WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30
So-Called 'Religion of Peace,' Muslim
Followers Torch Churches Sept. 29….(WND) An investigation has revealed that the Muslim riots that destroyed 18 Christian churches, 20 homes owned by Christians and dozens of Christian shops in the Nigerian city of Dutse happened after a Christian girl rejected a Muslim boy's advances. The riots erupted after the boy accused the girl of "blasphemy" to the prophet Muhammad. Now word comes from Voice of the Martyrs that the investigation shows nearly 5,000 Christians were displaced and 40 Christian shops destroyed in the capital city of Jigawa state. "After an Islamic young man made several unsuccessful advances on Jummai, a female Christian, he angrily reacted by calling her a fake Christian who follows a 'useless Jesus,'" the VOM report said. "Jummai responded by telling the boy he followed a 'useless prophet, Muhammad'," the report said. "Furious, the Muslim boy raised alarm through the town by proclaiming that a Christian lady blasphemed Muhammad. She was quickly taken to the local police station where she was kept in custody to diffuse the potentially volatile situation." After several hours, the Muslim returned to the police station with a "militant band of friends" and incited them to attack police by alleging the woman wasn't being punished after her "insult" to Muhammad. At least six Christians were injured in the resulting riots that destroyed churches, homes, vehicles and shops, officials said. The government ended up imposing a nighttime curfew and deploying soldiers in tanks and trucks to deter further mayhem, officials said. Voice of the Martyrs also said Aderemi Ogunmola was one of the Christians who was caught in the violence, and was captured by the Muslim militants to be beaten and slashed. The Christian aid organization Barnabas Fund said the conflagration destroyed two-thirds of all Christian churches in the area, including St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral, and there were reports that the state's governor himself was attacked when he tried to calm the mob. The Barnabas Fund noted Muslims already were in an uproar worldwide because of the recent comment from the Pope where he cited a historic document that describes Islam as being a religion of violence.
White House Website Awash With Ramadan Icons Sept. 29….(FOJ) President Bush regularly denies that the West is engaged in a war against Islam, and while it may be politically expedient to make such claims, it remains a fact that the terrorist enemies of the US emanate almost exclusively from Islam, and from Muslim countries. President Bush is also on record as saying that “Islam is a religion of peace,” and has regularly praised Islam's “commitment to religious freedom.” This was repeated again in his recent UN speech, which was almost exclusively confined to the Middle East, an overwhelmingly Muslim region. The President has an overwhelming job in confronting the terrorists, but in his zeal to not unnecessarily antagonize a religion, the President is missing the mark by not defining the scope of the emerging World War between the West and the forces of Islam. Furthermore, it is the ultimate insult to the God of our country’s forefathers to invite the god of Islam into the House of a Christian nation. The God of the Bible and the god of the Quran are not the same, and the God of Holy Scripture will not share his glory with another god. (Isaiah 42:8) It has been said that when a nation abandons its basic belief in a merciful and benevolent God, then it will either manufacture or accommodate other gods of its own choosing. It seems to me that America is flirting with too many gods these days, and in so doing, it is inviting the wrath of the One Almighty God that bestowed upon us the freedom to choose. The following banners appear on the White House website. And of course, the ACLU has no problem with acknowledging gods other than the Biblical God.
White House Website Ramadan Message, 2006 Sept. 29…. I send greetings to the many Muslims observing Ramadan in America and around the world. Ramadan is the holiest time of the Muslim year and an important holiday when Muslims take time for prayer, fasting, and personal sacrifice. According to Islamic teachings, this month represents when God delivered His word to the prophet Muhammad in the form of the Qur'an. Ramadan is also an opportunity to gather with friends and family and show thanks for God's blessings through works of charity. Ramadan and the upcoming holiday seasons are a good time to remember the common values that bind us together. Our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens whose commitment to faith reminds us of the gift of religious freedom in our country. Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak. President GEORGE W. BUSH · (After 9/11, there were a lot of things being said about how the God of Islam and the God of the Christian faith were one and the same, but that's simply not true ... The God that I worship does not require me to kill other people. The God that I worship tells me I am to love my enemy, to give him food when he's hungry and water when he's thirsty.) FRANKLIN GRAHAM, Newsweek, Aug. 14, 2006
US Congressmen Accuse UNRWA of Sponsoring Terrorists Sept. 29….(Ha Aretz) Two United States congressman on Thursday accused a United Nations agency that gives relief to Palestinians of allegedly distributing funds to members of terrorist organizations. Representatives Steve Rothman (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) lambasted the United Nations Relief Works Agency for allegedly appropriating money to employ members of Hamas and for distributing funds to Palestinian refugees with connections to terrorist groups. In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the congressman called for "stricter oversight" of the more than $100 million in US foreign aid provided to United Nations humanitarian programs each year. We know that Hamas supports the indiscriminate killing of civilians. We know that UNRWA cannot account for large amounts of money it has spent. And we know that UNRWA does not check Palestinian beneficiaries against a list of known terrorists," said Rothman. "With all of this information known, the United States must find out what is unknown: Are US tax dollars funding terrorists through UNRWA?" UNRWA is the UN agency charged with providing services to the four and a half million Palestinians living in the Middle East. In their letter to Rice, the congressman wrote "we now must insist that an independent, international audit be conducted to correct a documented record of UNRWA's lack of financial integrity, poor management and failure to comply with US anti-terror law." The congressman said that despite the agency's size and $400 million dollar budget, "the agency does not permit outside, independent audits of its books." Both congressman are members of the Appropriations Committee?s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, which makes decisions about all US foreign aid.
Tony Snow: Previous Presidency Hurt Terrorism Fight
Sept. 29….(The Examiner) The White House took a swipe
at former President Clinton on Wednesday, just days after he accused
President Bush of doing "nothing" to catch Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11.
White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters that Clinton spent his
presidency "dramatically" slashing military and intelligence assets that are
vital to fighting global terrorism. "Even with the buildup since September
11th, we are only now beginning to achieve the same sort of levels that we
had, in terms of intelligence assets, that we had at the beginning of the
Clinton administration," Snow said. Last weekend, Clinton said Bush
administration officials "did not try" to kill bin Laden before Sept. 1. "At
least I tried," he angrily told Chris Wallace on Fox News Channel. "That’s
the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are
attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to
try. They did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed." Asked on Tuesday to
respond to Clinton’s criticism, Bush said he would not engage in
"finger-pointing" over the failure to capture or kill bin Laden. But on
Wednesday, Snow seemed to suggest the Clinton administration did not try
hard enough to counter the rising threat of global terrorism in the 1990s.
"In the previous administration, we had an attack on the World Trade Center,
on Khobar Towers," he said. "We had attacks on both embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania, an attack on the USS Cole. "Also, Osama bin Laden in February of
1998 made it clear that he not only intended to wage war on the United
States, but he wanted to use Iraq as a central battleground," he said. "In
short, there was a gathering threat. In those years, bin Laden noticed that
the United States had, in fact, been cutting back dramatically on
intelligence assets and on military assets." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-NY, who is expected by many to run for president in 2008, suggested
Tuesday that Bush did not heed a warning about bin Laden that he received a
month before Sept. 11. "I’m certain that if my husband and his national
security team had been shown a classified report entitled ‘Bin Laden
Determined to Attack Inside the United States,’ he would have taken it more
seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and
his national security team," she told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Hugo Chavez: America's Highest Risk? Sept. 29….(CBN) Hugo Chavez has cast George Bush as the devil for years. At pro-Chavez rallies in Caracas, Bush is arch villain, and Chavez is the savior. This man is said to actually believe he is the reincarnation of the Latin American Liberator Simon Bolivar. Chavez says a lot of things, so if you want to know about him, it's important to watch not what he says, but what he does. And what Chavez is doing has Washington alarmed. Chavez spent his summer visiting some of the world's worst dictatorships and anti-American regimes, including Iran, Syria, and Belarus. He honored Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who denies the holocaust and has called for the destruction of Israel. In Moscow, Chavez signed a $3 billion arms deal with Russia for assault rifles, fighter jets, and attack helicopters. This month Colombia's former defense minister and new representative to the Organization of American States, Camilo Ospina, said that Venezuela is secretly mining Uranium at two locations. The Colombian government immediately disavowed the comment. And CBN News has been unable to verify numerous reports from Venezuelan sources that Chavez is prospecting or mining Uranium with the help of Iran. But we do know that Chavez last year saw fit to put a convicted terrorist, Carlos Lanz, in charge of the Venezuelan State Aluminum monopoly, Alcasa, which some suspect is also a front for Uranium mining. "There's a contract between Iran and Venezuela for the export of Aluminum. However, my engineering sources tell me there's enough aluminum in Iran to last the next 60 years. And the contract is thought to be a front for the smuggling of other commodities or items, most probably Uranium," said Kenneth Rijock, a former money launderer from Miami who is now a financial consultant. "Basically, what I did for 10 years is I moved cash for organized crime," said Rijock. Rijock has been scrutinizing the dealings of the Chavez government, and he's found some strange things. "One of the things I do as a financial crime consultant is I look at statistics," he said. "One of Venezuela's strangest and most frightening statistics is there are 2,002 people living in Venezuela, most of them living on the border with Colombia, all born on March 15, 1974, all who's last name is Gonzales, and all who have consecutive national identity numbers. Now, without the connivance of the government, there's no way such a fraud could be perpetrated on the system." Who are these persons given false identities? Chavez is known to aid and harbor the Colombian terrorist FARC and ELN groups, and has made Venezuela a haven for Arab and Islamic terrorists. General Marco Ferreira, the former head of the Venezuelan passport and ID-card agency told us he was ordered to provide false IDs to named members and associates of foreign terrorist groups, and he showed us the documents to prove it. Ferreira said, "The weakness of our national identification system means that many people from the Middle East enter Venezuela and are issued papers that say they are Venezuelan." Ferreira finally quit after being repeatedly pressured by the Venezuelan government to issue illegal documents. "When your show airs the Venezuelan government will say it's a lie. But they can't say it's a lie because of all the evidence," he said. Fugitive Venezuelan General Nestor Gonzalez, who is hiding inside Venezuela after attempts against his life by the Chavez government, gave to CBN News a map of alleged terrorist and narcotrafficking camps all over Venezuela. And in a video interview, smuggled out of the country, Gonzalez, a former military instructor of Chavez, warned that the failure of the US to see Chavez as a real threat was reminiscent of how Europe ignored the rise of Hitler in the 1930s. Chavez' next project is to win one of the rotating seats on the UN Security Council, which would allow him to take his war against America to a new level. And some say he is trying to pide American opposition to his regime by giving away free or low cost fuel to poor Americans. But oil could also be his undoing. One Venezuelan oil analyst said the Chavez regime cannot survive if oil prices stay below $60 a barrel. Chavez has been using oil money to pay off friends and spread his so-called Bolivarian revolution throughout Latin America. Venezuelan opposition figure Patricia Andrade, who has been denounced as a CIA agent by the Chavez government, and who has endured death threats, phone taps, and computer hacking by Chavez agents in south Florida, said the US, by ignoring Chavez, is asleep. "They are blind," she said. "They don't know the risk about Hugo Chavez. The United States needs to open their eyes about the highest risk they have in the backyard. That is Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez won't stop until he destroys the United States."
Palestinian Educators Erasing Israel Sept. 28….(The Evening Bulletin) As this is being written, news wires around the world are running a story that Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, has launched a new peace initiative with Israel. However, the new school books that the same Mahmoud Abbas has now introduced in the Palestinian Authority school system, run independently of Hamas, represent a curriculum that prepares a new generation of Palestinians to destroy Israel. Following fervent support given to Hezbollah's total war on Israel by Abbas and the Palestinian Authority this summer, this raises the question as to whether the new school year in the Palestinian Authority, opening next week, will simply add fuel to the fire of the Palestinian Authority's war against Israel, instead of a new peace initiative with the Jewish State. Because these PA school books have also been incorporated in the Arab schools in Jerusalem, which raises cause for further concern, a movement is afoot in the Israeli Arab schools in the rest of Israel to adopt the PA curriculum in their schools. Indeed, the latest study of PA textbooks, commissioned by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Herzelia speaks for itself. Here are some pearls of wisdom that Palestinian children will learn from the new school books of the Palestinian Authority this year: 1. Israel does not appear on any maps of the world in the new PA textbooks, while maps of Israel replace the name Israel with Palestine in all of the new Palestinian Authority school books. 2. The new
Palestinian School Books "annex" sites in Israel to Palestine. "Haifa is a
Palestinian seaport, "Galilee, Nazareth and Beit She'an are regions in
Palestine. 4. The new Palestinian school books present Zionism only as an enemy movement. 5. The new Palestinian school books teach that the First Zionist Congress at Basel fostered the Zionist State based on a secret decision of what came to be known as the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 6. The new Palestinian School books teach that the only ancient inhabitants of Israel were Arabs, ignoring any ancient Jewish presence. 8. The new Palestinian school books teach that Palestinians must use war and violence, especially martyrdom, to accomplish their goals: "Allah gave the people of this land (Al-Sham and Palestine) an important task: they must stand on the forefront of the Muslim campaign against their enemies, and only if they fulfill their duty to their religion, nation, and land will they be rewarded as stated in the scriptures." (Al-Tarbiya al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Education), Vol 2, 9. The new Palestinian school books feature children with names such as Jihad (holy war) and Nidal (struggle). 10. The new
Palestinian school books stress the importance of "return" of refugees to all of
Palestine, by violence: "The wrong must be made right by returning them to their
homes.
Vatican: 'New Barbarism' Threatens World Peace Sept. 28….(Newsmax) The Vatican's foreign minister said Wednesday that misunderstanding between cultures is breeding a "new barbarism" and expressed hope that reason and dialogue would stop those who use their faith as a pretext for attacks. In a speech on the closing day of the UN General Assembly's ministerial meeting, Giovanni Lajolo said extremists are far from devout and undermine the very religion they claim to defend. "Violent reactions are always a falsification of true religion," Lajolo said in a passage devoted to the pope's Sept. 12 speech at Regensburg University in Germany. Benedict XVI quoted words attributed to a 14th century Byzantine emperor: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Muslims angered by the remarks took to the streets in Indonesia, Turkey and Syria. Churches were attacked in the West Bank; an effigy of the pope was burned in Iraq; and a nun was shot dead in Somalia in an apparently related attack. Lajolo reiterated the Vatican's view that Benedict's remarks were misinterpreted. He said the pope has sought only to promote rational dialogue and understanding. Benedict has expressed regret for offending Muslims and said they did not reflect his personal views, but he has not offered a complete apology as some had sought. Lajolo suggested that the anger may also lie in the lack of understanding between religions, and a schism between reason and faith. "As the Pope affirmed, were reason to turn a deaf ear to the divine and relegate religion to the ambit of subcultures, it would automatically provoke violent reactions," Lajolo, who also serves as president of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State, told the assembly. "It falls to all interested parties, to civil society as well as to states, to promote religious freedom and a sane, social tolerance that will disarm extremists even before they can begin to corrupt others with their hatred of life and liberty," he said. Lajolo referred to the story of the Tower of Babel, saying the "confusion of tongues" in the Biblical city was a symbol of fracturing and hostilities in the contemporary world. "Human pride hampers the acknowledgment of one's neighbor and the recognition of his or her needs and even more makes people distrusting," he said. "Today, that same negative fundamental attitude has given rise to a new barbarism that threatens world peace," the Vatican minister said. Terrorists bent on "rejecting the best achievements of our civilization" are one example, Lajolo said. Major powers, in their attempt to make the world more fair, may also occasionally slide into believing that this can only be achieved by force, he said. "It can go so far as to regard the possession of nuclear weapons as an element of national pride," he said.
Iraq Terror Leader Recruiting Scientists Sept. 28….(AP) In a new audio message today, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. He also said that more than 4,000 foreign insurgent fighters have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. That comment was believed to be the first major statement from insurgents in Iraq about their losses. "The blood has been spilled in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The Arabic word he used indicated he was speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, not coalition troops. The speaker said "the field of jihad" could provide scientists with an avenue for experimentation. "We are in dire need of you," he said. "The field of jihad (holy war) can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them." He also issued an amnesty to Iraqis who cooperated with their country's "occupiers," calling on them to "return to your religion and nation" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which Sunnis began observing in Iraq on Saturday and Shiites on Monday. "We will not attack you as long as you declare your true repentance in front of your tribe and relatives," he said. Sunni Arabs began observing Ramadan in Iraq on Saturday, while Shiites were to begin Monday. Al-Masri called on insurgents in Iraq to capture Westerners so they could be traded for the imprisoned Egyptian sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks. "I appeal to every holy warrior in the land of Iraq to exert all efforts in this holy month so that God may enable us to capture some of the Western dogs to swap them for our sheik and get him out of his dark prison," the voice on the tape said. Al-Masri, a Sunni Muslim, has been relatively silent since taking over control of al-Qaida in Iraq earlier this year, a sharp contrast with al-Zarqawi, who frequently issued audiotapes and even a videotape that showed his face a few weeks before his death. Al-Masri is believed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died in a US airstrike north of Baghdad in June, as the head of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The Problem With Islam Sept. 28….(WND) It may be the single most vexing question in today's world: What to do about Islam and its rapidly expanding violent jihad? The answer can be found in the October issue of WND's always-groundbreaking monthly magazine, Whistleblower, in a provocative issue titled "THE PROBLEM WITH ISLAM." Most Americans were oblivious to Islam until a certain Tuesday morning five years ago. But on Sept. 11, 2001, they woke up to learn they were in the midst of a world war, targeted for destruction by an enemy they had scarcely ever heard of. Today, militant Muslims are on the rampage worldwide, some recently calling for the assassination of the Pope, with others threatening that unless Benedict XVI converts to Islam, Christian churches will be burnt to the ground. But such outrageous threats, as well as the mass murder that often follows, have become commonplace. On the slightest provocation, a newspaper publishing cartoons depicting Muhammad, a journalist making a comment about Muhammad during the Miss Universe pageant, angry Muslims erupt into a campaign of arson, brutality, violence and murder. Meanwhile, as Western governments and journalism organizations continue to refer to Islam as a "religion of peace," virtually all terrorist acts worldwide, over 5,000 instances since 9-11, have been committed by Muslims, against Jews, against Christians, against other non-Muslims, even against other types of Muslims. Yet, there's an even bigger Islamic threat than violent jihad. Today, the West is being transformed by Islam. Especially in Britain and Europe, where Islamic immigration is already well advanced, analysts conclude it's simply a matter of time before some of these nations have Muslim majorities. (the Council on Arab-American relations claims it will make the US an Islamic nation by 2020) Then comes Sharia law and the total transformation of these formerly Christian countries into repressive Islamic states. Exaggeration? Consider that the Netherlands' justice minister, Piet Hein Donner, recently announced he would welcome Sharia law to his European nation, already rapidly filling up with Muslims, if the majority votes for it. Under Sharia, just as in Arab-Muslim nations currently under this strict Islamic legal system like Saudi Arabia, Europe may see amputations, as prescribed in the Quran, as punishment for certain crimes; women publicly flogged and sometimes hanged or stoned to death for adultery or other so-called "crimes against chastity"; and death sentences for leaving the Muslim religion, or even for preaching Christianity, as occurs in Pakistan under its notorious "blasphemy laws." What about America? Though the percentage of Muslims in our nation is much lower than in Europe, the growth of radical Islam already has a powerful foothold in many parts of American society. Beyond the rapid proliferation of Saudi-funded mosques, Islamic centers and schools teaching hatred for America, consider the nation's prison system. "Radical Muslim chaplains, trained in a foreign ideology, certified in foreign-financed schools, and acting in coordination to impose an extremist agenda have gained a monopoly over Islamic religious activities in American state, federal, and city prisons and jails," says author Stephen Schwartz. "Imagine each prison as an Islamic community behind prison walls, without the amenities. They have effectively induced American authorities to establish a form of 'state Islam' or 'government-certified Islam' in correctional systems." Despite all this, most politicians and journalists in the West, whether out of sympathy, or out of fear of having their throats cut, are afraid to criticize Islam publicly. Yet if radical Islam can succeed in throttling all criticism, from the Pope on down, it will have succeeded in imposing de facto sharia law, which prohibits all criticism of Islam or its prophet – on the entire world
Bush Urges Key Allies to Cooperate
“The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan committed to supporting moderation and defeating extremism through greater intelligence sharing, coordinated action against terrorists, and common efforts to enhance the prosperity of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan,'' the statement from press secretary Tony Snow said. Afghan officials claim that Pakistan lets Taliban militants hide out and launch attacks into Afghanistan. Musharraf says Karzai has bad information and notes that Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops along the porous border. Karzai says Musharraf turns a blind eye to hatred and extremism being bred at Islamic schools in Pakistan. Right up to Wednesday night's White House dinner, they also have pointed fingers at one another over al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden and other terror leaders. Each says bin Laden isn't hiding in his country and suggests the other might do more to help find him. Standing between the pair, President Bush emphasized ``the need to cooperate, to make sure that people have got a hopeful future'' in both countries. The meeting came as Afghanistan suffers its worst reversals since the US-led ouster of the extremist Taliban regime nearly five years ago. Taliban militants have regrouped and launched an offensive this year and its campaign has taken Afghan and US officials by surprise. They have adopted methods commonly used by militants in Iraq: suicide bombings, ambushes and beheadings. Illegal opium production has also risen and Afghanistan is now the source of more than 90 percent of the world's supply.
Iran Moving Worldwide To Bring Islamic War To America And Israel Sept. 28….(By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst) The forces of terrorism are organizing a worldwide armada of strategic nations to launch an offensive against the United States and Israel in the near future, not only from the Middle East, but also from locations in Central and South America, Northern Iraq, and the Palestinian territories. From Syrian and Iranian rearming of Hezbollah to Israel’s north, to a movement by Hamas to gain a stronger foothold in the seemingly defunct Palestinian government, to a meeting of Non-Aligned Nations in Cuba, the Islamo-fascist world is gathering allies and is beginning to coalesce a strategic offensive, that unchecked, could turn both Israel and the United States into an unprecedented war zone. DEBKAfile, a prominent and well respected intelligence news service, reports that Iran and Turkey appear to be preparing to launch a military strike in Northern Iraq against anti-Turkish and anti-Iranian Kurdish rebels that will enable Turkey to seize 40% of Iraq’s oil producing territory and Iran will knock out key Israeli observation sites used for early warnings of Iranian attacks. Meantime, Iran has parlayed behind the scenes agreements with Venezuela and Cuba to consider deploying Iranian missiles in those countries as a defense against a US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. At the same time, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah told some 800,000 supporters at a "victory" rally Friday that no army could disarm his paramilitary Shi'ite terror group. Nasrallah claimed that his guerrillas have replenished their arsenal and already have more than 20,000 rockets as United Nations peacekeeping troops insists they have no responsibility to stop the Hezbollah arms build-up. As disturbing is the chilling of relations between the Bush Administration and the Olmert government in Israel. The Bush Administration has supported a coalition government of elected Hamas terrorists and the Palestinian Authority, reportedly without consulting Israel, signaling a new direction in US-Israeli relations. All the warning signs are passing through increasing levels of danger for the non-Islamic world. The American and Israeli governments must recognize immediately that the threat of these events are strategically a clear and present danger and act decisively to counter them. People of faith must gird themselves with prayer and action to prepare for the prophetic fulfillment of what Jesus Christ referred to in Matthew 24:8 when He said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” We must be a Deuteronomy 31:6 people: “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
Palestinian Sheikh: All Must Convert to Islam Sept. 28….(YNET) Pope Benedict XVI's meeting this week with a delegation of Muslim leaders and his calls for interfaith dialogue following earlier remarks about Islam are really "Crusader conspiracies" to subjugate the Islamic faith and force "Christian-Zionist" worldviews upon Muslims, a prominent Gaza Strip preacher told WorldNetDaily in an interview. Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called the Pope a "puppet" for "that Crusader George Bush." The Gaza imam said the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which "all religions agree to convert to Islam." "The call for so-called dialogue by this little racist pope is a Trojan horse with the main goal of reaching a new system in which the ideals of the Pope are a new ideology that will rule relations between nations and people. The dialogue he wants is dangerous," said Abu Saqer, speaking to WND from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. "The Pope is the spiritual and religious wing of the Crusader ideology," Abu Saqer said. "He is totally coordinated with Bush. Through this dialogue he hopes to break the lines of unity between Muslims and polarize the Muslim world, which has some partisans who will accept this new dialogue. But true believers know Islam must rule all relations. The only dialogue we will accept is when all other religions agree to convert to Islam." The pope has been drawing fire from Muslims worldwide for a speech he gave two weeks ago in which he quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, who wrote, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The pontiff last week said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his comments and later explained the emperor's words did not reflect how he himself felt. He said the intent of his remarks was to call for a dialogue on the role of religions in modern life. Benedict XVI on Monday held an unprecedented meeting with a group of 20 Muslim leaders in a bid to calm anger that has spilled over into international Muslim protests. In all his responses to the controversy, the pope has not directly apologized for his original statements quoting a scholar linking Muslims to violence. In an interview with WND last week, Abu Saqer called for holy war against the pope. He declared the "green flag of Muhammad" would soon be raised over the Vatican. "We did not need the words of the pope in order to understand that this is a Crusader war against Islam and it is our holy duty to fight all those who support the pope, who follow him and who did not condemn what this small racist had to say," said Abu Saqer. "The day will soon come when the green flag of La Illah Illah Allah (There is no god but Allah) and Muhammad Rasul Allah (Muhammad is the prophet of Allah) will be raised upon the Vatican and all around the world and on the fortresses of those who want to destroy Islam, because they know that this religion obliges them to face the truth that Islam is Allah's favorite religion. And until they join Islam, hell is their last station," Abu Saqer said.
Israeli Military Intelligence: Syrian Front Now Cause for Concern Sept. 28….(Arutz) For the first time in many years, IDF intelligence officials are signaling concern regarding the northern border with Syria, indicating President Bashar al-Assad’s administration is contemplating a military offensive against Israel. Officials are careful to point out that at present such a possibility is only in the dialogue stage, explaining Syria has not taken any operational steps towards a military action, but that in many cases such thoughts do ultimately express themselves in actions. While army intelligence is concerned over the growing threat from Damascus, Knesset Speaker (Labor) Dalia Itzik is calling “not to miss the opportunity” to enter into dialogue with Syria, seeking to avert a military conflict. Itzik insists that Assad has repeatedly made peace overtures, exhibiting a willingness to enter into negotiations with Israel, and that if Jerusalem turns her back on such statements, perhaps a last opportunity towards dialogue will be lost forever. Itzik continues to encourage senior government ministers to take Assad’s statements seriously and begin opening diplomatic channels that could lead to a peace agreement, stating such an accomplishment could have a widespread political impact. Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who released a statement in London earlier this week, stated that Bashar al-Assad is providing refuge for a wanted terrorist, referring to Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshal. It is Meshal who is preventing the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, Peres went on to explain, adding that even the PA (Palestinian Authority) Hamas-led administration wishes to release Shalit at this point. “If his father Hafez al-Assad would only have come to Camp David with Sadat, the Golan Heights would have already been in his hands for years. The Assad’s are opponents to peace,” stated Peres. Military intelligence during the past year has discarded statements calling for peace by Assad. Both governmental and intelligence communities during the previous Sharon administration were in agreement, that calls for peace by the Syrian leader have not been sincere, and were nothing more that Syria’s ploy towards compelling Israel to retreat from the Golan Heights, which was liberated in the June 1967 Six Day War. Analysts point out that Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik’s calls to open a dialogue with Damascus openly undermine American policy. Her repeated statements come at a time when the United States is working to enlist support for calls to impose sanctions on Syria, seeking to isolate Damascus from the world community. Secretary of State Rice has been signaling Jerusalem to refrain from such open statements at this time while the State Department is seeking to enlist allies to pressure Assad into backing down. America accuses Syria of “supporting terror,” as does Israel and analysts explain that these remarks by the Knesset Speaker are most untimely and unwanted at this time, especially with the realization that Syria’s willingness to permit Hizbullah weapons to reach southern Lebanon continues to infuse life into the terror organization.
Israelis on Lebanon Border Worriedly Await Next War Sept. 28….(Reuters) The hotels in northern Israel have reopened. Travelers are slowly trickling back and workers are patching up homes hit by Hizbollah rockets. Yet along Israel's scenic border with Lebanon, there is a sense of foreboding. Of waiting for the next war with the Hizbollah guerrilla group, or worse, its patron Iran. Those fears have grown as the Israeli army prepares to pull out of southern Lebanon, perhaps in a matter of days, handing over all captured territory to international forces that few here believe will keep Hizbollah under control. "We don't feel safer. There are still thousands of rockets aimed at us," said Raz Flusman, 30, co-founder of a computer shop in the border town of Kiryat Shmona, where nearly 1,000 Hizbollah missiles landed during the month-long war. "If you took all the weapons away from Arab countries, you would have peace. If you took all weapons away from Israel, one minute later we would be gone." Israel has been in a dark mood since the Lebanon war ended in a UN-sponsored truce on August 4. Israelis have lost faith in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the military leadership because the army failed to crush Hizbollah. Many feel Israel's ability to deter other regional enemies from mischief, especially Iran, was badly dented. Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's statement last week at a rally in Beirut that his group still had 20,000 rockets and would not disarm added to the insecurity. "It's a bad feeling here," said Reuven Wineberg, owner of the Alaska Inn hotel in the village of Metula, where homes in southern Lebanon are visible from his roof. "For sure it will happen again. If we are lucky it will be in a couple of years. If not, it could be tomorrow," added Wineberg, 52, sitting in the office of his small hotel, answering the phone that occasionally rings on his desk. Israelis appear ambivalent about troops returning home, wanting them out of a foreign country but afraid Hizbollah will use the opportunity to prepare for fresh attacks. "Even if the peacekeepers don't do a good job, we should not be there, it just inflames things," said Netta Reches, 34, a craft shop owner in Metula. While Nasrallah made headlines with his appearance at last Friday's rally in Beirut, the name on everyone's lips in northern Israel is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map". A poll last week showed a majority of Israelis say Iran and its nuclear program is their biggest worry. Iran says it is seeking nuclear power, not weapons. Israel itself neither admits nor denies having nuclear weapons, but is believed to have around 200 atomic bombs. "Iran for us is very dangerous," said Benny Daniel, 25, as he guarded a house damaged by a rocket in Kiryat Shmona. The owners have moved to a nearby hotel while repairs are done. "Everyone in Kiryat Shmona thinks it's just a matter of time before war breaks out again."
Allah Imposes on Jerusalem's Jews Sept. 28….(JNEWSWIRE) Fearing violence by Muslim mobs fired-up by the Ramadan sermons now being delivered daily atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Israeli authorities have instructed Jewish residents of parts of the capital's Old City to remain indoors during the evening hours. Local Jews complained that police should be enforcing the law equally among all citizens, rather than cowering in fear at the mere hint of Muslim hostility. But in a further sign that many Israeli officials are more interested in appeasing the followers of Mohammed than in protecting the religious rights of their fellow Jews, police arrested a Jewish prayer leader for blowing his shofar (ram's horn) at the Western Wall during the recent Rosh Hashanah holiday. As the site where the Almighty chose to make His name abide, the Temple Mount stands at the center of the Middle East conflict. While much of the "peace" process negotiations that appear in the mainstream media focus on various pieces of land throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza, most in Israel understand that control over the Temple Mount is the final and largest hurdle to reaching a settlement. Israel's enemies, who are driven by the enemy, believe that solidifying their hold on the Temple Mount, the heart of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, will end Israel's hopes, rooted in biblical promises, concerning the arrival of a divine savior and the presence of the LORD. ("And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.") (Ezekiel 43:2, 4, 5) The necessity of a restored Temple prior to the coming of Messiah is also alluded to in the New Testament: "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3, 4) This building is often wrongly referred to as the temple of the anti-Christ. While it is occupied for a time by the "man of sin," it is still clearly referred to by scripture as "the temple of God." And it is clear that this temple, and not Allah's gold dome, must be situated atop the Temple Mount prior to the return of God's manifest glory to that hill. Viewed through this lens, it becomes understandable why the enemy is investing so much effort in ensuring the Jews never regain full control over the Temple Mount or feel they have a right to rebuild their temple to the God of Israel. Sadly, many spiritually-blind Israeli officials desiring to be accepted by a "politically correct" world are assisting in this effort by making those Jews faithful to the Word of God feel unwelcome anywhere near His Holy Hill. The Al Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop Judaism's holiest site, is a venue for frequent diatribes against Israel and the Jews by revered Muslim clerics. Local Muslim Arabs typically leave Al Aqsa fired up for confrontation with the Jews they view as de-humanized occupiers. Clashes between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers following Friday Islamic prayers at Al Aqsa are not uncommon. The danger to the nearly 800 Jews who have reclaimed houses in this part of the Old City is even more pronounced during Ramadan, when vitriolic sermons are delivered on a daily basis. One local Jew who spoke to the nationalist Arutz 7 news service decried the police decision to restrict the movement of his community rather than impose the rule of law on their often hostile Arab neighbors: "It is not acceptable to us that the police simply decides that it cannot protect us and enforce the law and that therefore we must be restricted." Tragically, individuals within the Israel police forces, among them high-ranking officers, are so given over to appeasing Muslims that they now view with contempt their fellow Jews who, by publicly worshiping the God of Israel, are seen as provoking Islamic anger. On Monday, police reportedly forcibly arrested a Jewish man after he twice blew a shofar (ram's horn) as part of a Rosh Hashanah prayer service at the Western Wall. Rosh Hashanah is known biblically as Yom Teruah, or Day of the Trumpet Blast, and is always accompanied by the sound of shofars. Witnesses to the incident told Arutz 7 that the man refused to go with police until he had finished his prayers. This led to the police becoming violent toward him, and lashing out at those bystanders who insisted he had done nothing wrong. After what one witness described as "a big brawl," the 20-year-old prayer leader was taken to a police station where he was charged with attacking a policeman, disturbing a policeman in the line of duty, and disturbing the public order. Police officials insisted the man had continued to blow his shofar long after the prayer service had ended, suggesting he deliberately sought to provoke local Muslims. Information provided subsequently revealed that the police action resulted from a call by a Muslim Arab woman who complained that the sound of the shofar was disturbing her children. A Jewish resident of the Old City noted the irony of that news, pointing out that imams' prayers blasted over mosque loudspeakers every morning at 4:30 a.m. daily disturb non-Muslims living anywhere near Muslim communities. Everywhere there are impositions by Allah, but no room for Jehovah!
