Causes of Interest

Putin in the Red House, Obama in the White House, EU in the Squeeze

Well folks, what do you say now. The rise of new age marxism, before our very eyes. Courtesy of Fox News: New Europe’ Longs for Bush as Obama Turns Focus to EU, Russia

Eastern European governments that ran political risks to support former President George W. Bush’s security policies are now concerned that his successor, Barack Obama, will backtrack on those regional commitments.

Leaders in the Czech Republic, Poland and other former communist nations face a backlash at home over their support of Bush-era initiatives, including the proposed U.S. missile- defense system and troop participation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, concern is growing in eastern Europe that it will be put on “the back burner” as the Obama administration talks about working with Russia and western Europe on issues such as Iran, says Annette Heuser, executive director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a policy group in Washington.

Obama, 47, will have a chance to personally assuage concerns next month. After ignoring pleas from the east on his trip to Berlin, Paris and London as candidate last year, he will make his first visit there as president on April 5, Czech Premier Mirek Topolanek said yesterday. The president will travel to Prague to meet with European Union leaders, Topolanek said; the Czech Republic currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

While it’s too early to say what the president’s overall foreign policy will be, “we can see that Obama wants better relations with Russia and that he’s skeptical about missile defense,” says Jaroslaw Walesa, a lawmaker in Poland’s ruling Citizens’ Platform party and the son of the country’s first post-communist president, Lech Walesa.

Eastern Europe’s Angst

Technorati tags: putin, obama, red square, white house, eu, poland, germany, czech republic

The pro-amnesty goons are already lining up…

Courtesy of KFMB San Diego (Los Angeles Times) Immigrant advocates said that long-stalled efforts to legalize millions of illegal migrants, crack down on employers who hire them and win more family visas would be revived next year and could possibly succeed in early 2010 following sizable Democratic gains powered by record turnouts of Latino voters in the November election. Frank Sharry of America’s Voice, a Washington-based immigrant advocacy organization, said that Democrats who favored a comprehensive reform approach beat Republicans advocating only border control and other enforcement measures in 20 of 22 congressional races in such battleground states as Colorado and New Mexico. Those results were in part driven by Latino voters, who doubled their turnout over 2000, supported President-elect Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain 67% to 31% and helped Democrats win, in addition to Colorado and New Mexico, other swing states such as Florida and Nevada, Sharry said. CONTINUED…

View article...

Technorati tags: pro amnesty, immigration, illegal alien, frank sharry, john mccain, immigration advocates

Congress has forgotten who its boss is!

Courtesy of KFMB San Diego:

(Boston Herald) Will you be getting a pay raise next year? No, I didn’t think so. Well, guess who will be getting a little something extra in their direct deposits in a couple of weeks? The U.S. Congress - all 535 of those sticky-fingered windbags. Merry Christmas from the taxpayers. This is not a joke. Thanks for the subpri me mortgage crisis, Barney Frank! Here’s your bonus for tanking the economy - another $4,700, on top of the $169,300 you were already making. Isn’t it odd that this Yuletide pay grab is generating so little press? I spotted it yesterday on The Hill Web site, under the headline, “With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise.” These same statesmen have been railing against Detroit’s Big 3 CEOs, demanding they take a dollar a year. Yet somehow it’s OK for them to chow down for another heaping helping at the public trough. CONTINUED…

View article...

Technorati tags: congress, golden fleece, sticky fingered, windbags, barney frank, the hill, pay raise, gravy train, economy, bail out, public trough, politics, pundists, socialist, republicans, democrats, pay grab

Postponing Reality

Courtesy of Thomas Sowell

Some of us were raised to believe that reality is inescapable. But that just shows how far behind the times we are. Today, reality is optional. At the very least, it can be postponed.

Kids in school are not learning? Not a problem. Just promote them on to the next grade anyway. Call it "compassion," so as not to hurt their "self-esteem."

Can't meet college admissions standards after they graduate from high school? Denounce those standards as just arbitrary barriers to favor the privileged, and demand that exceptions be made.

