Update On Iran Insurrection 12/30/09

Today the fake government of Iran held their own rally, and they could only find up to 20,000 people to show up. They bought them food, made them signs, told them what to chant, and took them home. Oh yes, they had to bus them in from outside of Tehran, so they were not Tehranis. Pretty slick, eh?

Notice one thing, they did not have police shooting at them, they did not have the basij and the irgc fighting them. No riot gear. Yet the Green Movement, which is many times more popular, had about over one million people in July after the fake election and many hundreds of thousand people facing these thugs with no weapons, no protection, no nothing. All they had is disgust and courage.

They want a peaceful, secular Iran. They don't want to fight, and they were not fighting. It was the basij and irgc who started the fighting. They pushed them past the point of peaceful protest. They restrained their anger for so long.

Sunday was the 7th day after the death (they mourn the dead of Mohammad's grandson and family after 7 days on the day of Ashura, very holy day) of one their reformist Clerics who had criticized this regime ever since the 80's. He was one of the original people of the revolution in 1979. He soon became disenchanted with the way the government was taking shape. Many people in Iran are saddened at his loss, so their is a little division because the protest started on that day. Otherwise, they generally agree with the Green Movement.

It is true that not all the people agree or want Iran to change. You will find this in any party, any country, any state, etc. So please don't misquote me as saying everyone! *heh*

Even though I have been praying for the Christians in Iran and trying to talk to Congress about human rights issues, I still do not know as much about the Persian history as I would like to know. That is why I have three people I would like to introduce you to that are Iranian bloggers.

First I would like to introduce to a friend of mine who we share a blog with, his name is 'Korosh' and his blog is DEMOCRACY FOR IRAN دموكراسي براي ايران. He is a very peace-loving man, and he keeps up with the news pretty well.

I met Winston next. He has a site over at The Spirit of Man. He is a rather funny guy. (He has a great sense of humor.) He also desires a regime change. He has been following this history as it happens, so you should really check out his site.

I just found this site a couple days ago, but it is very good also. The name of it is The Daily Nite Owl and his latest post is ‘Millions’ Out in Support of Government in Iran? Think Again. This one covers the state run, state owned, state bought people to rally as if they are pro-government. Ha. If they loved the govt so much, why did they have to go out of town to gather people...starting yesterday!

I don't want to report anything I cannot confirm, and unfortunately I can't even be sure of this. All of them have relatives and friends in Iran, so I have a tendency to rely on their versions. They coincide with what I've been reading in the papers and seeing on Twitter's #iranelection. Also unfortunately, that's all I have for now. I hope to learn more for tomorrow. Until then, everyone stay safe and pray for our brothers and sisters who are fighting for their own Life and Liberty. Thanks.

Update: I have just read a marvelous article at Muslims Against Sharia by SP. The name of the article is Amil Imani: Is Regime Change Coming To Iran? Well written and more in depth than I could write. Great job.

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

Portents of A Nuclear Al-Qaeda

Courtesy of Washington and by permission from the author, David Ignatius, Link to the article: Here

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is paid to think about the unthinkable. As the Energy Department's director of intelligence, he's responsible for gathering information about the threat that a terrorist group will attack America with a nuclear weapon.

With his shock of white hair and piercing eyes, Mowatt-Larssen looks like a man who has seen a ghost. And when you listen to a version of the briefing he has been giving recently to President Bush and other top officials, you begin to understand why. He is convinced that al-Qaeda is trying to acquire a nuclear bomb that will leave the ultimate terrorist signature -- a mushroom cloud.

We've all had enough fear-mongering to last a lifetime. Indeed, we have become so frightened of terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, that we have begun doing the terrorists' job for them by undermining the legal framework of our democracy. And truly, I wish I could dismiss Mowatt-Larssen's analysis as the work of an overwrought former CIA officer with too many years in the trenches.

But it's worth listening to his warnings -- not because they induce more numbing paralysis but because they might stir sensible people to take actions that could detect and stop an attack. That's why his boss, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, is encouraging him to speak out. Mowatt-Larssen doesn't want to anguish later that he didn't sound the alarm in time.