Suicide Bombers Follow Quran, Concludes Pentagon (Tasked with pinpointing motivation, analysts find terrorists 'rational actors' following 'holy book') Sept. 28….(WND) With suicide bombings spreading from Iraq to Afghanistan, the Pentagon tasked intelligence analysts to pinpoint what's driving Muslim after Muslim to do the unthinkable. Their preliminary finding is politically explosive: it's their "holy book" the Quran after all, according to intelligence briefings obtained by WND. In public, the US government has made an effort to avoid linking the terrorist threat to Islam and the Quran while dismissing suicide terrorists as crazed heretics who pervert Islamic teachings. "The terrorists distort the idea of jihad into a call for violence and murder," the White House maintains in its recently released "National Strategy for Combating Terrorism" report. But internal Pentagon briefings show intelligence analysts have reached a wholly different conclusion after studying Islamic scripture and the backgrounds of suicide terrorists. They've found that most Muslim suicide bombers are in fact students of the Quran who are motivated by its violent commands, making them, as strange as it sounds to the West, "rational actors" on the Islamic stage. In Islam, it is not how one lives one's life that guarantees spiritual salvation, but how one dies, according to the briefings. There are great advantages to becoming a martyr. Dying while fighting the infidels in the cause of Allah reserves a special place and honor in Paradise. And it earns special favor with Allah. "Suicide in defense of Islam is permitted, and the Islamic suicide bomber is, in the main, a rational actor," concludes a recent Pentagon briefing paper titled, "Motivations of Muslim Suicide Bombers."
Suicide for Allah a 'win-win' "His actions provide a win-win scenario for himself, his family, his faith and his God," the document explains. "The bomber secures salvation and the pleasures of Paradise. He earns a degree of financial security and a place for his family in Paradise. He defends his faith and takes his place in a long line of martyrs to be memorialized as a valorous fighter. "And finally, because of the manner of his death, he is assured that he will find favor with Allah," the briefing adds. "Against these considerations, the selfless sacrifice by the individual Muslim to destroy Islam's enemies becomes a suitable, feasible and acceptable course of action." The briefing, produced by a little-known Pentagon intelligence unit called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, cites a number of passages from the Quran dealing with jihad, or "holy" warfare, martyrdom and Paradise, where "beautiful mansions" and "maidens" await martyr heroes. In preparation for attacks, suicide terrorists typically recite passages from six surahs, or chapters, of the Quran: Baqura (Surah 2), Al Imran (3), Anfal (8), Tawba (9), Rahman (55) and Asr (103). CIFA staffs hundreds of investigators and analysts to help coordinate Pentagon security efforts at US military installations at home and abroad. The Pentagon unit is especially concerned about a new wave of suicide bombings hitting Afghanistan. Suicide bombings have killed more than 200 people in Afghanistan this year, up from single digits two years ago. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest and killed 18 outside an Afghan government compound. Last week, a suicide bomber riding a bike killed at least four NATO soldiers. And earlier this month, a suicide car bomber rammed into a US military convoy near the US Embassy in Kabul, killing 16 people, including two American soldiers. The US command in Afghanistan now warns that a suicide bombing cell is operating inside the Afghan capital. Meanwhile, the Taliban's top military commander told ABC News he has 500 suicide bombers at his disposal. "We have so many of them that it is difficult to accommodate and arm and equip them," Mullah Dadullah Akhund said. "Some of them have been waiting for a year or more for their turn to be sent to the battlefield." The emergence of a suicide cell in Kabul troubles military analysts because suicide attacks are the most effective weapon Muslim terrorists can use against the West. The Rand Corp. predicts they'll pose a serious and constant threat to the US for years to come. The US intelligence community is growing increasingly worried, as well. "Most jihadist groups will use suicide attacks focused primarily on soft targets to implement asymmetric warfare strategy," warns the just-declassified executive summary of the National Intelligence Estimate on the global terror threat. The 9/11 hijackers and the London bombers made martyrdom videos. In their last testaments, they recite the Quran while talking of their "love of death" and "sacrificing life for Allah." Seven martyrdom videotapes also were recovered by British authorities in the foiled transatlantic sky terror plot. Before the 9/11 attacks, the hijackers shaved and doused themselves with flower water in preparation for their weddings with the beautiful virgins in Paradise. "Know that the women of Paradise are waiting, calling out 'Come hither, friend of Allah,'" according to a four-page letter circulated among them titled "THE LAST NIGHT." French documentarian Pierre Rehov, who interviewed the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it, says it's not a myth or fantasy of heretics. He says there's no doubt the Quran "promises virgins" to Muslim men who die while fighting infidels in jihad, and it's a key motivating factor behind suicide terrorism. "It's obviously connected to religion," said Rehov, who features his interviews with Muslims in a recently released film, "Suicide Killers." "They really believe they are going to get the virgins." He says would-be Muslim suicide bombers he's interviewed have shown him passages in the Quran "in which it's absolutely written that they're going to get the girls in the afterlife." Muslim clerics do not disavow the virgins-for-martyrs reward as a perverted interpretation of the Quran. And even Muslim leaders in the West condone suicide bombings. British scholar Azzam Tamimi recently told 8,000 Muslims in Manchester, England, that dying while fighting "George Bush and Tony Blair" is "just" and "the greatest act of martyrdom." Earlier, he said it's "the straight way to pleasing Allah." And the founder of an allegedly mainstream Muslim group in Washington, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also has given his blessing to suicide bombings. Addressing a youth session at the 1999 Islamic Association for Palestine's annual convention in Chicago, CAIR founder Omar Ahmad praised suicide bombers who "kill themselves for Islam," according to a transcript provided by terror expert Steve Emerson's Investigative Project. "Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide," Ahmad asserted. "They kill themselves for Islam." Osama bin Laden has encouraged "Muslims brothers" to defeat the US and UK with suicide attacks. "I tell you to act upon the orders of Allah," he said in 2003, "be united against Bush and Blair and defeat them through suicide attacks so that you may be successful before Allah."
Pakistan: A Battle in War on Terror Lost Sept. 27….(Washington Times) With little reporting, and almost without media or governmental comment, the United States has suffered a substantial defeat in the war against radical Islam. Three weeks ago, Pakistan signed the terms of the Waziristan Accord with the northern region of its country called North Waziristan. It was, effectively, the terms of surrender by Pakistan to the Taliban and al Qaeda, which dominate North Waziristan. Pakistan has negotiated a separate peace, the eternal danger to any wartime alliance. The event itself was reported by the major newspapers, but the abject nature of the surrender passed with almost no comment. But surrender it was. According to intelligence sources cited by the Fourth Rail and other sources, the accord includes: (1) Pakistan to abandon its garrisons in Waziristan, (2) Pakistan military to not operate in or monitor actions in the region, (3) Pakistan to turn over weapons to Waziris, (4) Taliban and al Qaeda to set up a mujahideen council to administer region, (5) region to be called "The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan," (6) unknown but substantial amount of money paid by Pakistan to the Taliban, (7) al Qaeda and other jihadis to be allowed to stay in region, (8) 2,500 foreign fighters linked to al Qaeda and Taliban released by Pakistan from their prisons (this fact also confirmed by London's Daily Telegraph), and (9) Taliban to refrain from violence in Pakistan only; the agreement does not stipulate refraining from violence in Afghanistan. Moreover, according to intelligence sources, Pakistan is negotiating similar terms with agencies in the Khyber, Tank, Dera Ishmal Kahn and Bajaur regions of western Pakistan. If those negotiations are realized, the Taliban and al Qaeda will essentially have their own country again. With Waziristan they already have an excellent base of operations against US forces in Afghanistan. According to an intelligence source cited in the Weekly Standard, the gains we have made in that part of the world in the past five years were "reversed in mere weeks with the loss of Waziristan and the release of 2,500 fighters." But this is not really Pakistan's fault. That country has probably suffered more than 3,000 troop fatalities in its attempt to subdue the region. And the British, during their centuries-long rule of the subcontinent, never subdued the region, sending unsuccessful punitive raids by their superb British-Indian army into Waziristan for almost a hundred years (right up to 1945.) Nor can one blame Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whose intelligence service is still partial to the Taliban (which it helped create), who has suffered two credible assassination attempts, and whose country has a violent and growing radical population. I don't have any basis for this, but I can't help wondering whether Gen. Musharraf is planning to retire. His announcement at a joint press conference with President Bush of a book deal with Simon & Schuster and its serialization in Time magazine was beyond weird. Not only is it rare for a sitting national leader (particularly in mid-crisis) to publish his memoirs, but what he says in them is in conflict with his fiercely held public position regarding the war on terror. Last year, I was personally and forcefully instructed by a senior Pakistani official that Pakistan is not helping us with our War on Terror, they are voluntarily fighting their own war on terror. And yet, Gen. Musharraf reports in his book that he was threatened with US bombing if he didn't become our ally, and he agreed to it only after calculating the consequences of crossing us. Whatever is going on in Pakistan (and we must hope that the men who replace Gen. Musharraf sooner or later will not be more sympathetic to the Taliban and al Qaeda, and will be at least as careful in controlling their nuclear weapons), our effort to stand up Afghanistan and suppress the Taliban and al Qaeda in the region has suddenly taken on an even more formidable dimension. There are no ready solutions to the dilemma. With Pakistan now hors de combat, our already undermanned forces in Afghanistan will soon have to engage the tribal regions of northwest Pakistan, fighting some of the world's most resourceful and cruel fighters in the most unforgiving lands on earth. We ask a lot, and we get even more, from our brave and smart young warriors. But from Iraq to the Horn of Africa to Afghanistan and now to northern Pakistan, there is a limit to what our current number of active forces can possibly accomplish. And the list of danger spots will only grow in the coming years. Whether we like the fact or not, the ranks and lands of the enemy are growing. And they can't be sweet talked out of taking the fight to America. We must come to terms with reality, and soon. We are going to have to substantially increase the size of our Army and Marines to face the growing threats to our national security. President Bush and his advisers are entitled to spend some time privately absorbing the implications of this reversal in Pakistan. FOJ Note: President Bush is meeting with both Pakistani and Afghanistan Presidents Musharraf and Karzai today and tonight to discuss the regional situation and the war on terror against Al Qaeda. If the above report is true to the situation on the ground, then America may soon be facing another explosion of terror, not in Iraq and Afghanistan, but at home!
US Seeking More Sanctions On Syria Sept. 27….(Jerusalem Post) I think we're going to have to start looking at further sanctions on Syria if it is to continue on the path it's currently on, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday. Rice, whose interview with The Wall Street Journal appeared on the State Department web site, said, "I think as Syria continues to show its stripes and isolate itself from its Arab friends, sanctions may be somewhat easier to do. I think we're going to have to start looking at further sanctions on Syria, and we're going to have to look at tougher measures if Syria continues to be on the path that it's on." "I think that the Syrians look as if they've made their choice and their choice is to associate with extremist forces in Iran, not with their traditional, allies is not quite right, but the traditional partners like the Arab states. But I think that this choice will cost Syria and I'm not certain how ultimately stable that configuration is to Syria. Syria is isolated. The speech that Assad made accusing the Egyptians and the Saudis and the Jordanians of all kinds of things, has not helped them, but only helped him with his normal partners," she said. Regarding the progress of democratization in the Arab world, Rice said, "In the Middle East, I think those trends are moving in the right direction but I think that we got a very big wakeup call in the summer with the war in Lebanon because in a way that it had not really been clarified before the Middle East with all of its historic animosities and so forth, I think had to confront its modern, its current environment, which is one in which extremism on one side and moderation on the other came into pretty sharp relief." "And that has been very clearly recognized now, I believe, by the moderate Arab states, the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, by moderates in the kind of fledgling democracies that are there, whether it be Iraq or Lebanon or even the Palestinian territories, and the supporter, the financier, the inspiration for those extremist forces like Hizbullah and Hamas, I think now clearly in everybody's mind Teheran has given a kind of clarity to what the challenge is from Iran, not just on the nuclear side, not just on the internal politics side, but literally on Iran's ambitions for the region as a whole," she said. According to Rice, "In the next several months, leading probably into several years, will be trying to find a way to rally moderate forces on behalf of emerging democratic moderate forces in the region to withstand what I think is a now quite substantial push against them by extremists and Iranian-led extremism."
UN Blasts Israel for Plight of Palestinians Sept. 27….(Ha Aretz) The human rights situation for Palestinians has deteriorated to a new low, a United Nations rights expert said yesterday, blaming the West for contributing to the "tragic" situation in Gaza and the West Bank. John Dugard, a South African civil rights lawyer, said Israel is largely responsible for the "intolerable" situation of the Palestinians. "I hope that my portrayal of hardships experienced by such people will trouble the consciences of those accustomed to turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of the Palestinian people," Dugard told the UN Human Rights Council. Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key," Dugard said. Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, rejected Dugard's allegations as "one-sided" and not reflecting reality. "What Israel chooses to describe as collateral damage to the civilian population is in fact indiscriminate killing prohibited by international law," Dugard said." "This report is characterized by errors of omission as well as distortions of both fact and law," he said, adding that Dugard described the situation in the territory of the Palestinian Authority in an "oversimplified manner." Dugard, an anti-apartheid civil rights lawyer in the 1980s, was appointed by the now defunct UN Human Rights Commission in 2001 to investigate only rights violations by the Israeli side. Dugard also criticized Western nations for cutting off funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas' victory in legislative elections in January. "In effect, the Palestinian people have been subjected to economic sanctions, the first time an occupied people has been so treated," Dugard said. "Palestinian people are punished for having democratically elected a regime unacceptable to Israel, the US and the EU." FOJ Note: It obviously doesn’t matter to the UN that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and that terrorists operate freely in Palestinian territories, and kill and maim innocent civilians. Where is the criticism of the PA for this activity? Nowhere!
Most Palestinians Back Hizbullah Sept. 27….(YNET) The recent war in Lebanon increased support for Hizbullah among the Palestinian population in the territories, as well as among Israeli Arabs, who believe that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is looking out for their wellbeing. The boosted support for Hizbullah was revealed in a public opinion poll carried out jointly by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem’s Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research based in Ramallah. According to the survey, which was carried out after the end of fighting in Lebanon, a solid 65 percent majority of the Palestinian public believes terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank should adopt Hizbullah’s tactics and shell Israeli towns with rockets. Only 35 percent were opposed to such a move. The survey noted that these numbers were parallel to Hizbullah support measured in June 2000, after the IDF’s withdrawal from south Lebanon. At the time, 65 percent of Palestinians were supportive and 27 percent opposed. However, it should be noted that in 2000 the term “Hizbullah tactics” had different implications, and rather referred to guerilla warfare against army forces. The war had no effect on Palestinian support for suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians, and a majority of Palestinians continued to support them. According to the present poll’s findings, 57 percent of Palestinians supported suicide bomb attacks, while a similar survey in March 2006 found 56 percent support. The tactic of kidnapping of Israeli soldiers to use as bargaining chips won the support of three-fourths of Palestinians, while only 23 percent opposed. The survey also sought to compare the views of the Jewish and Arab public in Israel regarding the war in Lebanon, against the backdrop of claims during the war and its aftermath that Israeli Arabs sympathize with Hizbullah and its objectives. While only 24 percent of Jewish respondents said they believe that Nasrallah is concerned about the fate of Israel's Arabs, 70 percent of Israeli-Arabs who participated in the poll said they think the Hizbullah leader is looking out for them. Meanwhile, 77 percent of Jewish respondents stated they think Arab citizens were concerned with Hizbullah's fate, and 68 percent of Arab respondents stated as much. The survey also focused on the war's influence on Israelis' and Palestinians' predictions regarding the continuation of violence in the region and their willingness to renew negotiations with the other side. Among Israeli respondents, 56 percent supported and 43 percent opposed talks with the Hamas government. About two thirds of the Israeli public support negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, assuming that this is a condition for a peace agreement. Among Palestinians, however, the trend seems to be reversed. While in a poll conducted before the war 70 percent said they believe that a Hamas-led Palestinian authority should negotiate with Israel, and 26 percent objected, after the war, the support rate dropped to 59 percent, while the opposition rose to 38 percent. The Palestinian survey, conducted by Dr. Khalil Shkaki, represents residents of the Wets Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, and was held among 1,270 interviewees age 18 and over. The Israeli poll was conducted among 500 Jewish citizens and 401 Arab citizens. An additional survey carried out on August 28-30 examined Israeli public opinion on a settlement with Syria, an issue which was previously surveyed in August 2000 immediately after the collapse of negotiations between Israel and Syria that year. The current poll found that the second war in Lebanon had no effect on public opinion in the matter. According to the poll, 56 percent of Israelis disapproved of withdrawing from the Golan Heights in return for a full peace settlement with Syria while 32 percent approved. In August 2000, 55 percent disapproved while 34 percent approved.
IDF Threatens to Stay in Lebanon Indefinitely Sept. 27….(JNEWSWIRE) A meeting Tuesday between IDF commanders and UN officials regarding the withdrawal of Israel's last several hundred soldiers deployed in southern Lebanon ended in heated disagreement. Israel had hoped to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon following this summer's war with Hizb'allah by the end of this week. But the refusal of UN buffer forces stationed in southern Lebanon to adopt combative rules of engagement have angered Israel. The situation was further exacerbated when the head of the UN forces told The Jerusalem Post that his troops would not engage Hizb'allah even if the terrorists were en route to attack Israel. In light of that revelation, Israel's military commanders have threatened to keep their forces deployed to southern Lebanon indefinitely. A source in Northern Command said the talks at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, north of Rosh Hanikra, had failed, adding that the IDF had told the other parties it would stay in Lebanon until UNIFIL "took its job seriously. Brig.-Gen. Udi Dekel, head of the IDF Strategic Planning Division, led the delegation that met with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini and representatives of the Lebanese army (LAF). "We told UNIFIL that we plan to pull our troops out of Lebanon by Yom Kippur, although we haven't committed to a specific year," a high-ranking IDF officer said after the meeting. The talks broke down when the Israelis demanded that UNIFIL adopt more aggressive rules of engagement. What particularly angered the IDF officers was an interview Pellegrini gave The Jerusalem Post last week in which he said the peacekeeping force would not actively engage Hizbullah guerrillas, even if they were in the midst of an attack against Israel. The officers even presented Pellegrini with a copy of the interview at the meeting and confronted him with his comments, which they said were in direct contradiction to previous understandings and interpretations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. "We demand more effective rules of engagement," the high-ranking IDF officer said. "If they don't adopt them, we are prepared to stay in Lebanon for as long as necessary." In response to reports suggesting that the UNIFIL forces are very limited in what they can do, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said, "It is clear UNIFIL has the authority to intervene if the Lebanese army is not in a position to do so, when there are violations of the resolution." "The basic point of the peacekeeping force is to assist the Lebanese army," said Farhan Haq, Annan's associate spokesman. "The point is having a zone where the only weapons held are by the Lebanese army or UNIFIL, so the force has a mandate to make sure the resolution is enforced." UN officials said the peacekeeping force in Lebanon was still in the process of establishing a liaison with the Lebanese army, something they said would be crucial to implementation of Resolution 1701. Lt.-Gen. Giovanni Ridino, recently appointed by Annan to head a Strategic Military Cell that will provide guidance to UNIFIL, is in Lebanon to discuss how to further implement the resolution. The cell will be located at United Nations headquarters in New York. There are currently 5,000 UNIFIL personnel in Lebanon out of the planned 15,000. By Monday, the IDF had transferred control of 95 percent of Lebanon to the Lebanese army via UNIFIL. Several hundred IDF soldiers were still inside Lebanon, although only several hundred meters from the UN-drawn Blue Line border with Israel. The IDF officer said the Lebanese army had deployed 15,000 soldiers in southern Lebanon, some of whom were already stationed along the Blue Line at Naqoura and north of Kiryat Shmona.
Pope Reaches Out To Muslims in Meeting With Envoys
President Bush Weighing Middle East Tour before Year End
Sept. 26….(Ha Aretz) US President George
W. Bush is planning a possible visit to the Middle East after the mid-term
elections in November to discuss with leaders in the region ways to move the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward. An alternative to a Bush tour of the
Middle East, senior political sources in Jerusalem say, would be an invitation
to leaders in the region to a summit with the president in the United States.
UN Force in Lebanon is Defined by What it Cannot Do Sept. 26….(NY Times) (Israeli troops forced to stand by as Hizballah rearms) The United Nations force created to police southern Lebanon faces not only a threatening al Qaeda presence cheek by jowl, but endless handicaps in performing its mandated functions. A New York Times correspondent reports: One month after a UN Security Council resolution ended a 34-day war, the international force members say “they cannot set up checkpoints, search cars, homes or businesses or detain suspects. If they see a truck transporting missiles, for example (in violation of the UN arms embargo), they cannot stop it, because under their interpretation of the Security Council resolution 1701 that deployed them, they must first be authorized to take such action by the Lebanese army.” And whereas the Security Council allocated 15,000 troops to expanded UNIFIL, only 5,000 are deployed. According to the NYT, the UN commanders repeat as a mantra that their job is to respect Lebanese sovereignty by supporting the Lebanese army. “They will only do what the Lebanese authorities ask.” More than 40% of the Lebanese army consists of Shiites. Their loyalty goes first to Hizballah or their Shiite commanders rather than the Lebanese government. Israeli officials and commanders have their own mantra which is that there must be no Hizballah activity on the ground. The last Israeli forces can therefore pull out of South Lebanon by the end of the month. Most elements of the mission assigned the UN force by Resolution 1701, which was approved in the first place to prevent Hizballah from continuing its attacks on Israel and destabilizing the area are therefore not being done. As for the demand to disarm Hizballah, the paper quotes local Shiites as making it clear “they will fight anybody who tries to take Hizballah’s weapons away. For the forces to remain welcome they must demonstrate they are there to protect the Lebanese from Israel, not to police the Lebanese on behalf of Israel.” Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri stated in his last videotape this month that UNIFIL in Lebanon is a target for terrorist attack. Hizballah’s hands can therefore stay clean. US Intelligence Director John Negroponte reported last week that Al Qaeda’s expansion into Lebanon, exploiting the conflict there, is being taken seriously. The chasm between the Sunni Muslim al Qaeda and Lebanon’s Shiite Hizballah is no bar to collaboration. However, from the Israeli side of the border, yellow-clad, Hizballah flag-waving demonstrators are photographed day by day, throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles and moving into the former locations of the destroyed Hizballah positions. Hizballah’s arsenals are filling up again as trucks head south from central and northern Lebanon unimpeded by Israeli or international troops. As for the international force, its “robust” policing operations have more or less been relegated to the archives of the UN Security Council.
Hezbollah Moving Rockets Back On Israeli Border (Lebanese government notes trucks coming, going from Palestinian camps) Sept. 25….(WND) Hezbollah has been transporting rockets and heavy weaponry to Palestinian camps in south Lebanon just a few miles from the Israeli border, according to Lebanese officials. The officials told WND the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Faud Sinora sent a letter last week to Abbas Zakir, the Palestinian Authority's most senior representative in Lebanon, outlining the alleged Hezbollah weapons transfers into Palestinian camps. The letter noted "unusual activity" in and near the Palestinian camps, including the coming and going of trucks suspected of carrying weapons. Palestinian groups, including Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, maintain armed bases in Lebanon, mostly in the al-Naemeh province just south of Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley, near Lebanon's border with Syria and Israel. Fatah is the party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. During its 34-day confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon that began July 12, Israel destroyed scores of complex Hezbollah bunkers that snaked along the Lebanese side of the Israel-Lebanon border. Military officials said they were surprised by the scale of the Hezbollah bunkers, in which Israeli troops reportedly found war rooms with advanced eavesdropping and surveillance equipment they noted were made by Iran. A senior Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND Hezbollah has started building a new set of bunker systems, this time in Palestinian refugee camps. "The Lebanese Army doesn't have the authority to patrol inside the camps," said the official. "Hezbollah knows it is safe there to rebuild their war bunkers, and they began doing so with Iranian help." A second Lebanese official confirmed the information, which came one day after Israel's Army Radio reported Hezbollah was seen by the Israeli army dismantling 14 outposts near the border with Israel, removing rockets and equipment for transport. According to Army Radio, Hezbollah members blocked entry to their outposts using bulldozers. Trucks then removed weapons and other munitions from the area. Vehicles also reportedly cleared furniture and equipment from the outposts. The Lebanese Army and a contingent of several thousand international troops have deployed in South Lebanon. None of the international forces are authorized to enter Palestinian refugee camps. The Lebanese government has stated its army will not confront Hezbollah or work to disarm the group. An agreement reached with Hezbollah last month allows the Lebanese militia to retain its weapons as long as it doesn't display the arms in public. The agreement is in violation of the UN cease-fire resolution. The resolution calls for the eventual disarming of Hezbollah. During a Hezbollah "victory" parade in south Beirut last Friday, the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared Hezbollah possesses more than 20,0000 rockets aimed at Israel and pledged his group will quickly reestablish militant bases in Lebanon. Making his first public appearance since the war started, Nasrallah drew loud applause from the crowd when he vowed: "We will rehabilitate the force and bases within a short period of time." The message sent is that Hezbollah absolutely maintains the capability of firing hundreds of rockets per day into Israel," commented an IDF official. "Wasn't one of the Israeli military campaign's main goals to eliminate the rocket threat?"
In Beirut, Large Rally Against Hezbollah Sept. 25 ...(AP) An anti-Syrian Christian leader dismissed Hezbollah's claims of victory in its war with Israel as tens of thousands of his supporters rallied Sunday in a show of strength that highlighted Lebanon's sharp divisions. The rally north of Beirut came just two days after a massive gathering by the rival Shiite Muslim Hezbollah that attracted hundreds of thousands. The two sides have been at sharp odds over the future of the Lebanese government since this summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war. Samir Geagea, a notorious former leader of a Christian militia, scoffed at Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's declaration that his guerrillas achieved "a victory" against Israel. "I don't feel victory because the majority of the Lebanese people do not feel victory. Rather, they feel that a major catastrophe had befallen them and made their present and future uncertain," he said. Hezbollah's fight with Israel sent its support soaring among Shiites. But a large sector, particularly among Christians and Sunni Muslims, opposes Hezbollah and resents it for provoking the monthlong fight by capturing two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The war killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians and left part of the country's infrastructure in ruins, causing billions of dollars in damage to the economy. Geagea, who served more than a decade in prison on multiple counts of murder dating to the 1975-90 civil war, backs the Western-leaning government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. His party is a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon. Geagea's supporters, waving his pictures and the white, red and green flag of his Lebanese Forces Party, arrived in buses and cars at the shrine of the Virgin Mary in the town of Harissa, about 15 miles north of Beirut. Addressing his supporters after a mass to commemorate Christian militiamen killed in the civil war, Geagea rejected Nasrallah's vow to keep his weapons, saying the guerrilla group was blocking the establishment of "a strong and capable Lebanese state" for which Nasrallah was calling. "When we find a solution to the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, then it will be possible to establish the state as it should be," he said. Geagea, who backs Hezbollah's disarmament, implicitly accused the Iranian-and Syrian-backed group of running "a state within a state" in south Lebanon. "How can a state be established while there is a mini-state (within its borders)? How can this state be established while every day arms and ammunitions are smuggled to Hezbollah under its (the state's) nose?" he said. Nasrallah vowed at a massive rally Friday in Beirut's southern suburbs not to disarm despite international pressure. Some 800,000 Hezbollah supporters cheered Nasrallah at the gathering to celebrate what Hezbollah called "a divine victory" against Israel in the 34-day war that ended on Aug. 14. In his speech, Nasrallah also called for the formation of a new government, repeatedly attacking Saniora's administration, which he called weak and unable to protect Lebanon from Israel. Hezbollah's push for a stronger political role could deepen tensions in a country already sharply divided over the war. Geagea rejected Nasrallah's call for a new government, defending Saniora's administration. Despite "some loopholes and defects," it is for the first time "a Lebanese, sovereign and independent one," he said. Syria dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades before it withdrew its troops last year under heavy international pressure following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria is accused of involvement in Hariri's death, which it denies. Geagea was arrested in April 1994 and his group was banned after a church bombing killed 10 people. He was later acquitted in the bombing but sentenced to three life terms on several other murder counts, including the killing of pro-Syrian Prime Minister Rashid Karami. Geagea served 11 years in prison before he was released in July 2005, when Lebanon's parliament approved a motion to pardon him. He was leader of the Lebanese Forces, the country's most powerful Christian militia during the Lebanese civil war. Israel backed the militia during that conflict and the Israeli invasion in 1982 to expel Palestinian guerrillas.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 24
Hezbollah Proclaims Hugo Chavez A Hero Sept. 22….(Hindustan Times) Venezuela's outspoken President Hugo Chavez, who lashed out at his US counterpart George W Bush from the podium of the UN General Assembly, has scored a big hit with Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah. "Gracias Chavez," proclaimed large posters hurriedly put up by Hezbollah activists in their Shia stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs on the eve of a "victory" rally following the terror group's war with Israel. The portrait, showing Chavez in a red shirt and punching the air with a fist, also calls for Israel "to be taken to court for its crimes" during the 34-day war which ended in mid. Caracas pulled the Venezuelan charge d'affaires out of Israel in early August to protest its operations inside Lebanon, with Chavez charging that Israel "had lost its mind". Another Hezbollah poster, next to a road bridge destroyed in an Israeli air raid, shows Chavez and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and announces the launch of a petition of thanks for the Venezuelan leader. It also hails "our coalition from Gaza to Beirut, to Damascus, to Tehran, and with our brother Chavez", quoting Nasrallah. Chavez stunned the General Assembly in New York on Wednesday with a speech which branded Bush "the devil" who acted like he "owned the world", a day after the US leader spoke from the same podium. The left-wing Venezuelan president, a frequent critic of the US administration, then crossed himself, brought his hands together as if in prayer and looked up to the ceiling of the assembly chamber. The UN assembly broke out in applause and laughter at Chavez’s mocking of the American President.
Haniyeh Says Hamas Won't Recognize Israel Sept. 22….(YNET) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he would not head a government that recognized Israel. In a mosque sermon in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Friday, Haniyeh laid out his group's position. "I personally will not head any government that recognizes Israel," said Haniyeh. Haniyeh said Hamas was ready to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem and to honor a long-term truce with Israel. "We support establishing a Palestinian state in the land of 1967 at this stage, but in return for a cease-fire, not recognition," Haniyeh said. Earlier Friday, Haniyeh's political adviser Ahmed Yousef said that a Palestinian Authority unity government would not be established if it obligated Hamas to recognize Israel. The remarks by Haniyeh and his political adviser contradicted PA President Mahmoud Abbas's statement made to the UN General Assembly on Thursday that the planned national unity government would recognize Israel.
Abbas Can’t Deliver On His UN Pledge That PA Unity Government Will Recognize Israel
1. Haniya would remain PA Prime Minister. 2. An informal long-term truce will be declared, and enforced by Fatah and Hamas, after Palestinian prisoners are released in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gideon Shalit. 3. Abbas will serve as Palestinian negotiator with Israel, since he enjoys US support. Any accord he may reach will be put to referendum for ratification. 4. Hamas will not recognize Israel or any accords signed with the Jewish state. Neither will Hamas accept the other Middle East Quartet condition, the renunciation of terror. 5. Palestinian leaders will rally European assistance for amending the Quartet’s conditions for acceptance of the new Palestinian government. 6. Hamas will be co-opted to the PLO and receive 45% representation. 7. Fatah will be awarded the foreign affairs, finance and interior portfolios. For these reasons, Abu Mazen announced a freeze on national unity talks before he left for the United Nations last week. However, after his arrival, the Middle East Quartet, including the United States, decided to welcome a Palestinian unity government after all.
Pakistani Muslim Clerics: The Pope Must Go Sept. 22….(AP) About 1,000 Muslim clerics and religious scholars meeting Thursday in eastern Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam. Benedict "should be removed from his position immediately for encouraging war and fanning hostility between various faiths" and "making insulting remarks" against Islam, said a joint statement issued by the clerics and scholars at the end of their one-day convention. The "pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet (Muhammad). If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences," it said. The meeting was organized by the radical Islamic group Jamaat al-Dawat, which runs schools, colleges and medical clinics. In April, Washington put the group on a list of terrorist organizations for its alleged links with militants fighting in the Indian part of Kashmir. The meeting came after the pope said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the reactions to his remarks and that they did not reflect his own opinions. The statement also said jihad was not terrorism and that "Islam was not propagated with the sword, but it became popular and was accepted by the oppressed peoples of the world because of its universal values and teachings." "Jihad is waged to rid an area, state, or the world of oppression, violence, cruelty, and terrorism, and bring peace and relief to the people. History is full of incidents where Muslims waged jihad to provide relief to people of many faiths, especially Jews and Christians," it said. Pakistan is the world's second most populous Muslim country, and its people have held small, peaceful rallies since the publication of pope's remarks about Islam.
Pakistan's Musharraf Says US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan After 9/11 Sept. 22….(AP) President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said that after the Sept. 11 attacks the United States threatened to bomb his country if it did not cooperate with America's war campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Musharraf, in an interview with CBS news magazine show "60 Minutes" that will air Sunday, said the threat came from Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's intelligence director. "The intelligence director told me that Armitage said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,"' Musharraf said. "I think it was a very rude remark." The Pakistani leader, whose remarks were distributed to the media by CBS, said he reacted to the threat in a responsible way. "One has to think and take actions in the interest of the nation, and that's what I did," Musharraf said about the cooperation extended by Pakistan.
Betrayal! Washington will Work with Hamas Sept. 22….(JNEWSWIRE) The United States has once more done an about-face and is now willing to work with a Palestinian Authority containing a strong Hamas component, members of the terror group responsible for the murders of hundreds of Israelis, and deeply devoted to the total destruction of the Jewish state. Israeli officials went into shock Wednesday, after the Bush Administration announced that it will, after all, go along with the other three members of the self-styled Quartet and support the establishment of a “national unity government” in the PA. Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom said the American decision, which spelled the end of Hamas’ isolation by the international community, had been made behind Israel’s back and amounted to a “political collapse.” Nearly half of the lawmakers in the new “national unity” PA would be Hamas members. Most of the others would be representatives of the Fatah wing of the PLO, another major terrorist organization whose crimes against the Jewish people have been swept under the carpet by a world increasingly determined to ensure that its vision for peace takes root in the Middle East, whatever the cost. The effort to conceive a PA unity government has been recognized almost universally as a ploy providing pro-Palestinian nations with the pretext they are looking for to resume funding the Palestinian Arabs. International financial support was restricted last January after those “Palestinians” voted overwhelmingly for a Hamas-led government. When a beleaguered PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently revealed his plan to dissolve and restructure the PA with fewer Hamas individuals, the rest of the Quartet, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, eagerly embraced the idea. But Washington, the primary sponsor of the “peace process,” initially refused to go along with the charade, bringing some relief to an increasingly dismayed Israel. Now, however, the US appears to have stabbed its Middle East ally in the back, and in the process dealt a blow to its own war on terror by extending political recognition to the very type of organization responsible for the 9-11 attack on America. And still US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the consummate diplomat, denied what was blatantly obvious to observers everywhere, saying there had been no shift in her government’s policy. She proceeded to “explain,” however, that if there was going to be any move forward with the stalled land-for-peace process, then the “Palestinian” government had to have international support. That government’s hands may be saturated with Israeli blood, but the same American administration that just granted a visa to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, another mortal enemy of Israel’s, is now ready to do business with them. As always, payment will be made in Jewish coin.