Can't do math or science after they are in college? Denounce those courses for their rigidity and insensitivity, and create softer courses that the students can pass to get their degrees.

Once they are out in the real world, people with diplomas and degrees-- but with no real education-- can hit a wall. But by then the day of reckoning has been postponed for 15 or more years. Of course, the reckoning itself can last the rest of their lives.

++For the rest of the article, link here

Technorati tags: reality, compassion, esteem, liberalism, college admissions standards, bailout, socialist agenda

Apostasy

Muhammadans are taught never to question the truth of Islam and to believe in Allah and his messenger with blind faith. Muhammadans are told that Allah would forgive all sins but the sin of disbelief (Qur'an Sura 4:48 and 4:116).
Honour kills do happen to protect the honour of the family and to punish those who fall away or appear to be falling away, even when they are just children in a somewhat rebellious stage of life.

Remember the Fox News special regarding honour killings?

Here is an update. FBI Calls Girls' Murder 'Honor Killing'

But some Muslims say that calling the case an honor killing goes too far.

"As far as we're concerned, until the motive is proven in a court of law, this is [just] a homicide," Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Dallas, told FOXNews.com.

He said he worries that terms like "honor killing" may stigmatize the Islamic community. “We (Muslims) don’t have the market on jealous husbands ... or domestic violence,” Carroll said.

The United Nations estimates that 5,000 women are killed worldwide every year in honor killings — mostly in the Middle East, where many countries still have laws that protect men who murder female relatives they believe have engaged in inappropriate activity. A U.N. report includes chilling examples of such cases. Source: First Time FBI Calls Case an 'Honor Killing'

__________________

Technorati tags: muhammad, muhammadan, honour killing, honor killing, fbi, islam, apostasy

Another Democrat uses the Race Card

Courtesy of Teddy Davis, ABC News

Florida Congressman: Palin 'Don't Care Too Much What They Do With Jews and Blacks'

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Florida Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings pointed to Sarah Palin on Wednesday to rally Jews to Obama...."If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," said Hastings. "Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through."....Asked about the Hastings criticism, Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said, "We’re taking a pass."

Bout the only ones I know that are making an issue about Obama's ethnicity is Obama and his party hacks....America has cleaned up it's act regarding racism and I am offended by this Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings' behavior and tongue. Obama spoke about not looking like the other presidents on our currency and now this racist remark..... If a republican had done it, G_d help us..... The democrats certainly abused Clarence Thomas. It is OK if it is a democrat.. Such double standards!

Technorati tags: Palin, Alcee Hastings, Democrat, Congressman, Political Hack, Obama, Race card, racism in america, election 2008

Was Hamdan's Trial Fair?

Crossposted from STACLU:

After years of litigation a verdict was finally reached for Salim Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden’s driver and detainee accused of war crimes. While cleared of conspiracy he was convicted on multiple counts of material support for terrorism. Legal groups like the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights quickly criticized the ruling. Certain media elements were not far behind. Much of the criticism was understandable, and much was distorted through the lens of bias. Most of the criticism ended up being deflated after a surprisingly lenient sentence of five and a half years, including five years and a month already served. This sentence fell short of the thirty years to life the prosecutors wanted. Even one of Salim’s defense attorneys admitted the verdict was fair and just. However, a fair outcome doesn’t necessarily reflect a fair process. So, are the military tribunals for the Guantanamo detainees fair? To answer this question we must critically look at both sides of the argument, the details of the process itself, and understand how we arrived at this point.

When war has been declared the United States has made use of military tribunals to try captured enemies outside the scope of conventional civil and criminal matters, historically providing a trial for combatants acting in violation to the Rules of War. The Geneva Conventions established what most countries have adopted as the international standard regarding such rules.