Mowatt-Larssen has been gathering this evidence since a few weeks after Sept. 11, when then-CIA Director George Tenet asked him to create a new branch on weapons of mass destruction in the agency's counterterrorism center. He helped Tenet prepare the chapter on al-Qaeda's nuclear efforts that appears in Tenet's memoir, " At the Center of the Storm." Now that the uproar over Tenet's mistaken "slam dunk" assessment of the Iraqi threat has died down, it's worth rereading this account. It provides a chilling, public record of al-Qaeda's nuclear ambitions.

Mowatt-Larssen argues that for nearly a decade before Sept. 11, al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. As early as 1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclear device, according to testimony presented in federal court in February 2001. When the al-Qaeda leader was asked in 1998 if he had nuclear or chemical weapons, he responded: "Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so."

Even as al-Qaeda was preparing to fly its airplane bombs into buildings, the group was also trying to acquire nuclear and biological capabilities. In August 2001, bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, met around a campfire with Pakistani scientists from a group called Umma Tameer-E-Nau to discuss how al-Qaeda could build a nuclear device. Al-Qaeda also had an aggressive anthrax program that was discovered in December 2001 after bin Laden was driven from his haven in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda proclaimed a religious rationale to justify the WMD attacks it was planning. In June 2002, a Kuwaiti-born cleric named Suleiman Abu Ghaith posted a statement on the Internet saying that "al-Qaeda has the right to kill 4 million Americans" in retaliation for U.S. attacks against Muslims. And in May 2003, at the same time Saudi operatives of al-Qaeda were trying to buy three Russian nuclear bombs, a cleric named Nasir al-Fahd issued a fatwa titled "A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against Infidels." Interrogations of al-Qaeda operatives confirmed that the planning was serious. Al-Qaeda didn't yet have the materials for a WMD attack, but it wanted them.

Most chilling of all was Zawahiri's decision in March 2003 to cancel a cyanide attack in the New York subway system. He told the plotters to stand down because "we have something better in mind." What did that mean? More than four years later, we still don't know.

After 2004, the WMD trail went cold, according to Mowatt-Larssen. Many intelligence analysts have concluded that al-Qaeda doesn't have nuclear capability today. Mowatt-Larssen argues that a more honest answer is: We don't know.

So what to do about this spectral danger? The first requirement, says Mowatt-Larssen, is to try to visualize it. What would it take for al-Qaeda to build a bomb? How would it assemble the pieces? How would the United States and its allies deploy their intelligence assets so that they could detect a plot before it was carried out? How would we reinvent intelligence itself to avert this ultimate catastrophe?

A terrorist nuclear attack, as Tenet wrote in his book, would change history. If we can see how this story might end, perhaps we can deflect the arrow before it hits its target.

The writer is co-host of PostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues. His e-mail address is davidignatius@washpost.com.

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Technorati tags: george tenet, cia, iran, nuclear weapons, al qaeda, David Ignatius, Mowatt-Larssen, Bush, Energy Department, DOE, Osama bin Laden, wmd, new york subway, Nasir al-Fahd, fatwa, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Pakistani scientist, us intelligence, Iran, Iraq, global war on terror, bin laden, Umma Tameer-E-Nau

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The Mother of Modern Terrorism

Courtesy of CBNNews.com

WASHINGTON - Iran still nags the U.S. almost 30 years following the hostage crisis that helped bring down a presidency.

The faces have changed but the White House still faces off with Tehran.

This time it's over charges of supplying weapons used to kill Americans in Iraq, pursuing nuclear weapons calling for the end of Israel.

The Mother of Modern Terrorism

Iran declared war on the U.S. in 1979. They've been killing Americans non-stop ever since then, and no American president has ever responded.

Conservative Michael Ledeen, author of The Iranian Time Bomb, calls Iran the "mother of modern terrorism." He says three decades of failed American diplomacy have continued under President Bush.

"As far as I can tell he doesn't have an Iran policy," Leeden said. "Even after several years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it was quite clear we were drowning in information that the Iranians were supporting both sides of the terror war against us, where Iranian weapons, Iranian intel agents, even Iranian troops were on the ground killing Americans.