Saudi’s, Russian’s see Consensus for Mid-east Peace Sept. 22….(AP) Arab countries have reached a "very significant" consensus after the recent war in Lebanon that there must be a new start with fresh ideas to the Middle East peace process, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Thursday. Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in separate interviews with The Associated Press around the meeting of the UN General Assembly, spoke of the urgency for an "end game" that could give a glimmer of hope to both sides in the Middle East by resurrecting a process bogged down for three years. At a Security Council meeting later Thursday, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa called for initial negotiations between Israel and the Arabs with a concrete timeframe, as well as a report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the best way to hold those negotiations. He reiterated the long-standing Arab demands that a final settlement include Israel's full withdrawal from the Palestinian territory, resolve the problem of Palestinian refugees, and create a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. "We have in the past witnessed the horrors of war; however, our peoples are today determined not to see further such horrors," Shaikh Khalid said. "We have a good chance now to obtain peace and should not allow it to slip away." Lavrov said the mood is not limited to Arab countries; agreement also is growing in Russia and among other outside power brokers overseeing the peace process that it must be re-energized to stop more problems from developing. The solution lies in working for a comprehensive pact that would cover differences between Israel and the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese, he said. Unless the world acts quickly to increase hope among Arab youth, Lavrov warned, it could lose a whole generation in the region to extremism. "We have found for the first time probably a consensus that is very significant about the need of restarting the peace process," al-Faisal said. His emphasis on consensus was the strongest statement yet by an Arab nation on the need to revive efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and was echoed by the foreign ministers who attended the ministerial meeting of the Security Council. Since the end of Israeli-Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon on Aug. 14, the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria have been saying now is the time for a new push in the peace process to prevent future conflicts. The Arab League viewpoint is that any revitalized talks "concentrate on the important issues, rather than the process itself, in other words, the final status negotiation elements like the border, Jerusalem, Palestinian rights and so forth." Faisal said he was encouraged that President Bush is showing a "new concentration" on the Middle East peace process. But he said Washington still has trouble being seen in the Arab world as an honest broker. "There is perceived inclination on the part of the US to forgive everything that Israel does and take to task anything that the Palestinians do," he said. There was, particularly during this session of the United Nations, no lack of interest on the part of the US President about the Middle East peace process. His whole speech, as a matter of fact, was on the Middle East," he said, referring to Bush's speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday. "And I think that shows a new concentration on not only the process but I hope substance of peace." Washington increasingly is coming to the view that peace between Palestinians and Israelis will help its other interests in the region, including fighting terrorism, he added. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister who was interviewed in a room just off the General Assembly hall, said he regards the timing of the Arab initiative as "very important," coming shortly after the eruption of war between Israel and the Hezbollah guerrilla movement in Lebanon and at a moment when the trends elsewhere in the region were "worrying." "The war in Lebanon clearly showed that force cannot resolve problems in the Middle East and force always gets a forceful answer," Lavrov said. "We are risking to lose a generation in the Middle East," he said. "A couple of more years, and I am afraid this generation would be totally disappointed in any promises of peace and would be much more susceptible to another way of thinking and acting," he warned. The Russian minister said that both the Quartet of countries involved in sponsoring Middle East peace attempts and the Arab League share the idea that there must be an "end game" that would give both Israelis and Arabs a goal for a full and comprehensive peace involving Israel's conflicts with the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese.
Bush on Iran: Israel’s Worries Are Justified Sept. 21….(YNET) In a special interview with CNN on Wednesday, US President George W. Bush said that if he were Israel’s foreign minister, he would be deeply concerned about a neighboring country’s threats to destroy his country. Bush’s comments followed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly Thursday, and her question as to what else had to happen in order for the world to take Iran’s threat seriously. Bush also commented on steps the US was taking with regards to Iran’s nuclear project, saying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China, and urged them to implement the security council’s decision. The American president also referred to the UN Security Council’s decision 1696, which gave Iran an ultimatum to stop its uranium enrichment efforts by August 31st. In reality, Iran received an extension from the Quartet Wednesday to continue with its uranium enrichment efforts. President Bush said he was worried that Iran was trying to evade the issue and bide time, adding that Iran could choose to be isolated and endure sanctions, or take a better route. "He knows the options before him. I've made that very clear," Bush said. Interviewer Wolf Blitzer reminded the American president that countries like India, Pakistan, and Israel had nuclear weapons. Bush replied that the Iranian regime made it very clear that it wanted to destroy Israel, an ally of the US. In response to the question of how the US would react if Iran bombed Israel or fired missiles at it, Bush said, “You can't just hope for the best," he said. "You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you say, 'Well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it,' and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader."
One World Government Using American Bankroll to Develop Alliance with Iran, Axis of Evil Sept. 21….(Bill Wilson / KIN) The so-called neutral, democracy-based United Nations, under the leadership of Secretary General Kofi Annan, appears to be developing an alliance with Iran and other rogue nations as the world struggles against terrorism and Islamofascism, and American money is funding Annan’s UN operation. Annan, who actively participated in the recent meeting in Cuba of the 118-nation group calling themselves the Non Aligned Movement, agreed with the communists, Islamic theocracies, and dictatorships that the United States had too much power on the UN Security Council. Annan said, "The Security Council must reform, for the sake of the developing world, and for the sake of the United Nations itself.” Recent memory recalls Annan’s dirty little Food for Peace Program where China, Russia and France, along with top UN officials in Annan’s office were bribed by Saddam Hussein with billions of dollars to use the Security Council to line their pockets while helping Hussein build his military. And the same nations today are receiving billions from Iran for its nuclear program. Yet Annan agrees with the anti-US nations that America has too much power on the Security Council. Annan went on to say that “The perception of a narrow power-base risks leading to an erosion of the UN's authority and legitimacy,” even, some would argue, its neutrality and independence. I have in the past described this as a democracy deficit." The Non Aligned Movement, headed by Fidel Castro’s brother and attended by Annan, North Korea, Venezuela, Islamic nations led by Iran, and a host of other world troublemakers, also adopted a 92-page declaration in support of democracy and terrorism. The group agreed that fighting against a foreign occupation is not considered terrorism. And since to Islam, all land that Islam does not control is considered under foreign occupation, then terrorism is a legitimate form of defense. And thanks to the United Nations, Iran’s madman president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others like him (Chavez) are parading themselves as a voice of reason, and an alternative to the worldwide leadership of the United States. It is clear that the type and shadow of the one world government is corrupt and morally bankrupt, seeing evil as having a legitimate and equal stake among the righteous nations. And this body is not only allowed to exist on the shores of the “one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all,” but it is also mostly funded by the United States and its allies. It is a twist of irony that the free nations who fight for liberty and justice may well usher in the one world government of the anti-Christ that Revelation 13:7 that says, “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation.” Seek Christ and His righteousness.
Chavez Says US Empire Will Soon Fall, Calls Bush 'Devil' Sept. 21….(Fox News) The United States will soon lose its place as leader of the world, and the United Nations is a broken organization that is beyond repair, said Wednesday. “The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future," Chavez said at the UN. Chavez ended his speech invoking the Arabic phrase for "God willing." Chavez said that the UN is a “deceased” organization because it was formed to bridge the differences between the United States and Russia, and a brand new international organization would have to be formed to replace it. Earlier, Chavez initiated a verbal assault on President Bush, calling him "the devil" during an insult-riddled address to world leaders at the UN General Assembly. "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, gesturing to where Bush had stood during his speech on Tuesday. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world." He later said he was referring to President Bush when he spoke of the devil. Chavez held up a book by American leftist writer Noam Chomsky, "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" and recommended it to everyone in the General Assembly. He also lambasted the US government for trying to block Venezuela's campaign for a rotating seat on the UN Security Council. He said if chosen over US-favorite Guatemala in a secret-ballot UN vote next month, Venezuela would be "the voice of the Third World." The council currently consists of five permanent members with veto power, the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France, and 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms and have no power to veto resolutions. The 10 elected members do have the right to propose resolutions, chair committees and hold the rotating council presidency for one-month periods. Five countries from different regions are elected every year by the General Assembly to replace five retiring ones. The US government warns that Chavez, a close ally of Iran, Syria and Cuba, would be a disruptive force on the council. (FOJ Note - Russia is actively backing Chavez, both diplomatically and militarily) Chavez, in his drive to counter US influence around the globe, is practicing a unique "diplomacy for show" that thrives on protagonism and confrontation, said Milos Alcalay, who was Chavez's UN ambassador until he resigned in 2004 amid differences with the government. "A post for non-permanent membership in the Security Council has never been so politicized," Alcalay said. If Venezuela manages to win the seat, "it will be a rock in the shoe of the United States" and any other countries Chavez differs with, he said. The Venezuelan leader, a close friend and admirer of Cuba's communist leader Fidel Castro, has sought to be a voice for non-aligned countries and has warned that if the US tries to block UN reform, Venezuela and others may eventually create a separate "United Nations of the south" to rival a body they no longer find democratic. Chavez also said it might eventually be necessary to move the UN headquarters out of the United States. He also accused Washington of backing Israel a "genocide" in Lebanon. (FOJ Note – Chavez is becoming the Fidel Castro of the 21st century)
Iran Amahdinejad’s UN Finale Reveals Apocalyptic View (Ahmadinejad makes allusion to return of messianic Islamic 'madhi')
Sept. 21….(WND) While most of the reporting and analysis of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN focused on what he had to say about the West and specifically the US, his chilling closing remarks were lost on most listeners, and apparently all reporters. The last two paragraphs of his remarks revealed his steadfast and driving conviction, that a messianic figure, known as the "Mahdi" to Muslims, is poised to reveal himself after an apocalyptic holocaust on Earth that leaves most of the world's population dead. "I emphatically declare that today's world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet," Ahmadinejad said. "Oh, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause." With Iran on the verge of producing nuclear weapons and already in possession of sophisticated medium-range missiles, mystical pre-occupation with the coming of a Shiite Islamic messiah is of particular concern because of Iran's potential for triggering the kind of global conflagration Ahmadinejad envisions will set the stage for the end of the world. Ahmadinejad is on record as stating he believes he is to have a personal role in ushering in the age of the Mahdi. In a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, he said he sees his main mission in life as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world. Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West. All Iran is buzzing about the Mahdi, the 12th imam and the role Iran and Ahmadinejad are playing in his anticipated return. There's a new messiah hotline. There are news agencies especially devoted to the latest developments. "People are anxious to know when and how will he rise; what they must do to receive this worldwide salvation," says Ali Lari, a cleric at the Bright Future Institute in Iran's religious center of Qom. "The timing is not clear, but the conditions are more specific," he adds. "There is a saying: 'When the students are ready, the teacher will come.'" Ahmadinejad and others in Iran are deadly serious about the imminent return of the 12th imam, who will prompt a global battle between good and evil (with striking parallels to biblical accounts of "Armageddon"). Some interpretations of the events that precede his coming include a war that wipes out most of the world's population. Shiite writings describe events surrounding the return of the Mahdi in apocalyptic terms. In one scenario, the forces of evil would come from Syria and Iraq and clash with forces of good from Iran. The battle would commence at Kufa, the Iraqi town near the holy city of Najaf. Even more controversial is Ahmadinejad's repeated invocation of Imam Mahdi, known as "the Savior of Times." According to Shiite tradition, Imam Mahdi will appear on Judgment Day to herald a truly just government. Ahmadinejad made reference to the Mahdi in his first speech to the UN. He called on the "mighty Lord" to hasten the emergence of "the promised one," the one who "will fill this world with justice and peace."
Ahmadinejad: Why is US So Sensitive About Israel? Sept. 21….(YNET) In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, US President George W. Bush said that if he were Israel's foreign minister, he would be concerned over a neighboring country which wants to destroy him. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quick to respond Wednesday, also in a CNN interview, saying that he was surprised American politicians "are so sensitive and biased with regards to Israel ." He again expresses doubt that the Holocaust is a historically established fact. Ahmadinejad stated that although Israel bombed Lebanon, "it doesn't seem to have created concern among American politicians. But when somebody questions or criticizes the Zionist regime, there is so much reaction." "Given the massacres committed by Israel, should they not be subject to criticism? Should nobody complain?" CNN's Anderson Cooper asked the Iranian president if he believed Israel had no right to exist, something Ahmadinejad had said in the past. The Iranian leader responded: "I say that it is an occupying regime." He reiterated the remarks he made in an interview with Time Magazine this week, according to which the Palestinian "nation" as a whole, including Jews, Christians and Muslims living there and 5 million displaced refugees, should be able to vote to decide "what its fate should be." 'Palestinians had nothing to do with genocide' Asked about his previous assertions that the Holocaust did not happen, Ahmadinejad refused to address the issue, saying, "Since I've talked a lot about this subject, I don't want to repeat myself." He did, however, address whether the Holocaust should be used as a "pretext for occupying Palestinian land" when the Palestinians had nothing to do with the genocide in Europe. "If this event happened, where did it happen?" he asked. "The 'where' is the main question, and it was not in Palestine." Ahmadinejad also slammed the comments Bush made to the Iranian people during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Bush told Iranians their rulers "have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons." Ahmadinejad responded by saying he didn't know what the president "is actually thinking when he makes remarks like that." "This is not the kind of language you speak talking with a great nation. It is an insult to a great nation," the Iranians president said.
For Bush and America – the clock is ticking Sept. 21….(JNEWSWIRE) Time is rapidly running out for US President George W. Bush to change direction on his approach to Middle East peace making. From the remarks he made to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, however, the American leader has no such reversal in mind. With just two years left before the end of his second term, Bush told the attentive heads of 192 nations, who, whether they like him (as few do) or hate him (as most do), recognize his power to set the course for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, that the establishment of an Arab state on ancient Jewish lands remains “one of the great objectives of my presidency.” Certainly the president, considered by most Israelis to be the best friend they have ever had in the White House, was careful to stress as he has before that the Palestinian state whose creation he supports is one that chooses to live “peacefully with the Jewish state of Israel.” But the path the president has pursued since first unveiling his “two-state solution” in 2002, and along which he has shown a willingness to plow ahead despite the absolute refusal of the Palestinian side to eschew violence, has helped pave the way for a Palestine that will not only remain committed to the destruction of that Jewish state, but will be encouraged to realize that aim. Whether he bulldogs ahead to try and wrap things up before the end of 2008 by recognizing even a small piece of territory as a de facto Palestinian state, or leaves his post without making any further progress, Bush will have positioned Israel at a dangerous disadvantage in the conflict. The only way to undo that damage in the time he has left is to throw the gears backward and recognize that, instead of securing peace for Jews and Arabs, his two-state dream is guaranteed to perpetuate their strife. For Israel, the realization of his vision would mean the final and irreversible (from the world’s point of view) confiscation of the original land promised by the Almighty to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Israel four millennia ago. According to the Hebrew Scriptures (“Old’ Testament), the president’s pursuit of this objective has him on a collision course with the purposes of Israel’s God. He, through the nation’s prophets, vowed to restore the Jews to, and keep them in, the very land the world is working to wrest away. Our ever-faithful, never-changing God is watching over His Word to perform it. The preservation of the Jews through century after century of massive Christian persecution, and their physical restoration and reconstitution as a nation in their original homeland are unprecedented phenomena in the history of mankind. Every conceivable form of persecution has been brought to bear against the Jews in an effort to either terrify them into abandoning their Jewishness and assimilating, or to exterminate them. While taking a terrible toll on the nation, these demonic attempts failed. Since the late 1800s, the Jewish people have been returning to their treasured territory. Opposition to that return has been fierce and unrelenting. Nonetheless, in 1947, part of their land was restored to them by the United Nations. Three major self-defensive wars against the Arabs (in 1948, 1967 and 1973) saw additional territory come back under Jewish control, in particular the cradle and crucible of their nationhood, Samaria and Judea with the cities of Shechem, Shiloh, Bethel, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jerusalem with its Temple Mount, the holiest place on earth to both the Jews and their God. Today, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah (marking the start of the Jewish New Year 5767) Israel’s population stands just short of 7,000,000. The breakdown is 5,3 million Jews, 1,4 million Muslim Arabs, 146,000 Christian Arabs, 115,200 Druze, and 272,000 citizens who remain unclassified by religion. During the coming Jewish year, as the number of Israeli Jews heads towards six million, the same number murdered by Hitler 60 years ago, Israel will celebrate the 40th anniversary of her capital’s return. And if President Bush and the world have their way, we could also see a final push to birth Palestine in the Holy Land.
Bush: Palestine “Great Objective of My Presidency” Sept. 21….(JNEWSWIRE) News item US President George W. Bush said Tuesday he remains unwavering in his commitment to the creation of an Arab state in the heart of Israel’s ancient national home. He called achieving this goal “one of the great objectives of my presidency.” Biblical perspective For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land. (Joel 3:1-2) The American leader’s resolve to divide up the Land of Israel, and this despite the persistent and daily proof of the “Palestinians” refusal to ever accept Israel’s right to exist, is putting America unavoidably in line to face the judgment of a vengeful God. Prayer point That American Christians, recognizing the grave danger facing their own nation as a result of their president’s misguided dealing with Israel, would cry out to God to intervene; to arrest Mr. Bush in mid-stride and impress upon him the eternal significance of the decisions he is making concerning God's Chosen People and Promised Land. And that, like a watercourse in the desert, the Lord would cause the heart of the president to be turned 180 degrees; to line up with Israel and take a strong and uncompromising stand on the Jewish nation’s right to its Biblical land heritage. Addressing the opening of the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly, US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that the establishment of a State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel was still “one of the great objectives of my presidency.” As he has on previous occasions, and notwithstanding the dearth of evidence to sustain his hope, Bush insisted that the Palestine he envisaged would live in peace and security alongside the Jewish state. He said he was continuing to channel resources towards the realization of this goal, and would look to other western nations to cooperate in the effort. “I've directed Secretary of State [Condoleezza] Rice to lead a diplomatic effort to engage moderate leaders across the region, to help the Palestinians reform their security services, and support Israeli and Palestinian leaders in their efforts to come together to resolve their differences," he said. “Prime Minister Blair has indicated that his country will work with partners in Europe to help strengthen the governing institutions of the Palestinian administration.” Despite the painful setbacks suffered thus far by the American effort to draw the Muslim Middle East out of the Dark Ages, and disregardful of the numerous experts on Islam who have derided as a pipe dream the belief that democracy could eventually take root in these Arab states, Bush said he remained “optimistic.” By “supporting the forces of democracy and moderation, we can help Israelis and Palestinians build a more hopeful future and achieve the peace in a Holy Land we all want.” Shortly before Bush addressed the gathering, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan set the tone for any discussion concerning Israel when he described the strife between Israel and the Arabs as a whole lot more that just one regional conflict among many. Annan, who was giving his final address before vacating his post in December, said that “no other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield.” He went on to use his highly influential position to perpetuate the inaccurate, yet universally bought-into, perception of the conflict, saying that people everywhere “are outraged by Israel’s disproportionate use of force against the Palestinians, and by Israel’s continued occupation and confiscation of Arab land.” Many things, he continued, were contingent on bringing an end to the “now nearly-40-year-old occupation.” The resuscitation of international respect for the United Nations. In other words, he told the heads of state gathered before him, bringing an end to the conflict by meeting the Arab demands would positively affect, and was thus a priority for, every nation on earth. As the Jewish people enter a new year on their calendar the world, following the lead of the United States, and of one mind in the United Nations, appears more ready than ever to see its will imposed on the nation and land of Israel.
UN Chief Warns of Global War Over Religion (Says Only WORLD GOVERNMENT can Solve World's Problems) Sept.21 (LifeSiteNews.com) UN Secretary General Kofi Annan delivered his final address to the United Nations General Assembly this week on the heels of the media-generated controversy regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s quoting of a text on Islam, Annan said, “insensitivity towards other people’s beliefs or sacred symbols, intentional or otherwise is seized upon by those who seem eager to foment a new war of religion on a global scale.” “Moreover, this climate of fear and suspicion is constantly refuelled by the violence in the Middle East”, he said, adding: “We might like to think of the Arab-Israeli conflict as just one regional conflict amongst many. But it is not. No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield.” Annan sees the United Nations, or a World Government as the only solution to the world’s woes. “Yes, I remain convinced that the only answer to this divided world must be a truly United Nations”, he said.
Israel Outraged by Non-Aligned Mov't Document Sept. 21….(Jerusalem Post) A Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) "final document" praising Lebanon for its "heroic resistance to the Israeli aggression" has irked government officials in Jerusalem because some countries with close bilateral ties with Israel are a part of the movement and, as such, ostensibly signed off on the resolution. (FOJ Note - The Non Aligned Movement is led by Fidel Castro, which sponsored the recent conference. Its membership tends to follow the radical left) According to the 143rd clause of the 280-clause final document, "The Heads of State or Government expressed solidarity with and support for the Government and people of Lebanon, hailed their heroic resistance to the Israeli aggression, and emphasized the primordial importance of Lebanon's national unity and stability." Among the NAM members are India, Thailand, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Honduras and Guatemala, all countries with which Israel has strong relations. "This is clearly unacceptable, and totally out of line with the good bilateral relations we have with some of the NAM countries," one government source said. "Israel will pursue this topic with the members of this movement." Israel has relations with about 90 of the 118 NAM members. The official said that while it was doubtful the foreign ministers of many of the countries even read the massive document and were aware of its content, these types of blatantly one-sided anti-Israel documents created a poisonous overall atmosphere. “A document like this is used by all those who want to censure Israel, saying 'look what a 118-country movement has to say,'" the official said. As expected, other clauses in the document that dealt with Israel and the Palestinians were extremely critical. For instance, clause 135 "strongly condemned Israel's continuation and escalation of its military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip" and said that "such unlawful actions by the “occupying Power” constitute grave breaches of international law, i.e. reported war crimes, for which the perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice." FOJ Note: The Non Aligned Nations met in Cuba, and the most pressing topic for the Conference of these 118 nations was a Declaration on Palestine, that was critical of Israel. The Bible records that God will draw ALL nations into the quagmire over Jerusalem, and here, we continue to see that the nations of this world are all against God’s Chosen Nation.
Sudan Blames Israel and Jews For its Disasters Sept. 21….(Reuters) Sudan's President said on Tuesday that his country would never allow UN peacekeepers (something President Bush appealed for in his speech Tuesday) into Darfur and charged that the West wanted to dismember his country in order to help Israel. "It is very clear there is a plan to redraw the region," by the Bush Administration, especially after the invasion of Iraq, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told a news conference on the sidelines of a ministerial UN General Assembly session. "The main purpose for the US continues to be the security of Israel, and this is unacceptable, Bashir said. Any state in the region would be weakened, and dismembered in order to protect the Israelis, or to guarantee the Israeli security," he said. Bashir said he supported a continued presence of an African Union force in Darfur, which wants the United Nations to take over its operation of 7,000 soldiers and monitors. While his government welcomed outside advisers and logistical support to the AU force, Bashir rejected "boots on the ground" from outside Africa. Sudan has rejected a UN Security Council resolution adopted on August 31 authorising up to 22,500 troops and police to replace the cash-strapped and ill-equipped AU troops. The Sudanese president spoke several hours after President George W. Bush challenged world leaders to move quickly to get peacekeepers into Darfur, saying lives are at stake as well as the credibility of the United Nations. If the Sudanese government does not approve the peacekeeping force quickly, the UN must act," Bush said. Addressing himself to the people of Darfur, he added: "Your lives and the credibility of the United Nations is at stake." But Bashir said, "We want the African Union to remain in Darfur until peace is re-established in Sudan." Several speakers including Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, hinted at UN intervention without the consent of Khartoum. She called on the Security Council to act to restore peace, "security and stability" to Darfur. Years of fighting in Sudan's west have forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes for overcrowded refugee camps with little prospect of returning to the life they once knew. Non-Arab tribes took up arms against the government in February 2003 to protest alleged neglect and deprivation. In turn Sudan, unleashed and armed Arab-Islamic militia, known as Janjaweed, who murdered and raped civilians. UN and humanitarian groups estimate some 200,000 people have died from the conflict, hunger and disease. But Bashir said humanitarian groups exaggerated the crisis. Bashir said the United Nations should punish those who started the conflict rather than Khartoum, which had to send in soldiers, a position Arab and Muslim nations have echoed.
38 US Senators Vote Against English As America’s Language Sept. 21….(FOJ) By making the US a bi-lingual or multi-lingual speaking nation, America would begin to lose its national identity, and in so doing, it would eventual lose its national Sovereignty. The 38 senators that voted against English as America’s national language are acting in direct opposition to one of the foundational building blocks of our nation. The list includes the usual liberal-secularist, socialist democratic politicians, such as Clinton, Feinstein, Kennedy, Kerry, Boxer, Dodd, Reed, Obama, Schumer, Mikulski, and Durbin, among others. Unfortunately, and perhaps out of an ignorance of the history of civilizations, their votes reveal that their governing philosophy is not rooted in the Spirit of 1776.
FOJ Outraged Over Chavez Comments in NYC
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Sept. 20….(KHouse News) Pope Benedict XVI has received
heavy criticism for quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor's remarks on Islam.
In a speech to an academic audience in Germany, the Pope spoke about spreading
faith through reason, rather than through violence. During the speech, he quoted
Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, saying, "Show me just what Mohammed
brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such
as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The Pope also
quoted the emperor's argument that, "Whoever would lead someone to faith needs
the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and
threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or
weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death." The
Pope's comments roused great resentment in the Islamic world. Most Muslims
expressed their anger without resorting to violence. However Muslim protesters
in Iraq and Kashmir burned the Pope in effigy, as many as 1,000 Muslims rallied
to protest in Indonesia, and Al-Qaeda militants in Iraq vowed war on
"worshippers of the cross." Following the Pope's comments 2,000 Palestinians
protested in Gaza City, accusing the Pope of leading a new Crusade against the
Muslim world. The following day five churches were attacked in the Palestinian
territories, according to an Associated Press report: "Firebombings left black
scorch marks on the walls and windows of Nablus Anglican and Greek Orthodox
churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later
set ablaze. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames.
In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group claimed responsibility for
those attacks, saying they were carried out to protest the Pope's remarks in a
speech this week in Germany linking Islam and violence." Muslim leaders
worldwide have demanded that the Pope make amends, and he has since apologized
publicly for his comments. Over the past few days many commentators have weighed in on the controversy. Some say the Pope's apology was inadequate. Others say his comments were taken out of context. However very few people seem to have stopped to ask the obvious question: is it true? Does the Koran advocate the use of violence as a means of spreading the Islamic faith? Most Americans, and even most Christians, have no real awareness of the nature of Islam: its origin, its agenda, and its methods. There are, of course, "moderate" Muslims throughout the world that are peace-loving and do not share the views of "extremists" and "fundamentalists." But we also need to recognize that the root teachings of the Koran are anything but peace-loving:
(FOJ Note: remember, Islam means submission – submit or else.)
Pope Expresses ‘Deep Respect’ for Islam (Benedict says hopes that after furor, dialogue among religions will increase) Sept. 20….(MSNBC) Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that he has “deep respect” for Islam and hopes that his recent remarks that sparked anger from Muslims lead to dialogue among religions. “I hope that ... my deep respect for great religions, in particular for Muslims ... has emerged clearly,” the pope said during his weekly audience at the Vatican. Speaking last week at the University of Regensburg in his native Germany, Benedict cited a Medieval text that characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.” “I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the University of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith,” the pope told thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad Attacks US, Criticizes Security Council
Lebanese President Lahoud Harbored Nasrallah during the Lebanon WarSept. 20….(DEBKA) Lebanese President Lahoud was in the audience Tuesday, Sept 19, when President George W. Bush spoke of the “state within a state” created by Hizballah at the opening of the 61st United Nations General Assembly session in New York. In Beirut’s Dahya district, bulldozers are clearing the rubble left by Israeli air strikes on the Hizballah stronghold ready for Nasrallah’s “victory speech” Friday, Sept 22 (eve of the Israeli New Year festival), after the last Israeli soldier quits Lebanon for the second time in six years. Speaking behind armored glass, the Hizballah leader will sneer at the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s taunt earlier this month that while he was free to address half a million people, Nasrallah lurked in a bunker. A giant screen will back his podium showing Hizballah fighters shooting rockets, damaged Israeli tanks and, most of all, portrayals of himself lounging in the sculptured terraced gardens of the presidential palace in Baabde, just outside Beirut. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources now disclose that when Olmert depicted the Hizballah leader as hiding underground and scared to come out, he and his personal command were in fact the guests of President Lahoud, who was ordered to open the palace to them by Damascus. It was from there that he orchestrated a part of the war under the personal protection of Lahoud and Syrian military intelligence. Israeli generals, after receiving information from intelligence about his whereabouts, could have had the presidential palace bombed or accepted the fact that their prey had again slipped out of reach. Government leaders in Jerusalem held back on the order for an aerial strike for fear of igniting a military clash with Syria. Instead, Israeli warplanes pummeled a Lebanese army camp near the presidential palace without advance warning.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad Assails US, Israel at UN
Arab Church Leaders Attack Christian Zionism As 'False Teaching' Sept. 19….(David Dolan / CNS News) Following the recent Israeli-Hizballah war in Lebanon, four Arab church leaders based in Jerusalem have issued a scathing attack on Christians who actively support the Jewish state, indirectly including President George W. Bush. In a statement published just one week after a United Nations ceasefire went into effect on August 14, Nazareth-born Roman Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah was joined by two Arab Protestant bishops and one Arab Orthodox archbishop, in charging that "the Christian Zionist program provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism." "We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation," the statement said. Signed by Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad, along with Sabah and the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran bishops of Jerusalem, the joint statement indirectly denounced President Bush for declaring his support last May for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to hold onto some Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank after unilaterally withdrawing from many others. "We further reject the contemporary alliance of Christian Zionist leaders and organizations with elements in the governments of Israel and the United States that are presently imposing their unilateral pre-emptive borders and domination over Palestine." The clerical statement, titled "The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism," alleged that "Christian Zionism advances racial exclusivity and perpetual war rather than the Gospel of universal love, redemption and reconciliation taught by Jesus Christ." The church leaders' statement also mentioned the Arab-Christian contention that Christians who actively support Israel desire to bring on the Apocalypse and the Second Coming of Jesus. "Rather than condemn the world to the doom of Armageddon, we call upon everyone to liberate themselves from the ideologies of militarism and occupation." Three Jerusalem-based Christian Zionist leaders, two Americans and one South African,- picked up the gauntlet by issuing their own joint rebuttal one week later. They said that "certain church clerics" had used "inflammatory language to express views that are far from the truth." "Christian Zionism is not heretical. In fact, Christians from all traditional backgrounds have held such a view for two thousand years," said the statement. It was signed by Malcolm Heading, who leads the 26-year-old International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, along with Ray Sanders, who has headed the Christian Friends of Israel group since 1985, and Rebecca Brimmer of Bridges for Peace. The three prominent Christian leaders, who have each lived in Israel for many years, issued a six-point rebuttal of the Arab bishops' central charge that Christian Zionism is heretical. Stating that such Christians believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, they pointed out that "replacement theology" (which teaches that the church has totally supplanted the Jewish people in God's plans and purposes) has played "a pivotal role in the persecution of Jews through the centuries." Addressing the bishop's "apocalypse" contention, the three leaders wrote that "Christian Zionists do not base their theological positions on end-time prophecy, but on the faithful covenant promises of God given to Abraham some four thousand years ago." The counter-statement ended by noting that the four Jerusalem church officials had "totally ignored the jihadist goals of the Hamas government, and turned a blind eye to terrorism perpetrated by that regime." It added that such a "one-sided unbalanced view of the conflict is in fact unhelpful to the peace process, and contributing to its failure." It was not the first time that the four Arab church leaders had joined together to attack Christian Zionists who support Israel. One of the four Arab church leaders, Nazareth-born Anglican Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, is widely known for his outspoken Palestinian nationalism, and another has publicly stated several times that Palestinian martyrs, including Muslim suicide terrorists, receive eternal life.
President Bush Speaks at The United Nations Sept. 19….(MSNBC) President Bush on Tuesday appealed directly to Muslims to assure them that the United States is not waging war with Islam as he laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East before skeptical world leaders at the United Nations. On the sidelines, Bush pressed Iran to return at once to international talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences if they do not. But his speech to the United Nations General Assembly was less confrontational and aimed at building bridges with people in the Middle East angry with the United States. “My country desires peace,” Bush told world leaders in the cavernous main hall at the U.N. “Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror. We respect Islam.” Addressing Iraqis specifically, Bush said, “We will not abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation.” Bush said Iran “must abandon it’s nuclear weapons ambitions.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the body later Tuesday, but he was not at the country’s table in the hall when Bush spoke. Speaking to Iranians, Bush said their country’s future has been clouded because “your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation’s resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons.” “Should your leaders continue to stall,” Bush said, “we will then discuss the consequences of their stalling.” The president pointedly remarked though that, “time is of the essence.” “Now is the time for the Iranians to come to the table.” With remarks aimed especially at people living in the Middle East, Bush drew a distinction between the moderate governments that want peace and extremists who want to spread terror and violence. The president planned to describe how every nation in the civilized world has a stake in the region. In an appeal to the people of the broader Middle East, President Bush said that voice must be given to the hopes of decent people in the region who want a peaceful and prosperous future for their children, and denounced those who would exploit Islam as a propaganda tool. "This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and to help justify their acts of terror. We respect Islam, but we will protect our people from those who pervert Islam to sow death and destruction," the President said. President Bush referred to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and called the War on Terror a continuation of efforts that followed World War II and the creation of the international body to expand democracy and liberty to the world. "At the start of the 21st century, it is clear that the world is engaged in an ideological struggle between extremists who use terror as a weapon to create fear and moderate people who work for peace." He said it is incumbent upon moderate leaders in Muslim nations to show their constituents that they can escape the "dismal choice" between misery and so-called martyrdom. Not in attendance at the speech was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who will be delivering his own address to the world body later in the day. Ahmadinejad also skipped the luncheon for heads of state because alcohol is being served, and that is against his religious beliefs. Back in Washington, DC, Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns pointed to other problems the United States says have been created by Iran. Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran is the "central banker in Middle East terrorism" because of its funding and clear support for Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror group, and other organizations. Burns said Iran has provided technology for improvised explosive devices to Shiite groups in Iraq to attack British and American soldiers there, and that senior Al Qaeda leadership figures fled to Iran from Afghanistan, where they are believed to be "able to operate" freely. The President recommitted the United States to pursuing the roadmap for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. "Israeli citizens have endured brutal acts of terrorism and constant fear of attacks," he said, adding that "many brave men and women have made the commitment to peace yet extremists have been stirring up hatred." Bush said the Palestinian people earlier this year voted in a free election for Hamas, which campaigned on a platform of ending corruption and improving the lives of the Palestinian people. Now, it's up to Hamas to follow through with its pledge. "The world has sent a clear message to the leaders of Hamas: Serve the interests of the Palestinian people, abandon terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, honor agreements that work for peace," he said, crediting President Mahmoud Abbas with pursuing a solution. He added that Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have already offered diplomatic and financial assistance to help these efforts. "I'm optimistic that, by supporting the forces of democracy and moderation, we can help Israelis and Palestinians build a more hopeful future and achieve the peace in the Holy Land we all want.”