The perception pushed by some is that combatants held at Guantanamo deserve protection under the provisions provided by the Geneva Convention. Others argued that the essence of the Convention is the distinction between lawful combatants and civilians and that terrorists violate this by being non-uniformed, negating this distinction and endangering innocent civilians. This argument applies that Prisoner of War status and the rights that come with that should not extend to those that violate its rules. The Supreme Court settled this argument in 2006 in favor of extending many of these rights to captured combatants held at Guantanamo. This decision was Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld which extended certain rights to the detainees and placed limits on the authority of the executive branch. This decision was the catalyst for Congress to pass the Military Commissions Act of 2006 authorizing the establishment of military commissions within the parameters set by the Supreme Court.

The 5-4 ruling in Boumediene vs. Bush threw another wrench into the efforts to prosecute prisoners at Guantanamo by determining that habeas corpus rights extend to these prisoners and that the Military Commissions Act unconstitutionally suspended those rights. Defense lawyers used this ruling in an attempt to delay the military trial of Salim Hamdan, but were unsuccessful in their argument that the procedures violated certain constitutional rights. District Judge James Robertson ruled against delaying the trial on the grounds that these arguments could be raised on appeal after the completion of the trial. How this ruling’s precedent will affect future proceedings against Guantanamo detainees is yet to be seen.

Determining whether the military commission process is fair requires looking at several factors. Hamdan’s trial served as a test case for the government prosecutors and the detainee defense lawyers. Behind Hamdan there are around 80 other Guantanamo detainees, including five alleged September 11th plotters, the Pentagon intends to try before the commissions. It is important to observe Hamdan’s case to determine the probability of fairness in future military commissions because of the precedents it has set.

Most of the key criticisms in Hamdan’s case were addressed. The concern that evidence obtained through coercive interrogation would be used was alleviated when the judge excluded statements obtained from Hamdan prior to his arrival at Guantanamo. Concerns remained over allowed statements obtained after his arrival due to defense allegations they were obtained through abusive procedures. However, no convincing evidence was presented to prove these allegations. Defense attorneys were also given adequate opportunity and access to challenge secret evidence. Many other points exist in favor of the fairness in this trial including the fact that Hamdan’s conviction is automatically appealed to a military appellate court. That court can reduce, but cannot increase, his sentence. Hamdan can then appeal to U.S. civilian courts as well. However, many legal concerns remain such as the question of whether his prosecution violated the Constitution’s prohibition of ex post facto laws. Concerns addressed in Hamdan’s case do not guarantee future trials will be addressed similarly, but recognized respect of precedent makes it probable.

In my opinion, Salim Hamdan received a fair trial and a lenient but just sentencing. The system in place for future military trials is still not perfect, but provides more protections and rights for captured enemy combatants than ever provided in history. Certain elements definitely need to be addressed while others are yet to be determined. The legal journey to refine the process has only begun.

Posted as a part of a Stop the ACLU Blogburst. Visit Stop the ACLU if you would like to participate...email jay-at-stoptheaclu-dot-com.

Murder in the family: Honour Killings in the Family

As seen last night on the Fox News Channel, courtesy of Fox News:

The United Nations estimates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in
such honor killings each year for offenses like immodesty or refusing an
arranged marriage. They may be on the rise in the U.S., as seen anecdotally in
Kanwal's death and a handful of other prominent attacks:

• Fifty-year-old Yaser Abdel Said became the focus of a massive manhunt
after he allegedly killed his teenage daughters Sarah and Amina — for dating
boys against his will. Relatives say he tried to marry off Amina in his native
Egypt when she was 16, and he hasn't been seen since the girls were shot to
death on New Year's Day.
• Zein Isa, a Palestinian terrorist who lived in St. Louis, was convicted
of killing his daughter Palestina in 1989. Investigators say he was furious she
had a black boyfriend, went to a school dance and got a job at Wendy's.
Palestina's mother held her down as Isa plunged a 9-inch knife into his
daughter's chest, actions the FBI picked up on a microphone as they investigated
Isa for his terrorist ties.
• Waheed Mohammad, a 22-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan, was shamed by
his sister, who he thought was a "bad Muslim girl." At his mother's behest,
investigators say, he tried to "stop" his sister, stabbing her multiple times,
though she survived and spoke to FOX News.

