, foremost of which is the giving of the Torah to the Jewish People at Mt. Sinai 3,316 years ago. This dramatic event occurred seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt, and in fact the word Shavuot means "weeks;" the Counting of the Omer marks the counting of the seven weeks between the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah. The holiday is also known as the Festival of Harvest (Exodus 23,16), in commemoration of the agricultural period of the year, and the Festival of the First Fruits (Numbers 28,26), marking the commandment to bring one's first fruits to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Pentecost not only memorializes the first giving of the law written on tablets of stone, but it also memorializes, on the same day many years later, the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), when the law of God is written in the heart of the believer. As it states in Jeremiah 31:33, But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Before His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts 1:4). The Day the Holy Spirit was given to Believers and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4). The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) commemorates this day on which the Holy Spirit was given to the believers (Acts 2). On that day three thousand souls were saved. It is the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came to unite the believers in one body. All believers are baptized into the same body with Christ as the head of the church.

 

EU Constitutional Conflict Over Christianity

May 26….(Independent) The European Union yesterday split over calls for a reference God or Christianity in the new EU draft constitution, casting a cloud over fresh optimism that an overall deal will be struck next month. Foreign ministers from seven nations, including five of the EU's new countries, said a reference to the "Christian roots of Europe" is a national priority in negotiations on the constitution. But Spain, which had backed a mention of Christian heritage, has switched sides after the recent change of government, and yesterday backed France which guards its long-established secular traditions jealously, and vigorously objects to any mention of God or Christianity. The preamble to the draft constitution drawn up by former French President, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, refers to Europe's "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance", without naming Christianity, thereby separating church and state. Along with Italy, Poland has been outspoken in its calls for a reference to Christian values; God is mentioned specifically in the Polish constitution.

 

World Opinion Stymies Israeli War on Terror

May 26….(JNEWSWIRE) The "Palestinian" terrorist infrastructure in the southern Gaza border town of Rafiah was spared being totally eliminated when Israeli ground forces withdrew from the area overnight Monday. While Israel announced its objectives in "Operations Rainbow in a Cloud" had been met, army commanders said the mission's timetable had been severely restricted by considerations stemming from international pressure. Security officials, including Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, warned Israel may soon send troops back into Rafiah if terrorism against Israel's Jews did not cease. Mofaz said "Palestinian" terror groups bore total responsibility for the suffering brought upon the civilian population of Rafiah as a direct result of their actions. US Congressman Tom Lantos placed the blame higher, accusing Egypt of doing absolutely nothing to prevent the arming of Palestinian Arab killers, thus necessitating an IDF incursion. It is self-evident that if Egypt, with its huge military capabilities, would do its job to prevent the smuggling of weapons and if the PA had done its job to maintain security, then there would have been no need for such an incursion," Lantos was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post. Egypt is perfectly capable of curbing the flow of illegal terrorist arms into Gaza, "if it so desires," Lantos insisted. He compared Egypt's inaction along the Gaza border to Syria's Bashar Assad purposely maintaining a porous border with Iraq in order to facilitate the influx of Arab fighters intent on killing American soldiers. As many as 90 tunnels run under the Gaza-Egypt border and supply Gaza-based terrorists with weapons brought in through the Sinai Peninsula. Following the unintentional deaths of a handful of "Palestinian" civilians last week, the international community and foreign media launched a scathing attack on Israel, culminating in a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's anti-terror efforts.

 

Arabs for Israel'

May 26….(World Net Daily) Recognizing Israel has little support in the world, Arabs and Muslims who back the Jewish state are developing a new web-site called, ArabsforIsrael.com. Its developer, Middle East-born author Nonie Darwish, says "now is the right time for Arabs and Muslims who believe in and support Israel to do so." "Israel has few friends at this point in history and I wish to convey to every Israeli and Jew around the world, that there are Arabs and Muslims, like us, who support them and wish for their well-being," says Dawish, a U.S. citizen. In its statement of principles, Arabs for Israel says it can support the Jewish state and religion "and still treasure our Arab and Islamic culture." "There are many Jews and Israelis who freely express compassion and support for the Palestinians," the web-site says. "It is time that we Arabs express reciprocal compassion and support." The group says Israel "is a legitimate state that is not a threat but an asset in the Middle East." Palestinians cannot move forward, Arabs for Israel says, because "of their leadership, the Arab League and surrounding Arab and Muslim countries who do not want to see Palestinians live in harmony with Israel." "If Palestinians want democracy they can start practicing it now," the group says. "We stand firmly against suicide/homicide terrorism as a form of Jihad."

 

UN’s Iraq Oil for Program tied to Terrorism

May 26….(Investor’s Insight) The United Nations’ (UN) “Oil-for-Food” program in Iraq was established after the Gulf War in 1991 and was designed to allow Iraq to sell enough oil to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, such as food, medical supplies, and other essential services. Prior to its full implementation in 1997, Iraq was subject to extremely stiff trade sanctions resulting from Saddam’s defiance of UN weapons inspectors. The Oil-For-Food program provided basic relief in the form of limited crude sales. In the beginning, the program was well intentioned, seeking to bring relief in the form of food and medical supplies to the Iraqi people. After all, it didn’t seem fair to punish the citizens of Iraq for the crimes of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime. Unfortunately, this program rapidly turned into a complicated kickback scam that allowed Saddam to bribe political figures and institutions around the world, as well as fuel his notoriously evil rule. From information discovered to-date, it appears that the tangled web of deceit extended beyond the UN and the governing body of the Oil-For-Food program itself, but also may include several of our so-called “allies.” At the top of the list is Russia, which is not really a surprise. The Russians have had a vested interest in Iraqi oil production for nearly 15 years. There are four pages of entries detailing voucher recipients in Russia that total over one billion barrels of crude. On the Russian side, the notable recipients include the 'Director' of the Russian President’s office, other prominent Russian politicians and even the Russian Orthodox Church. This, of course, explains why the Russians opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning. Finishing strong in second place behind the Russians in the Oil-For-Food scandal is none other than our long-time “ally” France! France’s oil vouchers account for 150.8 million barrels of crude and notable recipients include French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Patrick Maughien, who is a close friend of Jacques Chirac and head of Soco International oil company, and former French Ambassador to the UN, Jean-Bernard Merimee. Surprised? This clearly played heavily into French opposition to the War. For all their moral and diplomatic objections, this exposes the French as the smarmy and back-biting erstwhile allies they really are. Syria comes in third in the voucher sweepstakes, again not a surprise, as they have long been allied with the Hussein regime. There are 14 names in the Syrian column accounting for 116.9 million barrels of crude. Syria’s motivations are plain, having been a hotbed of terror and anti-Americanism for years.
The UN and many of its member nations committed the outrageous hypocritical crime of loudly criticizing American efforts in the War on Terror in Iraq as inhumane, yet at the same time they were skimming millions from the UN Oil-for-Food program and thereby depriving the Iraqi people of needed food and medicine. Is it any wonder there was such opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq? Why do you need to know about this? First, because there is a massive cover-up underway at the UN. Second, the liberal media is cooperating as always. What have you heard from them about the Oil-For-Food scandal recently? Third, it is also worth mentioning that John Kerry has featured the UN in many of his foreign policy proposals, including his desire to have the UN put in charge of the administration of Iraq. As more and more evidence comes to light, that would be like allowing the fox to guard the hen house. There was very little UN opposition to US military action in Afghanistan. But as we set our sights on Iraq, the protests began in earnest, even though Iraq had been openly defying UN resolutions for over a decade. Afghanistan was not bad for business, but Iraq was. Not only that, but US action in Iraq also carried the threat that the Oil-For-Food program would be discovered to be a sham. It is incomprehensible that a world organization whose chief mandate is one of peace and humanitarian assistance has, through the actions of many of its membership and key administrators propped up a tyrant, oppressed an already poor people, defrauded the world and in the process, lined their pockets (Kofi Anan and his son) while either directly or indirectly suborning anti-Americanism and terrorism across the globe. The UN has had anti-American tendencies for decades, but this blatant display is alarming. The UN is a misguided echo chamber of bitter and corrupt Third World countries whose only chance at global influence is through the UN. It will hopefully be discovered that the UN is largely a criminal entity whose petty agendas are at odds on a global basis with freedom and democracy, and certainly anti-American. We can only hope that as this scandal grows in intensity and visibility, the US can use this as an impetus to finally remove itself from the UN, and maybe even insist that the UN relocate to somewhere else beyond our shores.



Is Israel Losing Two Key Allies?

May 25….(Koinonia House) The three nations of Israel, Turkey and India have earned the title "Axis of Democracy" by some U.S. analysts who see many common goals between the three, including a close relationship birthed from opposing Islamic fundamentalism. After a decade of strategic partnership, however, Israel's relations with two of its closest regional allies may be changing for the worse as both Turkey and India deal with recent changes in their governments. Turkey and Israel's long-standing alliance was drawn out of a common security concern over their Islamic neighbors - primarily Syria and Iran. While a country chiefly populated by Muslims, Turkey's national hero Mustapha Kemal Atatur founded the Turkish republic 73 years ago and, since then, a strong tradition of secular republicanism has helped Turkey avoid Islamic fundamentalism. However, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan became Prime Minister last year, this began to change. Erdogan is an Islamist who has previously proposed a military alliance among Muslim countries and also supports an "Islamic Common Market." The Turkish Prime Minister has been slowly separating his country from Israel and this week took the drastic step of canceling about $20 billion in military contracts with all Israeli companies that have to do with buying and industrializing tanks, helicopters and spy planes. This decision was part of what was called "the framework of the new Turkish policy which rejects strategic military cooperation with Israel". Members of Erdogan's Justice and Development party are also looking to freeze relations with Israel over the Palestinian conflict, and last year Erdogan would not receive Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Israel Defense Ministry, however, maintains that relations between Israel and Turkey are normal. "There is no change in our relations with Turkey, and in the last few days the relationship with them has been as close and as cordial as ever," said one ministry source. In India, the surprise upset of the BJP party by the Congress Party has many in Israel worried that Israel could once again suffer a relations setback in that country over the Palestinian issue. With Sonia Gandhi's refusal to step into the role of Prime Minister, there is still uncertainty over who will make up the Parliament majority. It is possible that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) may be one of the groups to be courted for the majority coalition. In its online election manifesto, the CPM attacks the previous Indian government's relationships with America and Israel and has complained that the alliance with Israel has only added to "India's alienation from all her close neighbors and traditional Arab allies". The CPM also wants an end to all arrangements of military cooperation between India and the US and between India and Israel. While the Congress Party has a harsher view of Israel than the BJP party, however, it was the Congress Party that first worked to establish ties with Israel in 1992. Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem also note that India still has many strategic economic, military and intelligence interests in maintaining good ties with Israel, interests which go beyond party divisions. India currently has three Phalcon early warning aircraft on order from Israel and has spent over $2 billion in arms contracts between Israel Aircraft Industries and the Indian Defense Ministry. All these developments are of keen interest to the U.S., which views each of these allies as important to its own strategic goals. Turkey, Israel and India form a triangle enveloping the world's major energy basins, the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea. In the coming decades, America's alliance with these states could be crucial to securing stable flows of oil from the region.

 

Bush Announces Five-Step Plan for Iraqi Sovereignty

May 25….(MSNBC) President Bush, seeking to convince skeptical Americans that he has a plan to bring stability to Iraq, outlined a five-step program calculated to articulate his objective of a sovereign Iraqi government, and to begin to reverse the damaging fallout over U.S. soldiers’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners. In a prime-time speech Monday night, delivered at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., Bush said the United States will hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government by the long-established June 30 deadline; help establish the security in Iraq that democracy requires; continue rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure; encourage more international support; and move toward national elections that will bring forward new leaders empowered by the Iraqi people. He said the first of those elections would be held “no later” than January 2005. Bush announced no major policy initiatives nor offered a firm date for the 138,000 U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq. In the speech, he announced plans to maintain that troop strength “for as long as necessary.”

 

President Bush’s Problem in Iraq

May 25….(Gary Halbert/Stratfor) How things go in Iraq over the next few months could well decide who is the next president of the United States. The war has not gone well recently, in particular the latest firestorm over prison abuses. Bush’s approval ratings have fallen to new lows. The President has two major problems with the war in Iraq, and it remains to be seen how he will deal with them. The first problem is that the war in Iraq has been mismanaged. Everyone knows it, including the Bush Administration, yet they steadfastly refuse to admit it. The question is, how badly has it been mismanaged? It remains to be seen if the administration can turn things around and what will happen if Iraqi sovereignty is actually turned over at the end of June. The other problem, perhaps just as serious, is that the Bush administration has refused to tell the American people why we are really in Iraq in the first place. My best sources believe that the plan from the very beginning was to oust Saddam Hussein and install a permanent military presence in Iraq that would be used both to stabilize the region and advance the War on Terror. Yet for political reasons, apparently, the Bush administration feels it dare not reveal this policy publicly. The result: the after-war is not going well, and the American people are increasingly losing faith in the effort. In some respects, things couldn’t have gone much worse for Bush in Iraq, especially with the latest prison debacle. Fortunately for Bush, John Kerry has not been able to gain much traction even as the worsening situation in Iraq has dominated the media in recent weeks. This week, we’ll delve into these issues with the help of our friends at Stratfor.com, the highly respected and always insightful global intelligence group. Why Are We Really In Iraq? Let’s think back to what we were told in the weeks leading up to the war in Iraq. We were given three primary reasons for invading Iraq: 1) Saddam had weapons of mass destruction; 2) Iraq was aiding and abetting terrorists, al Qaeda specifically; and 3) Saddam posed a threat (nuclear or otherwise) to America directly. This, we were told, was the justification for sending 130,000 US troops into Iraq. The liberal media, of course, had a different spin on why we went to war in Iraq. The two primary arguments from the media were that Bush decided to attack Iraq either to seize control of its oil or to finish the job of Bush Sr. in Desert Storm, or both. You will remember the headline: “Blood For Oil.” The media claimed that Bush was using US troops to seize Iraq and the oil for Halliburton and his cronies in the oil business. That didn’t happen. Others claimed Bush took us to war only to avenge Saddam’s assassination attempt on his father in Kuwait. From the beginning, Stratfor had a very different take on why we went to war in Iraq. In February and March of 2003, Stratfor laid out the following analysis for why we were going to war in Iraq: “The primary purpose of the Iraq campaign will, of course, be to influence and reshape the region. Al Qaeda has support throughout the Middle East, and most governments are either complicit or unwilling to incur the political costs of disrupting al Qaeda and similar terrorist groups at home. The purpose of this campaign is, first and foremost, to create a politico-military environment that persuades countries in the region to redefine their behavior. To put it more brutally and honestly, it is to bring massive military forces to bear on countries in the region in order to compel them to cooperate, or failing that, carry out future military confrontations. There will be two dimensions to this. The first will be to redefine the atmosphere of the Middle East. Washington now accepts as a given that it bears the deep animosity of the region. Officials do not see any opportunity for a short-term solution to this problem, and the problem presented by al Qaeda is immediate. If the United States cannot be loved, the second best outcome is to be feared. A victory in Iraq would demonstrate both American will and power. If it can be coupled with a successful and relatively prosperous occupation, fear can be coupled with respect. The second dimension is politico-military. Following the war, the United States not only would be an occupying power but also would field a force that is in effect indigenous to the region, at least from a military point of view. The presence of a massive, mobile force, permanently based in the region, without depending on the permission of others, would redefine the region dramatically. The United States expects to be able to use that force to its ends. [Emphasis added, GH.] From the U.S. point of view, three countries are particular post-campaign targets: Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Once Iraq is occupied, U.S. forces will have two missions. The first will be the occupation, pacification and reconstruction of Iraq. The second will be to pose a direct military threat to these countries. The United States certainly has no intention or desire to invade any of these countries. At the same time, the United States takes the view that it is only the threat of direct military action that will compel them to cooperate in destroying al Qaeda. A threat has no meaning if it is not serious. Therefore, in order to be effective, the United States will have to be prepared to carry out follow-on campaigns.” Stratfor and its high placed sources believed from the beginning that the plan was to invade Iraq with overwhelming force, oust Saddam Hussein and install a permanent US force on the various Iraqi military bases seized in the conflict. The war effort would result in the capture and control of the most strategic country in the region, and the US military presence would then be used, either directly or indirectly, to influence other countries in the region to oust al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Why Couldn’t President Bush Just Tell Us This?
To put it bluntly, it just sounds bad. To say publicly that we are going to take over a sovereign nation and install a permanent military presence sounds imperialist. It feels like “Pax Americana.” It looks like the bully on the block. And you know what, it is. Therefore, you don’t say it, even if it is the policy. Instead, you go with WMDs (based in part on British intelligence), Iraq’s purported links to al Qaeda and Saddam as a threat to the homeland. The problem with this approach, as we have all seen, is that it opened the Bush administration up to widespread criticism when WMDs were not found, when al Qaeda links were not initially uncovered, and when it was not clear that Saddam posed a near-term threat to the United States. The media had a field day with these “failures” and “lies” for months.
Even amidst the firestorm of criticism, the Bush administration refused to divulge its real policy (at least as advanced by Stratfor and others) of occupying Iraq as discussed above. When it seemed that no WMDs would be found and direct links to al Qaeda were thought by many to be unfounded, the administration’s rhetoric shifted to the concept that we are there to bring Western-style democracy to the people of Iraq. Actually, there is growing evidence that Saddam had WMDs. Many still believe that large stocks of WMDs will be found, either buried in the desert or in Syria, or both. On Monday, US troops discovered an artillery shell containing sarin nerve gas. Likewise, the recent brutal murder of Nick Berg revealed that one of al Qaeda’s most senior leaders and others are indeed operating in Iraq. Stratfor maintains that the Bush administration continues to make a serious tactical, and political, mistake by not revealing its real policy in Iraq, that of installing and maintaining a permanent military force: “Bush's inability and/or unwillingness to articulate a coherent strategic justification for the Iraq campaign, one that integrates the campaign with the general war on Islamists that began Sept. 11, is at the root of his political crisis right now. If the primary purpose of the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to bring democracy to Iraq, then enduring the pain of the current crisis will make little sense to the American public. Taken in isolation, bringing democracy to Iraq may be a worthy goal, but not one taking moral precedence over bringing democracy to several dozen other countries, and certainly not a project worth the sacrifices now being made necessary. If, on the other hand, the invasion was an integral part of the war that began Sept. 11, then Bush will generate public support for it. The problem that Bush has, and it showed itself vividly in his press conference, is that he and the rest of his administration are simply unable to embed Iraq in the general strategy of the broader war. Bush asserts that it is part of that war, but then uses the specific justification of bringing democracy to Iraq as his rationale. Unless you want to argue that democratizing Iraq, assuming that is possible, has strategic implications more significant than democratizing other countries, the explanation doesn't work. The explanation that does work, that the invasion of Iraq was a stepping-stone toward changes in behavior in other countries of the region is never given. We therefore wind up with an explanation that is only superficially plausible, and a price that appears to be excessive, given the stated goal. This is not only odd, but also it has substantial political implications for Bush and the United States. First, by providing no coherent answer, he leaves himself open to critics who are ascribing motives to his policy, everything from controlling the world's oil supply, to the familial passion to destroy Saddam Hussein, to a Jewish world conspiracy. The Bush administration, having created an intellectual vacuum, can't complain when others, trying to understand what the administration is doing, allows for these theories..”