Please…Peace in the Middle East…Please!
Gaza Palestinians Warn Pope to Accept Islam or Die Sept. 19….(AP) Citing the words of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim religious leaders in the Gaza Strip warned Pope Benedict XVI that he must "accept" Islam if he wanted to live in peace. The warning for the Pope came as many Catholic-Christians in the West Bank expressed anger over a spate of attacks on churches in protest against remarks made by the Pope about the Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad. Some Christian families said they were living in fear because of the attacks and called on the Palestinian Authority to do its utmost to protect churches and Christians. At a press conference in Gaza City, a number of Muslim clerics said the pope's statements were "the result of his hatred for Islam and not the result of ignorance." One of them, Dr. Imad Hamto, called on the Pope to "repent and convert to Islam." He added: "We want to use the words of the Prophet Muhammad and tell the Pope: 'Aslim Taslam'" Aslim Taslam is a phrase that was taken from the letters sent by the Prophet Muhammad to the chiefs of tribes in his times in which he reportedly urged them to convert to Islam to spare their lives. They also called on the Pope to direct his words to the Jews who, they claimed, were "spreading corruption and destruction."
White House to Palestinians: First Recognize Israel Sept. 19….(YNET) United States President George W. Bush is planning to tell Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that that his country will not recognize any government which will not officially recognize the State of Israel, honor past agreements, and renounce violence and terrorism. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told reporters on Air Force One on Monday that this is the "USD 64,000 question." Bush will meet Abbas on Wednesday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, where the American delegation is staying for the UN General Assembly meetings. Hadley said in preparation of the meeting, that the American policy is very clear: The US supports the moderate voices, and President Abbas is one of them. This is why President Bush will meet with him, he explained, adding that the big question is if Hamas will renounce violence, accept Israel's existence, and honor past agreements. Earlier Monday, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised Foreign Ministry Tzipi Livni Monday that the United States will raise the issue of the Israeli kidnapped soldiers' release in every meeting held this week in the framework of the United Nations General Assembly.
Tension Marks 61st Meeting of UN General Assembly Sept. 19….(AP) During the annual UN General Assembly, leaders who would rather not be seen on the same continent will find themselves under one roof, doing their best not to mingle. Though that may make for a few embarrassing moments, or at least some good diplomatic theater, cramming so many leaders in the UN headquarters over the next few days may help them tackle some of the most difficult issues they now face: suspicions about Iran's nuclear program, the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the Middle East peace process. Heads of state and ministers from the 192 UN member states are certain to discuss all those topics during the session, which begins today and ends the middle of next week. "Sometimes the advantage of having everybody together is that you can spend day and night thrashing out the details," David Triesman, the British Foreign Office's minister for Africa, told reporters after a Security Council meeting on Sudan Monday. That meeting focused on overcoming Sudan's resistance to allowing the United Nations to take control over peacekeepers in Darfur. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late Monday, and the Security Council was to hold a meeting Thursday that Arab leaders hope will help revive the Mideast peace process. Over a week and a half, each nation is allotted 15 minutes at the General Assembly hall's dais to deliver a speech about the issues most important to them. Yet the session is always more about the meetings that orbit these speeches rather than the speeches themselves; and this year, the focus will be Iran's nuclear program. Shortly before coming to New York, France's President Jacques Chirac proposed a compromise to kick-start talks between Iran and the international community, suggesting the threat of UN sanctions be suspended in exchange for Tehran halting its uranium enrichment program. "I don't believe in a solution without dialogue," Chirac said in an interview with Europe-1 radio. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made, said European and Iranian diplomats might meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly in hopes of easing the nuclear standoff. President Bush will come to promote his so-called freedom and democracy agenda, the theme of his speech to the assembly on Tuesday. He will focus on democratic reforms in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. Though Bush will be at the UN around the same time as Ahmadinejad, it's certain that he won't take up the Iranian leader's offer of a head-on debate; they probably will not even shake hands. The likelihood of a chance meeting is remote. The Secret Service is responsible for guarding all foreign dignitaries on US soil, and they will all be wired into the same network to make sure the two don't cross paths. But both are invited to a lunch Tuesday hosted by Secretary-General Kofi Anan, and every year there is a photo of all the heads of delegation The undercurrent of this year's debate will be the race to succeed Annan, whose second and final five-year term expires on Dec. 31. Not all government leaders will be in town. More than 80 prime ministers and presidents will be here, but the leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain, Egypt and Spain are skipping the UN meeting. They will be represented by their foreign ministers. Bush's UN speech, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET, is the last in a series on the war on terror, timed to surround last week's fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to set the tone for the final weeks of the US midterm elections. Bush is allotted 15 minutes for his annual address to the general assembly, and White House aides said he planned to use the time to call on the world to support moderate governments and help build up weak democracies in Iraq and Lebanon, as wells as the Palestinian Authority. With remarks aimed especially at people living in the Middle East, Bush was drawing a distinction between the moderate governments that want peace and extremists who want to spread terror and violence. He was describing his vision for moderates to choose the future instead of the extremists, pointing out that the same principles are in the UN charter and its declaration of human rights, aides said. He planned to describe how every nation in the civilized world has a stake in the region, but especially the Muslim countries. "The world must stand up for peace," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery.
The Religion of Peace? Sept. 19….(Hal Lindsay) With all the fuss being made about the Pope's comments about Islam, it wouldn't hurt to take a look at Islam's fruits, rather than just its protests to the contrary. The Pope recently quoted a 14th century emperor who criticized Islam for its practice of forced conversions. Islamic apologists deny Islam teaches anything of the kind. It is on this basis that they have launched the current wave of violent protests against any suggestion that Islam is a violent religion. Members of a Palestinian terrorist group kidnapped two Fox news journalists recently. The two were put before a video camera while in captivity and given a choice. They could be filmed converting to Islam. Or they could be filmed being beheaded on camera. One of them described a big knife that was set just in front of them off camera. Both Fox reporters chose Option One and converted to Islam. Centanni and his cameraman, Olaf Wigg, were filmed wearing Islamic robes. They read from scripts from which they announced they had become observant Muslims and asking Bush and Blair to do likewise. "Islam is not just meant for some people. It is the true religion for all people at all times," said Mr Centanni. "I changed my name to Khaled. I have embraced Islam and say the word Allah." It was only afterwards that Centanni admitted his conversion was not heartfelt. But neither, evidently was his denial. He told Fox News in a post-release interview: “We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint. . .” but then he added, “"Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what was going on." There is one thing that we've learned from the journalists' ordeal about what IS going on is revealing. The West has been trying to convince itself that Islam is just another religion, like Unitarians or Buddhists. Or Christians. But Jesus didn't tell Christians to force people to come to Him at the point of a gun. Or under the threat of a sword. Jesus promised that the power of conversion would come through His Holy Spirit. Jesus told the Apostles, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8) Compare that to Islam's version of the Great Commission: Said Mohammed to his apostles; “I was ordered to fight all men until they say, ‘There is no god but Allah.” Jesus send His followers out to live according to His example, which He said would draw men to what they could clearly see to be the truth. Mohammed told his followers to fight all men until they convert to Islam's version of the truth. Osama bin Laden quoted Islam's great commission during the post 9/11 Afghan campaign: “I was ordered to fight all men until they say, ‘There is no god but Allah.” Part of the reason that we are in for a generational war is that America has not yet recognized the enemy. America still believes that Osama's Islam is a distortion of what is, at its heart, a religion of peace. Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig saw the religion of peace in action. Mohammed himself gave the great commission to Islam to fight ALL men until they do what Centanni and Wiig did. And until we see, as they did, the big knife laying off-camera, America will fight this war as if it were only against al-Qaeda. And Osama will continue to franchise out his jihad without anybody knowing who the enemy is until it is too late. And this war will go on for a generation. Or even longer.
Iran’s Leader Blames US-Israeli Conspiracy for Pope Remarks
Sept. 18….(AP) Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed a US-Israeli conspiracy aiming to sow conflict between religions for remarks by the Pope Benedict XVI on Islam and violence that unleashed a wave of anger across the Muslim world. Khamenei said the comments were part of the same conspiracy that started with the US invasion of Iraq and has been hatched by great powers intent on creating crises between religions to "pursue their evil objectives". "Leaders of the arrogant imperialists have already defined the links of the chain in this US-Zionist project by attacking Iraq," Khamenei said in comments broadcast on state television. "The issue of the insulting cartoons and remarks of some politicians about Islam are different links in the conspiracy of the Crusaders, and the Pope's remarks are the latest links in this," he added. The Pope's comments, which unleashed a wave of anger in the Islamic world, came after caricatures published in a Danish newspaper last year deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed set off deadly protests. "The most important aim of these remarks is the creation of a religious crisis in the world and to make different religions confront each other," Khamenei continued. "This is the intention of those powers whose survival is dependent on creating crisis to pursue their evil objectives in the international community." He said protests against the Pope's remarks should be targeted at the "Great Satan," the Islamic republic's traditional term for its arch foe the United States, with whom it has no diplomatic relations.
"Everyone should consider that in this case the Great Satan is responsible. The direction of the attacks and objections should be focused on those that benefit from these unfair remarks by the Pope," said Khamenei. "These remarks were a surprise from a high Christian official and very much to be regretted," he added. In a speech in Germany on Tuesday, the pope spoke of a link between Islam and jihad, or "holy war", and quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said innovations introduced by the Prophet Mohammed were "evil and inhuman". On Sunday the Pope said he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage triggered across the Muslim world by the remarks he made about Islam, and stressed they had not reflected his personal opinion. Iran's government spokesman said earlier the expression of deep regret by Pope Benedict for the outrage sparked by his comments did not go far enough, calling on the pontiff to admit he had made a mistake. "The Pope was right to give these explanations and he said that his comments were badly reported," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters. "These explanations were necessary but not sufficient. He needs to say more clearly that what he said was an error and correct it," he added. Elham also echoed Khamenei's comments that the United States and Israel were implicated in the affair. "It is important that religious figures take care not to fall into the traps of the Zionists," he said.
Al-Qaida Warns Muslims: Time to Get Out of US (Afghan terror commander hints at big attack on N.Y., Washington)
Sept. 18….(WND) The new al-Qaida field commander in Afghanistan is calling for Muslims to leave the US, particularly Washington and New York, in anticipation of a major terror attack to rival Sept. 11, according to an interview by a Pakistani journalist. Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border. "Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time." As WND has previously reported el-Shukrijumah is a trained nuclear technician and accomplished pilot who has been singled out by bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to serve as the field commander for the next terrorist attack on US soil. The terrorist was last seen in Mexico, where, on Nov. 1, 2004, he allegedly hijacked a Piper PA Pawnee cropduster from Ejido Queretaro near Mexicali to transport a nuclear weapon and nuclear equipment into the US, according to Paul Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of “The Dunces of Doomsday”. "He is an American and a friend of Muhammad Atta, who led 9/11 attacks five years ago," said Dawood. "We call him 'Jaffer al Tayyar' (Jafer the Pilot); he is very brave and intelligent. (President) Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn’t want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims. Americans are the biggest supporters of the biggest terrorist in the world, which is Israel." Dawood said he was currently conducting operations in Afghanistan under the leadership of the Taliban. He warned of a series of upcoming suicide bombings there directed against government and coalition forces during Ramadan. He is also quoted as saying the next attack in America will not be conducted by people like Atta. "We have a different plan for the next attack," he told Mir. "You will see. Americans will hardly find out any Muslim names, after the next attack. Most of our brothers are living in Western countries, with Jewish and Christian names, with passports of Western countries. This time, someone with the name of Mohamed Atta will not attack inside America, it would be some David, Richard or Peter." He said there will be another audio message from bin Laden aired within the next two weeks. Mir reportedly interviewed Dawood Sept. 12 at the tomb of Sultan Mehmud Ghaznawi on the outskirts of Kabul. Dawood and the al-Qaida leaders who accompanied him were clean-shaven and dressed as Western reporters. The al-Qaida commander had contacted Mir by cell phone to arrange the meeting. "You have witnessed the brutality of the Israelis in the recent 34-day war against Lebanese civilians," said Dawood. "9/11 was a revenge of Palestinian children, killed by the US-made weapons, supplied to Israel. The next attack on America would be a revenge of Lebanese children killed by US-made cluster bombs. Bush and (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair are the Crusaders, and Muslim leaders, like (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf and (Afghani President Hamid) Karzai are their collaborators. We will teach a lesson to all of them." El-Shukrijumah was born in Guyana Aug. 4, 1975, the firstborn of Gulshair el-Shukrijumah, a 44-year-old radical Muslim cleric, and his 16-year-old wife. In 1985, Gulshair migrated to the United States, where he assumed duties as the imam of the Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn. The mosque, located at 554 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, has served as a hive for terrorist activities. It has raised millions for the jihad and has served as a recruiting station for al-Qaida. Many of the planners of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, including blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, were prominent members of this notorious "house of worship." In 1995, the Shukrijumah family relocated to Miramar, Fla., where Gulshair became the spiritual leader of the radical Masjid al-Hijah Mosque, and where Adnan became friends with Jose Padilla, who planned to detonate a radiological bomb in midtown Manhattan; Mandhai Jokhan, who was convicted of attempting to blow up nuclear power plants in southern Florida; and a group of other home-grown terrorists. Adnan Shukrijumah attended flight schools in Florida and Norman, Oklahoma, along with Mohammad Atta and the other 9/11 operatives, and he became a highly skilled commercial jet pilot, although he, like Atta and the other terrorists, never applied for a license with the Federal Aviation Commission. In April 2001, Shukrijumah spent 10 days in Panama, where he reportedly met with al-Qaida officials to assist in the planning of 9/11. He also spent considerable time within al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, where he received training in explosives and special operations. Following 9/11, el-Shukrijumah was reportedly singled out by bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to spearhead the next great attack on America. One plan was for a nuclear attack that would take place simultaneously in seven US cities, leaving millions dead and the richest and most powerful nation on earth in ashes. "Muslims should leave America," said Dawood. "We cannot stop our attack just because of the American Muslims; they must realize that American forces are killing innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq; we have the right to respond back, in the same manner, in the enemy's homeland. The American Muslims are like a human shield for our enemy; they must leave New York and Washington." "Our cycle of warnings has been completed, now we have fresh edicts from some prominent Muslim scholars to destroy our enemy."
Vatican: Pope 'Extremely Upset' Over Comments Sept. 18….(My Way) Pope Benedict XVI is "extremely upset" that Muslims have been offended by some of his words in a recent speech in Germany, the Vatican said on Saturday. The new Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said that the pope's position on Islam is unmistakably in line with Vatican teaching that the Church "esteems Muslims, who adore the only God." Thus, the pope is "extremely upset that some portions of his speech were able to sound offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers and have been interpreted in a way that does not at all correspond to his intentions," Bertone said in a statement. The words, in a speech Benedict gave to university professors earlier in the week during a pilgrimage to his homeland, angered many in the Islamic world and raised doubts over whether a planned trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey in late November would go ahead. Leaders across the Muslim world in the last few days have demanded the pope apologize for his remarks on Islam and jihad, or holy war, despite earlier Vatican assurances that he meant only to emphasize the incompatibility between faith and war. Benedict on Tuesday cited an obscure Medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," comments some experts took as a signal that the Vatican was taking a more demanding stance for its dealings with the Muslim world. When giving the speech, the pope stressed that he was quoting words of a Byzantine emperor and did not comment directly on the "evil and inhuman" assessment. Cardinal Bertone, referring to the emperor's assessment, said that "the Holy Father absolutely didn't intend nor intends to make it his own assessment but has only used it as an occasion to offer, in an academic setting and, as can be seen from a complete and careful reading of the pope's text, some reflections on the subject of the relationship between religion and violence in general and to conclude with a clear and radical refusal of religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it comes from."
Pope Quails Before Islamic Fury Sept. 18….(JNEWSWIRE) Pope Benedict XVI, head of the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, attempted Saturday to placate the fury of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims after he purportedly offended them by reading from a 14th century book disclosing sordid truths about the teachings of “the prophet” Mohammed. The Pope’s secretary of state said in a statement that Benedict’s position on Islam was unquestionably in line with the Vatican’s traditional teaching that the Rome “esteems Muslims, who adore the only God.” This reassertion of a heresy, that the LORD God of Israel and Allah, the Moon God of Arabia, are the same being, was not enough to placate the latest fit of Islamic apoplexy. It erupted after Benedict, referencing a recorded debate between a Byzantium emperor and a Persian scholar, said that when the emperor came to talk about the issue of jihad “he said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Mohammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.’” Although the pope was quoting from an obscure old document, Muslims characteristically exploded in outrage in Arab and other Islamic states, protesting in the streets, firebombing churches, issuing fatwas and threatening to send “suicide’ bombers to attack the Vatican in Rome.
Iraq Al-Qaida says Pope, West are Doomed Sept. 18….(AP) An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters returned to the streets across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the Pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword." Even in China, where the government exerts tight controls over religious activities, a top religious official said Benedict had insulted the nation's Muslims. "This has gravely hurt the feelings of the Muslims across the world, including those from China," Chen Guangyuan, president of Islamic Association of China, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Xinhua news agency. In the Middle East, where Muslims threw firebombs at seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend.
Anti-US, Anti-Israel Fervor Displayed in Cuba Sept. 18….(Newsmax) Representatives of 118 Nonaligned Movement nations condemned Israel's attacks on Lebanon and supported a peaceful resolution to the US-Iran nuclear dispute in the final declaration Saturday of a summit that brought together some of the world's staunchest American foes. The 92-page declaration also broadly condemned terrorism. But it said movements for self-determination and battles against foreign occupiers should not be considered terrorism. And while declaring democracy to be a universal value, the movement said no one country or region should define it for the whole world and defended the right of Venezuela and other countries to determine their own forms of government. The final statements, many of which contain veiled criticisms of the US, were to be approved by unanimous consent after another round of speeches Saturday night by leaders of the movement. An ailing Fidel Castro was named president of the movement, but he stayed home in his pajamas on doctors' orders while Acting Cuban President Raul Castro presided over the meeting of two-thirds of the world's nations. The meeting brought together the leaders of Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Zimbabwe among other leading US adversaries. Raul joined them in saying a bellicose America had made the world more dangerous. "The United States spends one billion dollars a year in weapons and soldiers," he said. "To think that a social and economic order that has proven unsustainable could be maintained by force is simply an absurd idea." North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, claimed his communist nation "would not need even a single nuclear weapon if there no longer existed a US threat," and said US financial sanctions have "driven the situation into an unpredictable phase." Kim, the leader of Parliament, blamed the lack of world peace on the United States, saying its failure to respect the sovereignty of other nations has destroyed "the international order." He said desires for peace by the 118 countries in the Nonaligned Movement were "confronted with grave challenges owing to the high-handed acts and unilateralism of the superpower, which denies countries and nations the independent choice of development." The resulting imbalance in global politics constitutes "grave threats to world peace and security," he said. The United States declined an invitation to the summit and said it would have no comment on any of the proceedings. Many at the summit demanded the United Nations take action against US veto power in the Security Council. "The US is turning the Security Council into a base for imposing its politics," Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad complained. "Why should people live under the nuclear threat of the US?" North Korea defended its nuclear weapons program, Sudan's leader rejected a UN peacekeeping mission for Darfur and Ahmadinejad insisted on Iran's right to develop nuclear energy. The final document supported Iran's position while encouraging it to continue cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed the Security Council must be more responsive to less powerful countries. "The Security Council must reform, for the sake of the developing world, and for the sake of the United Nations itself," Annan told the Nonaligned leaders. "The perception of a narrow power-base risks leading to an erosion of the UN's authority and legitimacy, even, some would argue, its neutrality and independence. I have in the past described this as a democracy deficit." The Nonaligned Movement was formed in 1961 to establish a neutral third path in a world divided by the United States and the Soviet Union. Cuba last hosted the group in Havana 27 years ago. It was unclear whether the 80-year-old Castro will recover enough from intestinal surgery to guide the group for the next three years. The ailing rebel icon met in his home with a handful of leaders including Annan and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Europe Exploits Israel’s Military Crisis to Stall Nuclear Talks On Iran
State Dep't: US Tying Iran Policy to Palestinian Issue Sept. 18….(Ha Aretz) The United States is making a connection between efforts to block Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and progress in the diplomatic front between Israel and the Arab world - especially along the Palestinian track. This was one of the messages in a speech given by Philip Zelikow, a senior adviser to Secretary State Condoleezza Rice, at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday. In an address that opened the institute's annual conference, Zelikow said that American policy is undergoing changes that have not been sufficiently acknowledged by the international community. A special advisor to Rice and a consultant on major foreign policy issues, Zelikow gave his address at a time when America is making efforts to convince UN Security Council members of the need to impose sanctions against Iran in order to force it to meet UN demands to freeze its uranium enrichment program. The senior State Department official explained that the United States must ensure progress in the Israeli-Palestinian track, so that it can preserve a coalition of Arab and European states that are interested in containing Iran and international terrorism. In the absence of such progress, Zelikow argued, these states will find it difficult to support America in its policies vis-a-vis Iran. Preserving this coalition is also an Israeli interest, he added. US and Israeli sources did not agree with some of the implications Zelikow mentioned, however, most did say that if he made these statements, then he is expressing the views of the administration. This suggests that US Middle East foreign policy may be embarking on a significant change of direction.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 10 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 17
Caliph Will Sit Enthroned in Jerusalem(Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah tells rally of 50,000 in Umm al-Fahm: Jerusalem will be the capital of the new Muslim caliphate sooner than is thought; says Sharon, Katsav, Clinton punished by Allah for wanting to divide al-Aqsa mosque site) Sept. 16….(YNET) Head of the northern faction of the Islamic Movement Sheikh Raed Salah said Friday that “soon Jerusalem will be the capital of the new Muslim caliphate, and the caliph’s seat will be there.” Salah addressed an audience of 50,000 attending the Islamic Movement’s 11th annual rally in Umm al-Fahm. “Caliph” refers to a leader of the Muslim nation and in Arabic means the “heir” or “substitute” of the prophet Muhammad. Salah noted that history tells of many occasions in which the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was occupied by foreign conquerors, but the occupiers left after a short time, and thus will also be the fate of the Israeli occupation. “The Israeli occupation will leave Jerusalem soon. It will happen sooner than is thought,” Salah said at the rally, which was held under the slogan “Al-Aqsa endangered.” The sheikh added that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav were “punished by Allah” after they plotted to bring harm to the mosque. Sharon was punished because he planned to break into the mosque, and Katsav’s punishment came in the shape of the sexual harassment charges plaguing him after he supported the notion of dividing the mosque area between Jews and Muslims. The site is also holy to Jews as the site of the Temple Mount. Former United States President Bill Clinton suffered after backing the idea of dividing the site he became embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Salah declared that ideas to divide the site still exist, but he reassured his audience: “There are all sorts of plans to divide the al-Aqsa mosque but they will not succeed.” During his speech the sheikh called on Arab nations to provide financial support, whether with cash or with gold, to help save the mosque and Jerusalem. He even called for the establishment of a fund for the purpose. Salah also responded to the statements attributed to Pope Benedictus XVI which were interpreted by many as being offensive to Islam. Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam. "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'" Benedict did not explicitly agree with the statement nor repudiate it. The sheikh expressed hope that the comment did not portray the official stance of the Catholic leadership. “I hope it was a slip of the tongue, because if it is not, his words are a direct call to the nations of Europe to stand behind President (George) Bush and Israel in their war against Islam,” he said. The former mufti of Jerusalem Ekrima Sabri and the archbishop of the Greek-Orthodox church who is considered close to the Palestinian Authority also spoke at the rally. Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Musa also sent his blessings to the assembly.
Annan Calls for Mid-East Solution(United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has told leaders at a summit of developing nations that the world must solve the problems of the Middle East.) Sept. 16….(YNET) Kofi Annan told the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba that the war in Lebanon had been a wake up call to the world. He also urged leaders to respect human rights, to end oppression and to honour press freedom. The summit was opened by Cuba's acting leader Raul Castro, in the absence of his sick brother, Fidel. The long-time communist leader is still recovering in hospital from intestinal surgery he underwent more than a month ago. Mr. Annan visited the Cuban president in the hospital before delivering his speech. The UN chief said the Lebanon crisis had made nations "more and more convinced of the need to deal with the root causes of the problem" in the Middle East. "The daily violence we are witnessing in Iraq and Afghanistan provides a powerful reminder that, without judicious intervention on the political front, the slide to anarchy and civil war becomes inexorable." But he also stressed that leaders should look after the welfare of their own people. "We need governments of the south to fulfil their obligations to their people at home," Annan said. The leaders of more than 50 developing countries have gathered in Cuba for the summit, which brings together 118 nations, nearly two-thirds of the UN's members, including many developing countries, for an alternative forum of debate. The BBC's Stephen Gibbs, in Havana, says the huge cast list of dignitaries at the two-day summit includes some of Washington's least favorite world leaders. They include Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko. And while Fidel Castro was not present to deliver his usual fiery anti-American rhetoric, brother Raul continued in the same vein. He accused the US of trying to effect regime change in Cuba and destroy its social system, and condemned US actions elsewhere. "The risk of aggression and more wars of imperial conquest is more serious and more widespread than ever," he said. Kofi Anan was seen applauding as Raul Castro spoke.
Muslim Nations Must Acquire Nukes: MahathirSept. 16….(WND) Muslim nations in the Middle East should arm themselves with nuclear weapons to deter Western enemies from attacking them, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said. "They should have tanks, warplanes, warships, guns and missiles," Mahathir said. "Yes, they need to have nuclear weapons too, because only with the possession of such would their enemies be deterred from attacking them." Mahathir, 81, who retired as Prime Minister in 2003, remains highly respected and influential throughout the Muslim world. He is currently on a lecture tour of Central and South Asia, and was addressing a conference on religious tolerance in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. During his 22 years in office, he was known for his often caustic tirades against the West and its policies in the Middle East. When asked whether Muslim nations in the Middle East should acquire nuclear weapons, Mahathir replied, "Well, if you allow Israel to have them, why should the others not have them too?" Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it possesses nuclear arms is generally believed to have the world's sixth-largest stockpile of such weapons, including hundreds of warheads. Mahathir, a frequent critic of the Jewish State and its nuclear arsenal, stressed that he believed in a world free of nuclear weapons. "My own opinion is that we should get rid of them," he said. "All nations should give up nuclear weapons, in particular the very belligerent United States." He said that the US-led war against terrorism has turned into a war against Islam and Muslims, because only countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria are being targeted. "The 'Axis of Evil' was supposed to include Iraq, Iran and North Korea," he said, referring to a comment US President George W Bush made in 2002 labeling the three countries as the "axis of evil." "But no one really believes that North Korea is targeted. Even provocations by North Korea have not resulted in military strikes and invasion," Mahathir said.
Israeli Expert on Islam: Muslim’s won't Accept Israel, Wants ApocalypseSept. 16….(Israel Insider) The Iranian government is seeking nuclear weapons in order to bring about an apocalypse, Professor Moshe Sharon, a professor of Islamic studies from the Hebrew University, told a conference at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya Thursday. Sharon said there was "no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians whatsoever, for ever," since the Arab and Islamic world viewed the establishment of Israel as a "reversal of history," and would never accept Israel. He described peace agreements with Arab Muslim states as "pieces of paper, parts of tactics, strategies," adding that they have "no meaning." "The root of the problem between us and the Arab world is Islam. Islam is not only a religion. It is a culture, politics? a state, Islam is everything. It has been like this, and it will be like this for the foreseeable future," Sharon said. "Islam is a messianic religion? from the very beginning, it talked about the end of the world," Sharon said. In Islam, "Allah is the king of the end of days," Sharon explained, before addressing the Shiite Islam guiding Iran . According to Sharon, the Iranian regime genuinely believes that the Shiite messiah, the twelfth Imam (also known as the Mahdi), "is here. And he will come. And first, he will establish the Shiite house of Ali. This is a time of messianic expectation." "What moves today the Iranian government, prime minister, is first and foremost the wish to bring about the twelfth Imam." The power of the ayatollahs in Iran came from the grassroots and popular belief that they can "contact the Mahdi. Everybody believes," Sharon said. 'Muslims Want Nuclear Weapons for Apocalypse'"How will they bring him? By an apocalypse. He (the Mahdi) needs a war. He cannot come into this world without an Armageddon. He wants an Armageddon. The earlier we understand, the better. Ahmadinejad wants nuclear weapons for this," Sharon declared. Israel was a side issue for Iran, the professor said, adding that Iran was using Israel as a means "to enter the Islamic world" and dominate it. "But they cannot bluff the Saudis, the Wahabbis? the Shiite are hated by the Sunnis. The Saudis are far more apprehensive of nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran than Israel," he said. Speaking to Ynetnews about the possibility of a military conflict with Iran, Sharon said: "The only way to avoid military confrontation with Iran is to leave this military confrontation to powers bigger than Israel." "I'm not so sure that the business with Iran will be finished without confrontation, but it's not Israel's business," he added.
Convert From Islam to Christianity KilledSept. 16….(WND) Somali Christian sources report Ali Mustaf Maka'il, a 22-year-old college student and cloth merchant who converted from Islam to Christianity 11 months ago, was shot and killed in the Manabolyo quarter of Mogadishu. According to a report from the Barnabas Fund, quoting a Christian source inside Somalia, the gunman was loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist organization that took power in Mogadishu in early June and now controls much of southern Somalia. The report states the gunman shot Ali in the back Sept. 7 after he refused to join a crowd chanting Quran verses in honor of the lunar eclipse. Solar and lunar eclipses are significant in Islam and are accompanied by special congregational prayers. The Union of Islamic Courts confiscated Ali's body for 24 hours before delivering it to the grieving family, the report said. The Barnabas Fund comments: "It seems that under the new Islamist rulers, who include hard-line jihadi elements, the tragic history of persecution and martyrdom for Somalia's tiny Christian community is set to continue and most likely to worsen." The group reports that in July there were unconfirmed reports three Christians had been shot and killed by Islamists as they returned home from a prayer meeting. In October 2005, an evangelist and house church leader, Osman Sheik Ahmed, was shot dead by Islamist radicals, Barnabas said. Also, children of Christian Somali refugees in Kenya have been kidnapped by Muslim relatives and taken to Islamic institutions in Somalia for 'rehabilitation.'" The Barnabas Fund pointed out the leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, Hassan Dahir Aweys, promised to implement Sharia, or Islamic law, in all areas he controls. According to Sharia, the group explained, apostates, those who leave Islam for another religion, must be killed. Union of Islamic Court leaders even have threatened to kill as apostates Muslims who are lax in their prayers, claiming this is commanded by Sharia. Several Muslims have been flogged publicly for drug-related offences since the union took control. The Barnabas Fund report states more then 99.5 percent of Somalis are Muslims and regard Christianity as a foreign religion of their historic enemies in Ethiopia and of their former colonial masters the Italians and the British. It adds: "There is a long history of conflict between Muslim Somalis and Christian Ethiopians, so anti-Christian sentiment runs deep. Most Somalis take it for granted that a true Somali is a Muslim and converts to Christianity must be traitors. These prejudices, widely held by Muslim Somalis, seem to be used to justify violence against Christians, both indigenous and expatriate. The group says the inherent hostility toward the West and Christians has risen since the U.S.-led military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and the recent Israeli campaign against Hezbollah.
The Pope is Sorry. Muslims Terrorists Are NotSept. 16….(DEBKA) A firestorm of Muslim rage was ignited by a lecture on the theme of Faith and Reason that Pope Benedict XVI gave at Regensburg University in Germany Tuesday, Sept 12. The fury that beset the Muslim world recalls the tempest which greeted the Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper earlier this year. The government in Ankara said his safety could not be guaranteed during his visit in November, during which the pope had hoped to improve relations between Christians and Muslims. Turkey’s Catholic bishops will meet next Monday to discuss the visit. Benedict quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II as saying in a learned debate with a Persian cleric in 1391: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new (DEBKAfile: a hint to the proposition that the Koran was a copy of earlier Christian and Jewish writings), and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." (a denigration of jihad). The pope did not say if he subscribed to this view. Speaking as a professor of theology to Catholic scholars, he referred back to the 615-year old text to illustrate his main theme that spreading faith through violence is unreasonable. “Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and reason properly. On the same day as the pontiff made his point on Faith and Reason in Bavaria, in Damascus Islamist terrorists attacked the US embassy. Muhammad Aqef, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood which has many millions of adherents, warned the pontiff that he had aroused the anger of the entire Muslim world. In Turkey, a member of the ruling party Ali Bardakoglu said that that sort of talk against Muslims had produced the Crusades. DEBKAfile’s Islamic observers comment that the threat of Muslim anger exploding into violence is becoming an increasingly powerful deterrent to any religious controversy that touches on the Muslim faith, especially in the West, because Western Christians, moderate Muslims and the Jewish world continue to distinguish between international Islamic terrorist groups and Muslims at large. While the majority of Muslims do not subscribe to al Qaeda’s violent methods, neither do they actively oppose them. As for Palestinian violence against Israel, that is universally condoned in Islam. Much of Western society as well as many Muslims and Israelis prefer to forget that suicidal terrorism as a political and religious instrument was the gift Yasser Arafat bequeathed to contemporary Islam; and it was enthusiastically embraced by al Qaeda and the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. This ability to disremember the root of a world problem extends to non-recognition of the deepening integration of the Palestinian and al Qaeda jihad movements. Many of al Qaeda’s most active cells are now planted in Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Nonetheless, many Western policymakers place “the Middle East conflict’ in a box of its own, separate from the global war on terror or the clash of religions and civilizations. Because these policymakers have only very limited control over developments in the campaign against terror or the religious elements thereof, their pious hopes and efforts to appease angry Muslims keep on blowing up in their faces. The current crisis can be traced back to Khomeini’s death warrant (fatwa) for the writer Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses. It culminated now in the explosion of fury against the pope. But any suggestion that Islam is linked to the ideology of terror or violence evokes immediate outrage. Oddly enough, no outrage was forthcoming when the leader of Israeli Arab Muslims, Sheikh Raad Salah promised a gathering of 50,000 Israeli Arabs, Friday night Sept. 15 that “very shortly the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem would be eclipsed and the city (Israel’s historic and national capital), will become the capital of the “world Islamic caliphate.” His audience eagerly thundered: “With fire and blood we will liberate al Aqsa!” No one demanded of the sheik any apology although by a strange coincidence he parroted one of al Qaeda’s central goals and injunctions and the justification for its terrorist campaign against the American, British and French “crusaders” and “the Jews,” namely, the establishment of a caliphate for world rule from its center in Jerusalem. Where are the demonstrations and effigies protesting the explicit threat to the Jewish state and its capital? This double standard for legitimate and illegitimate Islamic conduct ruled the thinking of much of the world before Pope Benedict dropped his clanger, and will be there after it is forgotten.