To see more on honor killings in America, watch FOX News' special documentary, "Murder in the Family: Honor Killings in America," airing 8 p.m. EDT Saturday, July 26, and 8 and 11 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Technorati tags: honor killing, honour killing, foxnews, islam, muslim, mohammad, qur’an, Sarah said, Amina Said, yaser said, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Middle East

Labels: Islam, mohammad, moslem, Muslims, religion of peace

Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Sites on its Blogger Platform

-By Warner Todd Huston

It looks like Google has officially joined the Barack Obama campaign and decided that its contribution would be to shut down any blog on the Google owned Blogspot.com blogging system that has an anti-Obama message. Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched. Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing. Boy, it must be nice for Barack Obama to have an ally powerful enough to silence his opponents like that!

It isn't just conservative sites that Google's Blogger platform is eliminating. For instance, www.comealongway.blogspot.com has been frozen and this one is a Hillary supporting site. The operator of Come a Long Way has a mirror site off the Blogspot platform and has today posted this notice:

I used to have a happy internet home on Blogger: www.comealongway.blogspot.com. Then on Wednesday night, June 25, I received the following e-mail:

Dear Blogger user,

This is a message from the Blogger team.

Your blog, at http://comealongway.blogspot.com/, has been identified as a potential spam blog. You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

It turns out that there is an interesting pattern where it concerns the blogs that Google's Blogspot team have summarily locked down on their service. They all belong to the Just Say No Deal coalition, a group of blogs that are standing against the Obama campaign. It seems the largest portion of these blogs are Hillary supporting blogs, too.

All I can say is, WOW! If Google is willing to abuse its power like this even against fellow leftists, what does it plan against conservatives, the folks Google hates even more!?

Plan your trip to the Flight 93 crash site for the weekend of August 2nd!

Are you thinking of visiting the Flight 93 crash site? If you plan your visit for the weekend of August 2nd, you can help stop the gigantic terrorist memorial mosque that will soon start rising from the ground there.

August 2nd is the next scheduled public meeting of the Memorial Project, where anyone can sign up to speak during the public comment period. Tom Burnett Sr. (whose son Tom Jr. broke into the cockpit of the hijacked airplane) announced last Friday that he and Alec Rawls will be traveling to Somerset for the August meeting. They will be rallying outdoors, speaking at the public meeting, and visiting the crash site.

Mr. Burnett is asking other concerned parties who can make it to please come. The crash site is a beautiful and meaningful place to visit in any case, and here is a chance to make your visit even more meaningful. It is an opportunity to in some small way follow the lead of the heroes of Flight 93 by helping to stop the re-hijacking of Flight 93.

Mr. Burnett's announcement came on the Mancow Muller radio show, where Congressman Tancredo was also a guest. When controversy over the Crescent of Embrace design first arose back in 2005, Tom Tancredo was instrumental in forcing the Park Service to alter the design. Last fall he noted that the giant crescent remains unchanged in the so-called redesign and asked the Park Service to scrap the design entirely. On Friday he said that he would help Mancow Muller and Tom Burnett to stop the crescent design (audio, 19 seconds):

Certainly I will do everything I can to help you. I will bring it to the attention of my colleagues. I'll use the time I have on the floor of the House to rail against it.

THANK YOU CONGRESSMAN TANCREDO!

Mr. Burnett said that he would join Mancow in going to jail for taking sledgehammers to the crescent memorial if this tribute to the terrorists actually gets built. (Audio, 25 seconds.)

Cao has the whole segment of Mancow and the two Toms up as a YouTube video, with her own background graphics.

To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

Labels: 1st Amendment, Fallen Heros, Islamicfascism, News, PETITIONS

ACLU Supports Legalized Unregulated Prostitution

Crossposted from STACLU

Since New York Governor Eliot Spitzer brought the topic into the national discussion, I thought it would be interesting to dust off this oldy but goody. I know that some more libertarian leaning people actually agree with the ACLU on this, but I don't. It will be interesting to watch the debate in the comments.

Keep in mind that all laws are based on some moral code. That code isn't necessarily that of any one specific religion, but a reflection of the collective morals of the community and general public. It is my belief that issues like this one should be decided at the state level by the representatives of the people.