Stratfor: Bush Should Tell The American People
Stratfor believes that recent developments in Iraq have deteriorated into a full-blown crisis, not only in the country but also for Bush politically. Stratfor’s advice is that Bush either call a press conference or go on network television and explain to the American people that the war in Iraq is the centerpiece of the War On Terror. Otherwise, they believe Bush could be defeated in November. They say: “This is creating a massive political crisis for Bush domestically. The public knows there is a crisis in Iraq, but there is little understanding of how to judge whether the crisis is being managed. If the only criterion is the creation of democracy, that is not only a distant goal, but also one that will be undermined by necessary U.S. deal-making. Democracy, by any definition that the American public can recognize, is not coming to Iraq anytime soon. If that is the mark of success, Bush's only hope is that he won't be kept to a tight timetable. What is worse for Bush is that, in his news conference, he framed the coming presidential election as basically a referendum on his policy in Iraq. The less that policy is understood, and the more Iraq appears uncontrollable, the more vulnerable Bush will be to charges that the Iraq war was unjustified, and that it is a distraction from the wider war on terror, which the American electorate better understands and widely supports.
He is facing John Kerry, who has shrewdly chosen to call neither for a withdrawal from Iraq nor for an end to the war on the Islamist world. Kerry's enormous advantage is that he can articulate a strategy without having to take responsibility for anything in the past. He can therefore argue that Bush's impulses were correct, but that he lacked a systematic strategy. Stratfor said in its annual forecast that the election was Bush's to lose. Obviously, the Bush administration has a strategy in Iraq and the Islamic world. It is a strategy that is discussed inside the administration and is clearly visible outside. Obviously, there will be military and political reversals. The strategy and the reversals are far more understandable than the decisions the Bush administration has made in presenting them. It has adopted a two-tier policy: a complex and nearly hidden strategic plan and a superficial public presentation. It could be argued that in a democratic society like the United States, it is impossible to lay bare the cold-blooded reasoning behind a war, and that the war needs to be presented in a palatable fashion. This might be true, and there are examples of both approaches in American history, but we tend to think that in the face of Sept. 11, only a cold-blooded plan, whose outlines are publicly presented and accepted, can work. We could be wrong, but on this we have no doubt. Even if the administration is correct in its assumption that there must be a two-tier approach to the public presentation of the war, it has done a terrible job in articulating its public justification.
The administration has held only three press conferences. Some explain this by saying that the president is too inarticulate to withstand public grilling. We don't buy that. He is not the greatest orator by any means, but he doesn't do that badly. His problem is that he will not engage on the core strategic question. Franklin Roosevelt, our best wartime president bar non, who should be the model for any wartime president, spoke on and off the record with reporters, continually and with shocking frankness when we look back on it. He did not hesitate to discuss strategy, from Germany First to relations with Joseph Stalin. He filled the public space with detail and managed public expectations brilliantly, even during the terrible first six months of the war. We are convinced that the Bush administration has a defensible strategy. It is not a simple one and not one that can be made completely public, but it is a defensible strategy. If President Bush decides not to articulate it, it will be interesting to see whether President Kerry does, because we are convinced that if Bush keeps going in the direction he is going, he will lose the election. The president's public presentation of the war is designed to exploit success, not to withstand reversals and hardships. What is fascinating is that political operatives like Karl Rove, the president's political adviser, can't seem to get their arms around this simple fact: The current communications strategy is not working. They seem frozen in place, seemingly hoping that something will turn up. We doubt strongly that building democracy in Iraq is the cry that will rally the American nation.”

But We’re Getting Out Of Iraq June 30, Right?
President Bush steadfastly maintains that the US will hand over control of the country to the interim Iraqi Governing Council on June 30. But does that mean we will also withdraw the roughly 130,000 US troops and ship them home? Not if Stratfor is correct that Bush’s strategy is to maintain a permanent military force in the region. What is more likely to happen is that our troops will withdraw in large part from the cities and move to Saddam’s former military bases, many of which have been refurbished and expanded, and to garrisons located away from the urban population. US Central Command and the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq have both said that approximately 100,000 US troops will remain in Iraq after the June 30 transition to the new governing council. Here again, it seems the Bush administration has put itself in a difficult spot. Many Americans believe that withdrawal means the troops come home. And some undoubtedly will come home. But if we are going to keep some 100,000 troops in country, the media will certainly seize on this as another Bush broken promise. The worst thing the Bush administration could do, in my opinion, would be to withdraw from Iraq and allow the country to fall into widespread chaos. Were that to happen, voters would almost certainly send Bush back to Crawford, Texas. So don’t expect it. Stratfor.com continues to believe that the Bush administration’s strategy is to maintain a permanent military force in Iraq, and that the force will be used to pressure other countries in the region to crack down on terrorists. The question is, why has the Bush Administration elected not to communicate this strategy to the American people? Remember that Bush has one of the best political advisors around in Karl Rove. You would think Rove would know that the American people could rally around this strategy if they were told it is an integral part of the overall War On Terror, especially now that evidence of WMDs and al Qaeda have been found in Iraq. It remains to be seen what happens. Will Bush leave large numbers of troops in Iraq after June 30 and take heat for not withdrawing? As this is written, there is talk that troops from the Second Infantry Division in South Korea may be relocated to Iraq. There are also troops in Europe that could be relocated to Iraq so that many of our current troops there could be sent home. Will Bush go before the American people and explain how occupying Iraq is a key part of the greater War On Terror? As noted above, I don’t know why he hasn’t already. All we can assume is that Rove and his other advisors believe it would be a dangerous move politically to do so. I actually think it could be a really smart move. Maybe they are just waiting for the right time. Or will Bush bring large numbers of troops in Iraq home, not replace them and then hope that things don’t blow up in Iraq until after the election? I think this option would be very bad for Iraq, and it could backfire miserably from a political standpoint. We hope President Bush stays the course in Iraq and rejects the pressure to get out early due to the election. I continue to believe that homeland security and the War on Terror are the top priorities. I hope it doesn’t take another attack on our soil to get the liberal America to agree!



North Korea Provided Libya With Uranium

May 24….(Reuters) North Korea secretly provided Libya with nearly two tonnes of uranium in early 2001, The New York Times has reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials and European diplomats. The International Atomic Energy Agency said there was 1.7 metric tons of uranium hexafluoride, a standard raw material for enrichment through feeding centrifuges, but experts told the newspaper the uranium was far short of the potency needed to make a nuclear weapon. A large quantity of uranium hexafluoride was turned over to the United States by the Libyans earlier this year as part of leader Muammar Gaddafi's agreement to give up his nuclear program. At the time, the United States identified Pakistan as the likely source. However, the IAEA told The Times it found evidence that the uranium came from North Korea. The agency based its conclusion on interviews of members of the secret nuclear supplier network set up by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's main nuclear laboratory. While saying he could not confirm the information, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said, "That's why it's imperative that we continue with our policy of making sure that North Korea disarms in a complete, verifiable and irreversible fashion." Duffy also said the United States is working with other countries, through the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, "to ensure that the illicit trading of weapons of mass destruction is caught and reversed." American officials say the discovery of the North Korean connection is an intelligence success that resulted indirectly from Libya's decision to dismantle its nuclear program and the ensuing drive to break up Khan's network, according to the newspaper's web site. The uranium shipped to Libya could not be used as nuclear fuel unless it was enriched in centrifuges, which the Libyans were constructing as part of a $100 million program to purchase equipment from the Khan network, The Times reported. The paper said the classified evidence had touched off a race among the world's intelligence services to explore whether North Korea has made similar clandestine sales to other nations or perhaps even to terror groups seeking atomic weapons. Iran has bought centrifuges from the Khan network, investigators believe, but it has denied it is seeking a nuclear weapon. Bush administration officials warned last year that North Korea could make good on its threats to provide nuclear materials or weapons. However, until recently U.S. officials said they had no evidence that the country was dealing in anything beyond missiles and missile technology.

 

President Bush Pitches Handover Plan to UN

May 24….(Christian Science Monitor) The United States and Britain face little mystery over the prospects of the Iraq resolution they began circulating in the United Nations Security Council Monday. The resolution, ending the coalition occupation by specifying what US officials say will be "full sovereignty" for Iraq, is expected to win broad support even among countries that opposed the war. The resolution calls for "governing authority" to be placed in the hands of a yet-to-be-named interim government. It also calls for a multinational force, in the country with Iraqi consent, to maintain security. The mandate of the multinational force would be for an initial 12 months, unless Iraq's transitional government sought an earlier review. Council members gave the text good marks, with some saying it opens the ensuing discussion on a positive note. What remains in question is whether the resolution can achieve the two goals set out by its sponsors: a return by the UN to a much deeper role in Iraq, and a commitment from more countries to take part in the country's post-occupation path, especially by sending in security forces. The resolution debate takes place against a backdrop of high-anxiety negotiations in Iraq to name an interim government by the end of May. UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is working with White House envoy Robert Blackwill in Baghdad to name the top members of the new government, a prime minister, a mostly ceremonial president and two vice-presidents, and the heads of four key ministries including defense and foreign affairs within the next few days. The process is coming down to a delicate balancing act among Iraq's key religious and ethnic groups: the majority Shiites, the long-ruling but minority Sunnis, and the Kurds, who have enjoyed autonomy for more than a decade. A successful resolution bestowing international recognition on an Iraq with sovereignty restored is one condition set by potential contributors to a multinational security force, but it is not the only one. Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, says a resolution cementing the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people is only the first step. Beyond that, he says, the UN must be the "umbrella" under which the international community's role would be organized; and the new interim government would have to issue an "invitation" to countries to participate in providing Iraq's security. Short of that, "There is no chance for the time being of any Muslim country contributing any forces to a stability force in Iraq," he says. The US has been particularly keen to see Pakistan provide forces for Iraq because it is a Muslim country and because it traditionally has provided significant forces to international peacekeeping bodies. Debate over the resolution is also expected to address the issue of Iraq's oil revenue, with Iraqi control seen by many Security Council members as an indicator of how much independence from the erstwhile occupying countries the interim government will actually have. US officials are insisting that even Iraq's most sensitive policy areas - including defense, diplomacy, interior, and the oil sector - will be run by Iraqis with authority in the period before planned elections in January 2005. The draft resolution specifically bestows control of Iraq's oil resources on Iraq's government



WEEK OF MAY 17 THROUGH MAY 23

 

New Evidence: Saddam's WMD in Lebanon

May 21….(World Net Daily) Over the last few months, the U.S. intelligence community has received new evidence a sizable amount of Iraqi WMD systems, components and platforms were transferred to Syria in the weeks leading up to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. But chances are the Bush administration won't be releasing this information for a while. The convoys were spotted by U.S. satellites in early 2003, but the contents of the WMD convoys from Iraq to Syria were not confirmed. Confirmation later came from Iraqi scientists and technicians questioned by a U.S. team that was searching for Saddam's conventional weapons. But all they knew was the convoys were heading west to Syria. But over the last few months, U.S. intelligence managed to track the Iraqi WMD convoy to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Through the use of satellites, electronic monitoring and human intelligence, the intelligence community has determined that much, if not all, of Iraq's biological and chemical weapons assets are being protected by Syria, with Iranian help, in the Bekaa Valley. The Syrians received word from Saddam Hussein in late 2002 that the Iraqi WMD would be arriving and Syrian army engineering units began digging huge trenches in the Bekaa Valley. Saddam paid more than $30 million in cash for Syria to build the pits, acquire the Iraqi WMD and conceal them. At first, U.S. intelligence thought Iraqi WMD was stored in northern Syria. But in February 2003 a Syrian defector told U.S. intelligence the WMD was buried in or around three Syrian Air Force installations. But intelligence sources said the Syrians kept dual-use nuclear components for themselves while transferring the more incriminating material to Lebanon.

 

FBI Warns of Possible Suicide Attacks

May 21….(World Net Daily) The FBI is warning state and local partners to be on the alert for suicide bombers. The bureau says there is no hard intelligence warning of any plans by terrorists to launch suicide attacks in the United States, but wants those on the front lines in the war on terror to be aware of such a threat. In its weekly bulletin distributed to 18,000 agencies, the FBI says to look out for people wearing bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, or even individuals whose fists are tightly clenched. The bulletin also says suicide bombers may disguise themselves in stolen police uniforms or even as pregnant women. A lightly classified FBI intelligence bulletin circulated yesterday warns law enforcement agencies to be on the alert for attempted strikes by suicide bombers. Although the FBI has no hard intelligence of specific plans, the bulletin was prompted by "a renewed concern" that anger at the US over Iraq or Israel could bring the terrorist war to the homeland.

 

Israel’s Samson Option

May 21….(Hal Lindsay) The report, “Israel's Strategic Future,” says Israel must prevent its enemies from developing weapons of mass destruction through strikes against vital facilities. The report says Israel has been threatened by a biological or nuclear first-strike that seeks to exploit Israel's small space and high population density. “To meet its ultimate deterrence objectives, that is, to deter the most overwhelmingly destructive enemy first-strikes, Israel must seek and achieve a visible second-strike capability to target approximately 15 enemy cities." Ranges would include cities as distant as those in Libya and Iran. The nuclear bombs would have sufficient yield to obliterate the targeted cities and to fully destroy the aggressor’s viability as a functioning state." "All enemy targets should be selected with the view that their destruction would promptly force the enemy to cease all nuclear/biological/chemical exchanges with Israel.” While Tehran insists the facility is purely for research, the decision heightens concern about Iran's ability to produce nuclear aims. Experts estimate the 40-megawatt reactor could produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon each year. This Israeli report is a refinement of the “Samson Option” of which I have spoken before. That is, if Israel’s enemies overwhelm Israel’s defenses or launch WND strikes designed to exterminate the Jewish State, they will bring down the Muslim Middle East with them. Iran recently warned that they would strike Israel with nuclear weapons if it attacked their “peaceful” nuclear plants. This is a tacit admission that they already have some nuclear weapons. Ironically, I first heard of the “Samson Option” from the lips of Ariel Sharon himself. I asked him in the halls of the Parliament if they still had the “Masada Complex.” He replied, “No! We now choose the “Samson Option.” When Samson died, he took all of his enemies down with him. So I understood immediately the implications of what he was saying. It is commonly understood that Israel has both thermo-nuclear and neutron bombs with the missiles to deliver them. And it is probable that if faced with annihilation, they would not only obliterate the largest Muslim cities, but would also turn Mecca and Medina into crystallized glass in the sand. With such firepower now coming into the hands of erratic Muslim Fundamentalists, we are very near the Armageddon scenario. Even so, Come Lord Jesus

 

Chalabi May Have Passed U.S. Intelligence to Iran

May 21….(CBS) Ahmad Chalabi, Washington's former top Iraqi ally whose house in Baghdad was raided by U.S. troops on Thursday, passed sensitive U.S. intelligence to Iran that could "get Americans killed," CBS Evening News said. "Senior U.S. officials told us today that they have evidence Chalabi has been passing highly classified U.S. intelligence to Iran," the report said on Thursday. "The evidence shows that Chalabi personally gave Iranian intelligence officers information so sensitive that if revealed it could 'get Americans killed.' The evidence is said to be 'rock solid."' There was no independent confirmation of the report. CBS said an aide to Chalabi dismissed the charges as "nonsense" and said they were part of an effort by the CIA to discredit him. The report quoted unnamed sources as saying a senior member of Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress "is believed to have been recruited by Iran's intelligence agency and is on their payroll." A high-level investigation is under way to determine who in the U.S. government gave Chalabi such sensitive information, CBS said. The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism and has branded it part of an "axis of evil" together with prewar Iraq and North Korea. U.S. forces and Iraqi police raided Chalabi's Baghdad home and party offices on Thursday, seizing computers and files from the man once seen by the Pentagon as potential future leader of Iraq. U.S. officials said the raid was to gather evidence of suspected "corruption" by INC members and that Chalabi was not a target. An Iraqi judge said it was carried out under an arrest warrant for several men wanted for stealing state-owned vehicles. Earlier this week, U.S. officials said they had cut off the $340,000 a month they were paying the Iraqi National Congress for intelligence. Chalabi had helped build up the U.S. case for invading Iraq by contributing to the view, now widely questioned, that former President Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
FOJ Note: I don’t usually run many CBS stories, but this story is serious and has serious repercussions for President Bush, and the effort to democratize Iraq if proved true.