Bush Rules out Meeting with AhmadinejadSept. 16….(Ha Aretz) (Both US and Iranian presidents are scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, but Bush said the two would not meet. ‘I have made it clear that we will sit down with the Iranians once they verifiably suspend their enrichment program. I meant what I said,' Bush states) US President George W. Bush declared Friday that he has no intention of meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York next week. Bush and Ahmadinejad are expected to carry speeches Tuesday in front of the UN General Assembly, with Bush’s oration scheduled for the morning hours and Ahmadinejad’s for the evening. Bush addressed the press at the White House’s Rose Garden Friday. When asked whether he would take advantage of the opportunity to meet with the Iranian president, he responded unequivocally, “No. No I will not meet with him.” Bush reiterated the conditions for the US to speak with Iranian leaders, namely, when the nation has verifiably halted uranium enrichment. The US president noted that during Hizbullah’s offensive against Israel in Lebanon in July, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1696, which gave Iran an ultimatum, the 31st of August, to stop enriching uranium. A few weeks have already passed since the deadline, and Iran has failed to make any moving towards compliance. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice clarified during a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni this week that discussions were finished and the matter would be set before the UN next week. Bush again emphasized that Iran must be prevented from developing nuclear weapons. The president noted that internationally there was a “common consensus” on the issue, and the aim is to advance towards a solution without allowing Iran to plant obstacles to the progress. "I have made it clear that we will sit down with the Iranians once they verifiably suspend their enrichment program. I meant what I said," Bush stated. He said his trip to New York aimed to clarify that the process must be advanced quickly, without Iran disrupting it. Ahmadinejad, on his part, hoped the New York event would pit US and the West in debate against Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and the nations of the Non-aligned Movement, and last week challenged Bush to a televised debate. Ahead of his departure to New York to address the UN General Assembly, Bush expressed dissatisfaction with the organization. He said the Americans were frustrated with the functioning of the UN. Speaking of the situation in Darfur, Bush said: “The problem is that the United Nations hasn't acted. And so I can understand why those who are concerned about Darfur are frustrated. I am," he said. "I'd like to see more robust United Nations action." He further hinted that the UN should better use American tax money. Meanwhile, facing a Republican revolt in the Senate, Bush urged Congress to join in backing legislation to spell out strategies for interrogating and trying terror suspects, saying "the enemy wants to attack us again." "Time is running out," Bush told reporters. "Congress needs to act wisely and promptly." Bush denied that the United States might lose the high ground in the eyes of world opinion, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested. "It's unacceptable to think there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective," said Bush, growing animated as he spoke.
Muslims Express Fury Over Pope's Remarks Sept. 15…..(AP) Muslims around the world expressed outrage Friday over Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam, with Turkey's ruling party accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades and scores taking to the streets in protest. Pakistan's parliament unanimously condemned the pope, and the Foreign Ministry summoned the Vatican's ambassador to express regret over the remarks. The Vatican said the pope did not intend the remarks, made in Germany on Tuesday during an address at a university, to be offensive. Benedict quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam. "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'" Benedict did not explicitly agree with the statement nor repudiate it. The comments raised tensions ahead of his planned visit to Turkey in November, his first pilgrimage to a Muslim country. Salih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, said Benedict's remarks were either "the result of pitiful ignorance" about Islam and its prophet, or a deliberate distortion. "He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world," Kapusuz was quoted as saying by the state-owned Anatolia news agency. "It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades." "Pope Benedict, the author of such unfortunate and insolent remarks, is going down in history for his words," he said. "He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as (Adolf) Hitler and (Benito) Mussolini." Turkey's staunchly secular opposition party also demanded that Benedict apologize to Muslims before his visit. "The Pope has thrown gasoline onto the fire ... in a world where the risk of a clash between religions is high," said Haluk Koc, deputy head of the Republican People's Party, as a small group of protesters left a black wreath in front of the Vatican's embassy in Ankara. Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric denounced the remarks and demanded the pope personally apologize. "We do not accept the apology through Vatican channels, and ask him (Benedict) to offer a personal apology, not through his officials, to Muslims for this false reading (of Islam)," Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah told worshippers. After Benedict returned to Italy on Thursday, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said, "It certainly wasn't the intention of the Pope to carry out a deep examination of jihad (holy war) and on Muslim thought on it, much less to offend the sensibility of Muslim believers." Lombardi insisted the pope respects Islam. Benedict wants to "cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward the other religions and cultures, obviously also toward Islam," he said. Turkey's top Islamic cleric, Ali Bardakoglu, said Lombardi's comments were not enough. "The pope himself should stand at the dais and say 'I take it all back, I was misunderstood' and apologize in order to contribute to world peace," he said. In another development, the pope appointed Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, a French prelate with experience in the Muslim world, as the Vatican's new foreign minister. But anger still swept across the Muslim world, with Pakistan's parliament unanimously adopting a resolution condemning the pope for making what it called "derogatory" comments about Islam and the Foreign Ministry summoning the Vatican ambassador. The pope's words were "deeply disturbing for Muslims all over the world, and had caused great hurt and anguish," the Foreign Ministry said. The Vatican's envoy "regretted the hurt caused to Muslims and said that the media had totally misconstrued certain historical quotes that the Pope used in his lecture," the statement said. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic Hamas group, said the pontiff had offended Muslims everywhere and called on him to reconsider his statement. He said there would be organized protests later in the day "to express Palestinian anger." In Iraq's Shiite Muslim-stronghold of Kufa, Sheik Salah al-Ubaidi criticized the pope during Friday prayers, saying his remarks were a second assault on Islam. The head of Britain's largest Muslim body said it was disturbed by the pope's use of a 14th century passage. The Muslim Council, which represents 400 groups in Britain, said the emperor's views were "ill-informed and frankly bigoted." "One would expect a religious leader such as the pope to act and speak with responsibility and repudiate the Byzantine emperor's views in the interests of truth and harmonious relations between the followers of Islam and Catholicism," said Muhammad Abdul Bari, the council's secretary-general. Elsewhere, Syria's top Sunni Muslim religious authority, Sheik Ahmad Badereddine Hassoun, sent a letter to the pope that he feared the comments would worsen interfaith relations. Later, he delivered a scathing sermon in which he denounced the remarks. "We have heard about your extremism and hate for Arabs and Muslims. Now that you have dropped the mask from your face we see its ugliness and extremist nature," he said. Pope Benedict, who has made the fight against growing secularism in Western society a theme of his pontificate, is expected to visit Turkey in late November. He was invited by the staunchly secularist Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who said the invitation was part of an effort to strengthen dialogue between religions
'Hizbullah Youths' Train in Terrorism (Thousands of children, teens prepare for apocalyptic battle against 'evil') Sept. 15….(WND) Hizbullah is leading a youth movement that instructs tens of thousands of children and teenagers in military tactics and indoctrinates them with radical Shia Islam beliefs, including the waging of a final, apocalyptic world battle against "evil," according to materials found by Israel during last month's war in Lebanon. "Hizbullah established its Imam Mahdi Scouts to attract Shiite children and adolescents, to influence their hearts and minds and to prepare new generations of youth indoctrinated with radical Shiite Islam, which propounds the idea of the return of the Mahdi (messiah) as one of Hizbullah's central principles," states a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies. "Hizbullah wants to create a new generation of operatives for its own ranks who will take part in its violent campaign against Israel," the report states. The Center for Special Studies, a think tank here specializing in terrorism information, analyzed scores of documents and material captured last month by the Israeli Defense Forces during military confrontation's with Hizbullah. The documents relating to Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts evidence the recruitment of youth to fight eventually alongside Hizbullah, the center stated. Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts was established by the terror group in 1982 and operates under the jurisdiction of the Lebanese Ministry of Education. According to the Center for Special Studies, the Scouts have about 42,000 Lebanese males and females between the ages of 8-16 organized into 499 groups. The scouts' namesake comes from a decedent of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Shia Muslims believe Muhammad's immediate decedents, a series of 12 imams, or Muslim leaders, are the most trusted carriers of Islamic tradition. Most Shia Muslims believe the 12th Imam, Mahdi, is still alive but cannot be seen until Allah determines it is time to prepare the faithful for Judgment Day. They believe Mahdi will eventually reveal himself and lead the forces of righteousness against the forces of evil in a final, apocalyptic world battle. Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts reportedly undergo military training at summer camps in Shiite communities in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and south Lebanon. The Center for Special Studies stated major activities at Mahdi Scouts summer camps, including sports and social programs, aim to inculcate Hizbullah and Islamic revolutionary principles into scout members. The center's report said there are camps in which youth learn the basic use of arms along with physical training and march in exercises while dressed in scout uniforms or camouflage suits. The center reviewed dozens of captured pictures of Mahdi Scouts in military uniforms holding plastic assault rifles. An investigative report published in August by the Egyptian daily Ruz al-Yusuf claimed the scout movement trains “armed militias” in south Lebanon made up of children aged 10-15. The first lesson Hizbullah teaches scouts, stated the Egyptian article, is the destruction of Israel. “This lesson is always an important part of the curriculum and is always aimed at children and adolescents who are new to the program. The objective is to train a high-caliber Islamic generation of children who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Allah in the campaign against Israel." The Center for Special Studies noted evidence of Iranian involvement in the scouting program. The center's report states Iranian Revolutionary Guard units played a central role in establishing the Mahdi Scouts and its regular programs and summer camps. The report says a large volume of materials collected in Lebanon by the IDF "illustrates how members of Hizbullah's youth movement had been indoctrinated with the principles of the Iranian Islamic revolution and the personality cult of (Supreme Iranian leader) Ali Khamenei." Among the scouting literature discovered were books and magazines glorifying Khamenei as a hero worthy of emulation. The center also found a Mahdi Scouts calendar in which dates considered important to Hizbullah were highlighted. Dates marked for celebration in September, for example, include Imam Mahdi's birthday and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. According to the center report, when male Mahdi scouts turn 17 they make their way into Hizbullah's fighting ranks. The Mahdi Scouts calendar boasts more than 120 of the movement's members died during Hizbullah actions, including suicide bombings against Israeli targets. Many Western analysts fear the Shia belief in Mahdi's return is a driving force behind Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran is the primary sponsor of Hizbullah. Some contend Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be pursuing nuclear weapons in part to precipitate the final, Mahdi-led battle. In a speech in Tehran in November, Ahmadinejad reportedly said his main mission is to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." Ahmadinejad's cabinet reportedly has given USD 17 million to the Jamkaran mosque, site of a well at which Shia Muslims believe Mahdi disappeared over 1,000 years ago
Iran Will Acquire A Nuclear Bomb Sept. 15….(Jerusalem Post) Iran will not be deterred from its nuclear program and will ultimately reach a nuclear capability, Giora Eiland, the recently retired head of Israel's National Security Council, has told The Jerusalem Post, in an assessment immediately refuted by the Prime Minister's Office. "The political process vis-a-vis Iran has more or less exhausted itself," Eiland said in an interview this week. "The efforts being made now to try and reach some kind of agreement with the Iranians are really the final efforts. In my opinion, they will fail." Speaking with the Post in his office at the council, where he is still working as he completes a transition period after stepping down as its head, Eiland added: "In the end, Iran will attain a nuclear capability. The international opportunities of a few years ago were not exploited, and today it's too late. I don't regard the international diplomatic processes unfolding now as being strong enough to stop them, or even to temporarily suspend them." But Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that Olmert "doesn't accept this assessment." "The prime minister doesn't see this [a nuclear Iran] as a given," she said. "He doesn't accept this assessment as fact, but feels that Iran can still be deterred." Eisin stressed that Olmert believes that the issue is a world problem, and that Israel "sees that the US is not about to back down." In recent months there have been different assessments at the highest levels of Israel's policy making pyramid regarding whether US President George W. Bush would take military action against Iran to stop its nuclear march, with some saying he is too weak politically and over-extended in Iraq and Afghanistan to take such a dramatic step, and others arguing that he would not want to leave office with a nuclear Iran as one of his legacies to the world. Traces of Eiland's comments about the inevitability of a nuclear Iran were evident in a statement Vice Premier Shimon Peres made at a 9/11 memorial service earlier in the week. "Even if Iran gets the nuclear bomb, and I hope that it doesn't, we shall develop and can develop better technology to face them," Peres said. This was the first time a senior Israeli official had publicly acknowledged that Israel might have to adapt to a reality where Iran has nuclear capabilities. Eiland said that Israel, facing a nuclear Iran, would have "two terrible options." One is to do nothing militarily, which is dangerous. And the other is to do something, which is dangerous. It is a very grave dilemma." If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the next supreme leader of his country, and it attained a nuclear capability, "that's a problematic combination," Eiland said dryly. For now, he stressed, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, reports to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." (In a briefer conversation with the Post three weeks ago, Eiland had warned that Ahmadinejad, if he ever became the supreme decision maker, would "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel.") Eiland said Israel should not blame itself "too much" for the anticipated failure of the effort to thwart Iran. Israel has not been at the center of the diplomatic struggle, although "maybe we could have tugged at the sleeves of those who were making decisions" with suggestions for wiser policies, he said. Specifically, he faulted the United States with a "double mistake" that had prevented a possible political solution. On the one hand, he said, Washington "is not giving any credibility to the notion that it would weigh military action. Nobody takes such a notion seriously. It is not carrying out activities that would suggest any such readiness. So the stick is not big enough. "On the other hand it is not prepared to offer a bigger carrot, in the form of a dramatic change in policy on Iran, to say that 'We'll speak directly to you.'" Direct US engagement "might make an impression on the Iranians. But the US is ideologically opposed to doing this. "So the carrot is small and the stick is small, and there's no reason for the Iranians to be persuaded to change course.
Bush: US Committed to Israel's Security
Sept. 14….(YNET) President George W. Bush said during a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the White House that he "is deeply committed to Israel's security." American sources who attended the meeting reported that talks focused on Iran's nuclear threat. Livni refused to comment on the meeting but aides said Livni discussed a series of issues with her host in a meeting that was described as "warm." Senior administration officials lately relayed similar messages to other Israeli officials who visited Washington. After talks with Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington last week, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu said the Bush administration is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Washington is discussing with world powers a draft for a United Nations resolution calling for sanctions on Iran over its defiance of a Security Council deadline to halt uranium enrichment. In talks with Livni on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US is working with Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and China on a draft resolution calling for the imposition of sanctions against Iran. American officials said Bush and Livni also discussed an initiative by Arab states to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Arab countries are pushing for a debate on the Middle East at the Security Council. US officials said the initiative hit a dead end. Livni said peace talks should be based on the road map peace plan, which was endorsed by the Quartet, the US, UN, Russia and the EU.
UN’s IAEA: US Lying About Iran's Nuclear Program Sept. 14….(Ha
Aretz) UN inspectors have protested to the
US government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear
work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter
obtained by Reuters. The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel
program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own
intelligence assessments have determined. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said:
"We felt obliged to put the record straight with regard to the facts on what we
have reported on Iran. It's a matter of the integrity of the IAEA." The letter
said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at its pilot
centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas IAEA inspectors had
made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level usable for nuclear power
reactor fuel.
US Chaplain Convicted of Saying Prayers 'in Jesus' Name'
Sept. 14….(WND) A military jury today convicted a Navy chaplain of a misdemeanor count of disobeying his commanding officer for wearing his uniform while delivering a prayer "in Jesus' name" at an assembly in front of the White House. "But I had prior written permission to wear my uniform if it was a religious observance, so prayers are not a religious observance," Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt told WND after the military court-martial recessed for the night. "Therefore I disobeyed my commanding officer's order not to pray in uniform," he said. Klingenschmitt, who raised immediate concerns with this superiors when the Navy issued a new order that prayers could only be "non-sectarian," also has alleged he was punished for raising those concerns, and later notifying Congress and President Bush of the situation. Klingenschmitt told WND that his lawyer rested the case without calling any witnesses, one of whom was scheduled to be former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, because of the Biblical injunction in Isaiah, where the prophecy about Jesus says he "was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth." Klingenschmitt told WND that there is an appeal process that will be pursued, up to the US Supreme Court if needed. The five-officer military jury is scheduled to return to work on Thursday to determine what punishment, if any, Klingenschmitt should receive. "I do respect the verdict of my peers. I am a humble man and respect the authority of the jury. I do not respect the authority of the military judge who declared worshipping in public is not the same as public worship," he said. Judge Moore, who lost his own job over his refusal to obey a federal judge's order that conflicted with constitutional authority and remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building, had been set to testifying about the White House assembly where he and Klingenschmitt were. Moore, also a columnist for WND, said "When the Legislature of Indiana or a chaplain in the Navy, Army or Air Force says a prayer in the name of Jesus, no religion is being established and no religious freedom is abused. On the contrary, the religious freedom enjoyed by all our people is being exercised in the finest American tradition." Klingenschmitt had pleaded not guilty yesterday. As WND reported, Klingenschmitt was at the White House March 30 with Moore to protest Navy policy requiring non-sectarian prayers outside of worship services. Klingenschmitt had been ordered not to wear his uniform during media appearances without permission, unless he was conducting a "bona fide worship service." The chaplain, ordained in the Evangelical Episcopal Church, has said the March 30 event qualified. Klingenschmitt could forfeit two-thirds of his pay per month for one year and receive a reprimand as punishment for praying in Jesus name. The chaplain also is promoting a bill in Congress he says aims to overrule a policy passed by the secretary of the Navy that requires non-sectarian prayers. The Navy secretary, Klingenschmitt said, is "deliberately censoring the content of our prayers." This court martial, he said, was over that new Navy policy. The judge, refusing Klingenschmitt's motion earlier this month to drop the case, concluded chaplains are protected only inside the chapel on Sunday morning. If ordered not to worship in public, and they disobey, chaplains can be punished at a criminal court martial. "There is no more fundamental right than the inalienable right to worship our creator, and I pray in Jesus name," Klingenschmitt said. "For any government official to require non-sectarian prayers is for him to enforce his government religion upon me, to censor exclude and punish me for my participation." Several dozen other chaplains also have joined in a civilian lawsuit that alleges the Navy hierarchy allows only those Christian ministers who advocate only non-sectarian blandishments to be promoted. Those with evangelical beliefs, they say, are routinely drummed from the Navy. Janet Folger, president of Faith2Action told WND she couldn't even express the horror of such an outcome. "If they can silence a chaplain, they'll come after you next," she told WND. "The Navy has ruled that chaplains have just one hour of freedom of religion on Sunday morning." Folger, the author of "The Criminalization of Christianity," said what is incomprehensible is that the judge concluded that public worship is not the same and worshipping in public. "While our soldiers fight for freedom abroad, our own chaplains are facing court martial for praying for them," said Folger. "Where does the Constitution say that freedom of religion is limited to one hour?"
Amnesty Int'l Decries Hezbollah Rockets on Israel Sept. 13….(AP) Hezbollah militants broke international law by firing thousands of rockets into Israel and killing dozens of civilians during the recent conflict with Israel, Amnesty International charged Thursday. The human rights group called for a United Nations inquiry into what it called war crimes by Hezbollah, as its report focused on the actions of the Lebanese militants during the 34-day conflict. Hezbollah launched nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel in July and August, killing at least 39 civilians. The firing of rockets into urban areas in northern Israel disregarded international laws that call for distinguishing between civilian and military targets, Amnesty said. "Targeting civilians is a war crime. There's no gray area," said Larry Cox, Amnesty's executive director in the United States. Although Hezbollah denies targeting Israeli civilians, it fired inaccurate rockets packed with thousands of metal ball bearings to maximize harm to noncombatants, Amnesty said. Hezbollah had no immediate comment Thursday on the Amnesty report. The report is Amnesty's most extensive condemnation of Hezbollah since the conflict began in July. It comes after Amnesty accused Israel of violating international law with indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon. Amnesty plans to publish additional reports studying whether Hezbollah contributed to civilian deaths in Lebanon by purposely hiding among civilians, said Nicole Choueiry, a spokesman for Amnesty in Britain. Israel and Lebanon reject the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands making any prosecution there unlikely.
Iran’s Khameni: Only US Withdrawal will Stabilize Iraq
FOJ Note: Notice how the Supreme Ayatollah leader refers to America’s presence in Iraq as being an “occupation.” Doesn’t that sound familiar, even like the devious political ploy used against Israel? Iran wants the US out of Iraq so that the Iranian Mullahocracy can expand its empire over Iraq through the utilization of Muqtada al Sadr’s 10,000-man Shiite Mahdi army. In truth the existence of the US military in Iraq was commissioned to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq, not to occupy the country, and to drive a geographical wedge between the terrorist perimeter around Israel and the outer circle of terrorist sponsoring states, like Iran that are seeking to expand the Shiite domain all the way from Teheran to Beirut, and from there on down to Jerusalem with the aid of Hamas. Ironically, the liberal democratic socialists within the American political system are unwittingly parodying the same Middle East policies as the chief nation of the Axis of Evil. Unfortunately, President Bush is blinded to the fact that democracy can not win the war against Middle Eastern based terrorism, as the flame of Liberty or democracy only flourishes in lands where people have had some exposure to the teachings of the Holy Bible. Sadly, the Middle East has been too long enslaved and bound to the teachings of Mohammad. Therefore, the majority of the people of Islamic lands will always prefer and elect leaders that brandish the sword against Israel, and the US. Thus, America’s point in war on terror truly is on the line in Iraq, and from a prophetical delineation, the prospects for an Iraq free from the shadows of Iranian fundamentalist Shiitism is a dream that is stretched.
Iraqi Prime Minister Asks Iran to Reign in Militants
US Weary of New Palestinian Unity Gov't
Sept. 13….(AP) The Bush administration expressed worry Tuesday that a Palestinian national unity government now in formation may not be ready to renounce terrorism or accept Israel's right to exist. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey also reiterated that unless those conditions are met, the Bush administration would not resume US aid to the Palestinian government. The skeptical comments came a day after the Hamas-led administration and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party said they would form a coalition government. In the past half-year international financial sanctions have crippled the Palestinian Authority's ability to pay its 165,000 employees. While all details on forming a new government are lacking, Casey said "from what we have seen so far we are certainly concerned" that it does not accept demands by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia that it renounce terrorism and violence, recognize Israel and accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. "Obviously, nothing can move forward until such time that there's a government in place that does meet that criteria," Casey said. Casey commended Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, for trying to break an impasse with the militant group Hamas and form a responsible government that could meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people. The United States provides humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but no direct aid to the Authority since Hamas took over. Western countries suspended aid when Hamas, which they consider to be a terror group, took over the Palestinian government earlier this year after an election victory. "We are continuing to be mindful of the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people," Casey said. The US government has provided $468 million in direct assistance to them this year, he said.
Netanyahu: Iran President More Dangerous Than Hitler Sept. 13….(YNET) Knesset member Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could be more dangerous than Adolf Hitler. Speaking at the sixth International Counter Terrorism Conference, organized by the Interdisciplinary Center's (IDC) Institute for Counter Terrorism, Netanyahu told the audience: "Al-Qaeda can't develop nuclear weapons, while the militant Shiite movement is galloping forward towards developing nuclear terror." He added: "Hitler went out on a world campaign first, and then tried to get nuclear weapons. Iran is trying to get nuclear arms first. Therefore from that perspective, it is much more dangerous." "Hitler was defeated because he could not develop weapons of mass destruction. But Iran stands close to developing nuclear weapons. Does the world understand? "International terrorism is a mistaken term, not because it doesn't exist, but because the problem is international militant Islam. That is the movement that operates terror on the international level, and that is the movement that is preparing the ultimate terror, nuclear terrorism," Netanyahu said. He warned that if international terrorism goes nuclear, it could turn "the terror we know today to something marginal." He described the "Iranian component" as the most "dangerous and fanatical component." Netanyahu added that Sunni al-Qaeda and Shiite Iran were "competing for the leadership of the combative Islamist movement, primarily in Iraq." He described the 9/11 attacks on New York, using "two fully fuelled passenger 150 ton aircrafts to smash into the Twin towers" as the "equivalent of a tactical small nuclear bomb. But no one questions that if they had nuclear weapons, al-Qaeda would have wiped out Manhattan, and wiped out a good portion of Washington." Describing the psychology of militant Islam as "pathological," Netanyahu said the difference between Islamism and communism was the willingness of Islamists to commit suicide, and their "love of death." While the Soviet Union in history backed away from self destruction, Netanyahu said, the West may now be facing a "suicidal regime" in the form of Iran, which is willing to sacrifice itself for its ideology. Recognizing the danger is the first step in dealing with it, he added. Professor Raymond Tanter, Founder of the Iran Policy Committee, expressed hope that the Iranian people and anti-regime movements would themselves topple the Iranian regime, which he branded as "fascist." "I think military action is highly problematic, diplomacy is failing, and sanctions won't work," Tanter said.
Report Exposes Deception of Hamas-PLO Unity Gov´t Sept. 13….(YNET) The motivation to form the new Palestinian government was to create a framework for the resumption of Western funding,” writes report co-author Itamar Marcus, who directs Palestinian Media Watch. “But the new government does not meet the minimal conditions that the funding countries have demanded: Hamas' recognition of Israel and the cessation of terror.” PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who succeeded Yassir Arafat in holding the title of “President of the Palestinian Authority,” and Hamas official Ismail Haniyah, who took the position of prime minister following Hamas’s trouncing of Abbas’s Fatah Party in the PA elections, issued a joint statement Monday that an agreement had been reached between the two movements. The agreement, which was announced in a Fatah-run newspaper, was hailed as a “unity agreement,” and was reported as such by Western news agencies. The PMW report points out that the driving motivation for the unity agreement is to renew international funding. “Renewed funding is seen not as a secondary benefit of the unity government, but as the driving force behind the agreement,” Marcus, writing with Barbara Crook, said. “Fatah seems to be hoping that Hamas statements that they do not recognize Israel and reserve the right to use terror will be ignored by the West.” Fatah is claiming that since past PA governments, including the new coalition, are “the result of the PLO” and therefore bound by agreements made by Yassir Arafat’s group in the past. President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reached an agreement to form a national unity government, which raises hope among the citizens for the ending of the international isolation and resumption of aid. Haniyeh said that the guidelines of any future political program will not hurt the legitimacy of the resistance [PA term for terror] while the Hamas movement said that it would not recognize Israel and that it had the right to continue the armed struggle against the Jewish state. This issue raises doubts whether the national unity government will fulfill the demands of the West for lifting the ban on aid to Palestinians. Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhari, told the French news agency, ‘There will be no recognition of the state of Israel by the movement. We want a Palestinian unity government based on Palestinian criteria and not foreign criteria. ”The Fatah-run Al-Quds newspaper the same day quoted Fatah Spokesman Mahir Miqdad, saying he “emphasized that the source of the authority for the Palestinian undertaking is the Palestine Liberation Organization, and that the government or any Palestinian parliament are the result of the PLO and from the agreements that the PLO had made." Interestingly enough, the PLO retains a policy that seeks to the same end goal as Hamas, but through different means. Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the PLO decided to adopt a three-stage strategy for Israel's destruction, outlined in the group’s 1974 Political Program, commonly known as the "Phased Plan." The plan was adopted at the 12th Session of the Palestinian National Council, held in Cairo on June 9, 1974, and states: * Through "armed struggle" (terrorism) an "independent combatant national authority" would be established over any territory that is "liberated" from Israeli rule. (Article 2) * To continue the struggle against Israel, using the territory of the national authority as a base of operations. (Article 4) * To provoke an all-out war in which Israel's Arab neighbors “liberate all Palestinian territory,” meaning the destruction of the State of Israel. Since the decision of the Palestinian National Council at its 12th meeting in 1974, the PLO has adopted the political solution of establishing a National Authority over any territory from which the occupation withdraws. The Oslo accord was a prelude to the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinian Authority will be a prelude to the Palestinian state which, in its turn, will be a prelude to the liberation of the entire Palestinian land.
Pope: Islamic 'Holy War' Against God's Nature (Pope Benedict, like many in today's "politically correct" world, sees the God of Israel and Islam's Allah as one and the same.) Sept. 13…. (NEWSMAX) Benedict XVI invited Muslims on Tuesday to join a dialogue of cultures based on the premise that the concept of an Islamic "holy war" is unreasonable and against God's nature. Pope Benedict said Christianity is tightly linked to reason and contrasted this view with those who believe in spreading their faith by the sword. In his lecture, the Pope quoted, among others, the 14th century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos who wrote that Mohammad had brought things "only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The Pope, who used the terms "jihad" and "holy war" in his lecture, added in his own words: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul". Benedict several times quoted Emperor Manuel's argument that spreading the faith through violence is unreasonable and that acting without reason, "logos" in the original Greek, was against God's nature. At the end of his lecture, the Pope again quoted Manuel and said: "It is to this great 'logos', to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures." Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Benedict used Emperor Manuel's views on Islam only to help explain the issue and not to condemn all of the Muslim religion as violent. We know that inside Islam there are many different positions, violent and non-violent," he said. "The Pope does not want to give an interpretation of Islam that is violent. Some Islamic leaders have denounced Muslim radicals for using violence, saying this perverts their faith, but a sect of extremists says the Koran commands them to use it. Last week, the Pope said no one had the right to use religion to justify terrorism and urged greater inter-religious dialogue to stop the cycle of hate and revenge from infecting future generations.
Annan Meets with Iran President Khatami
Rosie O’Donnell: Fundamentalist Christians Pose Islamofascist Threat Sept. 13….(WND) Rosie O'Donnell says "radical" Christians in America are just as much of a threat to world peace as the followers of radical Islam who piloted hijacked jetliners into New York's Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. O'Donnell, the newest face on ABC’s The View yesterday let her feelings fly after co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck noted that militant Islam provides a threat to free people. "Just a minute," she interrupted. "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state." She had been saying that America was attacked "not by a nation." Yet, she said, "And as a result of the attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people we invaded two countries and killed innocent people." A bewildered co-host, Joy Behar, protested that Christians are not threatening to impose mass murder on Americans. "There's that difference. This group is threatening to kill us," Behar said. And Hasselback, appearing surprised, said, "We are not bombing ourselves here in the country." "No, but we are bombing innocent people in other countries, O'Donnell said. The television show segment launched with O'Donnell reading from President George W. Bush's speech the previous night, where he expressed sorrow that the war on terror has been thrust on America, but also promising to finish it.
Palestinian Al-Aqsa Leader: Another 9/11 'On its Way' (American-trained leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in West Bank declares 'beginning of collapse' of US 'empire'; says wishes every day was September 11) Sept. 12….(WND) The September 11, 2001, terror attacks were the beginning of the collapse of the American empire, and it is only a question of time before the next "great big event" strikes the United States, a senior Palestinian terrorist leader who received American training warned during an interview with WorldNetDaily Tuesday. "The Americans even now are doing everything to bring our hostility and hatred to higher levels and bring us to wait impatiently for the next great big event," said Abu Muhammad, a senior leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. "They deserve one more coup of this kind (like 9/11), and I am sure it is only a question of time. September 11 was the beginning of the collapse of this empire of evil." The al-Aqsa Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, is responsible for scores of deadly shootings, hundreds of rocket attacks, and, together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, every suicide bombing inside Israel in the past two years. Abu Muhammad also is a member of the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Services, which has received training and weapons from the United States and Europe. Abu Muhammad, like many members of the Preventative Security Services, received their training from the CIA. Many al-Aqsa Brigades leaders also are members of Fatah's security services, including Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail. The US largely considers Fatah and its security branches to be "moderate." Abu Muhammad said he wished "every day was another 9/11." America, he declared, deserved the Sept. 11 attacks: "Our 19 heroes got the revenge of all the Muslims in the world and all the poor and exploited people and nations," he said. "Americans must know that their loved ones were killed because of the policies of their state and government." Abu Muhammad went on to claim the US supports the killing of Palestinians and Muslims throughout the world. The US-trained terror leader said he was "overwhelmed with joy" when he first heard the World Trade Center and Pentagon had been attacked. "I do not think that I ever lived moments of joy, happiness and great feelings of pride and honor like I felt when I saw the divine planes hitting the twin buildings," he said. "It was one of those moments that Allah appears and tells the believers, 'See I do not forget to punish the non-believers. Those who keep killing the Muslims and stealing their lands and their oil.” "September 11 was a great day and the first minutes after the people understood what happened, Palestinians went out into the streets and started distributing candies and started hugging one another," he said. "Everybody felt that Allah gave us a present and that history will never be the same because Islam finally got rid of all the handcuffs that restricted and prevented it to express itself and its capacities." Abu Muhammad warned another 9/11 is "on its way," because, he claimed, America failed to draw the "proper conclusions" from the mega-attack. "Instead of asking themselves the right questions about why did this happened, the Americans occupied Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "They intensified their support of the Zionists and seem not to understand that they are bringing their end about with their own hand. "In the Quran, it is written that the non-believers will destroy their homelands and their houses with their own hands." Still Abu Muhammad conceded that since the 9/11 attacks, the position of Islamists has been damaged. "There is no doubt that for the moment it seems the attacks harmed the situation of the Arab and the Islamic world," he said. "America is occupying Arabic and Islamic states because of the attacks that gave the Americans the excuses to deepen its control on the Arab and Islamic world and its oil. "But on the other hand, the Americans are in a very grave situation in Iraq, in Afghanistan and their war against what they call terror. The democratization campaigns that they are leading are for the moment bringing opposite results. We are sure that Allah will help us defeat the Americans and collapse the American empire.”
Terrorists Storm US embassy in Damascus
America: Please Wake Up!