Also keep in mind that even in States where prostitution is legal it is regulated. The ACLU believe it should be unregulated. I think this is the most retarded and absolutist position that the ACLU has on this one. I don't know about you, but I don't want someone being pimped on the same corner my kid catches the school bus.

Not only have the ACLU argued before a federal appeals court that having a ban on federal funds to organizations that promote commercial sex work inhibits free speech, but they even advocate the legalization of unregulated prostitution themselves.

The ACLU's Policy 211 is straightforward. "The ACLU supports the decriminalization of prostitution and opposes state regulation of prostitution". They base their argument on several points, including that existing laws are discrimination against women, and the right of individual privacy. They argue that what two consenting adults in private do is their own business. However, when you also oppose zoning laws, and regulation you can hardly argue that prostitution is a private business.

As for it being a privacy issue, it seems a contradiction to me when they also state that the "public" solicitation of prostitution is "entitled to the protection of the First Amendment". "It's not just the bedroom that the ACLU wishes to make off-limits to public censure, but also the local street corner, presumably even if that corner is regularly used by school children crossing the street." Source

And what good would it do for women's rights to decriminalize this? One could argue that women should not be punished for their own exploitation. But how does decriminalizing pimps, buyers, procurers, brothels or other sex establishments offer any solution to this? Decriminalization would do nothing but expand the sex industry and send a message to society that it is acceptable. And a system unregulated would do nothing for women's health, and would only promote the spread disease.

They don't belive in zoning laws, and do believe in fully legalalized, and unregulated prostitution. So there wouldn't be any law that could keep a prostitution house from being a certain distance from your neighborhood, your Church, or your child's preschool. This is especially disturbing when they think child pornography distribution and possession should be legal, and fight for convicted child molesters to live across the street from elementary schools and parks.

This is just one of many in a very long list of extremist positions of the ACLU.

Detainees Treated Fairly, Rehabilitated to Re-enter Iraqi Society

Courtesy of Multi-National Force Iraq: Detainees Treated Fairly, Rehabilitated to Re-enter Iraqi Society

Detainees form a crowd inside the compound as the loud cheers and even louder jeers intensify. Guards on the catwalks above watch closely as the mob’s shouting reaches its peak. It’s over suddenly, and the participants trickle away in ones and twos, replaying the highlights of the afternoon’s volleyball game and already planning for the next.

Allowing detainees freedom - even fun – inside a detention facility may seem odd, but it is part of a strategic counterinsurgency tactic to engage detainees and separate violent individuals from the rest of the population. The goal is to create a safe and positive environment for successful detainee reintegration into Iraqi society.

Army Staff Sgt. Gregory Smith, 535th Military Police Battalion, is a Reservist military policeman and a civilian police officer from Nashville, Tenn. He works as the noncommissioned officer in charge of Compound Two, known inside the TIF as the most compliant compound. Much of his day is spent walking the compound’s four zones, overseeing his guards and meeting with the detainee zone chiefs, he said.

“I like to describe my job in the TIF as putting out small fires before they turn into big ones,” said Smith.

Link to rest of story

Technorati tags: BAGHDAD, razor-wire fences, Camp Cropper, Coalition forces theater internment facility, TIF, western Baghdad, detainee

Prophet offenders must be killed - bin Laden

A trip down memory lane to put radial Islam into prospective, 24 April 2006:

Dubai - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called for people who ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad to be killed, weighing into the furore that erupted after a Danish newspaper ran cartoons lampooning Islam's holy messenger.

"Heretics and atheists, who denigrate religion and transgress against God and His Prophet, will not stop their enmity towards Islam except by being killed," the Saudi-born militant said.

Bin Laden's remarks were part of an audio tape which Al Jazeera television aired excerpts from on Sunday 23 April 2006.