 

The Dangerous Idea of Partitioning Iraq

May 21…(International Tribune) There is an increasing air of desperation in the discussions on the future of the coalition efforts in Iraq. Much of this is understandable. Prewar dreams of quickly and easily setting up a representative regime in Iraq have turned out to be no more than dreams. This should not have come as a surprise. All experience shows that regime reconstruction after regime destruction is a long, complicated and difficult process. This is particularly true in regions with the religious and national diversity we find all through the post-Ottoman area, from Bihac in Bosnia to Basra by the Gulf. At the same time as the United Nations is struggling to put a credible political process for regime construction in place in Iraq, desperation in other quarters is driving a debate about an alternative strategy - letting Iraq be divided into three independent or semi-independent states. According to this argument, the Iraq set up after World War I was as big a mistake as Yugoslavia. Whether Yugoslavia should or could have been saved as a single state is now for the historians to debate. What we know is that the process of its break-up involved an extremely brutal, decade-long conflict. We saw millions of people driven from their homes, perhaps hundreds of thousands brutally killed, new borders drawn in blood and economies devastated. Feelings of resentment and revenge were built up that might take generations to subside. Perhaps we haven't seen the end yet. Iraq would be even more difficult to break up in an orderly way. If it was partitioned, it is easy to see that there would be fierce fighting over important cities like Baghdad and Kirkuk. It is even easier to see the fight that would develop over the oil resources in the north and the south and the infrastructure binding them together. We could well see more blood than oil flowing out of the Kirkuk area for years to come. An independent Kurdistan would not be favorably viewed in Ankara, Tehran or Damascus. Nobody can predict in any detail the reactions in Riyadh and Amman to an Iran-linked Shiite state taking over key areas of Iraq. It is more than likely that all regional powers will throw themselves into the chaos of a disintegrated Iraq to assist their allies and to block perceived adversaries. And all of them have far better possibilities to intervene than distant powers. This will have repercussions well beyond the borders of Iraq. Just one important example: It is not hard to see how the breakup of Iraq could push security concerns to the forefront of politics in Turkey, halting or even reversing the process of democratization and reform, and critically endangering the prospect of Turkish membership in the European Union. It is imperative that we don't let despair over the difficulties today drive us into what would be a disaster tomorrow. The voices in the United States and Israel toying with the idea of a Balkanization of Iraq are truly playing with fire. The very debate is dangerous. There is a risk that it could fuel sentiments in different parts of Iraq that would undermine the current fragile efforts to set up some sort of functioning regime. Instead of concentrating on the difficulties of sharing power and making the compromises that will pave the way for a constitution for the new state, there is a risk that different players will start focusing on the possibility of grabbing whatever can be grabbed in a disintegrating Iraq. There is no underestimating the difficulties that lie ahead in Iraq. This year will be very difficult. Next year, with an elected government assuming responsibilities and seeking agreement on a new constitution, will be even more critical. It will be the mother of all state-building efforts. Thus it is important to make clear that a breakup of Iraq must never be on the agenda of the international community. In the flurry of prewar rhetoric on regime change, surprisingly few seemed to realize that regime reconstruction is exceedingly difficult. For all the attention that is now given to the formal end of occupation on June 30, we must understand that we are only at the beginning of that process. There will be enormous challenges along the road to a stable state and a representative government in Iraq. But none of the difficulties in this process are an argument for jumping into the disaster that a disintegration of the country and the region would be. This is a basic lesson of very recent history.

 

Media Overkill

May 21….(Olive Tree/Jan Markell) While it is sad that Americans are involved in abuse or even brutality anywhere, are you getting tired of the Abu Ghraib story? As I have already said, less than twenty American soldiers are implicated out of a total of 15,000 MP's serving in a similar capacity in Iraq. There are 700 MP's at Abu Ghraib prison who did not join in the abuse activities. But the story will not go away. "Gay marriage" dominated it only one day. Those guilty supposedly represent all of the U.S. military. No media outlet will let go of the story, not even "fair and balanced" Fox News. The Media Research Center tracked abuse stories from April 29 through May 11 on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on the abuse in that time frame. They also discovered that in the past year, NBC had aired only FIVE stories on the mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam era. The only purpose for droning on and on and on is to build a case against the war in Iraq and to help defeat President Bush in November. Even after 9/11, Americans still don't fully get it. We are at war, not just in Iraq. Mohammed has replaced Marx and Lenin, and while both are brutal, it seems radical Islam has no heart at all. I would like to say you all should view the full execution of American Nick Berg ten days ago. But don't. It's on the Internet in living sound and color. If it would awaken some Americans to the fact that we cannot stop trying to defeat a brutal band of men who thrive on cruelty, I would send you to the sites. You can't have a 1960's "love in" with them and sit down at a peace table and draw up a "let's just get along" treaty. You have to chase them to the ends of the earth with military might and crush them. As in any war, the innocent are also harmed and the worst in human nature is also revealed, even among the liberators. A story is breaking as I write this that the FBI is now concerned about suicide/homicide bombers in America who would explode themselves in our land in retaliation for the abuses in Iraq and Israel's actions in Gaza. If such were to be the case, it would not take long for Americans to collectively abandon Israel and further fulfill "the whole world turning on her" as outlined in Zechariah 12. This week Sen. Ernst Hollings (D-SC) blamed Israel for the war in Iraq. It doesn't get much more weird. Soon Israel will be blamed for global warming, the price of gasoline, and the fact that 50% of Americans are obese. But as one of my radio guests this weekend, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld reminds us, always follow the terror money trail. She has written a brilliant book, "Funding Evil." She tells how terrorism is financed (heavily through drug trafficking) and reminds us that until we cut off the source of funding we are almost spinning our wheels. She also states that little attention was paid to the money sources fueling international terrorism until 9/11.



North Korean Explosion Derails Syrian Missile Shipment

May 20….(Middle East News Line) A North Korean missile shipment to Syria was halted when a train collision in that Asian country destroyed the missile cargo and killed about a dozen Syrian technicians. U.S. officials confirmed a report that a train explosion on April 22 killed about a dozen Syrian technicians near the Ryongchon province in North Korea. The officials said the technicians were accompanying a train car full of missile components and other equipment from a facility near the Chinese border to a North Korea port. "The way it was supposed work was that the train car full of missiles and components would have arrived at the port and some would have been shipped to Syria while others would have been transported by air," an official said.
FOJ Note: One can only speculate about what these two Axis of Evil regimes were planning with these weapons shipments . Perhaps, God’s providence interrupted the Axis of Evil’s diabolical scheme in the works. God is in control, and although he is going to allow the world to rebel, the timing for the climactic days of the Valley of Decision remain in his charge.

 

Mayor Giuliani Sets The Record Straight

May 20….(Newsmax) "Our enemy is not each other, but the terrorists who attacked us," former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said yesterday at his appearance before the 9-11 Commission. The mayor acknowledged there were "terrible mistakes" made on Sept. 11, but attributed that to the unprecedented circumstances. "The blame should clearly be directed at one source and one source alone, the terrorists who killed our loved ones," Giuliani said as family members broke into applause.

 

Israel Is Condemned on Rafah Offensive

image

May 20….(Reuters) Israeli troops pushed deeper into the Rafah refugee camp Thursday in search of gunmen and weapons smugglers, killing seven Palestinians and demolishing several buildings despite an international outcry over a deadly tank attack on a group of protesters. Israel blamed the Palestinians, saying gunmen infiltrated the crowd of about 3,000 people protesting the incursion into the Rafah refugee camp. Witnesses denied militants were among the marchers, and Palestinian leaders denounced the incident as a massacre. The UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning the loss of life and Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes. The United States abstained on the vote, marking the first time in nearly two years it did not exercise its veto on a resolution sharply critical of Israel. Israel also announced that it would continue its Rafah operation until its troops obliterate terror-weapons-smuggling tunnels and round up militants along the Gaza-Egypt border.
FOJ Note: The question must be asked by somebody, “Why does Egypt allow the illegal transfer of terrorists and weapons from its territory in the NE Sinai (territory relinquished by Israel to Egypt in 1979 in exchange for peace) into the Gaza territory. It is common knowledge that terrorists utilize the Egyptian tunnles and also incorporate civilian logistical settings for cover.

 

Note of Appreciation to FOJ Readers

May 20…. I would like to thank all the regular readers of FOJ for their continued faithfulness in following the Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry. I have recently fell very ill with Bronchitis and have been slow this week to getting much accomplished on the website mission. Hopefully, I will back up to full speed next week. My e-mails and articles research work is piling up, but I will be on the job again soon. Thank you all for continuing to Focus on Jerusalem! Darrell



Bush Renews Call for Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage

May 19….(Newsmax) President Bush on Monday renewed his call for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. On the same day that Massachusetts began issuing licenses to gay couples, Bush said in a statement, "The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges." Noting that he had called on Congress some time ago to pass a constitutional amendment banning such marriages, Bush said "the need for that amendment is still urgent, and I renew that call today."

 

Call For A World Union to Replace G-8

May 19….(EU Observer) Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt today (10 May) called for the G8 group of rich countries to be replaced with a group of regional unions, including the EU, the African Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur. Speaking at the Annual Worldbank Conference on Development Economics in Brussels, Mr Verhofstadt said, "We need a global political response capable of rivalling the globalised market in which we are living. One way to achieve this goal is to replace the G8 of rich countries with a G8 of regional groupings". This group would make up a forum favouring, without discrimination, co-operation between the main continental structures: the European Union, the African Union, Mercosur, Asean and the North American Free Trade Agreement", he continued. "Such a G8 would not only improve the relations between the parts of the world but would also encourage different regions to intensify their collaboration. I think that the European Union could serve as an example in this respect", concluded the Belgian prime minister. The G8 is an informal group of eight countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), which meets every year to discuss broad economic and foreign policies.

 

Israel Continues to Raid Terror Camps in Gaza

May 19….(JNEWSIRE) At least 10 "Palestinians" were killed Wednesday afternoon when a group of armed terrorists used a hundreds-strong mob of civilians as cover to advance on IDF troops conducting operations in the southern Gaza border town of Rafiah. Aerial video surveillance of the area shows an Israeli Apache gunship fired a warning missile into an empty field in order to deter the procession, according to an official statement released by the IDF. When the mob continued to move on Israeli soldiers, field commanders, fearing a major assault on their troops that would have turned into a bloody pitched battle, directed machine gun fire and four tank shells at an abandoned building near the "Palestinians." At that point several people were killed and many more wounded, but the IDF Spokesman said after reviewing the surveillance tapes it seemed highly unlikely the casualties were caused by Israeli fire. The army did note the path taken by the mob was an area "rigged with explosive charges planted by the Palestinians." Taking the humanitarian initiative, Israel immediately following the incident "approached the Palestinians and offered medical assistance, including the evacuation of the casualties to Israeli hospitals," the army said. The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids armed combatants to use unarmed civilians as cover in a combat situation. Responsibility for any civilian deaths in such a situation lies solely with the offending party.



King Abdullah Urges Arafat to Step Aside

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May 18….(Ha Aretz) Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat should take "a long look in the mirror" and decide whether to step aside in the interest of his people, Jordan's king said in an interview published Tuesday, providing a rare indication of Arab frustration with the Palestinian leader. , King Abdullah II also said Iraq's next ruler should be a "tough guy" with a military background capable of holding the shattered country together. Israel and the United States often have pushed for Arafat to step aside, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has harshly criticized the Palestinian leader in recent days. Powell said Arafat "continues to take actions and make statements that make it exceptionally difficult to move forward," and he suggested Palestinian and other Arab leaders should persuade him to make way for a more flexible successor. In a televised speech to mark Nakba (catastrophe) Day earlier in the week, Arafat, quoting from the Koran, called on the Palestinian people to "terrorize the enemy." Even though Arab leaders have been frustrated by Arafat many times over the decades, they rarely discuss who should be in charge in a fellow Arab nation. But, said Abdullah, "I know that there are discussions inside the Palestinian leadership of this idea of him becoming president and giving the prime minister more authority." "If this allows the Palestinians to get beyond the obstacle that they are facing now with the United States and Israel, then that's something the Palestinians need to sort out and sort out quickly," he said. Jordan, a key regional mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, also is in a delicate situation: more than half its population is Palestinian and it must balance a friendship with the United States with rising Arab frustration over U.S. policies toward Israel and Iraq. Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Abdullah had told reporters on the sidelines of final day of the World Economic Forum in Jordan that Palestinian leaders "need to get their act together" so others can help them. He said then there are "three or four elements of leadership that are competing with each other" and that their lack of coordination is costing them. In the interview with the Times, Abdullah also described the sort of person he felt should run Iraq after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi civilian government. "I would probably imagine, somebody with a military background who has experience of being a tough guy who could hold Iraq together for the next year," Abdullah was quoted as saying.


Syrian Bank Funds Al Qaeda

May 17….(Middle East News Line) The United States has determined that a Syrian government bank helped fund Al Qaida. The Treasury Department said the Commercial Bank of Syria and its subsidiary provided financial services to what the government agency described as "terrorists and their sympathizers." The department did not identify the groups, but officials said they included Al Qaida and satellite groups. "Numerous transactions that may be indicative of terrorist financing and money laundering have been transferred through CBS, including two accounts at CBS that reference a reputed financier for Osama Bin Laden," the department said. The department has designated the Commercial Bank of Syria and its subsidiary, the Beirut-based Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as financial institutions of "primary money laundering concern." The designation provides the U.S. government with a range of options to target money laundering and terrorist financing.

 

Arafat: Terrorize Your Enemy!

May 17….(Jerusalem Post) Invoking a phrase from the Koran, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Saturday called on Palestinians to "terrorize" their enemy. In a televised speech on the 56th anniversary of the "nakba" (the establishment of Israel), Arafat quoted a phrase from the Koran that tells Muslims to "find what strength you have to terrorize your enemy and the enemy of God." The phrase in the Koran refers to Muslims' wars against pagans. Arafat, however, also signaled that he was ready for peace when he referred to another phrase reading: "If they want peace, then let's have it." Addressing the Israeli people, Arafat said: "I tell the Israeli people that our hand is extended to making the peace of the brave on this land." Arafat said that no one in the entire world has the right to make concessions on the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. He also said that the Palestinians would not accept any plan to resettle the refugees elsewhere. He said in his speech that the Israeli government could not exonerate itself from its moral, political and international responsibility for the tragedy that befell the Palestinian refugees. "The right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes is a sacred and inalienable right that is internationally protected and endorsed," he said. "This right is heroically defended by the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli occupation, colonization and against the Apartheid Wall of annexation and expansion and in defense of our Christian and Islamic sanctuaries." Arafat concluded that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land is doomed to failure and accused Israel of waging a war of genocide against the Palestinians. He said the Palestinian struggle would continue until the liberation of Jerusalem.

 

Who is Abu Musab al Zarqawi?