US to Arm, Train Lebanese Army Sept. 11….(YNET) The United States will arm and train the Lebanese army so that it can deal with Hizbullah and elements supported by Syria. Israel has agreed in principle to the plan, it was reported. The Lebanese army is expected to undergo a significant change in the coming months. Moreover, the American government has decided to offer the Lebanese government headed by Fouad Siniora an overall military aid program. As part of the plan, instructors from the US army will arrive in Lebanon in order to train Lebanese army units. The American plan includes a number of stages: At the first stage, military equipment worth USD 30 million will be sent to Lebanon, including military vehicles and communication devices. The plan was presented last week by the White House's National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoys, Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turjeman, who visited Washington. The Americans explained to the Israelis that efforts must be exerted to strengthen Siniora's government opposite Hizbullah and other elements in Lebanon supported by Syria. (FOJ Note: America comes up with this plan although President Siniora openly supported hizbullah during the war) The Israelis expressed their agreement in principle to the US plan to equip and train the Lebanese army, but requested that the Americans guarantee that the weapons do not reach Hizbullah. Another issue which was discussed by the prime minister's representatives in the American capital was related to the attitude toward Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Americans rejected out of hand the possibility that Israel would hold talks of any kind with Assad, who according to senior US officials "has been completely taken hostage by the Iranians." US government officials claimed that Syria was serving as a front base for Iran to carry out terror attacks against American targets in Iraq and against moderate elements in Lebanon. In addition, according to the Americans, Syria is encouraging and assisting Palestinian terror organizations operating from Damascus. The Israelis calmed their interlocutors down and told them that Olmert had no plans to signal Syria that he would like to enter negotiations.
Fatah and Hamas to Marry in National Unity Governemnt
Russia Moving Quickly to Engage Itself in Mid-east Peace Formula
Blair Bobbles the Ball in War on Terror Sept. 11…..(FOJ) For all of his admirable support in assisting the US in the war on terror in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to misunderstand the thrust of our enemies strategy. Mr. Blair has always seen a diplomatic need to resolve the Israeli-Arab Conflict, but he has never equated the Palestinian terrorists as being accomplices of the terrorist enemies that America and the UK face around the world. Oh yeah, peace in Palestine might seem to be just the antidote for world peace, but that doesn’t mean you comply with one terrorist agenda while fighting another. Britain has lost her lofty place in the world because she long ago abandoned Israel’s rights to the Promised Land, and Mr. Blair thinks America should compromise on that issue also. But the day that America appease Israel’s enemies at the expense of Israel, then we might as well expect to see an American President kissing Arafat’s grave and laying a wreath there.
'Syria Will Form Own Hezbollah' (Israeli intel chief says Damascus seeking to copy Lebanese group) Sept. 11….(WND) Syria is considering forming its own Hezbollah-like guerrilla organization to fight Israel in hopes of "liberating" the Golan Heights, the chief of intelligence for the Israeli Defense Forces announced yesterday. Speaking at a government meeting, the IDF's Major General Amos Yadlin said Syria is in the initial stages of developing the concept for a copycat Hezbollah group, which he said would launch attacks aimed at pressuring Israel into vacating the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights borders Israel, Syria and Lebanon and is claimed by Damascus. Yadlin's announcement comes one month after WND broke the story that following its estimation Hezbollah was victorious during military confrontations with the Jewish state, Syria is in the process of forming what an official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath Party called the Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a new "resistance" group that models itself after Hezbollah. The official told WND the Front will attempt attacks to force Israel from the Golan. Military officials here have long maintained returning the Golan Heights to Syria would grant Damascus the ability to mount an effective ground invasion of the Jewish state. The territory looks down on major Israeli and Syrian population centers. The Baath party official told WND Syria learned from Hezbollah's military campaign against Israel the past month that "fighting" is more effective than peace negotiations with regard to gaining territory. Hezbollah claims its goal is to liberate the Shebaa Farms, a small, 125-square-mile bloc situated between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The cease-fire resolution accepted by Israel to end its military campaign in Lebanon calls for negotiations leading to Israel's relinquishing of the Shebaa Farms.
Khatami: Hezbollah a 'Symbol of Arab Resistance' Sept. 11….(AP) Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said Sunday Hezbollah was a symbol of Arab resistance (not a terrorist group) and that groups or nations fighting oppression could not be equated with terrorists. Khatami said there was a difference between those who "strive for the territorial integrity of a country and those who kill only to kill." His comments, through an interpreter, came in reply to a student question after he delivered a speech at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He called Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in Lebanon this summer and is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, "a symbol of Arabic resistance." Washington has accused Iran of arming Hezbollah guerrillas. Hezbollah was founded in 1982 and waged a long guerrilla war to evict Israeli forces from Lebanon. Its recent fighting with Israel was sparked after the group kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Khatami, a cleric who was Iran's president from 1997 to 2005 and was considered a reformist, also denied Iran financed terrorist groups, contradicting assertions by the United States. Replying to the same student, who repeated allegations that Khatami's government had financed terrorists, Khatami replied: "Are you sure I gave hundreds of millions in aid to terrorists? I assure you this has not happened and will not happen." It was not clear if Khatami was referring just to his own government. He did not mention what policies his hard-line successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, might have toward Hezbollah. The speech in Cambridge on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, marked the end of a controversial five-city visit that included stops in Washington and New York. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did not allow state police to escort Khatami as police would normally do, after calling his planned speech at Harvard "propaganda." About 200 protesters crowded outside the Kennedy School and one child held a sign with a picture of New York's World Trade Center, destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, and "Remember This" written underneath. President Bush has called Iran part of an "axis of evil" but said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal his administration issued Khatami a visa to travel in the United States because he wanted to hear his views. Khatami is the highest-ranking Iranian to visit Washington since the United States cut diplomatic ties after student radicals held 52 Americans hostage during the 1979 revolution.
Clinton Dropped the Ball on Bin Laden Sept. 11….(NEWSMAX) Clinton denies it now, but he once admitted he passed up an opportunity to extradite Osama bin Laden. And NewsMax has the former President making the claim on audiotape. Clinton's comments and his actions relating to American efforts to capture bin Laden have taken on renewed interest because of claims made in a new ABC movie, the "Path to 9/11," that suggests Clinton dropped the ball during his presidency. Clinton has also angrily denied claims the Monica Lewinsky scandal drew his attention away from dealing with national security matters like capturing bin Laden. During a February 2002 speech, Clinton explained that he turned down an offer from Sudan for bin Laden's extradition to the US, saying, "At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him." But that wasn't exactly true. By 1996, the 9/11 mastermind had already been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing by prosecutors in New York. 9/11 Commissioner and former Sen. Bob Kerrey said that Clinton told the Commission during his private interview that reports of his comments to the LIA were based on "a misquote." During his interview with the 9/11 Commission, Clinton was accompanied by longtime aide and former White House counsel Bruce Lindsey, along with former national security advisor Sandy Berger, who insisted in sworn testimony before Congress in Sept. 2002 that there was never any offer from Sudanese officials to turn over bin Laden to the US. But other evidence suggests the Clinton administration did not take advantage of offers to get bin Laden, and that the Monica Lewinsky scandal was exploding during this time period. At least two offers from the government of Sudan to arrest Osama bin Laden and turn him over to the US were rebuffed by the Clinton administration in February and March of 1996, a period of time when the former president's attention was distracted by his intensifying relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. One of the offers took place during a secret meeting in Washington, the same day Clinton was meeting with Lewinsky in the White House just miles away. On Feb. 6, 1996, then-US Ambassador to the Sudan Tim Carney met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Osman Mohammed Taha at Taha's home in the capital city of Khartoum. The meeting took place just a half mile from bin Laden's residence at the time, according to Richard Miniter's book "Losing bin Laden." During the meeting, Carney reminded the Sudanese official that Washington was increasingly nervous about the presence of bin Laden in Sudan, reports Miniter. Foreign Minister Taha countered by saying that Sudan was very concerned about its poor relationship with the US. Then came the bombshell offer: "If you want bin Laden, we will give you bin Laden," Foreign Minister Taha told Ambassador Carney. Still, with the extraordinarily fortuitous offer on the table, back in Washington President Clinton had other things on his mind. A timeline of events chronicled in the Starr Report shows that during the period of late January through March 1996, Mr. Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky was then at its most intense. On Feb. 4, 1996, for instance, two days before Ambassador Carney's key meeting with the Sudanese Foreign Minister, the president was focused not on Osama bin Laden, but instead on the 23-year-old White House intern. Their rendezvous that day included a sexual encounter followed by a leisurely chat between Clinton and Lewinsky, as the two "sat and talked afterward for about 45 minutes," according to the Starr Report. Later in the afternoon that same day, as Sudanese officials weighed their decision to offer bin Laden to the US, Clinton found time to call Lewinsky "to say he had enjoyed their time together." If there were any calls from Clinton to the State Department or Khartoum that day, the records have yet to surface in published reports. The Feb. 4 encounter with Lewinsky followed a period of intense contact detailed in the Starr report in interviews with the former White House intern, including a sexual encounter on Jan. 6, 1996, several sessions of phone sex during the week of Jan. 14 - 21, and another sexual encounter on Jan. 21. Sudan's offer to the US for bin Laden's extradition remained on the table for at least a month, and was reiterated by Sudanese officials who traveled to Washington as late as March 10, 1996. On instructions from its president, the government of Sudan agreed to arrest bin Laden and hand him over to US law enforcement at a time and place of the Clinton administration's choosing. "Where should we send him?" Erwa asked the CIA representative. In his 2002 speech President Clinton has acknowledged being fully briefed on the Sudanese efforts to turn over the 9/11 mastermind, admitting that he made the final decision to turn the offer down. As chronicled in the Starr report, however, Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky proved to be a growing distraction around this time. On April 7, 1996, Monica Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon. Around the same time, the administration's hunt for bin Laden finally seemed to begin in earnest. Just weeks after Clinton spurned Sudan's bin Laden offer, for instance, the CIA created a separate operational unit dedicated to tracking down bin Laden in Sudan. But it happened too late to capture the 9/11 mastermind. On May 18, 1996, bin Laden boarded a chartered plane in Khartoum with his wives, children, some 150 al-Qaida jihadists and a cache of arms, and flew off to Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Olmert In a Serious Breach with Washington
Democracy and Intelligence, the Two Big Losers in War on Terror Sept. 11….(DEBKAfile Special Analysis for 9/11 Anniversary) The question asked often in the articles, analyses and programs marking the 5th anniversary of the attacks on New York’s Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington is: Why has al Qaeda never launched another attack in America on the same scale? There are plenty of answers: a homeland security department was created, intelligence services are better coordinated within the US system and with outside agencies; some even say there are no Muslim terrorists in the United States, or that the numbers of those still at large outside America have been pared down and disabled by the global war on terror. But the true explanation is to be found in the modus operandi of al Qaeda and its fellow Islamic terrorist organizations, which consists mainly of these elements: 1. The element of time – or patience: Al Qaeda and its regional jihadist affiliates in the Far East, the Middle East and the Europe-North Africa branch set their clocks according to a time system quite unrelated to that of the US or intelligence, or for that matter any military or terrorist outfit geared to the principle of instantaneous cause and effect. They have all the time in the world and endless patience, because their operational tempo is dictated by the tenets of their brand of fundamentalist Islam. It took al Qaeda two years from the planning stage in early 1991until implementation in February 1993 to execute its first attack on the Twin Towers of New York. Since the targeted buildings were left standing with “only” six people killed and some 1,000 injured, Al Qaeda judged the operation a failure. There and then, its master planners began plotting the next attack, which was finally executed eight years later on Sept. 11, 2001. Similarly, in 1994-95, al Qaeda operative Ramzi Yousef failed to carry out a plot to hijack 12 airliners taking off from different departure points in Asia and supposed to blow up over American cities. A New York district court sentenced him in 1998 to 240 years solitary confinement. Yet the plot was not abandoned. Al Qaeda patiently assembly a new scheme and was ready to put it into practice 13 years later. In July 2006, British security authorities discovered a plot to hijack 6-10 American airliners from British airports and explode them over American cities. What this means is that al Qaeda will keep on trying, however long it takes: time is no object. Notwithstanding American intelligence and counter-terror achievements in the war on terror say somewhere in the world an al Qaeda team or teams are putting together a horrendous terrorist attack for execution in the United States, Europe or Israel, which may take one year, 5 years or twenty to perpetrate. For two years, Osama bin Laden has staked huge resources in generating violence, misery and untold death in Iraq because he regards this campaign as the ultimate assault on the United States and all it stand for. It took him a while to decide on this high-stake venture. In the early part of the war from April to July 2003, he pondered deeply the pros and cons of moving Iraq to center-stage of the al Qaeda confrontation with America. It entailed his giving up direct command of his fighting forces on the ground and placing them under the direct command of Johnny-come-lately Abu Musab al Zarqawi, an outsider to the band which founded, fashioned and formed the sinews of al Qaeda. Bin Laden saw that Zarqawi would need a helping hand to assemble a winning team. In the second half of 2004, he ordered a worldwide recruitment campaign to bring young jihadis for Iraq, exactly as twenty years before, he spent Saudi and CIA funds on raising an army of young Muslim zealots to drive the Red Army out of Afghanistan. So fixated was bin Laden on the Iraqi front against the US army, that he was prepared to defend Zarqawi and his methods against long-time companions like his No. 2, the Egyptian Jihad Islami leader Ayman Zahahiri. After the Americans killed Zarqawi last June, he counted up his achievements as commander of al Qaeda in Iraq with its affiliates, chiefly Ansar al Islam and Ansar Sunna. Of the 2,165 American soldiers who died in combat from the start of the Iraq war until Sept. 9, 2006, al Qaeda and its affiliates were responsible for about 1,000 deaths. Yet most Americans separate the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where Americans are under constant assault from al Qaeda from their own immediate reality. The main issue here is not the number of casualties but the fact that it took the US Army three years to eliminate Zarqawi, three critical years which finally made the Iraq war unwinnable. By now, the level and intensity of terror in Iraq are such that the US army is not only incapable of gaining victory but even of curbing the Iraqi insurgency. American forces no longer control large swatches of the country, and that applies even more to the New Iraqi Army. And shortly before his death, Zarqawi managed to kindle the flames of sectarian civil war. In no time, the religious violence raging between Sunni and Shiite Muslims wiped out the last slim chance of establishing in Baghdad a stable federal regime. In the long term, the Shiite-Sunni dissent will have a far-reaching impact on the internal cohesion of the entire Muslim world. In sum, it may be said that George W. Bush’s democratic ideal, the fountainhead of his worldview and policy, has not thus far gained the upper hand over al Qaeda’s fundamentalist Islamic- terrorist creed; quite the reverse. Islamist terrorist movements have learned from the Iraqi model to use democracy and President Bush’s New Middle East vision as leverage to the seats of power in their countries. The ballot box gives their violent, coercive methods the stamp of legitimacy. The Palestinian Hamas is one such example; the Lebanese Hizballah another.
Al-Qaeda: Israel's 9-11 Lies Ahead Sept. 11….(DEBKA) The global war to bring all nations into submission to Allah will continue, and Israel is now at the top of the list of Al Qaeda’s jihad targets. This is according to the Islamic organization’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, who left his chilling message on a short film released Monday to coincide with the fifth anniversary of their attack on the mainland United States. As relatives of the victims of 9-11 gathered at Ground Zero in New York to, in trembling voices, read out and remember the names of their loved ones, the message broadcast over Al Qaeda’s website was that that horrific event was only a precursor to what lay ahead, and that Israel was next in line. According to Israeli intelligence organizations, Al Qaeda has been working to set up cells in Gaza, the strip of land abandoned to Palestinian terror groups Fatah, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad by Israel a year ago. Osama Bin Laden’s group is also believed to have plans to spread its terror tentacles into Palestinian Authority areas in Samaria and Judea. Analysts predict that, should Israel also “disengage” from those areas known to the world as the “West Bank,” Al Qaeda and the Iranian-supported Hamas and Hizb’allah organizations will quickly set up shop in “Palestine,” just minutes from Israel’s cities and towns. Although much, often bloody enmity rages between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, both streams converge when it comes to their hatred of Israel and their belief that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map of the Middle East. Neither is this hatred restricted to the so-called fundamentalist members of that religion. All devout Muslims are taught that Islam will ultimately dominate the world, and that Christians and Jews must be forced to submit to Allah, or die.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 10
Iran Resumed Weapons Airlift to Hizballah via Beirut Sept. 9….(DEBKA) Iran’s first post-blockade arms flight departed Dubai Friday, Sept. 8, to test the ground at Beirut international airport for Israeli air force or UN reactions. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the forbidden goods were unloaded and sailed through the airport unhindered. Tehran therefore determined to send two further bulk consignments in the next 48 hours aboard commercial flights from the Persian Gulf. Our sources report the arms crates listed were on the documents as "computer equipment. Handle with care." They were offloaded onto trucks which drove in convoy to Hizballah headquarters in Baalbek. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, determined to end Israel’s air blockade on Lebanon, promised solemnly that UN monitors would control incoming passengers and goods at Beirut airport. But he failed to make the Siniora government follow through on this pledge. The Lebanese prime minister immediately barred the airport to UN inspections. The five German air monitors agreed on were only allowed to establish a checkpoint for controlling arms smuggling at a distance of one kilometer from the international airport. DEBKAfile reports they are standing idle because the trucks carrying forbidden cargoes are able leave the airfield and bypass their checkpoint by alternative routes. At the same time, DEBKAfile’s diplomatic sources report the Israeli government and the UN are colluding to present the expanded UNIFIL project as a big success and a satisfactory formula for enabling Israeli troops to quit Lebanon and fully implementing UN resolution 1701. In actual fact, the UN deployment by land and sea does nothing to curtail Hizballah’s recovery and rearming. Its only achievement thus far is the acceleration of Israel’s disengagement from the Lebanon scene empty-handed. Our military sources disclose that Iran is sending Hizballah fresh supplies of anti-tank weapons and for the first time a large quantity of anti-air missiles. The war materiel is coming in by land, sea and air. The promised Italian, French and Greek rival presence, on the strength of which Israel lifted its air blockade, has been pushed by the Lebanese government out to sea and restricted to a 12-km radius from the coast. The European warships can keep an eye on big freighters approaching Lebanese ports, but cannot keep track of the small vessels reaching Lebanon ports from the northern Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia. That is where Iranian cargo vessels have been unloading large quantities of arms for Hizballah outside the European fleets’ limits in the last two weeks. Furthermore, Friday, as soon as Israel was persuaded to lift its sea blockade, three Lebanese and Syrian ships crammed with arms for Hizballah departed the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli and after a short voyage hugging the Lebanese coast put into the southern Lebanese port of Sidon, where willing Hizballah hands unloaded their cargo. On land, the Lebanese-Syrian border is wide open. Three or four arms truck convoys cross into Lebanon every day.
President Bush, Jerusalem is Calling! Sept. 9….(Harry Weber) In recent days the government of El Salvador declared that it has decided to follow in the footsteps of its neighbor, Costa Rica, and move its embassy in Israel from Israel's capital, Jerusalem, to Tel Aviv. El Salvador's decision left the Holy City without even one nation willing to declare, by deed, that it supports the right of the people of Israel, like every other people on the face of the earth, to decide for themselves where in their country to locate their capital city, without pressure from outside forces. On the surface of the matter, it would appear that the world has truly gone mad with irrationalism in its inexplicable compliance with Moslem hatred for Israel and the Jews. For with the exception of the Moslem states and their oil lackies, no one openly espouses the position that Israel is not entitled to decide where to locate its capital. Moreover, no one, except the rejectionist Moslem coalition, denies that the Western portion of Jerusalem, unlike the eastern portion that was annexed after Israel's triumphant victory over its neighbors in the Six Day War, is an integral part of the Jewish state, territory eligible to house all the world's embassies in Israel. So why in the world are all, I repeat, all the planet's states kowtowing to the Arab line that not even Western Jerusalem can ever be Israel's capital? The answer is clear: The price of oil is hovering around $70 a barrel, versus around $40 a mere year and a half ago, and the Arab world controls a hefty portion of the world's oil reserves. Yet, despite all the seemingly obvious geopolitical interests in not angering the ever-intolerant, anti-West Moslem Mob, don't the Western states realize that in an ever interdependent globally interconnected world, the Arabs need the West at least as much as the West needs their oil? When will Arab blackmail, oilmail, end? The West's Pavlovian capitulation to Arab demands that it deprive Israel of its right to conduct its diplomatic contacts in its capital city, and that it deny Israel the land granted to it by the One Source (The Bible) that all mankind reads and believes was written and/or inspired by God Himself, is the post World War II equivalent to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s. The only head of state in the world who understands that 2006 is comparable to 1936, that Ahmadinejad is today's Hitler, that Arab bullying and terrorism is taken out of Hitler's playbook, but with jihad undertones, is President George W. Bush. He is the first US president in a long time to understand that America's business is not just business; that to stay in business America must redefine its interests to include the creation of a freer world, a world without that peculiarly Moslem export, terrorism, mass murder and global religious intimidation. Mr. Bush got it right after 9/11. However, it has taken the US' "allies" five long years, and they still don't see the handwriting on the wall, that Iran and Al Qaeda and Hizbollah, have declared World War III on the West! What will it take for Spain, Britain, France and the rest of the World War II shell-shocked states to recover from that trauma and its resultant pacifism, and take up arms against the new menace that threatens their way of life, no, their very lives? In the war against Moslem arm-twisting and Moslem terror a small-big step is to tell them: Israel is here to stay! And Jerusalem is firstly Israel's eternal capital, and secondly, the Holy City of the world. Jerusalem the Holy will be shamed no more. Nothing would be more symbolic of the West's resolve against Moslem aggression than the firm declaration of that time-honored truth, that Jerusalem and Israel are one, forever. Therefore, President Bush should immediately make good on his promise before his first election as president, to move the US embassy to Israel's capital. Nothing will do more to send the message to Arab blackmailers, terrorists and would-be jihadists that the leader of the West will not kowtow to their demands anymore. This will greatly reinforce the message throughout the world that the US stands of freedom, justice, morality, and the word of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus. And Jerusalem shall no longer be like a mother shamed, whose children have deserted her. Mr. President, please keep your promise and move your embassy to the Holy City. Do it for your place in history, for the sake of history, and for the sake of a better future for all men of good will. Do it for the justice and peace of Jerusalem.
Khatami Speaks in Washington National Cathedral Sept. 8….(World Net Daily) (Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami yesterday defended his country's nuclear program and rejected suggestions that freedom and human rights in Iran had deteriorated under his hard-line successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.)
Mr. Khatami, who is considered by some to be a moderate in Iran's political spectrum, told reporters at the Washington National Cathedral shortly before delivering a speech on "A dialogue of civilizations" that Iran's nuclear effort is peaceful and that the world should focus on the atomic arsenals of Israel and other states before criticizing Iran. At the press conference, Mr. Khatami said Iran could discuss suspending its nuclear program once talks with the West had begun. After meeting with reporters he addressed an audience of about 1,200 people at the cathedral. That also was a paraphrase of the official Iranian position that there should be talks without preconditions. Mr. Khatami appeared to be warning the United States against using force against Iran, saying this would never resolve the standoff over Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran would not give up its nuclear program in the face of outside pressure, he said. "We must eliminate the language for the dialogue to be successful." Dressed in a full-length black robe and black turban, Mr. Khatami said Iran's political system should not be judged by the standards of established Western democracies because the United States' own human rights record is not perfect. "Iran has its problems, but they are not greater than the violations of human rights we saw at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo," he said. As Mr. Khatami spoke, a crowd of about 50 demonstrators gathered across the street from the cathedral, waving US and Iranian flags and demanding freedom for the Iranian people. In Berlin, meanwhile, the United States and five other countries remained deadlocked in negotiations over whether to punish Iran for continuing its nuclear program in defiance of the UN Security Council. Mr. Khatami acknowledged that his two-week American tour had been criticized by religious hard-liners in Iran, but he said he did not think that Iran had regressed under Mr. Ahmadinejad. "I don't think things have reversed," he said. "Of course their interpretation may be different than mine, but on women and youth, the new president has said things that are very hopeful." Mr. Ahmadinejad has enforced dress codes requiring that women be dressed in black or dark blue Islamic garb from head to toe and has begun a campaign to purge liberal and secular professors from the nation's universities. Mr. Khatami's successor has also called for Israel's destruction. Mr. Khatami spoke in Farsi, the official language of Iran, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter. He began with a short statement, in which he praised Jesus and Muhammad as great prophets. He then took questions from reporters who packed the southeast section of the cathedral nave. He spoke against the backdrop of a banner proclaiming "My house shall be called the house of prayer for all people." (Isaiah 56:7) The State Department has said Mr. Khatami's visit is a private one, and that no US officials will meet him while he is here. Department spokesman Sean McCormack said US officials hope Mr. Khatami will benefit from contacts with private US groups, but said there was no change in the Bush administration's stance opposing Iran's Islamic regime. But Iranian exiles and dissidents who had been jailed and tortured held a press briefing to condemn Mr. Khatami's visit and the administration's decision to issue the former president a visa and provide at no cost State Department security protection during his two-week US stay. Reza Pahlavi, son of the late shah who was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, said that despite Mr. Khatami's image as a "moderate," he has been a critical part of the "clerical dictatorship that holds our country hostage." Religious minorities in Iran were harshly persecuted under Mr. Khatami, Mr. Pahlavi said. "Regardless of his smiling rhetoric, the true nature of the regime is far different from what Khatami wants us to believe." Rep. Brad Sherman, California Democrat, said the State Department listed Iran as the world's top state sponsor of terrorism for all eight years of Mr. Khatami's administration, which ended last year. With the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks looming, "it is an insult to those who died that day that American taxpayer money is being used to fund a terrorism promotion tour," Mr. Sherman said. Mr. Khatami spoke earlier in the day at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and will speak Sunday at Harvard University, where critics have also attacked the decision to allow him to speak. In earlier stops in Chicago and New York, the ex-Iranian president sharply criticized what he called "aggressive" US policies in the Mideast, but also appealed for better understanding between the Muslim world and the West.
Nasrallah Prefers Olmert Remain Prime Minister (Hizbullah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says he hopes Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will remain in office.) Sept. 8….(Arutz) If we have to choose between a foolish prime minister and another who is strong and capable, we prefer that the fool remain,” Hezbollah leader Nasrallah told the Lebanese Al-Safir newspaper Tuesday. Nasrallah made the comments when asked about the prime minister’s recent claims, themselves based on Nasrallah’s statements, that Israel had won the war. "I don't mind that Olmert is benefiting from my statements that we did not expect Israel’s response,” Nasrallah said. “Olmert says he achieved something because he put me in a bunker. All his objectives in the war amounted only to my being in a bunker.” Nasrallah said that Hizbullah will remain fully armed, retaining its thousands of missiles for use against Israel in the future. "They will be used only when there is a wide-scale military assault on Lebanon," he said. Nasrallah added, though, that the group may attack Israeli positions in the Har Dov (Shaba Farms) region at any time. "We are coming out of a war now and are not in a hurry to carry out operations at the Shaba Farms, but this is our right and nobody can give the Israelis any security guarantees," Nasrallah said. Both the United Nations troops and Lebanese army have made it clear that they will not disarm Hizbullah. It remains to be seen whether international troops will act to prevent the transport of weapons and supplies to the group by sea and air once Israel’s blockade is lifted Thursday afternoon. UN Chief Kofi Annan says that the UNIFIL peacekeeping force should number at least 5,000 troops within a week, in order to enable Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Jordan’s King Abdullah Issues Stark Warning About the Middle East (The world is "doomed," Jordan's King Abdullah II tells TIME, if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not solved by 2007) Sept. 8….(Time) Striding past ceremonial Circassian guards into a sitting room at Basman Palace, King Abdullah II is looking fresh and energetic, as if he has just come from another spin around town on his treasured Harley-Davidson. But his natural ebullience masked an uncharacteristic inner gloom that deepened this summer when the Middle East was plunged into yet another conflict with the Israeli-Hizballah war in Lebanon. As the 44-year-old monarch settled into a stuffed sofa for a 1-hour TIME interview for a story to appear in the coming week's magazine, he drew a dark picture of a region consumed by conflicts old and new, threatened by emerging Sunni-Shiite tensions and at risk of being completely destabilized if the US attacks Iran. "I believe the Lebanese war dramatically opened all our eyes to the fact that if we don't solve the Palestinian issue, the future looks pretty bleak for the Middle East," he said. "I'm one of the most optimistic people you'll come across. For the first time, I started becoming pessimistic towards the region." Without urgent diplomatic efforts that yield tangible results to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians, "I don't think there will ever be a Palestinian state," he said. "By 2007, if we don't see something that reassures all of us, the international community, the Israelis, the Arabs and the Palestinians--then I think we are doomed to another decade or decades of violence between Israelis and Arabs, which affects everybody." Abdullah seemed careful not to criticize Washington directly, but he declared his disappointment that "people around the world in a way just don't care anymore. There is a feeling I get in the international community, 'You know what, let the Israelis and Arabs have a go at each other.' Are we going to resign our region for another decade of violence, or are we going to put this to rest once and for all?" In Jordan's view, he said, "There needs to be some sort of Palestinian integral, geographic state, today and not tomorrow." But moderates pushing for a peaceful settlement, the King complained, have been "neutralized" because of the stagnation in Arab-Israeli negotiations. "I don't think people are taking us seriously," he said. "A lot of the moderate countries are feeling isolated. Today the street is saying, 'You know, we tried the peace process. We keep hoping that the Americans and the international community will step forward, we keep hoping that Israel will make a difference and reach out to the Arabs. They are only beginning to see that the only way you can get America's attention or Israel's attention is through confrontation." The King expressed concern that the region's troubles could multiply with the crises over Iraq and Iran. He expressed fears of civil war in Iraq "if it continues to spiral," and while voicing concern about Iran's influence, he cautioned against the thought of American military action to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. "I don't think the Middle East could afford another war," he said. "A war with Iran would sort of open a Pandora's Box and one that I don't think the Middle East would recover from."
Russian Diplomat Claims Lebanon a Warm-up for US-Iran Clash
Lavrov communicated a message to Olmert from leaders in Damascus, stating that Syria is interested in peace now more than ever. "People in Damascus don't want to continue the conflict. Everyone wants to sit around a negotiation table. We support Israel's complete right to peace and security. Events in the Middle East in the past decade show that the only way to achieve this is through peace," he said. "We are convinced that the Israeli blockade of Lebanon must be lifted and that its army must deploy in south Lebanon in order to allow the IDF to withdraw from there as quickly as possible. But we are also convinced that peace will only be reached with the help of an international committee, containing all parties in the conflict," Lavrov added.
Kofi Anan: The Worst UN Secretary General
Sept. 7….(Hal Lindsay) Even though the UN Security
Council passed a binding resolution ordering Iran to give up its nuclear
program, Kofi Annan says the best course of action is to do nothing. Has
Kofi found a new income source for his retirement to replace his Oil for
Food slush fund? In an interview published Tuesday, Kofi says the world
should NOT isolate Iran by imposing sanctions. How is that again? The UN
Security Council passed a binding resolution that gave Iran's
Ahmadinejad until August 31st to give up its nuclear enrichment program
or face sanctions. But after visiting Iran, Kofi told the Madrid daily
El Pais, "The international community should not isolate Iran." I'm
confused. What does "international sanctions" actually mean? If they
mean a visit from the UN Secretary General, followed by his public
endorsement, then every dictator in the world should stand in line to
have the Security Council pass a resolution against them. Annan told the
paper that confrontation with the Security Council "will not be in
Iran's favor or that of the region." Did somebody elect Kofi Annan King
of the World? What is the purpose of the Security Council, if Annan can
simply overrule it unilaterally? Iran insists its nuclear work is
peaceful, intended only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that
generate electricity. That is so lame as to be laughable. Iran is awash
in oil. It exports far more oil than it can use itself. Why would an
energy independent nation like Iran require nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes? It makes as much sense as buying a million dollar Formula One
race car and explaining it by saying one needs it to take the kids to
school. In short, it makes no sense at all. How does Kofi Annan see it?
In his interview following his meeting with Ahmadinejad, Kofi said, "The
world should count on Iran, not isolate it." Count on it for what? The
only promise that Iran has made that bears even a hint of sincerity its
its promise to wipe Israel from the map of the Middle East. Kofi Annan's
interference in the multiple Middle East crises is wrong on so many
levels it is hard to know where to start. A good place to start is with
his anti-Israeli perspective. Unlike most legitimate international
figures, Kofi Annan doesn't even pretend to disguise his hatred for the
Jewish state. Kofi paid lip service to Israel by gently reminding
Ahmadinejad, (according to published news reports) "I think the tragedy
of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact, and we should really
accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and
ensure it is never repeated." The next day, while Annan was still in
Tehran, Iran said it would host a conference to examine what it called
exaggerations about the Holocaust. Did Kofi storm out in protest? No.
Did he even MENTION it again? No. When asked why Iran should not face
sanctions, Kofi muttered something about Iran's pledge to rebuild
Lebanon as one good reason. He said that instead that Ahmadinejad
"reaffirmed his country's support for the implementation of resolution
1701. OF COURSE he did. Resolution 1701 prevented Israel from destroying
Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a puppet of the Iranian government. Iran was
BEHIND the war that caused the destruction that now needs rebuilding.
Kofi Annan is aware of this.
Khatami's Propaganda Tour
Sept. 7….(Jeff Jacoby)The Bush
administration repeatedly warned that Iran would face serious
consequences if it defied international demands to shut down its nuclear
weapons program. So what did it do when Tehran blew off the Security
Council’s Aug. 31 deadline to stop enriching uranium? It promptly issued
a visa authorizing one of Iran’s leading theocrats, former president
Mohammad Khatami, to embark on a propaganda tour of the United States.
It is the first such visa issued to an Iranian president since 1979,
when Islamist radicals loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini seized the US
embassy in Tehran and held American diplomats hostage for nearly 15
months. That should show 'em. Mohamed Khatami, former President of Iran,
leaves after a meeting at the United Nations in New York September 5,
2006. Members of the High-Level Group of the United Nations Alliance of
Civilizations met to review the draft report they will present in
November. When it comes to Iran, this administration has been consistent
only in its inconsistency. Time and again it has condemned the Tehran
regime for its sponsorship of Islamist terror, its domestic repression,
and its violent rhetoric. And time and again it has failed to back up
those condemnations with action. In September 2001, when President Bush
warned that "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism
will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime," the mullahs
might have thought they had reason to be afraid. Today they know better.
This schizophrenia is perfectly captured in the State Department's inane
explanation for the decision allowing Khatami to enter the United
States: "We recognize that former President Khatami headed a regime that
is a leading sponsor of terrorism (and) human rights abuses, and
presided over Iran’s secret nuclear program which is now the focus of
possible UN action. After careful deliberation, however, we determined
that issuing Mr. Khatami a limited visa, and allowing Mr. Khatami to
present his views directly to the American people, will demonstrate to
Iran that the United States upholds its commitment to freedom and
democracy." Got that? It's up to us to convince Iran that we really are
free and democratic. And how? By letting one of Tehran's senior
propagandists barnstorm across America. Only in Foggy Bottom could
people get paid to concoct such arguments. And so, five years after the
terror attacks that claimed 3,000 lives and plunged the United States
into a global war against Islamist radicals, the former president of the
world’s oldest and most dangerous Islamist dictatorship is on a
multi-city US speaking tour. It began with appearances in Chicago and
New York; on Thursday Khatami is scheduled to speak at the National
Cathedral in Washington. Next Sunday, on the eve of 9/11, he will
deliver an address at Harvard University. His topic: "Ethics of
Tolerance in the Age of Violence." When he became president in 1997,
Khatami was reputed to be a moderate democratic reformer. If he had
lived up to that reputation, his arrival in America might well be worth
celebrating. True, his style was not as incendiary as that of his
successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he was just as committed to
Khomeini's radical revolution and its goal of worldwide Islamist rule.