The liberal mind

Top psychiatrist concludes liberals are clinically nuts!
Makes case ideology is mental disorder

Courtesy of WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;
satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;
augmenting primitive feelings of envy;
rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

For the rest of the article please visit WorldNetDaily

Related special offers:

Get your copy of "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness"

Get Michael Savage's prophetic "Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder"

Technorati tags: michael savage, savage nation, lyle rossiter, liberalism, mental disorders, irrational beliefs, modern liberals

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Offers Palestinians Military and Economic Aid – And Help in Manufacturing Rockets

Courtesy of MEMRI

VIEW THE NEW MEMRI TV WEBSITE AT: www.memritv.org

Special Dispatch-Jihad & Terrorism/Palestinians February 17, 2008 No. 1845
Al-Qaeda in Iraq Offers Palestinians Military and Economic Aid – And Help in Manufacturing Rockets

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit: Al-Qaeda in Iraq Offers Palestinians Military and Economic Aid – And Help in Manufacturing Rockets .

In a 30-minute video posted February 14, 2008 on the Islamist website Al-Hesbah (hosted by NOC4Hosts Inc. in Florida), Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, commander of the Al-Qaeda-founded organization Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), presents his position on "winning the war against the Jews." In it, he calls Israel "a malignant germ that was implanted in the heart of the Islamic nation and must be eradicated," and stresses that liberating Al-Aqsa mosque is a duty incumbent upon each and every Muslim. He also accuses Hamas of treason for entering into the political process with Israel while turning its back on jihad fighters around the world.

Addressing the Palestinians, Al-Baghdadi calls on them to embrace the path of jihad, and to make no distinction between the infidel Jews and the Palestinians who betray Islam. He advises them to establish a special Salafi organization to train the children of the stones in noble jihad goals, and urges them to eradicate Shi'ism, which has begun to spread in Palestine in the guise of "resistance." He also calls upon all Muslims to strengthen the existing jihad fronts – especially in Iraq and Afghanistan – and to establish new jihad fronts in order to take some of the Israeli-American pressure off the Palestinians. Finally, he offered the Palestinians economic aid as well as help in training fighters and in manufacturing rockets.

Following are excerpts from his address:

"Israel is a Malignant Germ… The Jewish Traits, as Described in the Koran, Have Persisted through the Ages, and Are Passed from One Generation [of Jews] to the Next"

"Today, I will devote my address to my perception about how to prevail in the struggle against the Jews... Before discussing the solution, let me state some facts that I believe to be true: The [duty of] liberating Al-Aqsa is incumbent upon every Muslim [around the world], just as every Palestinian Muslim has a duty [to participate in] liberating Iraq, Chechnya and other Muslim countries... Israel was founded on a religious basis. It is a religious state, and anyone who calls it a secular state is lying... Israel is a malignant germ implanted in the heart of the Islamic nation, and it must be eradicated, even if the traitors sign a thousand capitulation agreements with it. There is no difference between Zionism and Judaism... since the traits of the Jews, as described in the Koran, have persisted through history, and are passed from one generation [of Jews] to the next...

"The nationalist Arabs and their wretched revolution had a hand in the establishment of Israel... The [various] Palestinian organizations... are the root of the problem... Allah has brought disaster upon them and has exposed their shame... The armed organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and especially Hamas – with the exception of the loyal ['Izz Al-Din] Al-Qassam Brigades – have betrayed Islam and the [Islamic] nation, and have renounced the blood of the martyrs..."

"The Leadership of Hamas has Betrayed Islam and Has Turned Its Back on Jihad Fighters Everywhere"

"The treason of the Hamas leadership is characterized by the following: Its joining the political [process] within the framework of a constitution written by man and on the basis of the Oslo Accords, which surrenders three fourths of Palestine; its implicit recognizing of Israel; its announcement that it will honor the international agreements...; its forming a suspect alliance with Israel and with the regimes that have betrayed Islam, particularly with Egypt and Syria...; its turning its back on jihad fighters [everywhere]...; its announcing, in Moscow, that the issue of Chechnya is an internal [Russian] affair; [its announcing] that [Hamas] has had nothing to do with the jihad in Iraq and has not fired a single shot there; its announcing that [Hamas] is not interested in Islamization of [Palestinian] society... and its not demanding that the political process be in accordance with shari'a as well as its not implementing shari'a once it gained full control of Gaza; its [display of] overt hostility towards jihadi Salafism [the Islamic creed followed by Al-Qaeda]...; and its violating the [religious] prohibition on spilling Palestinian blood..."