May 17….(Abu Musab al Zarqawi is an independent terrorist operator with a long history in global jihad--sometimes coordinated with al Qaeda, sometimes not. He masterminded not only Berg's murder but also the Madrid carnage on March 11, the bombardment of Shia worshippers in Iraq the same month, and the April 24 suicide attack on the port of Basra. But he is far from a newcomer to slaughter. Well before 9/11, he had already concocted a plot to kill Israeli and American tourists in Jordan. His label is on terrorist groups and attacks on four continents. Zarqawi was first thrust into the global media spotlight in February 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.N. called him an "associate and collaborator" of bin Laden and part of a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network. Zarqawi was born Ahmed al-Khalayleh to a Palestinian-Jordanian family in 1966 and grew up in a shabby two-story dwelling in a dusty mining town 17 miles north of Amman. The town was called Zarqa--hence the nom de guerre. But while we know the details of bin Laden's privileged youth, we know next to nothing about Zarqawi's impoverished early years. His parents are dead, and few near relatives have been uncovered by the press. His passport picture is on a U.S. poster offering a $10 million reward for him, but his height and weight are listed as "unknown." Nor do we know what he studied in school; only that he dropped out of high school and locals say he was "pious." Until recently, the mystery man rarely claimed credit for his terrorist exploits. U.S. intelligence once thought he'd been injured in the American assault on Afghanistan and had taken refuge in northern Iraq, later traveling to Saddam's Baghdad to have his leg amputated; now they're not so sure. We do know that like thousands of Muslim youths he rallied to the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and gained renown as a fighter. Returning to Jordan after the Soviet withdrawal, he may have joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which merged with al Qaeda in 1998. While in Jordan he also associated with Hizb ut Tahrir, an angry, anti-Semitic conclave devoted to the restoration of Islamic rule. Released in 1997 after five years in a Jordanian prison for plotting to replace the monarchy with an Islamic state, Zarqawi fled to Europe. He returned to Afghanistan in 2000 and built his own network of training camps near Herat, seizing control of the clandestine routes between Iran and Afghanistan. In his camps, Zarqawi dispensed his specialized knowledge of chemical weapons and poisons to loyal followers, who then dispersed to the Middle East and Europe. The week of April 19, Jordanian police broke up a Zarqawi-financed and orchestrated plot they estimate would have detonated 20 tons of chemicals and released a cloud of poisonous gas into central Amman. The blast could have killed some 80,000 civilians and destroyed the U.S. embassy and Jordanian intelligence headquarters. In a videotaped confession shown on Jordanian TV, the head of the cell admitted, "I took explosives courses, poisons high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning." Abu Zarqawi knows no limits and many continents. Investigating the Hamburg cell after September 11, German authorities came across another terrorist group called al-Tawhid (unity), made up mainly of Palestinian militants trained in Zarqawi's Afghan camps. Tawhid operatives told investigators they got their start in Europe selling stolen and forged documents to militants traveling between the Middle East and Western Europe. With the outbreak of war in Iraq, Tawhid converted its alien-smuggling and document-forgery ring into a two-way underground railroad between Western Europe and the Middle East. According to European press reports, networks in Spain, Italy, and Germany send recruits into Iraq via Syria. Probably the murkiest and most intriguing feature of this man of many mysteries is the question of Zarqawi's relations with Osama bin Laden. Though he met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several times, the Jordanian never joined al Qaeda. Militants have explained that Tawhid was "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al Qaeda." A confessed Tawhid member even told his interrogators that Zarqawi was "against al Qaeda." Shortly after 9/11, a fleeing Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the main plotters of the attacks, appealed to Tawhid operatives for a forged visa. He could not come up with ready cash. Told that he did not belong to Tawhid, he was sent packing and eventually into the arms of the Americans. Zarqawi and bin Laden also disagree over strategy. Zarqawi allegedly constructed his Tawhid network primarily to target Jews and Jordan. This choice reflected both Zarqawi's Palestinian heritage and his dissent from bin Laden's strategy of focusing on the "far enemy"--the United States. In an audiotape released after the recent foiled gas attack in Amman, an individual claiming to be Zarqawi argued that the Jordanian Intelligence Services building was indeed the target, although no chemical attack was planned. Rather, he stated menacingly, "God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn't hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv."

 

Massachusetts Grants Same-Sex Marriages

May 17….(Reuters) Gay couples began exchanging vows in Massachusetts today, marking the first time a state has granted gays and lesbians the right to marry and making the United States one of four countries where homosexuals can legally wed. Massachusetts joins the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada's three most populous provinces as the only places in the world where gays can marry. The rest of Canada is expected to follow soon.

 

Russia Pledges to Finish Iran Reactor

May 17….(Moscow Times) Russia will finish a nuclear reactor in Iran despite technical complications, unresolved commercial issues and strong objections from the United States, a senior official said Friday. Sergei Antipov, deputy head of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency, said strict UN controls will ensure no fuel can be diverted to build a nuclear bomb. The United States accuses Iran of trying to build such a bomb under the cover of what Tehran insists is a peaceful nuclear energy program based around the planned $800 million Russian-built reactor at Bushehr. Iran was found to have made omissions from what it had said last October was a full declaration of its nuclear activities, and the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said earlier this month that the world would not wait forever for it to "come clean." Antipov said the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, maintained strict controls on Iran's nuclear activities at all stages.

 

Beijing Threatens Taipei with Destruction

May 17….(Beijing last night threatened Taiwan with destruction if President Chen Shui-bian doesn't accept China is "one nation." In an official statement, the mainland government warned Taiwan leaders to make choices about the future carefully or the "Chinese people will crush their schemes firmly and thoroughly at any cost." "At present, the relations across the Taiwan Strait are severely tested," the statement said. "To put a resolute check on the 'Taiwan independence' activities aimed at dismembering China, is the most pressing task before the compatriots on both sides of the strait." The statement was issued by the Taiwan Affairs Office under the Communist Party and the State Council. It came four days Chen is inaugurated as president. "Chen Shui-bian has left Taiwan society deeply torn with his vicious mischaracterization of the popular will of the Taiwan people, his unbridled instigation of hostility and animosity towards the mainland, and his frenzied provocation to the status quo that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to the one and same China," the harshly worded document said. China offered Taiwan a carrot as well as a stick. If Chen accepts the one-China policy, Beijing held out the hope of negotiations leading to an end to hostilities, establishment of a mechanism to resolve cross-strait disputes, direct commercial and transport links, closer economic co-operation and greater market access. The statement added: "The Taiwan leaders have before them two roads: one is to pull back immediately from their dangerous lurch towards independence ... The other is to keep following their separatist agenda to cut Taiwan from the rest of China, and in the end, meet their own destruction by playing with fire." Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council and the Presidential Office had no immediate response to the statement. The U.S. has sent its aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Kitty Hawk to cruise the East Asian region ahead of Thursday's inauguration ceremony.

 

Secretary Powell Raps Arab World

May 17….(Washington Times) Secretary of State Colin L. Powell yesterday questioned the silence of Arab leaders over the beheading of U.S. civilian Nicholas Berg by al Qaeda terrorists. "I wish I could explain that," Mr. Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There ought to be outrage. There is anger in the Arab world about some of our actions, but that is no excuse for any silence on the part of any Arab leader for this kind of murder. "I would have liked to have seen a much higher level of outrage throughout the world, and especially the Arab world, for this kind of action," he said, calling the videotaped killing "unacceptable in anyone's religion, in anybody's political system that is a political system based on any kind of understanding and respect of human rights."

 

Iraqi Governing Council Member Assasinated

May 17….(Fox News) The chief of the Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated in a homicide car bombing Monday near a U.S. checkpoint in central Baghdad. Five people died in the blast, one of them apparently the bomber, according to a doctor at Yarmouk Hospital. Six Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were injured in the bombing near the U.S.-led coalition headquarters, according to Brig adier General Mark Kimmitt. Three cars waiting in line at the headquarters were destroyed. Meanwhile, fighting between coalition troops and insurgents, particularly those who are part of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's army, continued in the southern cities of Nasiriyah, Karbala and Najaf. Abdel Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem, was the second and highest-ranking member of the U.S.-appointed council to be assassinated. His death occurred about six weeks before the United States plans to transfer power to Iraqis and underscores the risks facing those perceived as owing their positions to the Americans. "He strove for the downfall of the former regime and the birth of a democratic Iraq," the U.S. civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said in a statement, calling the killing a "shocking and tragic loss." He returned to Iraq after its liberation and continued to serve his country, making an enormous contribution to the work of the Governing Council." "The terrorists who are seeking to destroy Iraq have struck a cruel blow with this vile act today," Bremer continued. "But they will be defeated...The Iraqi people will ensure that his vision of a democratic, free and prosperous Iraq will become a reality."Kimmitt said that terrorist groups were trying to derail the democratization process in Iraq and that a homicide bomber was responsible for the attack.



WEEK OF MAY 10 THROUGH MAY 16

 

China Increases Aid to Syrian Missiles

May 14….(Middle East News Line) China has increased assistance to Syria's medium-range missile program. Western diplomatic sources said Beijing has sent several delegations and technicians to accelerate Syria's program for extended-range Scud missiles. The sources said the increased aid was first detected in late 2003 in what they termed a major development. "The Chinese effort is meant to provide Syria with technical assistance that it has not been able to receive from other countries," a diplomatic source said. "The focus is to extend the Scud from short-range to medium- and even intermediate-range." The sources said the Chinese assistance appears to be replacing that of North Korea, which was the prime supplier to and developer of Syria's missile programs. Pyongyang supplied and helped develop the Scud C and Scud D programs.

 

Berg’s Father Blames Bush & Rumsfeld

May 14….(My Way) The father of Nick Berg, the American beheaded in Iraq, directly blamed President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday for his son's death. "My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Berg said in an interview with radio station KYW-AM. In the interview from outside his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a seething Michael Berg also said his 26-year-old son, a civilian contractor, probably would have felt positive, even about his executioners, until the last minute. "I am sure that he only saw the good in his captors until the last second of his life," Berg said. "They did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend." Two days after the publication of a video showing the execution of his son by five masked men, Berg attacked the Bush administration for its invasion of Iraq and its sponsorship of the Patriot Act, which gives sweeping powers of surveillance to the federal government. Berg described the Patriot Act as a "coup d'etat." He added: "It's not the same America I grew up in." The criticism came amid finger-pointing between Berg's family, U.S. military officials and Iraqi police over the young businessman's imprisonment before his execution. Michael Berg rejected U.S. government claims that his son had never been held by American authorities in Iraq. The Iraqi police chief in the city of Mosul has also contradicted statements by the U.S.-led coalition concerning the younger Berg's detention.



There Are No Muslim Moderates

May 13….(JNEWSWIRE) What do Yasser Arafat, PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah all have in common? At one time or another the West has insisted all are Muslim "moderates." But according to one Pakistani Islamic author, that term was contrived by the West in order to create divisions in the Muslim world. All Muslims are moderates by virtue of being Muslims, and not according to how their political positions correspond to Washington's interpretation of the Quran, wrote Abidullah Jan in Pakistan Today. Christian Zionist leader Jan Willem van der Hoeven further clarified that not only were there no Muslim "moderates," but in fact all Muslims are "fundamentalists." The US and Europe have traditionally attempted to portray Muslim "fundamentalists" as a disconnected Islamic minority whose actions do not reflect the beliefs of their co-religionists. "A Muslim cannot be a Muslim without being moderate," wrote Abidullah Jan in the May 7 edition of Pakistan Today. "He has, however, to be moderate by virtue of being a Muslim," and not by virtue of how his political positions line up with Washington's interpretation of the Quran. According to Islam, "moderate" is simply the opposite of "evil conduct," which in no way corresponds to what the West views as "evil conduct," Jan insists. Allah called the followers of Islam Muslims "without any prefixes," and ultimately "there is no moderate and immoderate Islam at all," the author writes. The US is promoting such prefixes "for the sake of divisions among Muslims," and has succeeded in causing many to jump on the "bandwagon of 'moderation.'" But the scheme is doomed to fail as Muslims turn to the Quran and realize they are all the same, says Jan. Not only are there no Muslim "moderates," it is actually incorrect to call only some Muslims "fundamentalists" as if all other Muslims oppose their practices, wrote Jan Willem van der Hoeven in a July 2002 op-ed piece. Van der Hoeven, who is director of the International Christian Zionist Center, pointed out that not one US-labeled "moderate" Muslim leader ever shunned PLO chief Yasser Arafat even when he was widely recognized as the chief of global terrorism. "Why not? Because it would have been against the teachings of Islam to have stood up against Arafat's terror," wrote Van der Hoeven. The Quran repeatedly exhorts Muslims to "arrest," "besiege," and "lie in ambush everywhere" for "unbelievers." Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them, kill them wherever you find them, seek out the enemies of Islam relentlessly. (Sura 4:90) Fight them until Islam reigns supreme. (Sura 2:193) Cut off their heads, and cut off the tips of their fingers. (Sura 8:12) Allah threatens the Muslim who does not make war on the "unbelievers" with death. (Sura 9:39) So rather than renounce the dictates of their faith, "moderate" Muslims "make statements of peace and tolerance" for the consumption of an unsuspecting and gullible West, Van der Hoeven explained. Such statements act to "disguise for the time being Islam's real intent and nature: to conquer the world by stealth or terror until the world finally comes under the dominion of Allah and Islam."

Clinton Says Bush Wrong on Iraq

May 13….(Newsday) President Bush wasted international sympathy for the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks by shifting from the search for Osama bin Laden to the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, former President Clinton said Tuesday. The move alienated many U.S. allies and created a false impression among Americans that Saddam had a key role in the al-Qaida-engineered terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Clinton said. "I think the world was really pulling for us after 9-11," he said, but the Bush administration "divided the world, to pursue our vision, not because of any imminent threat but because that's what they wanted to do." His strongest words were aimed at Bush's decisions to attack Iraq two years after Sept. 11. "Keep in mind that we had unanimous support from the United Nations to do what we had to do, unanimous support for going into Afghanistan, for going after the Taliban," Clinton said. "They (the United Nations) participated in the hunt for bin Laden ... they also supported giving an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to open his country to inspections for weapons of mass destruction. "We were in good shape. What happened? "There was a strong group of people in the administration who believed that Saddam Hussein was more important than Osama bin Laden and believed that dislodging him was important, without regard to whether he had weapons of mass destruction." Clinton said UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was "begging for four or six weeks more to finish the job" but Bush officials cut him off and went ahead with the invasion of Iraq. He called it "unbelievable" that polls show that "half of the American people still believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9-11, when there is not a shred of evidence."

 

The Murder of Nick Berg

May 13….(Hal Lindsay) Nick Berg was murdered in Iraq by al-Qaida thugs following the decision by CBS News to air a series of disgusting photographs depicting U.S. forces humiliating Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. How does one justify such an editorial decision? Do the top executives at CBS and elsewhere live in a vacuum? The U.S. military has been investigating these charges since long before the media got wind of it. The military chose to keep the investigation and prosecutions of the guilty soldiers quiet because they knew this kind of news, if released, would greatly increase the danger to our troops and prompt a series of retaliatory killings. CBS was also well aware of that risk, and, unlike the military, CBS executives were more than willing to take it. Especially since it posed no personal risk to themselves. And, if it resulted in somebody's death in Iraq, they could look as shocked as anybody else as they report it in their next lead story. But now, not only is the investigation in the public domain, but so are the inflaming photos. And so are the photo opportunities for partisan politicians eager to use America's international image as a weapon against the hated Bush administration. Some Politicians are demanding Rumsfeld's blood to hurt the current administration. It appears of no consequence to them that we are engaged in a war of blood and death where their every word has permanent consequences for those who are fighting our battles. Before CBS aired those photos, their executives knew there were Americans being held hostage by Iraqi terrorists. Before they aired those photos, they knew there would be an Arab backlash against US forces in Iraq. Before they aired those photos, they knew Nick Berg was also among the hostages held by Arab terrorists. They determined that the public's "right to know" overrode Nick Berg's perilous situation. And now they take solace behind their journalistic code of duty. The photos were not needed to impart the information. The same information could have been made clear without using photos they knew would inflame virtually all of Islam. But they opted for the emotional shock value of the photos, knowing full well what kind of murderous retaliations they would spur among the Islamic fundamentalists. I note that most news organizations didn't show the four Americans hanging from the bridge, or the video of either Daniel Pearl or Nick Berg's grisly murders. It was enough to describe them. Americans got the idea without seeing the pictures. They would have gotten the idea without releasing the Abu Ghraib photos, too. Suppose CBS did air the gruesome photos of atrocities being perpetrated against Americans? What if we resurrected the 9-11 footage, the Danny Pearl footage, added the Nick Berg footage, the footage of the mutilation of our dead, footage that reminded America of what is at stake in this war? If these elected officials and private special-interest groups are going to use the public airwaves to disseminate propaganda, shouldn't their public statements be pro-American, instead of proclaiming propaganda that incites the enemy to horribly murder innocent Americans? The problem is pro-American propaganda might help America win the war, and not help get George Bush out of the White House.



Al Qaeda Terrorists “Behead” American

May 12….(FOJ) An American contractor held captive by Islamic terrorists who identified himself as Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia has been beheaded by Al Qaeda connected terrorists operating in Iraq. His mutilated body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad on this past Saturday, apparently the same day he was beheaded, a US official concluded. After pushing Berg to the floor, one of the men severed his head and held it up for the camera on the video posted Tuesday on a terrorist website. It bore the title “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American,” referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden believed behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi is a master terrorist that is also sought in the assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan in 2002. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing. The Bush administration said those who beheaded Berg would be hunted down and brought to justice as he rejected the terrorists' attempt to justify their brutality by saying that the Abu Ghraib prison controversy caused them to take this act. In the video, five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks stand over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit similar to prison uniforms.

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Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

Proverbs 6:16-17 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,


“My name is Nick Berg. My father’s name is Michael. My mother’s name is Suzanne,” the man, seated in a chair, says. “I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in Philadelphia.” The video then cuts to Berg sitting on the floor, his hands tied behind his back, flanked by the masked men, as a statement is read in Arabic. Berg sits still during the statement, facing the camera, occasionally raising his shoulders. After the statement, the assailant directly behind Berg takes a large knife from under his clothing while another pulls Berg onto his side. The tape shows assailants thrusting the knife through his neck. A scream sounds before the men cut Berg’s head off, repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — or “God is great.”