If there is one thing Khatami's presidency made clear, it is that the
man was no moderate. His election as president came only after religious
authorities disqualified 234 potential competitors they considered too
liberal. In his own writings, Khatami has insisted that "only those who
have attended religious seminaries should have a voice in government."
Separation of church and state? Not for this theocrat. And he is no more
opposed to terrorism than he is to theocracy.As minister of culture and Islamic guidance in the 1980s,
Khatami oversaw the creation of Hezbollah, the deadly terrorist group
that would kill more Americans prior to 9/11 than any other terrorist
organization on earth. During the recent war in Lebanon, he hailed
Hezbollah as "a shining sun that illuminates and warms the hearts of all
Muslims." Throughout Khatami's term of office, the US State Department
identified Iran as the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
It was on his watch that President Bush named Iran a part of the "Axis
of Evil." Through
Middle East Proxies, Russia Moving Toward War with Israel Sept. 7….(Bill
Wilson) Iran is reportedly moving fast toward having its own nuclear weapons
capabilities and sanctions leveled by the United States in protest are like
fighting a wild bear with a feather. And it is the proxy of the wild bear that
the United States is fighting. Russia continues to press for what it calls a
“diplomatic” solution to the Iranian issue, all the while it is supplying arms,
missile engineering, and nuclear technology and know-how to Iran. If Iran
has a nuclear weapon and the capability to deliver it within the next five years
as some Pentagon analysts believe, then Russia is to blame for its extraordinary
assistance to the Iranian program. Russia also had sold arms to Iran and
Syria which were used by Hezbollah in its recent war with Israel. Ariel
Cohen, a Russian analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, recently
observed that Russia not only has a billion dollar deal to build Iran's Bushehr
Nuclear Reactor, it also supports Tehran diplomatically, and supplies Iran with
arms. Cohen told CBN News that “Russia is interested in high oil prices.
Therefore, Russia is interested in an aggressive Iran that supports the
Middle East unrest. If Americans get pinned down on top of that, dealing with
Iran and trying to enforce nuclear disarmament of Iran, that's in Russia's
interests because Russia gets stronger. Russia is not involved in any fighting,
and Americans are being drained of their treasure and their troops, and are
being bogged down in a major confrontation with the Muslim world." Russia’s
reach is not only focused on the Middle East. Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez
and Russian President Vladimir Putin are on the verge of a series of agreements
to strengthen Russia’s military and energy ties in South America. Chavez
recently announced that his country will be building a weapons plant under the
license of Russia. And Chavez agreed to make Russia his number one arms supplier
with a $3 billion-plus deal to purchase fighter jets and helicopters. In return,
Russia will be putting a stake in the South American ground by helping create a
natural gas and oil cartel with Venezuela. Iran’s nuclear weapons program is
virtually guaranteed if the United States and other free nations around the
world do nothing more than sanctions to stop it. And much of the unrest around
the world is fueled by weapons from and diplomatic protection by Russia.
It’s long over due that the United States quit believing what is not true, that
Russia is an ally. Russia is fast moving toward fulfillment of the
Ezekiel prophecy that it will lead Iran and other Islamic nations to war with
Israel. Ezekiel 38:9 says Russia “will ascend, coming like a storm, covering
the land like a cloud.” Of course, God will cause the Russians and their allies
to be defeated. American cannot stop prophecy, but she can determine where she
stands in it. Let us pray our only alliance is with Christ. FOJ Note:
This article by Bill Wilson is dead on accurate. Gog is indeed quickly moving
towards a showdown with Israel, and Iran’s philosophy of dragging down the Great
Satan (USA) suits Russia’s strategy perfectly. Bibles in
High Demand in China and India (Millions of
Bibles Needed in Most Populous Countries) Sept.
7….(Assist News) The demand for Bibles is rising in China and India, the
most populous countries of the world. Although Christians are only a small
minority, millions of Bibles are not sufficient to supply the need, according to
the magazine Bible Report published by the German Bible Society in Stuttgart.
The People’s Republic of China has an official Bible printing house. Since 1987
the press in Nanjing has turned out more the 46 million copies of the Bible and
the New Testament. Official Bible distribution figures in China have reached 2.5
million copies per year. Bibles smuggled into the country and underground
printing is not included in this figure. A new and bigger printing press is
currently installed in Nanjing. It will boost the turnout to ten million Bibles
per year. The number of Christians among the 1.3 billion inhabitants in China is
believed to exceed 80 million. Three in four Christians worship in unregistered
churches not controlled by the Communist authorities. India has 1.1 billion
inhabitants. Roughly 80 percent are Hindus, 12.5 percent Muslims and 2.4 percent
Christians. A large number of Indians especially in rural areas are still
suffering from the deeply ingrained caste system, according to Bible Report.
Approximately 160 million Dalits (Untouchables) are suffering severe
discrimination. The same is true of the indigenous Adivasi people, who make up
eight percent of India’s population. Large numbers of Dalits and Adivasi are
turning to the Christian faith, according to the German Bible Society. Most of
them are too poor to afford a Bible, a New Testament or even a Gospel tract. The
Indian Bible Society is striving to provide more audio Bibles for these
Christians.
Massachusetts Governor Bans State Funds for Khatami Security Sept. 7….(Newsmax)
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has banned the use of state funds to provide
security for former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami during his visit to the
Boston area this weekend. "There are people in this state who have suffered from
terrorism, and taking even a dollar of their money to support a terrorist is
unacceptable," Romney told the Boston Globe. Romney expected the US State
Department to request a State Police escort and other traffic services for
Khatami, but said he had called on Tuesday to inform them that those services
would not be provided. The State Department issued Khatami a visa for his visit,
but officials said he is in the United States as a private citizen and will be
given no special treatment. However, the State Department's bureau of diplomatic
security is responsible for ensuring Khatami's safety, and such security is
almost always provided in cooperation with local police, according to the Globe.
This past weekend, Illinois State Police provided one vehicle to escort Khatami
through traffic on his way to an Islamic convention in a Chicago suburb. And in
New York, UN officials said they would provide for Khatami's security while he
is on UN premises, but the State Department has arranged for his security
elsewhere in the city. The Republican governor, a potential presidential
candidate in 2008, also criticized Harvard University for inviting Khatami to
speak on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As
NewsMax reported on Monday, Khatami agreed to speak on Sept. 10 at the
university’s John F. Kennedy School of Government on, of all things, "Ethics
of Tolerance in the Age of Violence.” Khatami presided over the July
1999 crackdown at Tehran University, where thousands were arrested, including
some who are still in prison. Gov. Romney issued a statement calling Harvard's
invitation "a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who have lost their lives
at the hands of extremists. "The development of nuclear technology, the jailing
of students, and religious oppression, suggest that Khatami’s lecture on
tolerance would be a farce." After Romney issued his statement, the Boston
Police Department said it would provide for Khatami’s security. "We were asked
by the State Department to assist in protecting a guest of the United States,”
spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said, "and the Police Department plans to oblige." FOJ Note:
Mr. Khatami should be arrested by US authorities, not escorted around, and
certainly not lavished upon by American institutions like Harvard. Harvard would
not even allow former President Ronald Reagen to speak on campus, but yet it
allows this enemy of America to come and spread his propaganda.
Iran's Ahmadinejad Coming to New York Sept. 7….(Newsmax)
UN officials tell NewsMax.com "they expect" Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to travel to New York City to attend the 2006 General Assembly. The
controversial Iranian leader attended the 2005 GA and held several "colorful"
news conferences during that visit. Ahmadinejad will be at the UN at the same
time key members of the security council will gather to decide what type of
sanctions to impose on the Iranian regime for its refusal to suspend its
"enrichment" of nuclear fuel. Washington insists that the Iranian action is
a precursor to the construction of an illegal nuclear weapon. Iran's UN mission
in New York City had no comment on the expected presidential visit, however late
Wednesday evening, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed that
Ahmadinejad told his cabinet in Tehran that he intended to visit New York City
and speak at the United Nations. In addition to the Iranian president, the UN
also confirms that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, another Bush antagonist,
also plans to visit the Big Apple at the same time. Both Ahmadinejad and Chavez
will first visit Havana to attend the summit of non-aligned nations being
hosted by Fidel Castro the week of September 11. President Bush is
expected to address the UN General Assembly on the same day as Ahmadinejad,
September 19. Bush will address the UN at 11:30 a.m., the Iranian President
takes to the same podium at 7 pm. In between the two addresses, both presidents
are expected to attend a VIP lunch hosted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The 2006 General Assembly will be Annan's last. Anan will end his 10-year term
January 1, 2007. FOJ Note:
Again, here is another reason the UN should be licked out of the US. It
serves only America’s enemies.
Asleep at the Switch: The Path to 9/11 Sept. 7….(Newsmax)
On Sept. 11, 2006 America will mark the anniversary of the most devastating
attack on our homeland since the Civil War. NewsMax will run a special series of
articles to commemorate this event, to remember the innocent and to honor the
brave heroes of that fateful day. Granted, five hours is a major time commitment
for a TV program. But ABC's controversial miniseries, "The Path to 9/11," is
worth it. The drama, based largely on the 9/11 Commission reports, is not
another rehash of the dark day the World Trade Center was attacked. Instead, it
shows, with patience and no small amount of artfulness, what led up to that
attack, starting years before. The mini-series is vehemently opposed by the
Clinton Administration era hacks.
Gaza Preparing for War With Israel
Sept. 7….(WND) Local terror groups are working with
Hezbollah to turn the Gaza Strip into the Palestinian version of southern
Lebanon by smuggling in heavy weaponry and rockets, building war bunkers and
preparing for a large-scale confrontation with Israel , a senior terror leader
in Gaza told WorldNetDaily. "We learned from Hizbullah's victory that Israel can
be defeated if we know how to hit them and if we are well prepared," said Abu
Ahmed, northern Gaza leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terror group. "We
are importing offensive rockets and the knowledge to launch them and we are also
making many plans for battle." Southern Lebanon, of course is dominated by
the Iranian proxy terror group, Hizbullah, which developed an arsenal of more
than10,000 rockets it used to launch daily attacks against Israel's northern
communities during the group's 34-day confrontation with the Jewish state which
ended last month. Yuval Diskin, director of Israel's Shin Bet Security Services,
told the Knesset last month that since the Jewish state withdrew from Gaza, the
Palestinians successfully have transferred from the neighboring Egyptian Sinai
desert hundreds of tons of advanced rockets; anti-tank and anti-aircraft
missiles; rocket propelled grenades; raw explosives; rifles; ammunition and
other heavy weaponry. Israel vacated the Gaza Strip one year ago. "If we don't
move to counter this smuggling, it will continue and create a situation in Gaza
similar to the one in southern Lebanon," Diskin said. Abu Ahmed said Diskin's
assessment was accurate. "I think Diskin made those statements to try to
distract the Israelis from their losses in Lebanon by focusing on another area,
but he is right. We are turning Gaza into south Lebanon," the terror leader
said. Abu Ahmed said his group is receiving help from Hizbullah to import
long-range rockets and train in guerrilla warfare tactics. "We have warm
relations with Hizbullah, which helps with some of the training programs," Abu
Ahmed said. "We don't have anything to be ashamed of, that we are dealing with
Hizbullah and that we are receiving training and information from them." He said
Hizbullah maintains cells in the Sinai. 'We are going to change strategic
balance with Israel.' He said his group learned from Hizbullah that Israel can
be defeated with missiles. "We saw that with the capacity to bombard the Israeli
population with hundreds of rockets every day we can change the strategic
balance with Israel," he said. Since Israel's Gaza withdrawal, Palestinian
terror groups have been regularly firing rockets at nearby Jewish communities.
The terrorists generally have fired three versions of Qassam rockets, improvised
steel projectiles filled with explosives and fuel. Qassams can travel between
one and five miles depending on the sophistication of the particular rocket. "It
is only a matter of a small period before Gaza is ready for war."
FOJ Note:
See what reward Israel gets for giving land away. Barely a year after
uprooting Jewish families in Gaza, and leaving the area altogether, the
Palestinians still plan to launch a war. This planned war by the Gaza terrorists
isn’t about the myth of Occupation. It reveals that the Palestinians want Israel
destroyed, period.
Arab FMs Review Plans to Destroy Israel by Diplomacy
Sept. 7….(JNEWSWIRE) Foreign ministers
representing the 22 Arab states, all of which remain united in their
determination to purge Israel from the Middle East, met in Cairo
Wednesday for a strategy session aimed at reviving the "peace process"
they believe will help to facilitate their goal. Laying a smokescreen,
the ministers said they had gathered out of concern that Iran and the
terror groups it supports had substantially expanded their influence in
the region as a result of Israel’s recent conflict with Hizb’allah. The
real aim of the Arab League meeting, however, was to resuscitate the
formula for negotiations that had led to the 1991 International Middle
East Peace Conference in Madrid. Invited to Madrid were Israel, all the
countries bordering the Jewish state, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, as well
as the Palestinian Arabs. That conference launched the so-called
land-for-peace process that resulted directly in the deaths of hundreds
of Israelis, the injuring of thousands, deepening internecine strife
among Israeli Jews, the creation of thousands of Jewish refugees, the
parceling out of some of Israel’s most sacred land, and a serious
erosion of Israel’s deterrence in the face of unrelenting Arab hostility
and aggression. For their part, the Arab world has been richly rewarded
by the "peace process." As was the case in the Israel-Egypt negotiations
that preceded Madrid and the Oslo Agreement, the Arab sides have seen
Israel make painful, possibly irreversible and potentially lethal
concessions in exchange for promises on paper. The Arab League meeting
Wednesday was aimed at perpetuating this, for them, promising state of
affairs. According to an Associated Press report, the Arabs want another
international conference, this time under the auspices of the United
Nations Security Council and not the USA, the chief sponsor at Madrid,
which will kick off direct negotiations between Israel and Syria, Israel
and Lebanon, and Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. The League’s goals
for this conference, which they are calling to be convened before the
end of this year, are the establishment of a Palestinian state on Jewish
lands, Israel’s relinquishing of its Golan Heights to Syria, and some
kind of arrangement with Lebanon after this summer’s war on Hizb’allah.
Each of these goals is meant to strengthen the Arab side while further
weakening Israel, with the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state the
ultimate goal. While the Security Council has so far not reacted
favorably towards the idea of sponsoring such a conference, it has in
the past proven unable or unwilling to long resist the demands of the
Arab states.
Annan Wants Everyone to Trust Iran
Sept. 7….(JNEWSWIRE) Kofi Annan is not happy about renewed talk -
primarily out of Washington - about isolating and punishing Iran over
its defiant efforts to obtain nuclear technology. Annan said his recent
visit to Tehran left him feeling that the world can "count on" Iran, and
should have a more positive towards President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
his regime. The UN chief reassured everyone that Iran's nuclear program
is only for civilian use. They told him so.
Palestinians Training to Kidnap More Israelis Sept. 6….(WND)
A terror leader whose group in June abducted Israeli Defense Forces soldier
Gilad Shalit said Palestinian terror organizations are currently training in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out more operations aimed at kidnapping
Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian leader thanked the international community for
what he said was its recognition that kidnappings of Israeli soldiers are not
considered terrorism but "military operations that bring very big results." He
said the "best way" to gain the freedom of thousands of Palestinians being held
in Israeli jails, including convicted terrorists, is by more kidnappings of
Israeli soldiers. "We are now planning and training for the next kidnappings.
Even if Israel releases hundreds of prisoners in exchange for Shalit, we still
have thousands more to liberate. More Israeli soldiers must be abducted," said
the terror leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity amid reports Israel is
considering releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
The leader is a senior member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition
of terror organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank. The Committees,
together with Hamas and a new group calling itself the Palestine Army of Islam,
claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Shalit, which prompted the first
major ground invasion of Gaza since Israel withdrew from the territory last
summer. The terror leader said the Committees together with Hamas and members of
Army of Islam are undergoing guerilla training for more kidnapping operations.
He would not say whether future attacks would mimic the operation in which
Shalit was abducted. Israel's leading Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported over
the Labor Day weekend the Jewish state has agreed to release 800 to 1,000
Palestinian prisoners in return for Shalit.
Israeli diplomatic sources denied the report. Israel has several
times freed large numbers of prisoners, including convicted terrorists, in
exchange for peace agreements or for the release of Israeli captives. Some of
the freed prisoners have gone on to murder Israelis. Israeli Hagar Ben-Ovadia
was killed in Jerusalem by two Fatah men released by Israel in 1985. Israeli
Eyal Yeverboim and his seven-month-old son were murdered in 2005 by terrorists
released two months earlier in an attempt to "strengthen" Abbas hold on power
from Hamas.
Iran’s Kahtami in US, Criticizes Bush
Administration
Former Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami arrives to a high-level group of the United Nations
Alliance of Civilizations meeting at United Nations. The Alliance
was founded by Kofi Anan, who invited Khatami to the US. Sept. 6….(AP)
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami criticized President Bush in
interviews published Tuesday, as he joined Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and
other leaders at the UN for a meeting of a group that promotes understanding
between Western and Islamic states. Khatami, in the middle of a two-week tour of
the United States, refused to speak with the media as he went in and out of the
room where the meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations took place at UN
headquarters. The event was closed to the media. Yet in interviews with CNN and
USA Today, Khatami faulted Bush on several counts: He refused, for example, to
back off a previous comparison between the American leader and Osama bin Laden.
He also said the US was to blame for the turmoil in the Middle East. "As a
result of such wrong policies, such unilateral, violent policies, the voice of
logic has decreased and the voice of terror and attractiveness of terror
unfortunately among youth has increased." Khatami spoke in the Chicago area over
the weekend, and will attend two Islamic conferences as well as deliver a speech
at the National Cathedral in Washington. Khatami is the most senior Iranian to
travel outside New York in the United States since Islamic fundamentalists
seized the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held Americans hostage for 444 days.
He and his successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have both addressed the UN General
Assembly. Khatami reiterated the government's claim that it is not seeking
nuclear weapons. The United States insists that it is. "Why should they not
trust Iran?" "See, at this moment, Iran is a signatory to the treaty, has
declared many times it has no interest in building the nuclear bomb." UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan created the Alliance of Civilizations, headed by
Spain and Turkey, last year as a vehicle to overcome the mutual suspicion, fear
and misunderstanding between Islamic and Western societies that have been
exploited by extremists throughout the world, according to its terms of
reference. Khatami is a founding member. The group is expected to report to
Annan in the second half of 2006 on actions to counter extremism and promote
mutual respect between civilizations and cultures. Other members include the
wife of the emir of Qatar, Sheika Mozza bint Nasser al-Misnid; former prime
minister of Senegal Moustapha Niasse; and Rabbi Arthur Schneir, president of the
Appeal of Conscience Foundation in New York. Khatami distanced himself from
comments by Ahmadinejad that Israel should not exist. "I personally never said
that Israel should be wiped off the map," he told CNN. FOJ Note:
While Khatami never called for Israel to be wiped off the map, he has
suggested that one nuclear bomb could do the job, and that Iran would use its
nuclear power to affect the total annihilation of Israel, even it meant that
Iran suffered a nuclear hit in return.
Iran's
Khatami to Speak on Ethics at Harvard Sept. 6….(Newsmax)
As the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks draws near, Harvard
University has decided to mark the occasion by hosting Mohammed Khatami, the
former president of Iran, a nation that’s engaged in a terrorist war against the
United States. Khatami agreed to speak on September 10 at the university’s John
F. Kennedy School of Government on, of all things, "Ethics of Tolerance in
the Age of Violence.” As the New York Sun points out in an editorial,
the title of the address "insults the intelligence of all those who would
attend. "What in the world is a man who presided over the July 9, 1999,
crackdown on Tehran University, where hundreds of students were arrested and
tortured, doing speaking about ‘tolerance’ at a university?” In the past,
Khatami has claimed that Israel controls American foreign policy and accused
Israel of being a "racist, terrorist regime.” In his first public appearance
during a nearly two-week visit to the US, Khatami over the weekend claimed that
US foreign policies trigger terrorism. "As America claims to be fighting
terrorism, it implements policies that cause the intensification of terrorism
and institutionalized violence,” he said at the Islamic Society of North
America’s 43rd annual convention in Chicago. During an earlier visit to Japan,
Khatami maintained that the West has nothing to fear from Iran’s nuclear
program. A professor at the Kennedy School, former academic dean Stephen Walt,
echoed that view when he wrote that the US "can live with a nuclear Iran,” even
though the nation’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that Israel
should be wiped off the map.
Calling Khatami an "enemy representative” and his invitation to speak at Harvard
a "tragedy,” the Sun editorial stated: "What a disgusting way for Harvard to
mark the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of a war that has claimed thousands
of American lives and is still in full tilt.”
Bush Reiterates: I Won't Allow a Nuclear-Armed Iran Sept. 6….(Newsmax)
President Bush said Tuesday a nuclear-armed Iran would blackmail the free world
and raise a mortal threat to the American people. "I am not going to allow
this to happen," Bush said in a speech on terrorism. "And no future American
president can allow it, either." With allies urging a go-slow approach on
pressuring Iran to stop enriching uranium, Bush pledged to work closely with
other governments to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Tehran over
its nuclear programs. But he also stressed, "the world's free nations will not
allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon." Iran has refused to stop enrichment as
a precondition to negotiations on US and European offers of concessions,
including US help with civilian nuclear programs. "Their choice is increasingly
isolating the great Iranian nation from the international community," Bush said.
"It is time for Iran's leader to make a different choice," he said. While
standing firm on seeking UN sanctions against Iran, the administration
acknowledged it would take weeks of intensive diplomacy to nail them down. But
he said the UN Security Council had already made it clear in a resolution that
if Iran failed to meet an Aug. 31 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, the
Council was prepared to vote for sanctions. And so, he said, the United States
intends to proceed "down that pathway." Iran has renewed to UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan an offer of negotiations about its nuclear programs, but has declined
to suspend enrichment of uranium as a precondition. Jordanian
Seeks to Succeed Annan Sept. 6….(AP)
Jordan's UN Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein announced his candidacy on
Tuesday to be the next UN secretary-general, becoming the fifth hopeful and the
first Muslim to enter the race to succeed Kofi Annan. Jordan sent a letter to
the president of the UN Security Council formally submitting the candidacy of
Zeid, a widely respected diplomat and former UN peacekeeper who is a cousin of
King Abdullah II. "We believe there is considerable scope to be given by the
Security Council and the General Assembly to a Muslim candidate who is familiar
with the UN but not of the UN," Zeid told The Associated Press. He said
considering a Muslim candidate was especially important in light of recent
events, which include the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, an upsurge in
Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza, and Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium
enrichment program. Annan's second five-year term ends on Dec. 31 and most
diplomats generally agree that the next secretary-general should come from Asia,
part of a tradition to rotate between regions in awarding the job. Jordan is
part of the Asian group at the United Nations, though some countries may
consider it more part of the Middle East than Asia. The four other candidates
vying to succeed Annan are South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, UN
Undersecretary-General for Public Affairs Shashi Tharoor who is from India,
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, and former UN
disarmament chief Jayantha Dhanapala, a Sri Lankan. The next
secretary-general must be approved by the General Assembly, based on a
recommendation from the 15-member Security Council, where the five permanent
members, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, have veto power.
In addition to Zeid, others mentioned as possible candidates include Kemal
Dervis, the Turkish chief of the UN Development Program, and Goh Chok Tong,
former prime minister of Singapore. Zeid, 42, who has served as Jordan's UN
ambassador since 2000, helped establish the International Criminal Court, the
world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, and was elected the first
president of its governing body. He was a political affairs officer in the UN
peacekeeping mission in former Yugoslavia from 1994-96, which led Annan to name
him an advisor on sexual exploitation and abuse in mid-2004 following
allegations of widespread rape and abuse by UN peacekeepers.
Britain Discovers Secret Army of
Well-trained Jihadi Terrorists (Intelligence
services, police stunned to discover Islamic army in Britain) Sept. 6….(WND)
A massive MI5 anti-terrorism operation discovers Britain's first Islamic
"school for terror." Al-Qaida has supplied its estimated 2,000 sleeper agents in
Britain with what MI5 Director Eliza Manningham-Buller tells Home Secretary John
Reid is "the most sophisticated terror manual ever found in this country." MI5
is checking all Britain's universities and technical schools for Middle East
students with a qualification in thermochemistry, the science that includes
creating liquid explosives. MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service, has
established that Continuity-IRA, the extreme Irish terror group, is providing
Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard with expertise on how to make
ultra-sophisticated roadside bombs. No matter how you slice it, London is daily
looking more like “Londonistan.” Or perhaps more precisely, as Peter Clarke,
head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad puts it, Britain has become al-Qaida's
European headquarters "housing a secret army of thousands of well-trained
guerrilla fighters ready to kill in the name of religion." The discovery of the
school for terror reveals how extensive al-Qaida's influence within Britain's
Muslim community is. It follows the arrests across London and the Home Counties
of 14 radical Muslim extremists. They include Abu Abdullah, who was born in
Britain, but, just before he was detained, preached at a London mosque that he
would "love to see our jihadists go to Iraq to kill British and American
soldiers." Abdullah had been a regular visitor to the Jemaah Islamiyah Faith
School. It was to this school that Abu Hamsa, the hook-handed extremist
preacher, "brought young Muslims to be indoctrinated in jihad," confirmed a
senior MI5 officer. Hamsa is currently serving seven years for incitement to
murder. Meanwhile, the terror manual discovered by MI5 is said to provide
unprecedented details on how to create liquid explosives far more powerful than
those planned to be used to destroy 10 passenger planes over the Atlantic.
Lastly, a link has been found between an IRA splinter group and Iran's Hezbollah
terrorist organization. MI6, supported by US satellite surveillance and
undercover agents in Iran from Israel's vaunted spy agency, Mossad, have tracked
Irish bomb makers to three factories in the Lavizan surburb in northern Tehran.
Earlier this year, the six-man Continuity-IRA team traveled from Dublin to
Frankfurt and onward to Damascus. From there they were brought in an Iranian
military aircraft to Tehran. "Their arrival marked an axis of evil we most
feared," said a senior MI6 officer. "This brings global terrorism to a new
level." More recently the black art of the bomb makers became an effective
weapon for Hezbollah fighting Israeli armor. Adapted to be fired from anti-tank
missiles, the bombs created fireballs when shot, often with unerring aim, at
advancing Israeli tanks. By the time a ceasefire finally came in the Middle East
conflict, Hezbollah claimed it had "several hundred" more of the missiles stored
in the Bekaa Valley.
Captured Booklet Links Iran to Lebanon
War (Israeli
soldiers find 'ideological guide' in possession of Hezbollah operatives)
Sept. 6….(By
Jerome R. Corsi) A booklet captured by Israeli forces in the recent war against
Hezbollah provides more documentation of the influence of Iran upon the
terrorist group's operatives in Lebanon. On Aug. 27, the Intelligence and
Terrorist Information Center for Special Studies in Israel released an analysis
of a booklet entitled “Al Jihad” that was found in the possession of Hezbollah
operatives in front-line outposts in Lebanon during what Israel is terming the
"Second Lebanon War." The 64-page booklet was published in 2004 in Iran by the
Imam Khomeini Culture Center, named after the founder of the Islamic Republic of
Iran. According to the ITIC analysis, the booklet is considered "an ideological
guidebook" that presents jihad to be "a doctrine and a program of action"
encouraging Muslims to sacrifice their lives "for the sake of Allah and to
attain paradise." The ITIC report concluded: This radical Islamic worldview is
spread and disseminated in Lebanon among Hezbollah in particular and the Shi'ite
community in general, through the use of intensive indoctrination activities (da'wa).
In our assessment, it comprises the Islamic religious ideological basis on which
Iran's armed forces are indoctrinated, as well as the Revolutionary Guards and
Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah in
Lebanon, also serves as Ayatollah Khamenei's top representative in Lebanon, with
authority including "religious matters." Ayatollah Khamenei, as supreme leader
in Iran, also is the supreme commander over Iran's military forces, including
the Revolutionary Guard. According to the analysis of Yoram Kahati, a senior
researcher and deputy director of the ITIC, the booklet is a call for martyrdom
in a battle against the enemies of Islam: The booklet ends with an emotional,
dramatic and direct plea to "the believer who fights the holy war against the
infidels" to take pride in being "the element of power for restoring truth and
eradicating lies." This is an expression which describes, in fact, the main
purpose of the universal message of Islam according to Khamenei. Therefore, the
"warrior-believer" is told that he is part of revolutionary Islam, which stands
for the "abolishment of deprivation" and encourages the various peoples (Muslims
and non-Muslims alike) to do away with "dominance" (foreign rule). The cover of
the booklet displays a photograph of Ayatollah Khamenei overlooking an insert of
three fighters who most likely represent Hezbollah fighters. The back cover
shows the Lebanese main branch of the Imam Khomeini Culture Center in Harat
Hreik, in Beirut's southern Shi'ite suburb that was heavily bombed by the
Israeli Air Force during the Second Lebanon War.
US General: Clear Evidence Iran is Arming, Training Iraqi Extremists Sept. 6….(Breitbart) A senior US military official said there is "clear evidence" that Iran is funding, training and arming Shiite extremists to destabilize Iraq. "I think it is irrefutable that Iran is responsible for training, funding and equipping some of these Shia extremist groups, and also providing advanced IED technology," said Brigadier General Michael Barbero, using the acronym for "improvised explosive devices." "And there is clear evidence of that," he added at a Pentagon press conference. His comments came the same day that Iran turned aside demands by the international community that it halt uranium enrichment as required by a UN Security Council resolution, offering "serious negotiations" instead. Barbero, deputy operations director of the joint staff, said he had seen no reports of "direct contact" involving Iranian paramilitary or intelligence forces. But he said he had seen "reports of their involvement and presence there as trainers to train these terrorists and Shia extremist groups." How to respond to destabilizing Iranian activity was a question for policymakers, Barbero said. But he said neutralizing the Shiite extremist groups in Iraq "will go a long way to removing their direct influence into the affairs of the sovereign country of Iraq." In recent weeks, US military forces have stepped up raids against Shiite and Sunni extremist groups in Baghdad in an effort to tamp down a wave of violence that has raised fears of civil war. The violence last month forced the United States to extend the tours of nearly 4,000 troops, preventing a reduction in the size of the 133,000-strong US force. "Our intent is to draw down the number of troops," Barbero said. "And, as I said, that will be driven by the conditions on the ground and the requests from the commanders on the ground."
'Hezbollah is Arming Gaza for a New War on Israel' Sept. 6….(Worthy News) Israel's spy chief has given a warning that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip are garnering increasing numbers of weapons and tactical expertise from Hezbollah fighters since the war in southern Lebanon erupted earlier this summer. Yuval Diskin, the director of Shin Bet, Israel's equivalent of MI5, said Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was being used as a terrorist base and fast becoming a haven for arms smugglers preparing to shift their wares into the Gaza Strip. He added that within Gaza terrorists were building rocket hideouts, a bunker network and an anti-tank missile arsenal as they prepared for an escalated confrontation with Israel. "If we don't move to counter this smuggling, it will continue and create a situation in Gaza similar to the one in southern Lebanon," he said at a private meeting with Israeli MPs last week. He told members of the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee that Hamas had set out to emulate Hezbollah's tactics in Lebanon, building tunnels and bunkers to help to smuggle weapons and militants across the border from Egypt, since Israel withdrew from Gaza last year. The border is now controlled by the Palestinians and Egypt, with the help of European monitors. According to accounts of the meeting by MPs who were present, Mr Diskin painted a bleak picture of the growing arsenal of weapons being assembled in Gaza, with Hezbollah's help, for use against Israel. In addition to Katyusha rockets with a 10-mile range, dozens of anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, 15 tons of explosives, 15,000 guns and four million rounds of ammunition had been smuggled across the Egyptian border through a network of around 20 tunnels, Mr Diskin said. The only weapons that could not be smuggled in this manner, he added, were tanks and aircraft. The Shin Bet director's appearance at a behind-closed-doors meeting with MPs last week was his first as spokesman for a new intelligence advisory body, which encompasses Israel's military intelligence department and its overseas spying agency, Mossad, as well as Shin Bet. Gaza has come under sustained, and, at times, intense, military pressure from Israel since Palestinian militants snatched an Israeli soldier in late June. More than 270 air strikes, numerous ground raids and days of incessant artillery fire have caused damage of almost £20 million, according to UN estimates. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed and several hundred more wounded in the strikes. Electricity and water supplies are dangerously low, while the cancellation of subsidies from the European Union and the United States, in addition to payments from Israel to the Palestinian Authority, have brought the economy to its knees. Any business activity that has continued has been hampered by the growing number of Israeli checkpoints, barriers and controls. All this has forced 80 per cent of Gazans into poverty, earning less than £1 a day. Even as the international community pledged almost £300 million in aid to the Palestinians at a donors' conference in Stockholm on Friday, Israeli military sources remain convinced that the Palestinian threat to Israel is as a great as Hezbollah's was in Lebanon, and is fast becoming more acute. They suspect Hezbollah has taken a tactical decision to scale down its operations in southern Lebanon, focussing instead on new anti-Israel fronts in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Mr Diskin added that law and order was in rapid decline throughout Palestinian Authority-controlled areas in the West Bank, where Hezbollah was becoming a greater threat than even Fatah and Hamas. The connection between the two organizations has been strong since 1992, when 400 Hamas members were exiled from Israel to Lebanon where they were significantly influenced, both politically and militarily, by Hezbollah. A number of those Hamas leaders are still based in Lebanon. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph earlier this summer, Galeb Abu Zeinab, a senior Hezbollah politburo member, said of his party's relationship with Hamas: "The co-operation with Hamas is the best kind of co-operation. We always consult with each other and share experiences. Hezbollah tries to support Hamas is any way it can." Alistair Crooke, a retired MI6 officer who spent several years during the early 1990s trying to engage Hamas and Hezbollah in dialogue with the EU, agreed with this appraisal. "Hamas and Hezbollah are going to concert their policy towards the Palestinians in close co-operation with each other," he said. Israeli military analysts believe that the number of weapons being delivered to the Gaza Strip has doubled since the war ended.