Even then for the longest time our soldiers were told take it easy on the Iranians. It's only in the last several months that we've been able finally to shoot Iranians, capture Iranians and so forth and look at the reaction. The Iranian regime is furious, screaming."

Ledeen, whose son is a Marine now serving in Iraq, says the U.S. would be justified to take out terror-training camps inside Iran.

"We know Iraqis are brought into Iran for training in bases in Iran, and then they're sent back into Iraq, armed, trained, funded by the Iranians," he said. "And they come into Iraq to kill our guys."

U.S. Options Regarding Iran

Contrary to his image as eager for war with Iran, Ledeen is opposed to a U.S. bombing or invasion of Iran.

"Iran is a big country - 70 million people. Great killers. Very fanatical. Hate us passionately. You want to take them on, you have to be really serious. It takes a lot of effort. Lot of risk. Lot of money will probably cost some lives, if not our theirs. And it's unpleasant and there's every chance that you'll fail," Leeden said.

What are U.S. options? A White House push for tougher U.N. sanctions has been blocked by Russia and China. Critics of continued diplomacy question how America can bargain with Iran's mullahs who believe America's destruction is sanctioned by god.

"We've offered every carrot and brandished every stick by now," Leeden said. "You know, Einstein's definition of a madman is somebody who keeps doing the same thing, hoping to get a different result some day."

Iranian Revolution?

Ledeen believes a more lethal weapon exists: revolution.

"If you did a little check list on conditions for revolution: economic misery, political opposition to the regime, suffering by the people, long traditions of self-government and awareness of modern democracy and how it works and so forth. Iran fulfils every condition," he said.

"So Iran, if you're looking for a country where the people hate the regime, we know from the regime itself, from it's own public opinion polls, that 70 plus percent of the Iranian people hate the regime," Ledeen said.

But he believes that would require unprecedented action from the United States.

"They're terribly embittered right now because this administration has given all kinds of speeches about how they stand behind the Iranians - 'We hope Iran will become free, and so forth' - but we've never done anything. They are waiting to see us do something to support them.

America's concerns for its soldiers in Iraq, Israeli security on the line and a potential nuclear threat, the Iranian time bomb is ticking.

It's a bomb that could set off a diplomatic breakthrough , or a countdown to war.

INSIDE IRAN:

• Signs of the Apocalypse
• A Rising Chorus
• The Young and the Restless
• The Ultimate Martyrdom
• Truth and its Consequences

Technorati tags: iran, america, apocalypse, martyrdom, time bomb, iranians, terrorism, iraq, tehran, shah of iran, jimmy carter, nuclear option, israel, iranian revolution

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October 12 - Final Response Forthcoming From Iran’s Ahmadinejad?

Courtesy of National Terror Alert Center:

October 12 - Final Response Forthcoming From Iran’s Ahmadinejad?

October 11, 2007

Tomorrow, October 12, 2007 is the last Friday of Ramadan and the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has issued a statement, vowing to liberate “all of Palestine” with some sort of “final response” to Iran’s enemies.

Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said the message would be sent to coincide with Quds Day, held each year on the last Friday of Ramadan.

On September 19th the following article appeared in the Islamic Republic News Agency

Supporters of the Zionist regime will receive their response during the world Quds Day’s rallies, government spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Elham, said Wednesday.
The spokesman made the remarks during his weekly press conference while commenting on the current visit to the occupied Palestine of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Quds Day is held each year on the last Friday of Muslims fasting month of Ramadan after it was nominated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, as a day to voice the protest of the Islamic Ummah against the Zionists.
The day falls on October 12 this year.
“The US loses all opportunities to cooperate with regional and other world states by trying to support a regime (the Zionist regime) which is now at its weakest political and social position,” Elham said.
He warned that Washington’s insistence on its wrong policies and arrogant approaches would have no result “but further political disgrace” for itself. Referring to the approaching World Quds Day, the spokesman stressed, “Supporters of the Zionist regime will definitely receive the final response for their support on that day.”
Source http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/men...9796134418.htm

So what does this mean?
No one really knows. Ahmadinejad has made these types of threats before, most recently leading up to an August 22nd date, in which he indicated by several references that he would be giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This threat was surrounded with a great deal of talk of the return of the 12th Imam.