Friends of Nicholas Berg, the American who was beheaded by Islamic terrorists in Iraq, say that during the past year he had increased his devotion to religious Jewish observance and study. So reports the New York weekly, The Forward. Berg, 26, was a contractor from Philadelphia who went to Iraq to develop cellular infrastructures for his company. He was captured in early April by Iraqi Muslims as he was preparing to return to the United States. Aaron Spool, a good friend of Mr. Berg, said, "Nick was probably one of the most amazing men I've ever met... He was good man, a good Jew. It's tough. It's very hard." Spool also said that in the past year or so, Nick had started becoming more ritually observant, including wearing tzitzit (ritual fringes), and had begun intensively studying Bible.

FOJ Note: Beheading is a favorite device of Satan, as it will be of the coming Antichrist. Revelation 20:4 depicts that the Antichrist will cause all the newly born Christians during the post-tribulation world to be beheaded! The tool of Middle Eastern styled Islamic terrorism will fit nicely in the geo-political arsenal of the Antichrist.


North Korea Marketing ICBM’s to Mid-east

May 12….(Arutz) North Korea has begun marketing the Taepo Dong-2 long-range missile to Middle East clients. Western intelligence sources said the most likely client to purchase the Taepong-2 is Iran. The sources said Teheran has been negotiating with Pyongyang for the purchase of the Taepo Dong-2 as Iran's first intercontinental ballistic missile as well as a space launcher. “Iran wants an ICBM and China and North Korea are already helping in the development of engines," a senior intelligence source said. The sources said that North Korea has also discussed the Taepo Dong-2 with Libya and Syria.

 

Abu Ghraib

May 12….(Koinonia House)The gross mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has received extensive media attention. There is disgust and outrage at the soldiers who degraded the Iraqi prisoners - and at their superiors who allowed the humiliation tactics. There is fear that the actions of these few will have disastrous ramifications on all the soldiers and civilians serving honestly and professionally in Iraq. There is indignation that scant attention has been given to the hard work that U.S. soldiers and civilians alike are doing to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure, soccer fields, hospitals, schools, all the while in danger of being attacked by terrorists. Many remember another set of photos, those of American civilian contractors, charred and mangled, hanging from a Falluja bridge over the Euphrates River. There is shame and frustration and anger. "The criminal acts of a few stand in stark contrast to the high professionalism, competence and moral integrity of countless active, Guard and Army Reserve soldiers that we encountered in this investigation," said Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in his opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Taguba wrote an extensive report on the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners after investigating the abuse situation. "At the end of the day," he continued, "a few soldiers and civilians conspired to abuse and conduct egregious acts of violence against detainees and other civilians outside the bounds of international law and the Geneva Convention. Their incomprehensible acts, caught in their own personal record of photographs and video clips, have seriously maligned and impugned the courageous acts of thousands of U.S. and coalition forces. It put into question the reputation of our nation and the reputation of those who continue to serve in uniform, and who would willingly sacrifice their lives to safeguard our freedom."

 

The Worst is Yet to Come

May 12….(Jerusalem Post) Global terrorism is on the rise and is likely to continue unabated for the next 100 years, according to Prof. Yonah Alexander, one of the world's leading analysts on the subject. Alexander, director of the Inter-Universities Center for Terrorism Studies, also believes it is only a matter of time before groups like al-Qaida use non-coventional weapons as part of attempts to promulgate their ideology and undermine western society. In this respect, he anticipates that al-Qaida's next theater of operations will be Europe, where the organization has established a widespread base and network. "If you ask me whether the worst is yet to come, the answer is definitely yes," Alexander told The Jerusalem Post prior to giving a lecture as guest speaker at the University of Haifa's National Security Studies Center. "We can expect to see an escalation in terrorism on a global scale with a continuation of conventional acts of terror, such as suicide bombings and shooting, as well as mega-terror like September 11 in the US and March 11 in Spain. "There will also be a move towards the use of non-conventional weapons: biological, chemical, nuclear as in dirty bombs, and cyber-terrorism, whereby perpetrators will try to disrupt power supplies and air traffic, for example, at the touch of a button." Alexander, who is based in the US and Israel, has studied the subject of terrorism in the Middle East and the global arena for over 40 years and has published over 100 books on the issue. The center he heads is a consortium of universities and think-tanks in some 30 countries. He said there had already been indications of future trends by terrorist organizations such as the anthrax attacks in the US after September 11, 2001, reports that al-Qaida was trying to produce ricin and, in Israel, the abortive attempt to blow up the Pi Glilot fuel and gas storage depot. "According to the studies we have conducted, we can expect a continuation of bus bombings like the ones that have occurred in Israel, as well as attempts to strike at chemical plants and infrastructure targets and super-terrorism with non-conventional weapons," said Alexander. The supposition that international terrorism will expand and escalate is based, according to Alexander, on factors such as the spread of radical theological ideology, racial intolerance, ethnic and religious differences and, especially in Africa, tribal rivalries, as well as extremist nationalism and separatism. Furthermore, he cited the numerous disputes and conflicts throughout the world, such as those in Chechnya, Kashmir, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and South America, as well as the gap between developed nations and poorer countries. "Other important factors include the intensification of the link between terrorism and organized crime, and the education of hatred, including anti-Semitism. "The problem here is that children are being brought up to hate and they will pass this on to their children and so forth, which is why we don't see an end to terrorism in the next 100 years. "Should we be concerned about the future? Yes, we should, because of the motivation of terrorists, their ideologies, the availability of funds, the proliferation of conventional and non-conventional weapons, the intrinsic vulnerability of democratic societies and the high cost of trying to counter terror. "What concerns many is the expansion of international networks as seen after the Madrid bombings, when links were discovered between Spanish citizens and people in North Africa, Asia, and with various other groups like Hamas. In the past, terrorism was regarded as a tactical rather than a strategic threat but it has become a permanent fixture and a challenge to the strategic interests of nations. "In fact," said Alexander, "terrorism represents the most threatening challenge to civilization in the 21st century. The question of survival will depend to a great extent on how civilized society tackles this threat."

 

Jewish Rabbi’s Critical of American Evangelical Support

May 12….(CBS) Prominent Israeli rabbis are for the first time speaking out against Israel's profitable alliance with evangelical Christians in the United States who have funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Jewish state. The rabbis fear the Christians' real intent is to convert Jews, their aides said Monday. Others are concerned about the evangelicals' support for Israel's extreme right-wing, opposing any compromise with the Palestinians. The dispute touches on an increasingly sensitive issue in Israel: the country's dependence, both economically and politically, on conservative American Christians. Besides contributing tidy sums to projects in Israel, some evangelical Christians have lobbied in support of the Israeli government in Washington. Troubling to Israelis is the fact that one influential group of evangelicals believes in a final, apocalyptic battle between good and evil in which Jesus returns and Jews either accept him or perish a vision that causes obvious discomfort among Jews. The focus of the latest criticism has been the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a Chicago-based group that has raised tens of millions of dollars from Christian supporters of Israel. Two former chief rabbis of Israel, Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliahu, recently approved a religious ruling urging followers not to accept money from the group. The ruling, issued by Shapira in March and later signed by Eliahu, accused the fellowship of accepting money from groups involved in “missionary activity.'' Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, brushed off the criticism as complaints by a tiny minority.
He said the group has raised $100 million, including $20 million last year alone, to assist Israel's poor, elderly and new immigrants, as well as impoverished Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union. The group sponsors projects in 85 Israeli towns and cities, he said. Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi, also noted that he has served as an adviser to Israeli prime ministers and sits on the boards of the Jewish Agency and Joint Distribution Committee, influential groups that serve Jewish communities abroad. Although many of the thousands of donors to his group may hope to convert Jews, Eckstein said, “we just don't allow any kind of missionary activity.'' He said his donors are motivated by other factors, including the Jews' connection to the biblical Land of Israel and feelings of guilt over anti-Semitism.

 

Pope, Bush to Discuss Iraq and Middle East

May 12….(Belief Net) Pope John Paul II and President Bush are expected to discuss their differences over Iraq and the Middle East when they meet at a Vatican audience on June 4. The White House confirmed the audience Monday (May 10), in effect refuting speculation by Italian newspapers that the Pope was reluctant to meet with the American president because of his opposition to Bush administration policy and his desire to steer clear of US politics in an election year. Although the Pope and the President see eye-to-eye on right-to-life issues with the exception of capital punishment, which John Paul opposes, they are deeply divided over the US decision to attack Iraq. John Paul also seeks more vigorous and even-handed action by Washington to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East.

 

Terror Beheading War in Israel & Iraq Being Coordinated

May 12….(FOJ/DEBKA) Six Israeli members of the Givati infantry brigade’s engineers platoon were killed Tuesday when their armored personnel carrier was blown up by a roadside bomb at the end of an operation to demolish rockets and arms manufacturing facilities in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district. Masked Islamic Jihad and Hamas gunmen snatched the fragmented bodies, paraded them through Gaza streets, firing off victory salvos, and then announced they were open for negotiation for their return. Israeli troop reinforcements thereupon streamed into the city and began house to house searches for their comrades’ remains, announcing they would stay until they were recovered. Within an hour after the tremendous explosion that destroyed the armored personnel carrier in which the six were traveling yesterday morning, "inhuman" Arab residents, in the words of Prime Minister Sharon, were seen on an Islamic television station, joyfully holding aloft some of the remains of the soldier, including a head. The local Arab residents, accustomed to swooping down on bombed-out vehicles and pulling out bodies and body parts, grabbed whatever they could and made off with them. The Red Cross was instructed to demand the bodies of the fallen men. The atrocity Israel and its servicemen confronted that day in Gaza City cannot be divorced from previous deadly events:

1. After four Americans were lynched and mutilated in the Iraqi Sunni triangle town of Fallujah on March 31, the US Marines backed off and withdrew to siege positions on the city’s perimeter without taking custody of the killers. The Baathists and al Qaeda forces left unscathed chalked up a victory that gave the rest of the Middle East an example of how to get away with vicious atrocities.

2. Another example came from the Palestinians themselves. They have still not brought to trial the real killers of three CIA security men who died on October 15, 2003 in a powerful Palestinian roadside bomb blast similar to the device that slew the six Givati sappers Tuesday. In an effort to lay hands on the terrorists, Washington has since tried threats, ultimatums and money prizes, all to no avail. Arafat has refused to cooperate!

3. Yasser Arafat has further radicalized the Palestinian movement and boosted its most extremist fringes by two new directives: one, to integrate the Hamas into his PLO and give it equal status to all the other factions of the umbrella organization; two, to place hardline Farouk Kaddumi, the Damascus-based Palestinian foreign relations executive, in charge of operational collaboration with Iran and Hizballah. Arafat has also initiated merger negotiations between the PLO and the rejectionist Palestinian groups working out of Syria and Jordan, a move that will hold back any Palestinian group from entering into talks with Israel. Just as the Iraqi terrorist guerrillas and their terrorist allies in Fallujah gathered the body parts of four murdered Americans and strung them up over a bridge, so too did Palestinian terrorists take possession of the remains of the six dead Israeli soldiers. They decided to use the body parts as “hostages” to ward off an all-out Israeli offensive against Gaza Strip Palestinians and, at a later stage, as chips for extorting concessions, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners.

 

Bush Imposes Syria Accountability Act
US Economic War on Syria Begins!

May 12….(White House News) President Bush has signed the SAA and officially announced that the actions of the Government of Syria in supporting terrorism, continuing its occupation of Lebanon, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining United States and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and thus has declared a national emergency to deal with that threat. However, just as France and Germany took opposite views in the Iraq war, the European Union has chosen to ignore the US sanctions on Syria, as it intends to send an EU economic delegation to Beirut and Damascus next week to discuss joint ventures for energy and transport, with its declared objective to deepen EU–Syria cooperation, and ultimate Syrian admission into the EU. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, however, said Britain was partner to the US anxiousness over Syrian intent to develop nuclear weapons and its support for terror. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has expressed Israel's satisfaction with US President Bush's decision of yesterday to implement the Syria Accountability Act and impose sanctions on Syria for its sponsorship of terrorism. "This is an important decision," Shalom said, "this demonstrates the US determination to wage an unyielding war not only against terrorist organizations but also against states that support them. Syria continues to shelter and actively aid terrorist organizations. Terrorist leaders continue to operate freely from headquarters in Damascus, and Syria openly arms the Hizbullah while continuing to occupy Lebanon.



The Arab World Recoils at Bush - Rumsfeld

May 11….(Arab Press) Arab world commentators reacted with shock and disbelief on Monday over what they perceived as President Bush's robust backing of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld against calls for his resignation. Critics have called for Secretary Rumsfeld’s head amid the world wide furor over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Arab analysts, editors and even ordinary Arabs seemed united in their condemnation of President Bush who said the United States owed Rumsfeld a "debt of gratitude. "After the torture and vile acts by the American army, President Bush goes out and congratulates Rumsfeld. It's just incredible. I am in total shock," said Omar Belhouchet, editor of the influential Algerian national daily El Watan. "Bush's praise for Rumsfeld will discredit the United States, and further damage its reputation, which is already at a historic low in the Arab world," he added. (Our most-hated nation in the world status) Analysts have said the damage from images seen worldwide of US soldiers abusing naked Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison would be indelible, incalculable and a gift to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. What people saw was the true image of the American occupation: the humiliation of an occupied people, a contempt for Islam, sadism and racism. "After Mr. Bush's decision to keep Rumsfeld, all their apologies seem like lip service," Dubai-based political analyst Jawad al-Anani told Reuters. How can the US reconcile keeping a man who has insulted every Arab through the abuses of Iraqi prisoners," added Anani, a former Jordanian foreign minister. University of Algiers professor Mahmoud Belhimeur agreed. "I cannot believe the United States reacts the way an authoritarian regime would. Bush should have done the honorable thing and fired Rumsfeld," he said.
Rumsfeld is America’s "Symbol" of Iraqi War
Michael Cox, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, said the repercussions of firing the defense secretary would have been very significant for President Bush. "This has been Rumsfeld's war, and I suppose the political symbolism of trying to get rid of Rumsfeld would be huge, since he is the recognized internationally symbol of America’s war in Iraq." Cox said he could not entirely rule out that Rumsfeld could go, if US public opinion turned.
FOJ Note: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is indeed America’s “point-man” in the war on terror and the war in Iraq. It should be no surprise that the whole world is after his head. Sadly and unfortunately, some useful idiots serving as guards in Baghdad have given America’s enemies just the needed firepower to decapitate the President’s point man.
It was Secretary Rumsfeld that handled daily press briefings at the Pentagon to explain the Afghan campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and later the war into Iraq. He served a vital function to provide the American public and the military with a vision of purpose and optimism as we forged ahead into the dark tunnel we know as the war-on-terror. That tunnel has become a clouded place of confusion in Iraq, especially since the infiltration of terror-insurgents from Iran and Syria. As Secretary Rumsfeld daily paraded before the cameras in the Pentagon, I knew that he would eventually become a target for geo-political assassination and an object international scorn and intrigue. I just never imagined that the powerful forces of darkness that scheme to isolate and deligitimize America’s sovereignty base would find ammunition of this disgusting variety. Secretary Rumsfeld may indeed have to resign, since this abuse is so horrific and our country is so caught up in political correctness, but lets face it, the whole world wants to see President Bush gone, and Secretary Rumsfeld is just one step on their pecking order.

 

Bush Sees New Abuse Photos With 'Disgust'

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May 11….(Worthy News) President Bush examined new photos and video clips of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners Monday, reacting with "deep disgust and disbelief" during a Pentagon visit in which he underscored his support for embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The President spent the morning in damage-control mode at the Pentagon, where he convened an extraordinary gathering of top military, diplomatic, legal and intelligence advisers. Seeking to douse speculation about Rumsfeld's future, Bush stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the secretary, along with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and other civilian and military officials, to offer a testimonial before television cameras. Then Bush went behind closed doors to view about two-dozen video clips and photos showing U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. White House and Pentagon officials went out of their way to let it be known that Bush saw pictures the public had not, part of an effort to position the president ahead of the unfolding election-year controversy. Until Monday, Bush had seen only pictures obtained by the news media, a state of affairs that led him to scold Rumsfeld last week. Rumsfeld's spokesman, Larry Di Rita, called the images "disturbing," and said they showed humiliation of prisoners as well as "inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature." They were consistent with what has been seen in photographs published around the world in recent days, Di Rita said. "The president's reaction was one of deep disgust and disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appalling acts," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "It does not represent our United States military and it does not represent the United States of America." Bush said in his public remarks, "The conduct that has come to light is an insult to the Iraqi people and an affront to the most basic standards of morality and decency." The Pentagon has not yet decided whether to make the videos public and White House officials repeatedly sidestepped questions about the president's opinion on that subject. Bush twice ignored reporters' questions about the matter. McClellan did say the administration was seeking a way to share them with Congress, so lawmakers can "carry out their oversight responsibility." A highly unusual gathering of Bush officials at the Pentagon illustrated the gravity of the prison-abuse controversy. It was a meeting first proposed several weeks ago, but one that gained urgency over the weekend, when several additional officials, including Cheney, were told to report. Rumsfeld stood on one side of Bush, Cheney on the other. Cheney left the Pentagon ahead of Bush to campaign in New Hampshire and Maine. Also on hand were Powell; National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Stephen Hadley; White House chief of staff Andy Card, CIA Director Tenet; Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs; John Negroponte, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. They sought to project unity at a time when the prisoner-abuse matter has strained the entire Bush team. Above all, Bush wanted to buck up Rumsfeld, who faced new questions about his fitness to serve. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror," Bush said. "You're doing a superb job. You are a strong secretary of defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude." The defense secretary stood with his hands clasped behind his back during Bush's remarks. The Army Times, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper read by a quarter-million troops around the world, said in an editorial that responsibility for the abuse lies at the highest levels of the Pentagon, including Rumsfeld and Myers. Both men are guilty of "professional negligence," the editorial said. President Bush sought to bolster troops worried that the scandal has tarnished their reputation worldwide. "The actions of a few will not be allowed to stain the honor of the mighty United States military," Bush said.
FOJ Note: Somewhere in the space above our earth, Satan is laughing his head off! The Iraqi prisoner abuse situation is repulsive and demeans our whole mission in waging war on the evildoers of 9-11, but guilt lies with those that this particular absurdity, and with anyone who may have condoned it. If this leads high up the chain of command, then so be it. But this incident is obviously a demonic-devised scandal to thwart America’s resolve to press the war on terror. As I noted a year ago, the Euphrates River Valley area (in Bible Prophecy) could become a Last Days quagmire-of-conspiratorial evil that could possibly lead to America’s downfall as a world superpower, just prior to the rise of the system of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation era.