"Jihad is the Solution; There Is No Distinction Between Olmert... and 'Abbas"

"Our brothers in Palestine must know that jihad is the solution, and that under the pure flag of monotheism, there is no distinction between war against the Jewish infidel and [war against] the Palestinians who have betrayed Islam. Thus, there is no distinction between [Israeli Prime Minister] Olmert, with his [band of] criminals, and [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] 'Abbas and his gang...

"Another sector that must be dealt a heavy blow is the Shi'ites, and particularly their leaders. This cancer has already begun to spread among our brothers in Palestine, taking advantage of ignorance and poverty. [It is being spread by] a group of traitors who are collaborating with the Iranian Shi'ites, under the guise of 'resistance [fighters]'... Allah's warriors know that Shi'ism is not the [true] Islam revealed by our Prophet Muhammad, but is based on polytheism...

"What would help our brothers in their jihad against the Jewish attack... [is] the establishment of a Salafi organization, which would embrace the [Salafi] ideology... would maintain active ties with the [religious] scholars, the sheikhs, the mosques and the leaders [of Palestinian society], and would train Palestinian youth to wage noble jihad... [Also,] the loyal [fighters] of the ['Izz Al-Din] Al Qassam [Brigades] should announce that they are severing ties with Hamas and with its corrupt and deviant political leadership..."

The Islamic Nation Should Establish New Jihad Fronts To Ease Pressure on the Palestinians

"The role that the [Islamic] nation must play in liberating Al-Aqsa is manifold. It must open new jihad fronts in order to take some of the Jewish and American pressure off our brothers in Palestine. At the same time, it must make sure to strengthen the existing jihad fronts – especially [where there is] a direct confrontation with [U.S.] troops, as in Iraq and Afghanistan... [The Islamic nation] must also break down the despicable checkpoints that encircle our brothers in Palestine: the Palestinians in Jordan must breach the [Jordanian] border in order to lift the economic siege off the West Bank... while the Egyptians must breach the border separating them from their brothers in Gaza...

"In this context, I suggest that every Muslim put aside two dollars of his monthly income; half [the money] will go to our brothers in Palestine and the other half will go to the other [jihad] fronts.

Virtuous people should establish secret charities... to collect this money and hold it until it can be sent on to its destination...

Religious scholars must break down the barriers of fear... and inform [everyone] of the danger posed to the faith and to the [entire] world by the regimes that have betrayed Islam. [They must] support the jihad fighters and advise them by issuing fatwas... [In addition,] the media must truly support the jihad fighters by emphasizing their virtues and ignoring their flaws..."

The ISI is Persecuted Because It is the Key to Liberating Jerusalem

"As for the role of the ISI in liberating Palestine... we hope it will be the key to restoring [Muslim control over] Jerusalem. The Jews and the Muslims have already realized [its crucial importance], and have tried to prevent us from [attaining] this goal in every possible way. The vicious attack on the Al-Anbar [district] was motivated only by their realization that medium-range missiles fired from Al-Anbar can reach Israel, as demonstrated by Saddam [Hussein in the first Gulf War]... They know that some of [his] missiles are still around, and that new ones can be manufactured...

"The crimes perpetrated by the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq, and especially by Hamas-Iraq, by the [Iraqi] Islamic Party and by Al-Jaysh Al-Islami – [namely] the establishment of the Awakening movement and their continuing attempts to drive us out of Al-Anbar, with direct [collaboration] with the Americans – were aimed solely at preventing us from helping you [i.e. the Palestinians], even if [this help was] only from afar. But know that with Allah's help, the future will be bright, [for] we will never [let] the collaborators and the traitors stand in our way...

"We are willing to help you with the little money we have, and to train your fighters [in everything], from preparing explosive charges to manufacturing rockets...