The 12th Imam
See Pamela’s article at Atlas Shrugs for more on this.

Is Ahmadinejad once again “crying wolf”, or in this case “nukes”. No one really knows for sure, but much has changed in the middle east since August. Tensions have increased along with and Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric and many are beginning to believe some type of confrontation is inevitable.

All of this needs to be viewed within the same context as the Iranian radicals. Ahmadinejad and those in Iran who are aligned with him in his beliefs, believe they are leading Iran into a new “Persian Empire” and that a religious war against Israel and the U.S. will herald the arrival of the Muslim “messiah” known as the “Mahdi”.

Because of their prophetic perspective and their belief that they must prepare the way for the “Mahdi,” many would not be surprised if the Iranians attempt to begin this effort to bring on the Mahdi by launching a military action against the United States and/or Israel in the very near future. Is October 12th, the date they have selected? We will apparently know the answer soon.

A few interesting points about this date in history.
October 12th, 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia (modern day Iran) conquers Babylon (modern day Iraq). Very significant date in history for Iran.

October 12th, 1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers America.

October 12th, 2000 - The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members.

October 12th, 2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.

October 12th, 2007 - Al Quds day — also known as “Jerusalem Day”, or the “International Day of Al-Quds”. This day is celebrated in an annual event opposing Israel’s control of Jerusalem, or Al-Quds in Arab

Other items to consider…
The Rhetoric
Ahmadinejad has continued to call for for “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” along with his mantra to “wipe Israel off the map”. Many countries including Israel and the U.S. have made it clear that Iran will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Mysterious Strike Inside Syria
Israel is still maintaining silence several weeks after Syria complained that Israeli aircraft invaded its airspace in a mysterious incident that raised tensions and triggered a welter of US media speculation about possible targets for the operation. Explanations for what anonymous US officials have said was a strike inside Syria range from suggesting it was aimed at the shipment of weapons to Hizbollah from Iran, to saying Syria may be building a nuclear facility with North Korean help.

A World Without Israel
Ahmadinejad recently used his speech to the United Nations General Assembly to againa unveil a vision of a world without Israel, in which America and Europe would be freed of what he said was Zionist oppression.

600 Missiles Pointed At Israel
Six hundred Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel, and will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian website affiliated with the regime reported. “Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked,” the Iranian news website, Assar Iran, reported. “600 missiles will only be the first reaction.”

Russians Evacuated?
there are numerous unconfirmed reports that Russian nuclear technicians have evacuated from their assignment at the Bushehr nuclear reactor facility and returned to Russia without explanation, this according the Khorramshar News Agency.

This action, if true, would suggest the possibility that the Russians were tipped off that some sort of military action was imminent, perhaps October 12, the end of Ramadan.

The New Moon
October 11th is the start of the new moon, which is when the US military, particularly the US Air Force likes to begin any aerial bombing attacks because it is easier to avoid aircraft detection when there is no moon to illuminate attacking planes or ground forces.

Conclusion:
We’re not good at making predictions and we won’t attempt one here. We will all have to wait and see if anything happens.

(Our guess…massive protests in Iran and several speeches…but we could be wrong)

Feel free to kick in your 2 cents in the comments.

"Watch your six"

Be ever Vigilant,
Bos'un

Technorati tags: iran, amanamedjihad, bushehr nuclear facility, ramadan, russia, Ramadan, Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, liberate, Palestine, final response, Quds Day, The 12th Imam, Jerusalem Day, International Day of Al-Quds, muslim, terrorism suspects, counterterrorism

An agreement between Columbia University and Ahmadinejad?

As reported, there appears to be more to the story:
Columbia Alum Freed in Advance of Ahmadinejad’s Speech 

Looks to me that Iran is still in the hostage taking business.  Who approached who to gain the release of Columbia Alumnus?????