Hezb’allah: Prelude to Apocalypse Sept. 5….(excerpt from Dan Gordon) Contrary to what is now the accepted wisdom in the media, Hezb’allah in its recent offensive against Israel neither “badly bloodied the Israel Defense Force,” nor “fought it to a standstill” in Southern Lebanon. In fact, the opposite is the case. By any legitimate measure Hezb’allah was handed a resounding military defeat by the IDF in the recent fighting, and while the cancer that is Hezb’allah was not cured by Israel’s soldiers, it was put into remission. Hezb’allah is not your father’s terrorist organization. This is not a group of loosely affiliated cells of would-be hijackers or suicide bombers. Hezb’allah is a terrorist army, trained like an army, organized like an army, funded and equipped like an army, with one glaring difference. The main use of its arsenal was terror aimed at Israel’s civilian population while hiding behind Lebanon’s civilian population. Its intent was to cause maximum civilian casualties among both. This was not by accident. This was by design. This was Hezb’allah’s war, planned and prepared for six years, funded by close to a billion dollars by Iran, aided by Syria. One of the great benefits to those of the West to come out of this war (if they choose not to turn a blind eye to it) is the certain knowledge that Hezb’allah is Iran’s terrorist operational arm. It is the terrorist extension of Iran’s expressed foreign policy. It is not a coincidence that Hezb’allah launched its totally unprovoked attack across Israel’s internationally recognized border, killing and kidnapping Israeli soldiers and dragging Lebanon and Israel into a war which neither one wanted at exactly the moment when the international community had issued its ultimatum to Iran. That ultimatum was: “Cease your efforts to develop nuclear weapons or face the sanctions of the International Community.” Iran’s response was the Hezb’allah war. Even a cursory examination of Hezb’allah’s statements, captured documents, the weapons it procured over six years and instantly deployed, provides an insight into its war aims and the battle plan to achieve those aims. Hezb’allah announced in the clearest possible way that it was its intent to turn Southern Lebanon into a graveyard for the IDF. This was not mere rhetoric. It was their plan. Much has been made, and rightly so, of the arsenal of some 15,000 short, medium and longer range rockets which Hezb’allah stockpiled for its offensive. What has gone largely unmentioned is the equally impressive number of anti-tank weapons Hezb’allah not only acquired but deployed throughout its system of fortresses, strongholds in literally every village in Southern Lebanon. Hezb’allah’s spin was that it built this Siegfried Line-like series of fortifications to defend Southern Lebanon from an Israeli invasion. The truth is both Hezb’allah and everyone else in the world knew perfectly well that when Israel left every centimeter of Lebanese soil in 2000, it did so with the intent never to return. It not only had no designs on Southern Lebanon, it dreaded doing so. In addition Israel had made a strategic decision to sacrifice whatever advantages the buffer zone of Southern Lebanon offered for the perceived advantages of international legitimacy. Now, the logic went, should Hezb’allah attack us it will not be an attack against our troops in their country, rather it will be violating Israel’s internationally recognized border and the world will have no choice but to recognize clearly who was the aggressor and who was the victim. To a degree, that logic prevailed. Especially in the beginning of the conflict, though not in the United Nations where Israel had so painstakingly sought to achieve the legitimacy Secretary General Anan so quickly ignored. In preparing its offensive, both Hezb’allah and Iran knew that Hezb’allah’s terrorist army could never mount a successful ground invasion against Israel. The advantages they possessed for their offensive lay in their rockets and missiles which could hit Israel’s civilian population and inflict mass casualties, and control of its own terrain and preparation of its own battle field. The idea was not to fight the IDF in Israel’s territory, but to set a trap for the IDF in Hezb’allah’s carefully prepared and massively fortified Siegfried Line of fortresses, strongholds, and offensive positions connected by a series of truly impressive tunnel networks and bunkers meant to withstand and offset Israel’s air advantage. There was one other indispensable element to the war plan: the centering of the offensive capability against Israel’s civilian population within Lebanon’s civilian population. Much has been made in the Western press of Hezb’allah’s benign social services function in Lebanon, of the hospitals and schools it has built. Almost no notice, however, has been paid to the large numbers of these hospitals and schools which were built over its military bunkers and rocket launching sites. This was perhaps both the most cynical and barbaric disregard for innocent civilian lives of all of Hezb’allah’s and Iran’s strategic choices. It was also the most successful. The decision was predicated not on its knowledge of its enemy (Israel) but its true genius lay in its knowledge of the press. The calculus was simple: launch a rocket from within a civilian population; if you kill Jews that’s a victory. If the Jews hit back and in so doing kill Lebanese civilians, that’s a victory. If they don’t hit back because they’re afraid to hit civilians, that’s a victory. Now repeat the process until you kill so many Jews they have to hit back and in so doing kill more Lebanese civilians. That’s the ultimate victory, because they know that in striking just those chords exactly what music the press will play. The awful truth, which the Western press was manipulated to ignore or downplay, was that Iran, through its terrorist operational arm Hezb’allah, had invaded Lebanon from within. Hezb’allah did not protect Lebanon, but occupied it and used those Hezb’allah-occupied territories to launch Iran’s offensive in response to the West’s ultimatum to cease development of nuclear weapons.
Annan Urges Int'l Community not to Isolate Iran
Annan has made
clear he wants a negotiated solution to the impasse, which deepened after Iran
ignored an Aug. 31 UN Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment
program. That set the stage for possible UN economic and political sanctions.
Annan said confrontation with the Security Council "will not be in Iran's favor
or that of the region."
President Bush Ordered Intelligence Evaluation of Olmert Government Sept. 5….(DEBKA) President Bush received numerous complaints against Ehud Olmert and the Kadima-led government of Israel during the war with Hezbollah. Now DEBKA reports that their unfavorable findings have prompted urgent trips to Washington by prime minister Ehud Olmert’s top advisers this week. In his directive for an updated National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Israel, President Bush wanted to find out if the mismanaged Lebanon War was a curable hiccup or the symptom of a deeper malady. He asked whether Israel is robust enough to continue to count as a strong and stable political and military force able to serve the United States as a Middle East ally and a strategic mainstay in the region.
Israel Would Take off Gloves Against Syria Sept. 4….(JNEWSWIRE) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday said that in a war against Syria, Israel would not practice the kind of restraint it did in Lebanon. In a statement to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Olmert said: "What we have done in Lebanon amounts to a deterring element against the Syrians, because they now realize that while in Lebanon we have restrained our use of force, in a campaign against them we will not adhere to such restraints."
Lebanese Security Is the Pretext for the Naval Babel Around Lebanon Sept. 4….(DEBKA) The extraordinary buildup of European naval and military strength in and around Lebanon’s shores is way out of proportion for the task the European contingents of expanded UNIFIL have undertaken: to create a buffer between Israel and Hizballah. Close investigation by DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources discloses that "Lebanese security" and peacemaking is not the object of the exercise. It is linked to the general anticipation of a military clash between the United States and Israel, on one side, and Iran and possibly Syria on the other, some time from now until November. This expectation has brought together the greatest sea and air armada Europe has ever assembled at any point on earth since World War II: two carriers with 75 fighter-bombers, spy planes and helicopters on their decks; 15 warships of various types, 7 French, 5 Italian, 2-3 Green, 3-5 German, and five American; thousands of Marines, French, Italian and German, as well as 1,800 US Marines. It is improbably billed as support for a mere 7,000 European soldiers who are deployed in Lebanon to prevent the dwindling Israeli force of 4-5,000 soldiers and some 15-16,000 Hizballah militiamen from coming to blows as well as for humanitarian odd jobs. A Western military expert remarked to DEBKAfile that the European naval forces cruising off Lebanese shores are roughly ten times as much as the UNIFIL contingents require as cover, especially when UNIFIL’s duties are strictly non-combat. After all, none of the UN contingents will be engaged in disarming Hizballah or blocking the flow of weapons incoming from Syria and Iran. So, if not for Lebanon, what is this fine array of naval power really there for? First, according to our military sources, the European participants feel the need of a strong naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean to prevent a possible Iranian-US-Israeli war igniting an Iranian long-range Shahab missile attack on Europe; second, as a deterrent to dissuade Syria and Hizballah from opening a second front against American and Israel from their eastern Mediterranean coasts. The new European naval concentration tops up the forces which permanently crowd the eastern Mediterranean: the Italian-based American Sixth Fleet, some 15 small Israeli missile ships and half a dozen submarines and the NATO fleet of Canadian, British, Dutch, German, Spanish, Greek and Turkish warships. They are on patrol against al Qaeda (which is estimated to deploy 45 small freighters in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean).
Israel Plans for War With Iran and Syria Sept. 4….(Times on Line) Threatened by a potentially nuclear-armed Tehran, Israel is preparing for a possible war with both Iran and Syria, according to Israeli political and military sources. The conflict with Hezbollah has led to a strategic rethink in Israel. A key conclusion is that too much attention has been paid to Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank instead of the two biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the region, who pose a far greater danger to Israel’s existence, defense insiders say. "The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli defense agenda, higher than the Palestinian one," said an Israeli defense source. Shortly before the war in Lebanon Major-General Eliezer Shkedi, the commander of the air force, was placed in charge of the "Iranian front", a new position in the Israeli Defense Forces. His job will be to command any future strikes on Iran and Syria. The Israeli defense establishment believes that Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear program means war is likely to become unavoidable. "In the past we prepared for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities," said one insider, "but Iran’s growing confidence after the war in Lebanon means we have to prepare for a full-scale war, in which Syria will be an important player." A new infantry brigade has been formed named Kfir (lion cub), which will be the largest in the Israeli army. "It is a partial solution for the challenge of the Syrian commando brigades, which are considered better than Hezbollah’s," a military source said. There has been grave concern in Israel over a military pact signed in Tehran on June 15 between Iran and Syria, which the Iranian defence minister described as a "mutual front against Israeli threats". Israel has not had to fight against more than one army since 1973. During the war in Lebanon, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, the Iranian founder of Hezbollah, warned: "If the Americans attack Iran, Iran will attack Tel Aviv with missiles." According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, both Iran and Syria have ballistic missiles that can cover most of Israel, including Tel Aviv. An emergency budget has now been assigned to building modern shelters. "The ineptness of the Israeli Defense Forces against Hezbollah has raised the Iranians’ confidence," said a leading defense analyst. In Washington, the military hawks believe that an airstrike against Iranian nuclear bunkers remains a more straightforward, if risky, operation than chasing Hezbollah fighters and their mobile rocket launchers in Lebanon. "Fixed targets are hopelessly vulnerable to precision bombing, and with stealth bombers even a robust air defense system doesn’t make much difference," said Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative. The option of an eventual attack remains on the table after President George Bush warned on Friday that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. While the American State Department favours engaging with President Bashar Assad of Syria in the hope of detaching him from the Iranian alliance, hawks believe Israel missed a golden opportunity to strike at Syria during the Hezbollah conflict. "If they had acted against Syria during this last kerfuffle, the war might have ended more quickly and better," Perle added. "Syrian military installations are sitting ducks and the Syrian air force could have been destroyed on the ground in a couple of days." Assad set off alarm bells in Israel when he said during the war in Lebanon: "If we do not obtain the occupied Golan Heights by peaceful means, the resistance option is there." During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Syrian army briefly captured the Israeli strategic post on top of Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. Some Israeli analysts believe Syria will try again to take this post, which overlooks the Syrian capital, Damascus. As a result of the change in the defence priorities, the budget for the Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza is to be reduced. The Israelis are integrating three elite brigades that performed well during the Lebanon war under one headquarters, so they can work together on deep cross-border operations in Iran and Syria. Advocates of political engagement believe a war with Syria could unleash Islamic fundamentalist terror in what has hitherto been a stable dictatorship.
|
Sept.
28….(AP) In a Rose Garden appearance arranged to show warmth and unity, the
bickering leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan shook hands with President Bush
but not with each other. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, whom President Bush considers key bulwarks against
Islamic radicalism in a volatile region, barely looked at one another as Bush
appealed for cooperation against the common enemy of terrorism. The meeting was
a command performance for leaders who have joined their fortunes to Bush's
anti-terror drive since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but who for months have
picked at one another's efforts to fight terrorists along their long, remote,
mountainous border. They actually did shake hands before joining Bush in
appearing before reporters. These two men are personal friends of mine, Bush
said. They are strong leaders who have an understanding of the world in which we
live. They understand that the forces of moderation are being challenged by
extremists and radicals. 
Sept.
26….(Washington Times) Pope Benedict XVI sought to open a new chapter in the
Roman Catholic Church's strained dialogue with Islam yesterday by saying it is
"imperative" that both Muslims and Christians shun violence and "face up to
numerous challenges together." The German pontiff made his latest conciliatory
remarks in an address to ambassadors of Muslim-majority countries accredited to
the Vatican, all of whom attended the meeting held at Castel Gandolfo, the
pope's summer place in the cool Alban Hills south of Rome. Nearly two-dozen
countries were represented at the meeting with the pontiff, including Albania,
Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkey and Yemen. Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with the
Vatican. The only envoy absent was the ambassador of Sudan, a hard-line radical
state. Benedict made no direct reference to the controversy that led to protests
by angry Muslims around the world after he quoted what were interpreted as
remarks offensive to Islam in a speech Sept. 12 during a pastoral visit to
Germany, saying the reason for the meeting was "well known." This was the fourth
time the leader of more than 1 billion Catholics has expressed regret at the
response to his quoting 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologos, who
said the prophet Muhammad commanded "to spread by the sword the faith he
preached." In the wake of the speech, churches were burned, Muslim crowds burned
an effigy of the pope and an Italian nun was slain in Somalia. There is no
future for peace without dialogue between Christians and Muslims who must learn
"to work together to avoid every form of intolerance and oppose every
manifestation of violence," Benedict said yesterday, speaking in French. At the
end of the 30-minute address, some were satisfied. "I pray to almighty God the
crisis will be behind us," said Iraqi Ambassador Albert Edward Ismail Yelda. "We
need to sit together, Muslims, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, the
rest of religions, in order to find common ground for peaceful coexistence."
Sept.
22….(DEBKA) Abbas’s pledge at the UN is hollow given the terms of his secret
deal with Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh, which are revealed here for the first time.
Even that accord was vetoed by Hamas’s hard-line leader Khaled Meshaal from
his base in Damascus. And, early Friday, a Hamas official in Gaza said his
movement would never recognize Israel. Yet Abbas appealed movingly to the world
body Thursday night, Sept 21: “Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
These are the terms of the secret Abbas-Haniyeh accord for a Hamas-Fatah unity
government, according to DEBKAfile’s exclusive intelligence sources:
Mashaal is appointed deputy chairman of the PLO, the world Palestinian umbrella,
which makes him PM Haniyeh’s superior. The PLO under the rule of the
Abbas-Meshaal duo will be responsible for the Palestinian Authority’s security
and foreign affairs. The Haniyeh government will be left with economy,
transportation, health and education. 
Sept.
21….(FOJ) I am one person that is sick and tired of all the anti-Americanism
that is being propagated around the world today. I am sick and tired of people
insulting the American President, and calling him a stupid liar, and inferring
that he is the Devil. Hugo Chavez’s comments yesterday at the podium in New York
City were an outrage. He displayed a total lack of class and statesmanship by
coming to our country, and enjoying our freedoms, and then proceeding to insult
our nation, and our leader. President Bush is a good and decent man, and while
he may have made some mistakes as the leader of our nation, he is still the
President of my nation, and as the occupant of our Presidency, he should be
rendered all the common respect due that office. Afterall, when we talk about
the President of the United States, we are talking about an institution of our
government, and a position that has had many honorable men serve in its
function. The Devil would like nothing better than to see the American
Presidency mocked, and destroyed, but the branch of the American Presidency is
the bulwark of our sovereignty and our national republic. To witness this
demoniac from Venezuela in New York City calling for the destruction of my
country is an act that is disgusting, and insulting to the memory of all those
who perished at the World Trade Center, just blocks from the UN rostrum.
Ironically, Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and all those other anti-American loudmouths
sounded like echoes from Al Gore and John Kerry, who also called the President a
liar. If we in this nation don’t practice a better brand of Statemanship and
political devotion to God and Country, (rather than political parties) then it
may come to pass that we won’t have a country any longer, and the American
presidency will be subjugated to a Global World Order, of the kind Chavez and
Ahmadinejad have in mind. 
Sept.
20 ..Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez makes a gesture of prayer as he speaks of US President
George W. Bush whom he referred to as "the Devil" during his address to the 61st
session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Chavez also called
US president George W. Bush "the devil," "a liar" and a "tyrant" in his address.
Sept.
20….(Arutz) Israel absented herself from the address, while the United
States permitted only junior officials to remain. Ahmadinejad, who has defied
calls for a stop to nuclear enrichment, even defied the guidelines set for the
General Assembly, speaking for 30 minutes instead of the allocated 15.
Nonetheless, he was not interrupted during his address. Ahmadinejad stated his
country’s uranium enrichment program is above board and for peaceful means,
adding this was verified by United Nations inspectors. The Iranian leader did
not make any effort to explain or apologize for his defiance of the
international community’s demands to halt the uranium enrichment, opting to go
on the offensive. He accused the United States and Britain of using the Security
Council to promote their agendas. In his address he spoke of “some permanent
members of the council” that use “threat and coercion” as policy to advance
political interests. He said that when “they” encounter a difference of policy,
“they” bring the issue to the Security Council floor and then act as judge and
jury to promote their interests. Ahmadinejad stated United Nations weapons
inspectors have seen everything first hand and they can testify to the
legitimacy of his statements and the non-violent nature of the nuclear program.
Making reference to the recent war in Lebanon, the Iranian leader stated that
the influence of “some permanent members” made a ceasefire nearly impossible due
to their heavy influence on the council’s operations. He said that the Security
Council remained silent for 33 days, once again permitting "the Zionists" to
advance their goals. Ahmadinejad stated the West is seeking to deny Iran her
"legitimate rights" to develop nuclear technology for peaceful means, while the
West itself possesses that very technology. US President George W. Bush took a
conciliatory tone, stating Washington does not object to Iran’s peaceful
objectives regarding the nuclear program. He warned, however, that Tehran must
abandon its “nuclear ambitions” towards the development of a weapon. The United
States is seeking to obtain Security Council approval for imposing economic and
political sanctions on Iran after Tehran ignored the deadline imposed by the
international community. Iran was instructed to halt the nuclear enrichment
program no later than August 30th, but Ahmadinejad defiantly stated he had no
intentions of complying. Since that time, Washington has been calling for
sanctions, while European Union Foreign Minister Javier Solana and others in the
EU express support for dialogue. The latter insist that sanctions will not lead
to the cessation of Iran’s nuclear program. The EU’s position is supported by
China, Russia and other countries. American officials, however, remain confident
that in the end, Washington will succeed in mustering sufficient support to pass
a Security Council resolution that will lead to sanctions.
Sept.
20….(CNN)
Sept.
18, 2006….(DEBKA) Sunday, Sept 17, was the deadline President George W. Bush
set for European diplomacy to persuade Iran to call off its uranium enrichment
program at Natanz in compliance with Security Council demands. DEBKAfile’s
military and Washington sources report the deadline came and went without the
Bush administration holding the European Union to the date, despite the lack of
progress foreign affairs executive Javier Solana achieved in his talks with
Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. Israel foreign minister Tzipi Livni
learned last week, when she met US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley in
Washington, that the Europeans do not feel rushed. They believe they have plenty
of time to play with because the threat of Israeli military action has receded
in view the deep crisis in which the Olmert government is sunk. Israel is seen
to be paying the price of its mishandling of the Lebanon war by dropping into a
long period of political and military paralysis. In another grave setback for
the US effort to stop Iran’s race for a nuclear weapon, Russian and Chinese UN
ambassadors are reported by our sources as not only digging in their heels on
sanctions, they have spurned efforts by their American counterpart John Bolton
to convene the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee to discuss the issue.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report Iran is taking full advantage of
this impasse by ordering its nuclear teams to hurry up the tempo of uranium
enrichment.
Sept.
13….(Jerusalem Post) Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni told
visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in talks today that the way to end
instability in Iraq was for US forces to withdraw, Iran's state-run television
reported. "Part of Iraq's sufferings were due to the actions of the former
Saddam regime, and the part now is due to the presence of occupiers (a snide
reference to the US) in Iraq," Khamenei told al-Maliki, according to the
Iranian state news agency. Iran says it considers it its duty to extend
practical assistance to the Iraqi people and its new government, including
backing Iraq’s recovery of its sovereignty. In Baghad again today, car bombs
killed 22 people in Baghdad and police found 60 bodies bound, tortured and shot,
most in Sunni districts but some also in Shiite districts neighborhoods of the
capital.
Sept. 13….(AP)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made his first official visit to Iran, and
asked the Islamic regime to crack down on al-Qaida militants infiltrating his
country and to ask Iran to help Iraq's troubled oil industry. The visit
reflected the complex relationship between Iran, a mostly Shiite Muslim country,
and Iraq's government, now dominated in the post-Saddam Hussein era by Shiite
allies of Tehran. Since Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq has sought better relations
with Iran and to heal scars left by the 1980-88 war that killed more than 1
million people on both sides. The two countries enjoy increasingly strong ties
that include new oil cooperation. Iraq has already turned to Iran for help with
a chronic shortage of petroleum goods, reaching a deal last month to import
Iranian gasoline, kerosene and cooking fuel. But at the same time, the United
States, the Iraqi government's other top ally and a bitter enemy of Iran, has
repeatedly accused Tehran of interfering in Iraqi politics and allowing
terrorist-insurgents to cross the porous 1,000-mile border. State Department
spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday that the United States favors good relations
between Iraq and Iran, but noted that Washington has "repeatedly expressed
concerns about Iranian interference in Iraq's internal affairs. That is
something that we remain concerned about." Moreover, Iraq is struggling to
control months of brutal Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence, some of which is
blamed on Shiite militias that are linked to parties in the government but also
believed to have ties with Iran. Al-Maliki's welcome was warm in Iran, where he
spent part of his life exiled from Iraq during Saddam's rule. The Iraqi premier
had a red-carpet reception at the office of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Al-Maliki said his visit would be "a turning point in the expansion
of relations between Iran and Iraq that enjoy historical and ancient ties."
Asked about allegations that Iran was interfering in Iraq, al-Maliki said,
"There is no obstacle in the way of implementing agreements between Iran and
Iraq." Neither mentioned the issue of al-Qaida militants. But Haidar al-Obadi, a
parliament member from al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said the Iraqi leader was asking
Iran "for cooperation in controlling the border to prevent any al-Qaida
exploitation of the border." "There are al-Qaida members and al-Qaida
strongholds in Iran," he told the Associated Press in Cairo, speaking in a
telephone interview from Baghdad. The militants have been "taking advantage of
the long border" to smuggle weapons and people into Iraq "most likely without
the Iranian government's knowledge," he said. The United States accuses
Tehran of harboring al-Qaida fugitives. Al-Qaida's branch in Iraq has
carried out some of the most brutal suicide attacks against Iraqi Shiites.
Ahmadinejad also said Iran hoped "unwanted guests will leave the region," a
reference to US forces in Iraq. In July 2005, former Iraqi Prime Minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari made a landmark visit to Iran, the first by an Iraqi premier
since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam. Since the fall of Saddam in
2003, the two countries have sought to heal scars left by the 1980-88 war that
killed more than 1 million people on both sides.
Sept. 13….(AP)
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked former Iranian President Mohammad
Khatami on Tuesday to help foster dialogue with the United States, as the
moderate cleric wound down an unprecedented US tour. Annan and Khatami kissed
each other on the cheek three times and chatted amiably before the private
meeting began. It came near the end of Khatami's trip, which has taken him to
Boston, Chicago and Washington. "The secretary-general expressed his wish to see
more dialogue between the United States and Iran on different levels and said he
hoped President Khatami would be useful in that regard." Khatami brushed past
reporters on his way out of the UN, smiling and pointing to his watch as he sped
out the door to a waiting motorcade. Khatami's five-city tour of the United
States has angered some conservatives in Congress, and some influential Iranian
exiles in the United States. The two-week tour was the result of an invitation
from the UN so Khatami could attend a meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations,
a UN-sponsored group that promotes understanding between Western and Islamic
states. Khatami is a founding member of the alliance.
Sept.
12….(DEBKA) According to some reports, the assailants threw hand grenades
and opened heavy automatic fire on the Syrian guards outside the embassy. They
came in two cars one loaded with pipe bombs linked to gas canisters. US
diplomats are reported unhurt, but several Syrian guards were killed. DEBKAfile’s
counter-terror sources add the assault team, almost certainly Al Qaeda, was
larger than Syria has given out. It was big enough to attack the US embassy
compound from several directions and plant bomb devices around the building.
Three terrorists were killed and one injured and captured. Syrian security
forces have thrown a dragnet over Damascus to search for the fugitives. US
Marines in the embassy are said to have taken part in the gunfight. As thick
black smoke rose above the embassy, heavy Syrian forces surrounded the building.
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the scene. The terror alert has been
raised at US embassies in Europe, Middle East and Persian Gulf. There is no
US ambassador in place in Damascus. She was withdrawn more than a year ago after
the US accused Damascus of involvement in the Rafiq Hariri assassination in
Beirut. The embassy is run by a large consular staff and low-ranking
diplomats. Washington has long demanded that Damascus close down local terrorist
headquarters and training camps belonging to organizations hostile to both
Israel and the US. Groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine maintain offices and facilities in the Syrian
capital. 
Sept. 11….(FOJ)
It was another
day that shall live on in infamy. The word infamy refers to a public display of
evil that by its sheer magnitude lends a lasting shameful fame to its
perpetrators. However, it was also a day that not only shook some tall
buildings, but a day that America to its core. Focus on Jerusalem had been
warning its readers and its prophecy listeners for a long time that its failure
to firmly assist Israel in its war–on-terror would someday find America
experiencing suicide bombings and attacks here at home. But alas, America slept
on, ignoring the many warning signs of an impending storm of evil. There had
been many suspicious terror-type incidents on the homeland turf, but all of them
eventually were glossed over, and the public rested in the belief that all the
threats were mainly overseas. That changed on 9-11, and for awhile America
realized that it was in the crosshairs of a dastardly enemy. For a brief moment
in time, it looked as if America might awaken from its slumber, and return to
the God of its founding. But, America very soon found itself ordaining gay
priests, banning God’s Law from the public arena, and considering omitting God
from our national pledge. And to top that off, we even invited Allah into the
White House, in a grand display of the tolerance level we now have for other
gods. (I don’t recall any cries about Separation of church and state from the
ACLU on that occasion!) It didn’t take very long either for our nation to
become completely divided in its war-on-terror, as the Iraq phase of the war saw
America’s politicians split along the divide created by our decades long culture
war. There is much debate on whether or not Iraq has descended into a religious
sectarian civil war, but nobody seems to be able to observe that our own nation
is also involved in a civil and religious war. Our war is about what God our
nation will honor, and if we will continue to follow his laws, and to
acknowledge His Divine Providence regarding his regathering of Israel to the
Promised Land. Five years ago, many American’s woke up and started asking the
critical question about our new enemies, “why do they hate us?” In truth, they
hate us because of our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage and our resilient
Christian Zionist stance in support of Israel’s right to exist. But as I have
observed our nation in the five years since 9-11, I sense that our nation is
more divided than ever, and more susceptible than ever before, because we have
not woke up the reality that God is preparing to judge our nation because we
have abandoned Him.
Proverbs 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
The suicide zealots of fundamentalist Islam love death. God says that when men
hate him, they will be given over to the delusion that death is to be preferred
to life. Islamic preachers have convinced many of its rabid adherents that
paradise awaits all who sacrifice themselves for Allah. But in truth, Hell
awaits all who hate Jehovah! The infamous 9-11 hijackers are not in paradise
today, they are in Hell……….. As we reflect on the events of that tragic day five
years ago, we should also reflect on our personal need of a Savior, because life
is short at best. Secondly, we need as a nation to wake up, and realize that the
events of our times are signaling that there is a supernatural war going on over
the existence of Israel. It is my prayer, as I continue to pray for the peace of
Jerusalem, that America will wake up, and return to God, and be firm in standing
up for His people, Israel, as the forces of hell gather around her to annihilate
her,……and us.
Sept. 11….(YNET)
Eight and a
half months after Hamas surprised the world by defeating Fatah in the
Palestinian Legislative Council elections, the two parties are preparing to
establish a national unity government, which is aimed at helping the
Palestinian Authority out of the financial siege imposed on in by the West.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who completed a series of talks with Prime
Minister Ismail Haniyeh, announced on Monday afternoon that the sides have
reached a basic agreement. Abbas expressed his hope that in the coming days a
new government will be presented in the PA. Shortly after the announcement the
Hamas government issued a statement saying it would never recognize Israel.
Thus, the Fatah (PLO) and
Hamas 'Palestinian" terrorist organizations will be joined in unholy matrimony
within days as they form a so-called national unity government, Palestinian
Authority chairman and veteran Israel-hater Mahmoud Abbas announced triumphantly
Monday. The move has been engineered in order to enable foreign nations to
resume financial support of the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
That funding was cut off after those Arabs voted en masse last January
for Hamas to take over the Palestinian Authority. According to a new poll, the
majority of these "Palestinians" continue to support the mass murder of Jews in
Israel in the name of their "liberation struggle." Once funds to these people
are reinstituted, the united efforts of Fatah, Hamas and the Palestine Islamic
Jihad to push forward their efforts to annihilate Israel will resume. The
world's willingness to be so duped into funding the very terrorism many nations
today claim to be at war against is a sobering reminder to many Israelis of just
how high the human odds are stacked against the survival of their national
homeland.
Sept. 11….(FOJ) The Russian and Italian foreign ministers, came
here to Jerusalem over the weekend promote the revival of the Middle East peace
process. However, they even got a cool reception even from the loving peacenik
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
proposed an international conference of all the regional players. He said the
Arab states in the area want to see results, which could be achieved in "a
single blow" by means of an international summit. The Russian foreign minister
also answered questions as to why Hezbullah was caught using Russian made
weapons in the recent war. Mr. Lavrov promised an inquiry back in Moscow, but
then he leveled a charge against Israel that the IDF used cluster bombs against
Hizbullah. Russia and the EU are both accelerating their efforts to jumpstart a
new round of Roadmap Peace negotiations. It seems that Russia is sensing a
changed “balance of power” in the region in their favor, what with Hizbollah
being the perceived victor in the war, and with Iran being able to withstand US
efforts against its nuclear weapons ambitions. The Big Russian Bear is more and
more pushing its weight around against Israel. 
Sept.
11….(DEBKA) The Israeli prime minister informed the cabinet Sunday Sept 10
that the time had come to reach for a “diplomatic horizon.” Offering to meet
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas “without pre-conditions,” he brought back to
life the moribund Middle East road map. So what happened to his realignment plan
which filled all the empty space on his campaign platform only six months ago?
The answer lies in Washington, where he is in very hot water with the Bush
administration. First, the White House was angered by the way Olmert,
defense minister Amir Peretz and foreign minister Tzipi Livni mismanaged the
Lebanon war and, in doing so, got in the way of America’s plans for Iran.
This was followed by a further complaint: During his May visit to Washington,
the Israeli prime minister presented the US president and the two Houses of
Congress his realignment (aka convergence) plan for a partial withdrawal from
the West Bank. He asked for American support and received it with an ovation.
Two and a half months later, that same prime minister ditched his realignment
plan, only forgetting to drop a word to Washington. That was too much for the
administration to swallow. Olmert was given to understand that it was totally
unacceptable for him to discard a Middle East program taken seriously and
adopted by the US government like an old shoe. It was only then that Olmert
began to realize the extent of the damage he had caused US-Israel relations.
Last weekend, he sent his senior advisers, Yoram Turbovitch and Shalom Turjman,
to Washington to pour oil on troubled waters. But they were ill-prepared.
Confronted by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser
Stephen Hadley, the two Israeli officials announced Olmert was ready to make a
fresh start with a new plan. What plan? Since there was no plan, the prime
minister’s office decided to give the Middle East roadmap the kiss of life for
the umpteenth time and invite Abu Mazen to return to the game as a player. Most
Israelis received the news with a yawn. But the Labor ministers, the prime
minister and foreign minister grabbed eagerly for the suddenly floating roadmap
as a lifesaver for their sinking administration. These events took place during
the weekend break in Washington. 
Sept.
8….(Ha Aretz) The United States used Israel's attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon
as a prelude to "settling accounts" with Iran, a senior Russian diplomat told
Interfax news agency on Wednesday. Vladimir Trofimov, deputy head of the foreign
ministry's Middle East department, made the comments the day before Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov begins a visit to the Middle East that will
include Israel. "If we look at Israeli and US plans, they aim at removing the
Hezbollah factor ahead of the forthcoming US settling of accounts with Iran,"
Trofimov said. "This was a US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic world, in which
Iran has become a de-facto leader," he added. Trofimov, who has a record of
making off-the-cuff remarks, was speaking at an informal round table discussion
in Moscow. Israel and the United States have said Tehran supplies arms and cash
to Hezbollah. US President George W. Bush has refused to rule out military
action against Iran over its nuclear program. Israel launched its offensive
on Lebanon after Hezbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two in a July 12
border raid. A fragile truce was brokered by the United Nations and came into
effect on August 14. Russia has acknowledged Israel's right to defend itself
against Hezbollah attacks, but was critical of its offensive in Lebanon. Lavrov
is to visit Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria between
September 7 and 8. In a newspaper interview published on Wednesday, he
implicitly criticized Israel's calls to destroy Hezbollah and said it should
instead be engaged in political dialogue. "Hezbollah is a part of the Shi'ite
community in Lebanon," Lavrov told government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta. The
United States has been pressing Russia to give up its resistance to sanctions
against Iran, which is suspected of trying to create nuclear weapons. Iran
denies such plans and says its nuclear program is peaceful. Russia has backed a
UN resolution threatening economic sanctions against Iran if it fails to halt
its nuclear program. Iran has said it will never abandon its right to nuclear
technology.
But Lavrov said again on Wednesday that the resolution ruled out the use
of force against Iran. (FOJ Note: Lavrov has regularly warned the US
against military action against Iran) Lavrov indeed arrived in Israel at the
end of his tour in the Middle East. During his meeting with Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert, the two discussed Olmert's anticipated visit to Moscow on
Oct. 18th, pursuant to an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The
visit will mark the 15th anniversary of renewed diplomatic relations between
Israel and Russia.
Sept.
5….(YNET) The world should not isolate Iran over its nuclear program, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview published Tuesday. Annan,
however, said Tehran must take steps to reassure the international community
that it is not aiming to build an atomic weapon. "The international community
should not isolate Iran," Annan told the Madrid daily El Pais in an interview
during his stop in Doha, Qatar, after visiting Iran over the weekend.