FOJ E-mail Comments: I have received a few critical comments in regard to the Iraq-prisoner abuse scandal story that I ran in FOJ yesterday (May 10) and Secretary Rumsfeld’s predicament, regarding his continued value to our nation’s leadership. I caution readers to remember that in a “time-of-war,” we must be careful about castigating our leaders, especially when our enemies are foaming at the mouth to see them replaced. Secretary Rumseld may indeed have to be expended, but I don’t think he devised-condoned this incident. I have followed this man’s career and he has always been exemplary of American ideals. I can’t help but think about the fact that the Iraq-sex-abuse scandal is somehow symbolic of the cultural cancer of pornography that is condoned within our borders. We are a nation that is rightly abhorred by the sight of prisoner-sex-abuse in Iraq, but we are not abhorred by the demon of domestic pornography and sex abuses right here in America. We are the porn exporter to the world. We have become a culture saturated with decadence on TV, and yet we are shocked when it emerges that some of our domestic behavior has slipped into the military circles. We are a nation requiring judgment from an almighty God, and the Iraq situation is uniquely timed and suited to lead us into an entrapment of evil for that Divine judgment. These Last Days are going to get more and more perilous! And the enemies of liberty and Godly freedom are clever and scheming. They cause division and confusion, and they manipulate events for an evil cause. It is hard today to discern truth from fiction, and to find clarity while trying to oppose true enemies. I remind readers that Abraham Lincoln once said that; “A nation divided against itself cannot stand”, and I am very fearful that the many enemies of the American Republic are manipulating events to use against our good country. In the prophetic field, it is apparent that America is a target of the Global conspiracy to exalt the Antichrist, and in that scenario, the Globalist agenda is to subjugate America into a New World Order. And the tools of this elite conspiracy are many and devious!



Quietly, U.S. Prepares for Israel Strike on Iran

May 10….(Middle East News Line) The United States has been examining the prospect that Israel will attack Iranian nuclear facilities in an attempt to prevent the Islamic republic from completing an atomic bomb as early as this year. U.S. analysts and government sources said the Bush administration has discussed the prospect of an Israeli air strike at several levels of government. They said the issue has been examined in terms of the diplomatic, military and security implications for the United States, particularly its military presence in Iraq and the Persian Gulf region. The issue of Iran's nuclear weapons program was discussed by President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the latter's visit to the White House on April 14. The sources said the two men were alone during the brief discussion in an effort by the president to gauge a likely Israeli response to the completion of an Iranian nuclear bomb. "It would be intolerable for the Middle East if they [Iran] get a nuclear weapon," Bush said after meeting Sharon.

 

Saudis Urge OPEC to Hike Oil Output

May 10….(MSNBC) Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi urged OPEC on Monday to raise its production ceiling by 1.5 million barrels a day when it meets on June 3. The announcement by OPEC’s largest producer comes as U.S. prices have risen to nearly $40 a barrel and gasoline prices have been pushing higher with the peak summer driving season approaching. OPEC pumps about a third of the world’s oil. Naimi’s statement represents a shift in Saudi oil policy. Only in March the kingdom was reportedly the chief advocate of a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production in anticipation of a lower demand for oil during the spring and summer. Naimi said he would discuss the market situation with other OPEC members May 22-24 at the International Energy Forum in Amsterdam. OPEC’s June meeting will be held in Beirut, Lebanon. Naimi said recent price increases were a “major concern” to Saudi Arabia. “We do not want to see prices rise to the level that they negatively affect the growth of the international economy or the demand for oil,” he said. The minister said the most important reason for higher oil prices is “the market’s unwarranted fear of disruptions in supplies from some oil producing countries and regions at a time when only the kingdom and probably two or three other countries have spare production capacity.”

 

Jesse Jackson Bashes U.S.

May 10….(World Net Daily) The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a frequent Democratic Party candidate for president and founder of the Rainbow Coalition, is bashing U.S. policy in Iraq during a conference in Greece. Jackson told the conference on religions and cultures in Athens that the U.S. should remove American troops from Iraq and carry out a thorough investigation of human-rights violations in the war-torn country. Jackson said Bush must "end the occupation of Iraq and return sovereignty to the Iraqis as quickly as possible in cooperation with the United Nations and Europe," according to a report in the Arab press, the only international venue in which the remarks were recorded. "The U.S. bias toward Israel and its support for (Ariel) Sharon's aggressive policies have obstructed peace and triggered violence and hate in the region," he said.
FOJ Note: It is quite obvious that Satan has a lot of loud voices that can be granted a stage to spout the complaints of the Antichrist conspiracy. The Devil has a lot of political voices aligned to defame America and the war-on-terror these days. Obviously, Satan wants America out of Iraq, and wants the support for Israel by America to cease! I wonder why? It is very easy to identify the little political quacks that are serving the interests of the Global hierarchy that will install the Antichrist. Jesse Jackson is one of those little quacks. Yasser Arafat is also one. And I hate to say it, but there are many others right here in the US, and they are prominently placed in government,

 

Bush Defends Secretary Rumsfeld

May 10….(FOJ) President Bush has issued a strong endorsement of his embattled Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld,, telling him after a meeting at the Pentagon, "You are doing a superb job." With Rumsfeld at his side, Bush said his Defense Cabinet officer was "courageously leading our nation in our war against terror. You are a strong secretary of defense and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude." Bush's comments appeared designed to head off rising speculation that Rumsfeld should resign as both men braced for the anticipated release of more pictures and video images showing Iraqi prisoners being abused by American soldiers. Bush, facing indications of waning public confidence in his senior military ranks and declining credibility abroad, went to the Defense Department for what officials said was a previously scheduled briefing. But the session took on new significance because of the torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners uncovered at the Abu Ghraib prison. Bush faced reporters in the executive dining room, just outside Rumsfeld's office. Also attending Monday's war council session at the Pentagon were Secretary of State Colin Powell; CIA Director George Tenet; Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs; and Gen. John Abizaid, top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East. Bush said last week that he wants Rumsfeld to “stay in my Cabinet.” Administration officials have rightly condemned the repugnant behavior at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. President Bush called it "abhorrent." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was "totally unacceptable and un-American." White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "the president is sorry for what occurred." Yet that is not enough. The piranhas in the press and the Socialists Democrats seeking to undermine the President are calling for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. Liberal senators on the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, eager for the same media attention given to the September 11 Commission, rushed to the nearest television camera and demanded full-scale investigations. But their outrage seems directed more to score political points than to find the "truth." Let's face it, the Democrats and Bush haters have politicized the war in Iraq, and that is something that is truly un-American!

 

The Real Tragedy of Pat Tillman.

May 10….(Bill Keller Ministries) One of the sad stories in the last few weeks was the news of the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, who died while serving our nation in Afghanistan. Pat Tillman was different from most of today's professional athletes. He was a star defensive back for Arizona State University and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. After several seasons with Arizona, he had an opportunity to change teams and earn over 9 million dollars, but chose instead to stay with Arizona for 1/3 of that since he felt he owed it to the team for giving him his opportunity to play professional football. As amazing as that is in today's world of professional athletes, Pat did something even more amazing. He was so moved by the events of 9/11 he made the decision to give up his professional football career, his 3.6 million dollar salary, to serve our nation by joining the Army Rangers. When he made the decision, he also refused to do any media interviews. He said that what he was doing was not for attention or glory, but out of a personal conviction to do his part in the war on terrorism. Again, Pat Tillman stood out because such nobility is rarely found in professional athletes today. That is why it was so sad to learn on April 23rd that Tillman had been shot and killed the day before during a Special Operations mission in southeastern Afghanistan along the border of Pakistan. This was a young man who was not only a sports hero, but like all of those men and women who bravely defend our nation, a real hero. Because he had given up the fame and fortune of a successful professional football career, his death shocked the nation and was a national story. But today, I want to tell you the real tragedy of the death of Pat Tillman. On Monday May 3rd, they had a Memorial Service for Pat Tillman in his home town of San Jose, California. I got home from doing my daily radio program at around 6 p.m. and my normal routine is to eat dinner with my wife and then sleep from 7 until 11 when I have to get up and go do my nightly television program from 1-2 a.m. The television in my bedroom was on one of the 24-hour cable news stations as I was starting to fall asleep, when I heard the broadcast of Pat Tillman's memorial service. I heard one speaker after another talking about Pat's athletic career, his service to our nation, about being a role model and hero, but with each speaker I realized what was missing was anyone mentioning his faith. Other than the passing reference to God, there was nothing being said about Pat Tillman's faith. Then his brother got up to speak. Tillman's brother Richard, another brother, Kevin, also joined the Rangers with Pat, was overcome with emotion as he stood before the gathering in a white T-shirt and jeans. "It was amazing to be his baby brother," he said, voice shaking. "He was a champion. But with all respect to those who have been up here before me, Pat's not with God. He was not religious, so he's not with God, he's just plain dead." I sat up, wide awake now, and all I could think about was that as great a life as Pat Tillman had lived, great college athlete, successful professional football career, giving up the fame and fortune to serve and pay the ultimate price for our nation, he would spend eternity separated from God in a place that was created for satan. That is the real tragedy of the death of Pat Tillman, and anyone else who dies without accepting Jesus Christ by faith as their Lord and Savior. Let me interject something that is very important, please do not miss this. From all of the news accounts as well as personal conversations I have had with people close to the Tillmans, this was a very close knit family. From all of my personal research, there is nothing to indicate that his brother's comments were not accurate. However, there is always the possibility that in those last days of Pat Tillman's life, a chaplain, someone he served with who knew the Lord, may have spoken to Pat and he may have softened his heart and actually accepted the Lord by faith as his Savior. Let's pray that happened. I love you and care about you so much. If Pat Tillman did die in his sins without accepting Christ, he is eternally lost. There is no more sad end to a life than to be separated from God your Creator for eternity. I pray today that you realize no matter how great your life may be, how successful you may be, how much money you may have, how wonderful and noble a person you may be, the second your life ends, all of that means nothing. We will all die one day my friend, and the moment our heart stops beating the only thing that will matter is if you know Jesus Christ by faith as your Lord and Savior. NOTHING ELSE WILL MATTER.

 

US House Calls For Action on Iran-Syria!

May 10….(FOJ) The House of Representatives has called on the United States and the rest of the international community to stop Iran's nuclear weapons programs by any means. House members said the resolution was meant to pave the way for a more aggressive U.S. stance toward Iran's secret development of nuclear weapons. They said this could include additional sanctions on nuclear suppliers to Iran as well as military options. The non-binding House resolution, passed 376-3, was said to have endorsed the Bush administration's doctrine of preventive war in the case of Iran's nuclear weapons. The resolution called on the United States and other members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to "use all appropriate means to deter, dissuade and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons." The House’s action comes amid early reports that the Bush Administration will impose economic sanctions on Syria in 24 hours. The Congress has approved the penalty for supporting terrorism and failing to stop guerrillas entering Iraq. Congressional sources expect President Bush to curb US energy firms’ investments in Syria and prohibit Syrian aircraft flights to US.



WEEK OF MAY 3 THROUGH MAY 9

 

UN Passes Resolution on Arab Sovereignty

May 7….(Arutz) The United Nations General Assembly Thursday decided the Jews do not have a right to sovereignty over even one inch of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip - integral parts of their ancient, biblical homeland. Instead, the world body declared, the land belongs to a group of people that has never before in history constituted a unique cultural entity or a sovereign nation - the Palestinian Arabs. The resolution recognizing "Palestinian" sovereignty over these territories was introduced by the PA observer mission to the UN, and passed by a vote of 140-6. That the PA is present at the UN at all is a violation of the "Oslo Accord," which forbids the "Palestinians" from conducting foreign affairs. Only Israel itself, the United States and four Pacific island nations voted against the UN resolution. The move by the United Nations General Assembly officially recognizes Palestinian Authority sovereignty over all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, including eastern portions of Jerusalem. Arab diplomats said the resolution was meant to refute the implied position of US President George Bush, to the effect Israel would not be expected to give up all post-1967 lands, nor to accept Arab refugees into its borders. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman denounced the resolution, saying that it was intended to "undermine the negotiating process and not to further it." He also noted that it failed to condemn terrorism against Israel or to recognize that bilateral compromise was necessary for agreement to be reached between Israelis and Arabs. PLO UN Observer Nasser al-Kidwa said the resolution was "of extreme importance." According to al-Kidwa, it recognized the lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War as "territory under military occupation", and that the Palestinian people "have the right to self-determination and to exercise sovereignty on their territory." However, it is far from clear that sovereignty is the ultimate goal of the PLO. On January 1, 2002, the Fatah terrorist led by PLO chief Yasser Arafat, declared that "a legitimate Palestinian entity forms the most important “weapon” that Arabs have against Israel, the outpost of the imperialist powers." (USA)
FOJ Note: The 2002 declaration by Arafat was part of a communique issued marking the 37th anniversary of Arafat and Fatah's first terrorist attack on Israel, in 1965, (yes that’s right 1965) two full years before Israel came into possession of the Yesha. (West Bank) The establishment of a Palestinian State on the West Bank will ultimately lead to an all-out assault upon the “squeezed-in” remaining portion of Israel. Mark it down, you have read it here as quoted from Arafat’s own lips.

 

New Evidence of Saddam link to 9-11

May 7….(World Net Daily) New evidence about a meeting in Prague between September 11 plot leader Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence officer Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani has been uncovered, reports Geo-strategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. Investigative journalist Edward J. Epstein has uncovered Czech government visa records indicating al-Ani was posted to the Iraqi embassy in Prague between March 1999 and April 21, 2001, and was involved in handling Iraqi agents. A search of the Iraq Embassy in Prague after the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces revealed al-Ani had scheduled a meeting for April 8, 2001, with a Hamburg student, according to an appointment calendar obtained by Czech intelligence. Al-Ani then was placed under surveillance as he met with a young Arab-speaking man in Prague April 8. After seeing Mohamed Atta's photograph after Sept. 11, the Czech counterintelligence watcher identified the man he had seen meeting al-Ani as Atta. Al-Ani was expelled from Prague within two weeks. According to Epstein, al-Ani denied he met Atta and repeated the denial after being detained by U.S. forces in July. The CIA has been unable to confirm the Prague meeting between al-Ani and Atta. If confirmed, the meeting would indicate a role by Saddam Hussein's intelligence service in some level of support for the Sept.11 plot. The current official U.S. intelligence conclusion is that Saddam's regime was not involved in supporting the Sept. 11 attacks. According to Epstein, Spanish intelligence has uncovered information indicating Algerians Khaled Madani and Moussa Laouar supplied Atta and another al-Qaida member, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, with false passports. Epstein's information supports other journalists who have uncovered a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida, including Jayna Davis, author of "The Third Terrorist: The Middle Eastern Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing." In her book, Davis suggests the September 11 attacks possibly could have been prevented if evidence of an Iraqi and al-Qaida link to the OKC bombing had been pursued. Davis writes that in November 1997, Hussain Hashem Al-Hussaini, a former Iraqi Republican Guardsman whom multiple eyewitnesses identified as McVeigh's elusive accomplice, John Doe 2, confided to his psychiatrist that he was anxious about his airport job because "if something were to happen there, I (Al-Hussaini) would be a suspect." At the time, Al-Hussaini was employed at Boston Logan International Airport, where two of the four 9-11 suicide hijackings originated. She also reveals court records that suggest one of bombers Timothy McVeigh's and Terry Nichols's accused Middle Eastern handlers had foreknowledge of the 9-11 plot. In addition, Davis discusses information she first uncovered eight years ago, that Nichols learned the macabre genius of terrorist bomb making under the training of Philippines-based al-Qaida explosives expert Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
FOJ Note: Al Qaeda and Iraq wanted to perpetrate an attack on America that the American political and intelligence hierarchy could not explain away as being caused by other factors or scenarios. An Al Qaeda connection to the OK City bombing and the downing of commercial flights in New York City (TWA 700) were more than likely covered up by US Intelligence and the Clinton Administration to alleviate any panic in the American public, for economic reasons, and for reasons related to downplaying the terrorist threat to our nation. That all changed on 9-11, when a foreign terrorist attack was the obvious cause.