(CNSNews.com) – The president of Columbia University is expressing relief that a Columbia alumnus was released from an Iranian prison -- just days before the Iranian president is scheduled to speak at Columbia University.
for the rest of the story: Columbia Alum Freed in Advance of Ahmadinejad’s Speech

Technorati tags: Columbia University, Ahmadinejad, hostages, Iran, pre-release agreement, state sponsored terrorism, terrorist nation, america at war

Know the Enemy

Last year (08/2006) I received permission from the author to post this and decided to run it again because it is a pertinent topic for the world leader conference. 

Courtesy of Dallas News.  Reposted with permission of the author, Rod Dreher.

Forty years ago, the godfather of Islamic terrorism was executed, says Rod DREHER, and America today is no closer to understanding his apocalyptic vision.....

Two days from now, the country will observe the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its catastrophic aftermath. What will pass unnoticed on that day is the 40th anniversary of a hanging of a revolutionary in Cairo, an event that is incalculably more important to the present and future of the United States than any meteorological event.The pious life and martyr's death of Sayyid Qutb, and the legacy the Islamic theologian left behind, extend a powerful challenge to the West. Until we provide an answer to him and his followers, we can't hope to prevail in the war of ideas with Islamic extremists. And most of us have no idea who this man even was.

Sayyid Qutb (pronounced KUH-tuhb) has been called "the philosopher of Islamic terror." He rose from humble origins in rural Egypt to become an influential theologian and leading light of Egypt's fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood movement. He advocated global Islamic rule imposed by the sword.

Also Online

English translation of 'Milestones.'

The Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered him hanged for treason Aug. 29, 1966.

Yet, his ideas have spread like a prairie fire over the parched landscape of Islam's last generation. As writer Paul Berman observed, Qutb was "the intellectual hero of every one of the groups that eventually went into al-Qaeda."

We Americans have a bad habit of assuming that there's nothing to radical Islam but fury, grievance and bloodlust. We think of jihadist leaders as wild-eyed mullahs far removed from our experience. It's a fatal form of condescension. Qutb may have been a madman by our lights, but he was no fool – and, in important ways, he had our number.

Americans also cherish the idea that lack of understanding is at the root of conflict – and that there are few disputes that can't be worked out by people getting to know each other. Not so with Qutb, whose sojourn in America as a foreign exchange student between 1948 and '50 radicalized him and confirmed his hatred for Western materialism and freedom.

Qutb spent most of his time in the Colorado State College of Education in Greeley, Colo. The pathologically prudish Egyptian scholar was shocked by the morality of Greeley's women, appalled by its racism and scandalized by the wealth of American society.

As Lawrence Wright writes in The Looming Tower, his acclaimed new book about the roots of 9/11:

"Qutb saw a spiritual wasteland, and yet belief in God was nearly unanimous in the United States at the time. It was easy to be misled by the proliferation of churches, religious books and religious festivals, Qutb maintained; the fact remained that materialism was the real American god. 'The soul has no value to Americans,' he wrote to one friend. 'There has been a Ph.D. dissertation about the best way to clean dishes, which seems more important to them than the Bible or religion.' Many Americans were beginning to come to similar conclusions. The theme of alienation in American life was just beginning to cast a pall over the postwar party. In many respects, Qutb's analysis, though harsh, was only premature."

It is tempting to laugh at the Islamic pietist overwhelmed by the sensuality of the Rocky Mountain Gomorrah. But when Qutb returned to Egypt, his ardor to fight Western cultural hegemony led him to write: "We are endowing our children with amazement and respect for the master who tramples our honor and enslaves us. Let us instead plant the seeds of hatred, disgust and revenge in the souls of these children."

Qutb believed that if Muslims accepted democracy, capitalism, civil liberties and the Western way of life, they would commit spiritual suicide. He dedicated the rest of his life to convincing Muslims that their only hope rested in surrendering totally to a stringent form of Islam.

But why, according to Qutb, are modernity and Islam irreconcilable?