"[Signed] your brother, Abu Omar Al-Quraishi Al-Baghdadi."

*********************
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
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House Dems 'Leave Washington, Leave America Exposed to Attack'

Courtesy of CNSNews

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
February 15, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush and Republicans are blasting House Democratic leaders for taking a week-long President's Day recess without passing a key piece of national security legislation.

The Protect America Act -- which authorizes the U.S. intelligence community to quickly monitor terrorist communications -- will expire at midnight on Saturday.

"If Congress does not act by that time, our ability to find out who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning will be compromised," President Bush warned on Thursday. "It would be a mistake if the Congress were to allow this to happen."

House Democrats are going to allow it to happen, however.

They have refused to take up a bipartisan bill that easily passed the Senate earlier this week, because that bill would not only modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- it also would grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted the government in its warrantless electronic surveillance after Sept. 11, 2001.

"Without this protection, without this liability shield, we may not be able to secure the private sector's cooperation with our intelligence efforts," President Bush warned. That would put the American people at risk, he added.

Two days ago, the House rejected a short-term FISA extension intended to give Democrats more time to work on a permanent fix. Even some Democrats voted against a short-term fix. (See related story).

"Terrorists seeking to harm America and destroy our way of life have been handed a major victory by the Majority's decision to bar intelligence officials from opening any new foreign surveillance cases without needless bureaucratic hurdles," House Republican Leader John Boehner said on Thursday.

"As Members of Congress return to their congressional districts for the 12-day recess, terrorists will continue plotting to attack our nation and our allies. And the American people will have every reason to ask why House Democrats have undermined the ability of our intelligence officials to protect us."

The FISA bill is so important to President Bush, he offered to delay his trip to Africa on Friday if it would help House leaders finish work on the FISA bill.

President Bush says it's clear that the Senate bill would easily pass the House, if only House Democratic leaders would bring it to the floor for a vote.

"Our government has no greater responsibility than getting this work done, and there really is no excuse for letting this critical legislation expire," Bush said. "The House should not leave Washington without passing the Senate bill."
In response to a question, President Bush said he hopes Congress isn't "playing politics," as some Republicans have charged. "I can assure you al Qaeda in their planning isn't thinking about politics. They're thinking about hurting the American people again."

President Bush says the U.S. intelligence community needs to know what America's enemies are saying, planning and thinking. He said electronic surveillance "has been very effective."

President Bush noted that the House passed a short-term FISA fix last summer - the Protect America Act, which expires this weekend. "And if it was necessary last summer, why is it not necessary today?" Bush asked.
Instead of tackling a FISA bill on Thursday, House Democrats further infuriated Republicans by issuing contempt of Congress citations against former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.

The House voted 223 to 32 to hold Miers and Bolten in contempt for refusing to comply with a legally binding subpoena relating to the Bush administration's firing of U.S. attorney-generals.

Pelosi said members of Congress take their "oversight" responsibility "seriously."

Too bad House Democrats don't take national security seriously, House Republican Whip House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) said on Thursday.

"I am amazed that while Democrats are eagerly taking political potshots at White House employees, including one who left over a year ago, they refuse to consider bipartisan legislation to safeguard our nation.

"Taking up these contempt citations with only two days until a critical intelligence law expires is as poorly timed as it is poorly reasoned, and it demonstrates the Democrats' cavalier approach to national security."

House Republicans walked off the House floor in protest on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed aside Republican complaints that the nation will suffer if the Protect America Act expires.

"Even if the Protect America Act expires later this week, the American people can be confident that our country remains safe and strong. Every order entered under the law can remain in effect for 12 months from the date it was issued," Pelosi said.

But the Bush administration says without the force of law to protect them, telecommunications companies are increasingly reluctant to cooperate with warrantless surveillance.

losi on Wednesday also slammed Republicans for refusing to support a short-term extension of the bill. Republicans "therefore will bear the responsibility should any adverse national consequences result," Pelosi insisted. (President Bush said it's time for the House to pass a permanent fix, just as the Senate did -- not another patch.)

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