 

Israel Accuses EU of Bias

May 7….(Irish Examiner) Israel accused the European Union of siding with Arabs in the Mid-east conflict in harsh exchanges at a meeting in Dublin today intended to promote peace. Shalom said he told the EU their "bias toward the Palestinians makes their participation in the diplomatic process problematic". They should push the Palestinians to “dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organizations, confiscate illegal weapons and put an end to incitement and violence,” he said. At a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Arab neighbors, the Europeans reiterated the goals of the road map to peace that provides for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. EU Foreign Minister Brian Cowen wanted the event to trigger fresh enthusiasm for the plan, newly endorsed this week by its authors, the US, UN, Russia and the EU. The Euro-Mediterranean meeting, held once or twice a year, assesses Europe’s economic and financial aid for Israel and its neighbors that is designed to shore up peace efforts in which the United States plays the key role. It brought together representatives of the 25 EU nations together with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Libya was an observer. Since 1995, the EU has poured more than £8bn (€11.9m) in development aid, grants and soft loans in its Euro-Mediterranean partnership to help shore up the Mid-east peace process

 

King Abdullah Changes President Bush’s Mind
Bush Now Urges Israel to Give up Land for Palestinian State

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May 7….(FOJ) In a major foreign policy flip-flop, US President George Bush has backed away from his recognition last month of some Israeli territorial demands in the West Bank and his rejection of Palestinian refugees' right to return to homes in Israel. President Bush said he would urge Israel to withdraw from territory captured in the 1967 Mid-east war and to turn the land over to the Palestinians for a state. What we must do now is take advantage of an opportunity to begin the process of the development of a Palestinian state,” Bush said after meeting at the White House with King Abdullah of Jordan. Bush also promised not to “prejudice the outcome” of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians when and if they are held. Responding to Arab and European complaints. After meeting Jordan's King Abdallah in Washington on Thursday, President Bush announced that such "final-status issues must be negotiated between the parties" and also referred to UN Security Council resolutions that call on Israel to withdraw from territories, which it seized in 1967. The White House is also expected to make similar assurances in a letter to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Quria, (Arafat’s puppet) a potential negotiating partner whom President Bush left out of last month's unilateral agreement with Israel. The President also pledged to King Abdullah that he would open talks with Palestinian officials, after months of shunning them, as part of a diplomatic offensive to reassure the Arab world.
image The President's latest announcement, made with King Abdullah at his side, came only three weeks after the President stood in the same spot in the Rose Garden with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and said any final peace agreement would have to recognize major Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (facts on the ground) King Abdullah in his comments said: “I am encouraged by what I heard from you [President Bush] today that these issues are not to be prejudiced, and should be mutually agreed by the parties," King Abdullah stressed that a viable, sovereign and independent Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders was important to the region and within Jordan's national interest. "Failing to achieve such an outcome will invoke other options (war?) all of which will endanger my country's interests and that of the region. This is one of the reasons why Jordan insists on a two-state solution, and why it supports the roadmap as the mechanism to get there," the King said. He reiterated Jordan's commitment to a final and comprehensive permanent status agreement based on the foundations of the Madrid conference, the principle of land-for-peace, UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 1397, as well as agreements reached by both sides, and the Arab peace initiative.

 

Clinton Bumbled Al Qaeda War on America

FOJ Note: Focus on Jerusalem has documented that Al Qaeda had declared war on America long before September 11. But thanks to blindness and covered-up explanations for terrorist events perpetrated against our nation, America never realized that war had been declared on us until that genie-out-of-the-box cataclysm on 9-11.
May 7….(World Net Daily) In a new book entitled “Intelligence Failures: How Clinton’s Incompetence Undermined America’s Security and pave the way for 9-11, author David Bossie uses comprehensive research and previously unreported details from congressional investigations and other sources to document Clinton's frequent and oftentimes shocking mishandling of the secret war he waged with bin Laden. "'Intelligence Failure' systematically records how Clinton's poor judgment, negligence, indecisiveness, and slashing of U.S. intelligence services and the military left America a sitting duck for the terrorist attacks on 9-11," said Bossie. The author points out it was on Clinton's watch when bin Laden:

  1. bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six Americans;
  2. blew up two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, killing 11 Americans and 224 other innocent bystanders; and
  3. masterminded the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured 39.

"What did Bill Clinton do for eight years each time he had the chance to arrest, and even kill Osama bin Laden?" asked Bossie. "Clearly not enough. Bill Clinton was too busy slashing our military budget, too busy raising taxes on Social Security benefits, and too busy having an illicit affair with intern Monica Lewinsky right in the White House Oval Office. "Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network was growing stronger, and planning its largest attack ever on American soil." Bossie is no stranger to Clinton missteps. He served as the chief investigator for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, uncovering facts about the Chinagate fund-raising scandal, and he also served on the staff of the Senate Whitewater Committee. Said Bossie: "Bill Clinton had eight years to catch Osama bin Laden, eight years to stop this terrorist madman. "Yet Clinton and his left-wing media spinners want you to believe that it's really George W. Bush's fault for not doing in eight months what Clinton refused to do in eight years! "They are wrong, and I have the facts to prove it." Bossie notes Clinton's handpicked CIA director, James Woolsey, agrees with his findings, calling the book "a thorough and powerful indictment and a chronicle of all the ways that national security policy in the '90s helped lead to 9-11."



America’s Billion Dollar Election

May 6….(Gary Halbert) John Kerry’s presidential stock has sagged recently amidst numerous gaffs in his campaign. Among others, there’s the controversy over whether he did, or didn’t, throw away his Vietnam war medals or ribbons. Kerry got so frustrated over the media frenzy about the medals that he stooped to questioning whether President Bush actually served his time in the National Guard, which Kerry previously promised he would not do. The Kerry campaign is clearly floundering. The Democrats are understandably having “buyer’s remorse” at this point. As you will read below, some liberals are actually calling for Kerry to step aside! While that is not likely to happen, there are those who are quietly (or not so quietly) urging Hillary Clinton to get into the race. I have written about this possibility on several occasions in the past in this weekly E-Letter. Could it really happen? Would Kerry’s delegates jump ship at the August convention? Would Kerry step aside, for anyone? Would Hillary actually take the risk of running against Bush, rather than waiting until 2008? The liberal Democrats' hatred of President Bush is so strong that they might be willing to return to the days of the smoke-filled room and stage a coup in order to run a stronger candidate in November. The professional political king makers know that a candidate who starts each morning having to explain himself is a goner.’ When Democratic bigwigs start polling for a Bush-beater, the only possible candidate who could replace Kerry, should delegates pledged to him abandon his sinking ship, is (drum roll and ruffles and flourishes, please) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (presumptuous of New York). It’s hard not to see the conspiratorial hands of Bill and Hillary behind Mr. Kerry’s decline and the tumble of Howard Dean before him. Hillary Clinton could not afford to have Mr. Dean, who had a solid but not large enough base, win the nomination. Had Mr. Dean won the presidency, Hillary would not have a clear field in 2008 and she might be too old or her time might have passed by 2012. Bill Clinton's book ‘My Life’ (it’s always about him) is to be published in June. It is certain to fire up nostalgic Democrats who would like nothing better than to return to those thrilling days of the Clintonistas. Mr. Kerry’s biggest problem is it’s apparent not too many people are for him. He flunks the ‘likability test.’ The motivation of most of his supporters seems to be their hatred of President Bush, not love for Mr. Kerry. That is probably not enough to win an election. Enter Hillary Clinton. The Democratic Party would swoon if she stepped in and replaced Mr. Kerry. Bill would campaign with her, further energizing Democrats. The media would go into orbit, treating her as a presumptive queen, who deserves the nomination and the presidency because of all Bill put her through. It would be one of the few media stories that could knock Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant from the headlines. Before we can speculate on that question, we must first ask if John Kerry would step down. I believe the answer is a solid NO. Kerry has reportedly wanted to be president ever since he played around the Kennedy compound as a teenager. I don’t see him stepping down. The only way the Dems get rid of John Kerry, in my opinion, is for his delegates to abandon him at the July convention in Boston. That would be rare, but it has happened before. Hillary would never allow herself to be nominated unless it is all but certain that she would defeat Bush. And unless G.W. Bush makes some huge mistake, I believe Hillary will wait until 2008. That will let her keep her promise to serve her first Senate term, and raise lots of money and run against who-knows-who will be the Republican nominee in 2008. Do the Clintons want ANY Democrat to win in 2004, or do they prefer that Bush wins, thus leaving the door wide open for Hillary in 2008? Bill Clinton has not been active in campaigning for Kerry. They haven’t thrown their influential money machine behind him. So you have to wonder if the Clinton’s are happy to see George Bush re-elected in November. Maybe that is their plan after all. Former Clinton advisor, Dick Morris, had the following to say in his New York Post column yesterday: “The impact of Clinton’s memoirs on the Kerry campaign cannot have escaped so astute a political observer as our 42nd president. He knows full well what he is doing and what its effect on the Kerry campaign will be. When Clinton’s book hits the shelves, Kerry will not be able to get a word in edgewise. All the stories will be about Clinton, just as the Democratic candidate for president is trying to define his themes and get out his message, and nothing will deflect from the attention Clinton will get and Kerry will not get. There is only so much oxygen in the room and the president will suck it all up. Clinton is deciding to publish now because he wants to deprive Kerry of momentum. He realizes that if Kerry wins, Hillary will probably never be president. He knows that she won’t be able to run in 2008 because a victorious Kerry would undoubtedly seek re-election.
    Several things will be different in this year’s presidential election. First, there will be no exit polling until after the polls close in California. The Voter News Service no longer exists in the wake of the Help America Vote Act which was passed in 2002. The major networks will have to sit on their hands until 7:00 p.m. on the West Coast. This will be most interesting to watch, since the networks will know the polling results in states that close early, but they can’t report it. Whatever the outcome, this will be the most expensive presidential election in history. President Bush is almost certain to raise at least $250 million to $300 million. Kerry decided this week not to take federal matching funds, so he is free to raise as much as he can. While very uncertain, most analysts figure Kerry can raise $150 million or more. Plus, he is likely to benefit from 527 groups like Americans Coming Together (George Soros), MoveOn.org and others that are also raising hundreds of millions of dollars, much of which will be aimed at defeating Bush. It’s being called The Billion Dollar Election.

 

Churches Running on Empty?

May 6….(Barna Research) Despite a 15 percent rise in the U.S. population, a new survey shows the number of Americans who don't go to church has nearly doubled in the past 13 years, rising from 39 million to 75 million. The report by the Barna Group, a California-based consulting firm following trends related to faith, culture and leadership in the country, says the percentage of adults that is "unchurched" has risen from 21 percent in 1991 to 34 percent today. The group defines "unchurched" as not having attended a Christian church service, other than for holiday services like Christmas or Easter, or for special events such as a wedding or funeral, at any time in the past six months. Men dominate the ranks of the unchurched. Although they comprise slightly less than half of the national population, men constitute 55 percent of the unchurched.



Ten Commandments Judge Should Keep Fighting

May 5….(Agape Press) The battle by Alabama's former chief justice to get his job back may end up at the United States Supreme Court. Last Friday the Alabama Supreme Court denied an appeal by former chief justice Roy Moore to be reinstated to state court and decided to remove him permanently from office. An ethics panel had expelled Moore for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, says he is not surprised that the state Supreme Court justices denied Judge Moore's appeal. He believes the ousted judge should take his fight to the US Supreme Court. "I would encourage him," Giles says, "to the fullest extent of the law, to try to get his job back. The majority of Alabamans put him on the bench, and the majority of Alabamans do not approve of him being removed from the bench, so that's only the right thing to do." The Christian Coalition of Alabama spokesman feels justice has not been served in Judge Moore's case. Furthermore, he says the fact that a Ten Commandments display is currently on exhibit in the state judicial building along with other historical documents shows that there is a double standard at work in the former Chief Justice’s case. "In the Alabama Capitol, the Ten Commandments are on display," Giles notes, "and yet Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments, somehow or another, were unconstitutional. What this points towards is that this was not about the removal of a monument, but the removal of a man." Giles says the decision by Alabama's Supreme Court indicates the need to pass Ten Commandments legislation in the state.
FOJ Note: Focus on Jerusalem had the privilege of meeting Chief Justice Roy Moore on April 23 at Boyle County High School in Danville, Kentucky and to listen to the Judges lecture on the Ten Commandments issue. I found Judge Moore to be a man of the utmost intelligence and a leader worthy of honor. It is ironic and sad that a Judge of his caliber is so maligned by a country that has abandoned its Christian foundation, and yet the country condones Judges that reinterpret our Republic’s laws to legalize gay marriages.

 

Quartet Calls for Israeli Withdrawal Fom Gaza Strip

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May 5….(Ha Aretz) The quartet of Middle East mediators called on Tuesday for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and said the plan presented a "rare moment of opportunity" despite its rejection by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party on Sunday. The United States, United Nations, Russian and European officials also said most sensitive issues must be negotiated by the two sides, a statement apparently aimed at blunting Palestinian criticism of US President George W. Bush's assurances that Israel could not be expected to give up all of its West Bank settlements or to accept the return of Palestinian refugees. The Quartet foreign ministers met in an effort to find ways to revive steps to implement the road map, after the Likud rejected Sharon's plan to evacuate settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Speaking after a roughly two-hour meeting at the United Nations headquarters, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the quartet viewed the current situation in the Middle East with "grave concern."
"We took positive note of Prime Minister Sharon's announced intention to withdraw from all Gaza settlements and parts of the West Bank," Annan said, reading a statement endorsed by the quartet. "An Israeli withdrawal should provide a rare moment of opportunity in the search for peace in the Middle East." "This initiative, which must lead to a full Israeli withdrawal and complete end of occupation in Gaza, can be a step towards achieving the two-state vision and could restart progress on the road map," he added. "We also note that no party should take unilateral actions (a slap at President Bush) that seek to predetermine issues that can only be resolved through negotiation and agreement between the two parties," he added. Diplomats described the meeting as "the most important the Quartet has ever held." The four Quartet members are represented by Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, who is representing the EU while Ireland holds the current presidency.

 

Israel Strikes Black Gold

May 5….(Arutz) Israel may have struck gold, black gold, that is. An oil deposit containing close to a billion barrels may have been discovered at a site east of Kfar Saba, according to the fuel exploration company Givot Olam. The company announced yesterday that latest estimates of the Meged-4 oil well have exceeded original predictions, and that it contains an extremely valuable deposit of oil. The company's stock jumped 55% following the report.
Arutz reports that only about 20% of the reserve is extractable from its location some 4.5 kilometers below ground. The value of the oil at today's prices is approximately $46 billion, and could serve to supply Israel's oil needs for two years. Givot Olam has reported striking oil in the past, but has not yet succeeded in producing it in commercial amounts. The company has been drilling in the area for some ten years, and feels confident that this time that it will be successful. So far, commercial oil fields have been found in Israel only in the Dead Sea region.

 

Terrorism and Evil Know No Peace

May 5….(FOJ) International terrorism and especially the brand of terror being exported by fundamentalist Islam is a modern form of warfare being waged against freedom loving peoples. It is apparent to me that the ultimate goal of these Middle East terrorists is to destroy the State of Israel, and any nation that supports Israel’s right to exist. Not coincidentally, the United States, the core institution of western democracy is the primary target of Islamic terrorists, and simply because of its Judeo-Christian tradition of supporting the Jewish nation. Senator Jackson once said concerning national security matters, "that it is both wrong and foolhardy for any democratic state to consider international terrorism to be ‘someone else’s’ problem”. These words are lost on the free people in Western Europe, but it is not lost on the newly freed peoples of Eastern Europe. As evidenced by the continual vetoing of Congressional legislation, the national security of the United States is at stake over the issue of Jerusalem, and it being the capitol of Israel. The prophet Jeremiah eloquently expressed the present dilemma long ago in the following words which are relative to our national blindness to the supernatural conflict over Jerusalem, "We wait for peace to no avail, for a time of healing, but terror comes instead." For the US, there can be no more misdirected national security policy than to ask Israel, which has been the model of the self-reliant ally, to continually concede territory to an enemy that is sworn to its total destruction. Much of the history of international security guarantees made between one country and another is a history of countries who have lost their territory, their freedom and even their sons and daughters because there is no true peace in our world, and no one whom you can truly trust! For that reason alone, (until Christ returns) mans history should reveal to the Jews in Israel, and to us here in America that we would do well to remember that as the world tries to manufacture a peace and security arrangement between Israel and the Arabs, that there is only “One” who can truly guarantee peace.
(Isaiah 59: 7-10 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood(Terrorists) their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, (peace) but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.)