Because modernity was only made possible by a fundamental theological error that guaranteed man's alienation from God and from his nature. This alienation had reached a point of crisis worldwide, with the world's richest and most powerful nations producing masses of well-fed, well-off people who are rootless, miserable, hedonistic and self-destructive.

This was not a novel insight. As Paul Berman points out in his 2003 book Terror and Liberalism, many Western thinkers of the same era were writing about alienation amid the freedom and plenty of modern society. Qutb located the source of the modern world's ills in Christianity's separation of the world into sacred and secular realms, creating what he called a "hideous schizophrenia" that caused Western man to split the material realm from the spiritual.

Islam holds the two to be one under God's sovereignty. But this unnatural divorce had material benefits for the West, enabling it to leapfrog far ahead of the Islamic world in science and technology. The West's success made it powerful, true, but its culture grew increasingly debauched, and its people were turning into moral and spiritual wrecks. Yet – and here, Mr. Berman writes, is where Qutb is most original – the all-powerful West was in the present day imposing its false and destructive ideals on the weakened Muslim world.

What is to be done? Lenin famously asked about Czarist Russia. Qutb's answer to the same question about the West was, in part, "Milestones," a Leninist-style tract advocating worldwide Islamic revolution.

In this thin volume, Qutb argues that the Islamic nation must overthrow modernity if it wishes to continue to exist. Only Islam, with its divinely given law regulating all aspects of daily life, is capable of rightly ordering the soul and body, and of being most true to God-given human nature. He believed the West, whether or not it realized it, was engaged in a fight to the death against Islam. Though the conflict had military, economic and cultural aspects, for Qutb, this was essentially a religious war.

"Milestones" calls for the subjugation of all non-Islamic peoples, the total crushing of all non-Islamic institutions and entities, and the universal imposition of harsh sharia law. Reading "Milestones" as a guide to the mentality of jihadists is a bone-chilling exercise (even more so when you consider that Muslim teens participating in a 2004 quiz competition at the Dallas Central Mosque were assigned "Milestones" as part of their contest reading).

His is the voice of the genocidal utopian, an apocalyptic idealist who – like Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao – will stop at nothing to create an earthly paradise on the bones of the Crusaders, Zionists, moderate Muslims and sundry infidels.

It's difficult to imagine why anybody fell for Nazism or communism, but neither ideology could have gone anywhere if it didn't speak deeply to the hopes, needs, fears and passions of millions. As fanatical as Qutb's Islam sounds – as fanatical as it is – it provides an explanation for the misery and backwardness so much of the Muslim world lives in today. It gives its followers dignity and solidarity, a focus for their anger, a sense of purpose and of being on the right side of history. It holds out the false promise, that old siren song, that perfect happiness and oneness can be achieved in this life, once the Enemy has been destroyed. And it is a vision that Qutb gave witness to by courageously sacrificing his life.

What are we to do? There are no easy answers, but we should begin by jettisoning as folly the naive idea that all Muslims want the same things the liberal West wants. Followers of Qutb's brand of Islam hold that our wealth, secularity and freedom, especially for women, are evidence of our corruption.

While Qutb's prescriptions are quite mad, his diagnosis of the Western spiritual and psychological condition was serious, and it requires a serious response. If we Westerners cannot look at the world we've created for ourselves and understand that Sayyid Qutb was not all wrong, we will never figure out how to convince the Islamic masses he lived and died for that their holy martyr was a false prophet.

Rod Dreher is an assistant editorial page editor. The views expressed here are his own. His e-mail address is rdreher@dallasnews.com .

Find a link to an English translation of Sayyid Qutb's "Milestones" at DallasNews.com/Extra.

Please link Mr. Dreher's article at Dallas News and send him an email, if you desire.

Technorati tags: sayyid qutb, false prophet, eastern society, western society, islamic jihad, islamic terror, Gamal Abdel Nasser, al-Qaeda, sharia law, Islam, Iran, Ahmadinejad, us-haters, anti-christian, anti united states, muslim extremists

Why is the United States ignoring terrorist activity in Venezuela?