PA Praises Killers of Kids

May 4….(FOJ) Several hours after the murderous attack on the Hatuel family of Katif, leaving David Hatuel bereft of his entire family: his pregnant wife and four daughters, PA radio praised the murderous terrorists as "heroic martyrs," and praised their heinous crime as an act of "heroic martyrdom." In its report the next morning, the PA radio referred to the slain Jewish mother and her girls as "terrorists" in light of the Jewish settlers plans to build a new neighborhood in N'vei Dekalim. Meanwhile, sources in Israel indicate that Palestinian insurgency groups intend to launch an offensive against Israel in wake of the Likud Party rejection of a plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank. Israeli officials said Palestinian insurgency groups have been cooperating to launch a wave of attacks against Israeli civilian targets. They said that over the last 48 hours Israel's intelligence services received 50 alerts of Palestinian attacks. The planned Palestinian offensive would use the Gaza Strip as well as such West Bank cities as Jenin, Nablus and Hebron as launching pads for attacks. Officials said the Palestinian Authority, including chairman Yasser Arafat, has been cooperating with the planned insurgency campaign.

 

Ex-US Diplomats Urge Bush to Rethink Support

May 4….(Arab Foreign Press) Former US diplomats and government officials are collecting signatures on a letter urging President George W. Bush to reconsider US support for Israel. The diplomats, some of whom belong to the American Educational Trust (AET), plan to release the text at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday. The inspiration was a letter signed by 52 retired British diplomats, who urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to reconsider Britain's approach to the Middle East. The letter was circulated after Bush's April 14 endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for an Israeli withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, but only six of 10 West Bank settlements. President Bush, for his part, had said Palestinian refugees could not expect to return to territory their families had occupied before 1948. "Your unqualified support of Sharon's extra-judicial assassinations, Israel's Berlin Wall-like barrier, its harsh military measures in occupied territories and now your endorsement of Sharon's unilateral plan are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends," the Financial Times quoted the letter as saying. The AET said that the signatories are united by their belief that the US government is heading toward great danger. "Our hope is that both US political parties will take heed and listen to the voices of experienced diplomats," it said. The Financial Times said on April 30 that the letter had been drafted by Andrew Killgore, a former US ambassador to Qatar, and Richard Curtiss, former chief inspector of the US Information Agency. The newspaper said the missive was to have been sent to the White House on that date, but was held back to allow more former envoys to sign it. It reported that former ambassadors to Iraq, India, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had signed the letter. The Washington-based AET is also critical of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

 

Hypocrisy of Outrage

May 4….(FOJ) Much of the world has reacted in horror at the abuse of a few Iraqi prisoners by a handful of US guards in a prison camp near Baghdad. Outraged by the sexual humiliation and abuses of Iraqis by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, the Arab world has condemned America’s presence in Iraq, and labeled President Bush as an illegal occupier that is torturing the Iraqi people beyond what Saddam Hussein ever did. In reality, President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have each condemned the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers as "totally unacceptable and un-American,” and the President has demanded that the Defense Department take all necessary steps to bring those responsible to justice. But one has to wonder, “where was the outrage for the recent murders of the four Israeli children and their pregnant Mother!” It is apparent to me that the world will leap at any straw to condemn America and Israel when some looney acts sadistically, while totally ignoring the countless thousands being systematically murdered by terrorists. Their hypocrisy is outrageous!



PLO Terrorists Murder Pregnant Mother & 4 Children

(May 3….Arutz) In yet another Palestinian terror attack yesterda, Gazan Arabs opened fire and murdered a Jewish mother in her 8th month of pregnancy and her only four children. The attack was perpetrated on the Kissufim Road leading into Gush Katif, along Israel's southern Mediterranean coast. The preliminary investigation indicates that the two terrorists came from the nearby Arab town Dir el-Balah and waited for an Israeli car to pass by on the main vehicular artery into the Gush Katif region. The first burst of gunfire targeted a civilian vehicle, murdering Tali Hatual, 34, of Moshav Katif, who was eight months pregnant. Also murdered were her daughters, Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Meirav (2). IDF soldiers immediately arrived and returned fire and engaged the terrorists in a gun battle. As the soldiers pursued the attackers, an explosive device or a grenade was detonated against them, resulting in injuries. The terrorists were eliminated. Hamas, Yasser Arafat's Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the murderous attack. According to Voice of Israel's Avi Yissakharov, the Hamas is boasting that just as they are successfully driving the Jews from Gaza, so will they drive the Jews from other regions in Israel. In what has become a common scenario following terror attacks, Arab civilians in several locales under Arafat's control celebrated in the streets the murder of the Jewish mother and her children. The Palestinians responsible for the savage murder of Tali Hatuel and her four children in Gaza Strip also organized assassination of three US agents last October: They are Yasser Zannoon and Mohammad al-Baba, heads of Khan Younes militia linked to the Fatah-dominated resistance committees and acting chief of preventive security in Gaza Strip, Rashid Abu Shbak.
In a press release by the Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) Council of Jewish communities, the organization called upon the government of Israel "to immediately abandon its plan to uproot Jewish communities and instead to destroy the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure responsible for the attack and murder over 850 Israelis over the past three and a half years. Abandoning these frontline communities will facilitate shifting the battlegrounds to Israeli urban population centers.

This general view shows the five coffins of the Hatuel family during their funeral in the Israeli city of Ashkelon held yesterday. Jewish settler David Khotel, center, is helped as he attends the funeral of his 34-year old wife Tali and his four daughters, aged 2 to 11, at the cemetery of the southern Israel town of Ashkelon Sunday May 2, 2004. Palestinian terrorists shot and killed Tali, who was 8 months pregnant and her four children near the settlement they were living in the Gaza Strip.

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Pictured below is the PLO Palestinian gunman 26-year-old Faisal Abu Nukairah, who from pointblank range shot the girls and their Mother while they were inside the car.


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Heartbreaking Funeral of Mother and Daughters

The pregnant young mother Tali Hatuel and her four daughters, Hila, Hadar, Roni and Meirav were buried in the new Ashkelon cemetery late yesterday afternoon, in a funeral attended by thousands of grieving mourners. Their husband and father David, who said he has not yet fully absorbed what has happened to him, eulogized them at the gravesite, crying out, "I beg forgiveness for not giving you enough time." David is the principal of an elementary school in Ashkelon. He noted that his wife was pregnant with a boy, for whose birth the family had been joyfully preparing, "and now everything has been cut off." Among the participants were Housing Minister Effie Eitam, Deputy Minister Yitzchak Levy and President Moshe Katzav. President Katzav said, "This day of blood will be engraved in our history. An earthquake has happened. No one in the world can stand apathetically by in the face of these acts by such evil people. Where are those who speak in the name of Allah? You should be ashamed and disgraced, Arab leaders. Time after time, you stand by and take no initiative. But the Nation of Israel will stand strong. We have undergone tortures and tribulations. We will stand united in soul, and we will fight back." Hatuel's husband, David, wept in front of the five graves during the funeral later Sunday in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. "I am all alone, there is no one left," he said in a whisper. Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, another militant group, said they killed the family to avenge the assassination of Hamas leaders by Israel last month.

 

Pope Says Enlarged EU Needs Christianity

May 3….(Reuters) Pope John Paul Sunday welcomed the 10 new nations of the European Union but said the bloc could only face the challenges of the 21st century if it defended its Christian roots. The Pope, whose native country, Poland, is one of the new countries in the 25-strong EU, told a packed St Peter's Square Europe's identity would be "incomprehensible" without Christianity. "Only a Europe that does not remove, but rediscovers its Christian roots will reach the stature needed for the great challenges of the third millennium: peace, dialogue between cultures and religions, the safeguarding of creation," he said. He has repeatedly called for bloc to enshrine Christianity in its constitution, but this has been resisted by secular politicians. EU leaders are also aware of the risk of offending Turkey, a secular state but with a largely Muslim population, which wants to join the EU.
FOJ Note: The EU ruler-ship will eventually turn on the whore of the Papacy. Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, (false church) and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

 

Sharon’s Disengagement Plan is Defeated

May 3….(Fox News) A defiant Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he won't resign despite the humiliating rejection of his Gaza withdrawal plan, and his allies suggested the veteran tactician will look for ways to override the veto of his Likud Party.
However, the Likud's resounding "no" in Sunday voting means Sharon's plan of "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians in Gaza will be put on hold for now. Any of Sharon's options to win approval in a different forum, including early elections or a national referendum would take months to prepare. Israeli Army Radio reported early Monday that with all the votes counted, opponents of the plan had 60 percent, while supporters accounted for only 40 percent. The vote was marred by violence. Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Gaza settler and her four daughters, ages two to 11, in an ambush on her car, firing from close range. Sharon’s plan lagged in the polls for several days, but analysts said the Gaza shooting yesterday and the low turnout, only about 50 percent of 193,000 Likud members voted, gave a further boost to opponents, who had run a well-organized campaign. The disengagement plan envisions an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers, and the evacuation of four small West Bank settlements by the end of 2005, along with the completion of a West Bank separation barrier. President Bush had welcomed Prime Minister Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and a part of the West Bank as a courageous and important step toward peace. Palestinian leaders have dismissed Sharon's unilateral plan as an attempt to tighten Israel's hold over large parts of the West Bank. For decades, Sharon was the foremost champion of settlement expansion and led a hawkish line in Likud. Sharon's allies in the party warned that the Likud was becoming increasingly less appealing to moderate Israeli voters and could get hurt in the next election. Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a Sharon confidant, said disengagement is inevitable and that Sharon is determined to move forward, though he stopped short of saying how Sharon would override the party's decision. "There is no way to stop this process," Olmert said.

 

Peres: Labor Wants New Elections

May 3…. (The Labor Party must concentrate its efforts on bringing about early general elections, and making the disengagement plan a central issue, opposition leader and Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres today. Addressing the party's Knesset faction as the summer session of the parliament got underway, Peres said: "Security is not in our hands. It turns out that Arik Sharon, whether or not he likes it, does not have a mandate from his own party. The nation must thus be given a chance to vote on the matter." "Those who voted for the Likud thought they were heading toward peace, security and a rejuvenated economy," Peres continue. None of these things have happened. Peres said Sunday, in response to the referendum results, that it was unacceptable for a small group of people to make decisions for the rest of the country. "We propose elections and dissolving the Knesset," he said. Peres slammed Likud members for rejecting the disengagement plan, saying the results show that the Likud was subordinate to the settlers.
FOJ Note: The “peaceniks” and the “peace now” architects of the Oslo Disaster are attempting to use Sharon’s failed disengagement plan vote to regain political power in Israel.

 

Next Step for Israel?

May 3….(Charles Krauthammer Anti-Semitism, once just a European disease, has gone global. The outgoing Prime Minister of Malaysia gets a standing ovation from leaders of 57 Islamic countries when he calls upon them to rise up against the Jewish conspiracy to control the world. The French ambassador to London tells dinner party guests that Israel is a “s--tty little country, why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?'' Ah, those people. Kofi Annan's personal representative in Iraq now singles out the policies of the world's one Jewish state, and only democratic state in the Middle East, as “the great poison in the region.'' It is in this kind of atmosphere that Israel offers unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, uprooting 7,000 Jews, turning over to the Palestinians 21 settlements with their extensive infrastructure intact and creating the first independent Palestinian territory in history, and is almost universally attacked. Moreover, and much overlooked, Israel will also evacuate four small West Bank settlements, which creates extensive Palestinian territorial contiguity throughout the northern half of the West Bank. The Arabs have variously denounced this as Israeli unilateralism, a departure from the “road map'' and a ruse and a plot. The craven Europeans have duly followed suit. And when Tony Blair defied the mob by expressing support for the plan, he was rewarded with a letter from 52 Arabist ex-diplomats denouncing him. This Nuremberg atmosphere has reached the point where if Israel were to announce today that it intends to live for at least another year, the UN Security Council would convene on a resolution denouncing Israeli arrogance and unilateralism, and the US would have to veto it. Only Britain would have the decency to abstain. It gets worse. The Bush Administration has been attacked not just for supporting the Gaza plan, but for bolstering Israel in this risky endeavor with two assurances: First, that the Palestinian refugees are to be repatriated not to Israel but to Palestine; and second, Israel should not be required to return to its 1967 borders. Enlightened editorial opinion has denounced this as Bush upsetting 30 years of American diplomacy. Utter rubbish. Rejecting the so-called right of return is nothing more than opposing any final settlement that results in flooding Israel with hostile Palestinians and thus eradicating the only Jewish state on the planet. This is radical? This is something that Washington should refuse to say? What is new here? Four years ago at Camp David, this was a central element of the Clinton plan. As was the notion of Israel retaining a small percentage of the West Bank on which tens of thousands of Jews live. Moreover, the notion that Israel will not be forced to return to the 1967 armistice lines goes back 37 years, to 1967 itself. The Johnson administration was instrumental in making sure that the governing document for a Middle East, Security Council Resolution 242 called for Israeli withdrawal to “secure and recognized boundaries,'' not “previous boundaries." And it called for Israel to withdraw “`from territories occupied'' in the 1967 war, not “from the territories occupied,'' as had been demanded by the Arab states, and not from "all territories occupied" as had been demanded by the Soviet Union. Arthur Goldberg (U.S. ambassador to the UN), Lord Caradon (British ambassador to the UN) and Eugene Rostow (U.S. Undersecretary of State) had negotiated this language with extreme care. They spent the subsequent decades explaining over and over again that the central UN resolution on the conflict did not require Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines. Confronted with these facts, the critics say: Well, maybe this is right, but Bush should not have said this in the absence of negotiations. This was offered to the Palestinians in negotiations, in July 2000 at Camp David, with even more generous Israeli concessions. Yasser Arafat said no, and then launched a bloody terror war that has killed almost a thousand Jews and maimed thousands of others. The fact is that there are no negotiations because under the road map, adopted even by the UN, there can be no negotiations until the Palestinians end the terror and dismantle the terror apparatus. To argue that neither Israel nor the U.S. can act in the absence of negotiations is to give the Palestinians, by continuing the terror, a veto over any constructive actions by the US or Israel, whether disengaging from Gaza, uprooting settlements, or establishing conditions for a final peace settlement that would ensure the survival of a Jewish State. This is an argument of singular absurdity. And a prescription for perpetual violence and perpetual stalemate.

 

Al Qaeda: Wedge Between US & Saudi Arabia

May 3….(Middle East News Line) Al Qaida has expanded its insurgency campaign to target oil assets in Saudi Arabia. At least four Al Qaida gunmen infiltrated an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in the Saudi city of Yanbu and killed at least five Westerners. The attackers opened fire from M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles and also injured 20 others in the complex on Saturday morning. This was the first time Al Qaida targeted a Saudi energy facility. Western intelligence sources said that over the last six months Al Qaida was planning to attack the kingdom's oil facilities as part of an effort to endanger the royal family. Yanbu is the largest oil port along the Red Sea. Saudi officials acknowledged that Al Qaida has infiltrated the Saudi work force at the Yanbu oil facility. They said three of the four attackers were employees at the refinery and petrochemical complex.
FOJ Note: The Al Qaeda strategy in Saudi Arabia is one that seeks to undermine the unique relationship between the Saudi Royal family and the US. In geo-political circles, this strategy is known as the Wedge.

 

Islam being Taught in America’s Schools

May 3….(excerpt from World Net Daily) A top textbook consultant shaping classroom education on Islam in American public schools recently worked for a school funded and controlled by the Saudi government, which propagates a rigidly anti-Western strain of Islam, a World Net Daily investigation reveals. The consultant, Susan L. Douglass has also praised Pakistan's madrassa schools as "proud symbols of learning," even after the US government blamed them for fueling the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaida. Douglass, routinely described as a "scholar" or "historian," has edited manuscripts of world history textbooks used by middle and high school students across the country. She's also advised state education boards on curriculum standards dealing with world religion, and has helped train thousands of public school teachers on Islamic instruction. In effect, she is responsible for teaching millions of American children about Islam, experts say, while operating in relative obscurity. World Net Daily has learned that up until last year Douglass taught social studies at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., which teaches Wahhabism through textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels and enemies of Islam. Douglass referred questions to the Council on Islamic Education, which did not respond. CIE is a Los Angeles-based Muslim activist group run by Shabbir Mansuri, who has been quoted in the local press saying he's waging a “bloodless revolution to fight what he calls anti-Muslim bias in American public schools and to promote Islam in a positive light through the American education system. Mansuri says that Islam was on the American soil before Christianity. The three major U.S. publishers of world history texts, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw Hill and Prentice Hall have all let Mansuri and Douglass review their books. In fact, Houghton Mifflin's seventh-grade text, "Across the Centuries," was republished according to CIE's suggestions. In the past, most K-12 texts devoted no more than a few pages to Islam. But thanks to CIE's efforts since 1990, including lobbying state education boards, grade-school text units on Islam have flourished. The California Department of Education, which requires all seventh-grade world history courses to include a unit on Islam, approved the text and module. In 1998, the state overhauled its standards for its Islam unit to include more teaching about the Muslim prophet Muhammad and the Quran. Mansuri made numerous trips to Sacramento to lobby for the changes, and the department invited CIE to review its draft. Many California parents say the state essentially is allowing Muslim activists to brainwash their kids into accepting Islam, while at the same time marginalizing Christianity.






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