Courtesy of Kenneth Rijock, Financial Crimes expert, World Check

19 September 2007

On 11 September 2001, on the executive floor of a major Venezuelan bank located on Margarita Island in the Caribbean, eyewitnesses reported that the champagne was flowing freely. Why? Because of the terrorist attacks on the World-Trade Centre and Pentagon that day. The bankers, who were engaged in funneling cash to known terrorist groups in the Middle East, were morbidly toasting the "success" of Al-Qaeda on that deadly day. The bank's overt actions, supporting terrorist organisations through financing their activities, has never resulted in either OFAC sanctions, or any other punitive action from the United States. Why is America reluctant to confront Hamas, Hizballah, ETA and their financiers in the Western Hemisphere? Is it as Allan Greenspan states, all about oil? Is the US afraid that the Chavez government will turn off the petrol tap?

Let us  examine what else has been studiously ignored by the US government since 2001:

• Al-Qaeda theoretician Mustaphah Setmarian Nasar (UID 45641) lived openly in Venezuela whilst he was wanted by Interpol. Believed to be the intellectual author of the Madrid Train bombings, and holding both Syrian and Spanish citizenship, Nasar was escorted daily to Caracas' principal mosque by armed government bodyguards driving black Hummers. He was seen in Margarita Island, and also at a port facility where freighters bearing Panamanian registry ship out for Iran regularly. Were they transporting Uranium for Iran's nuclear programme? We cannot say, but Nasar has been linked to Carlos Rafael Lanz Rodriguez [UID 248222] , the ex-career terrorist* is currently the president of Venezuela's state-owned national aluminium company, Alcasa, which is believed by mining engineers to be mining and trafficking in Uranium.

• The emergence of Hamas and Hizballah operatives in the Western Hemisphere. They are raising money through drug trafficking, arms sales, human smuggling, and sundry other illicit activities, all of which eventually results in the shipment of the proceeds of these crimes to their Middle Eastern commanders.

• The wholesale issuance of Venezuelan identity documents (Cedulas and Venezuelan passports) to Arab radicals who are allowed to enter the country. the Venezuelan Consulate in Maicao, Colombia has reportedly performing these services  for large numbers of people in transit from the Middle East to parts unknown. The next time you meet a Venezuelan who doesn't speak Spanish, you may have seen a terrorist in the flesh.

• ETA terrorists wanted in Spain have found safe harbour in Venezuela, who actually pays them $600 per week in living expenses. They do not earn this stipend in any way, it is paid purely to sustain them whilst they live freely in the country. Spain this week announced its intention to hunt down these terrorists.

• Venezuela has long served as both a jumping-off point for terrorists entering the United States, and a refuge for terrorist suspects fleeing this country after having aroused law enforcement interest. This includes persons of interest to the FBI, who are believed to be connected with the World Trade Centre bombing.

• Hizballah continues to work openly in the country, through its local affiliate, Hizballah Venezuela.

Kenneth Rijock can give many other examples, but the above should be sufficient to show clearly that the US obsession with the conflict in Iraq has caused America to totally ignore terrorist threats much closer to home. These are clear and present dangers that need attention, lest they mature into actual terrorist operations within the United States.

Why does Kenneth Rijock and I get the feeling that nobody's paying attention in Washington?  Perhaps it is because there has not been a significant arrest of an important terrorist agent by the United States in all of Latin America in the last six years.  We hope that the present administration will now be shamed into finally assuming a  proactive role in countering the growth of terrorism in Latin America.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ * Lanz is known to be a hard-core terrorist who once kidnapped and held a prominent American businessman, William Niehaus,for ransom for several years. He has been linked to Venezuela's expanding relationship with Iran.

Israelis Seized Nuke Material in Syria

Courtesy of the UK Times: Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid

by Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Related Links

• Snatched: Israeli commandos ‘nuclear’ raid

Now my friends recall my post July  30th, 2006, about Chavez, North Korea, Iran, et al?

We have a problem.  There are storm clouds brewing in the Western Hemisphere.  The close link between Chavez, North Korean, and Iran should not come at a surprise. In a La Nueva Cuba news article last year (2006) Financial Crimes consultant, Kenneth Rijock, claimed of a possible Hezbollah, North Korea, Iran, and Chavez government connection.

Rijock claimed last year that that Iran has plans to ship missiles to Chavez in oil tankers so as not to be suspected. Rijock claims that Chavez may then transfer the missiles to Cuba. 
( http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/kenneth-rijock-4.htm )

So, now (09/2007) we have the Chavez, Amannamedjihad, and other US - hating dictators scheduled to meet after Amannamedjihad leaves the US - UN world leader conference. They are going to have a summit in South America. I smell some rotten kimchee, if you know what I mean.

Isla Margarita, a semi desert island just off the coast of Venezuela, is home to Venezuela's Hezbollah contingent, Lebanese - Venezuelans. Sources believes that when foreign agents enter Isla Margarita, they sometimes take up temporary residence in Cuba.

Hezbollah has a significant increase and influence in South America as discussed by Jeffrey Goldberg, reporter-at-large for The New Yorker magazine who wrote did an interesting 2 - part article, "IN THE PARTY OF GOD."

Perhaps you should go back and re-read part 2, about Hezbollah's presence in the western hemisphere:  Hezbollah sets up operations in South America and the United States.

Liberal Democrats, watch out what you wish for. You have been bad mouthing President Bush for six years (since he spanked Gores ass in the 2000 election.  No GWB did not steal the election, he won it and you have not gotten over it.  As a matter of fact he came back four years later and spanked John "F" Kerry's butt, too).

The world has failed to keep their eye on the ball when it comes to North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and all the other freedom hating countries.  I believe that this world is going get interesting soon. Hope I am wrong, but, I doubt that I am wrong.

If I am right, Dhimmis tax will not work, this time.

Iranian News Service reports: Zionist regime's allies to receive response on World Qods Day

Very disturbing article in the Iranian press: 

Supporters of the Zionist regime will receive their response during the world Qods Day’s rallies, government spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Elham, said Wednesday. 

The spokesman made the remarks during his weekly press conference while commenting on the current visit to the occupied Palestine of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Qods Day is held each year on the last Friday of Muslims fasting month of Ramadan after it was nominated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, as a day to voice the protest of the Islamic Ummah against the Zionists.

The day falls on October 12 this year.

“The US loses all opportunities to cooperate with regional and other world states by trying to support a regime (the Zionist regime) which is now at its weakest political and social position,” Elham said.

He warned that Washington’s insistence on its wrong policies and arrogant approaches would have no result “but further political disgrace” for itself.

Referring to the approaching World Qods Day, the spokesman stressed, “Supporters of the Zionist regime will definitely receive the final response for their support on that day.”

Read Article 

I asked a friend, Abe, in Israel what he thought of this news article.  This is his response:

Bo'sun,

"Al Qods" (The Holiest) is the Muslim Arab name for Jerusalem. Qods day (Jerusalem Day) is celebrated every year on the last friday of the holy month of Ramadan, according to the Muslim Calender. This year it will fall on Oct 12th.

The Iranian declaration talks about mass rallies and not about a specific armed attack. The situation in Iran is unstable, with many young people opposed to the theocracy, and inciting people to rally against the Great Satan (America) and the Junior Satan (Israel), would take the people's attention away from their anti-government feelings and unite them against the Double-Satan's.

 Al Qods Day is a "Solidarity Day" to ostensibly show the world that the Muslim "Uma" (nation) stands in solidarity with the poor Palestinians, victimized by the cruel, inhuman Zionists.

In actual fact, it's used to keep the people incited and angry, uniting them against a  "cruel" regime, so that the "lesser" problem of bad government is pushed back in the people's minds.

This technique is common and has been used for centuries to distract the people's minds from what is happening at home. It is used freely in the ME, and is a large part of the ME problem. It takes their attention away from the bad schools, terrorist organizations running their lives, poverty, corruption and more.

While Iran (with it's lovable proxy, Hezbollah) is "dying" to attack the "Zionist Entity", I doubt that the declaration means anything of the sort. I believe that it pertains to mass rallies.

If I am wrong, I trust Israeli Intelligence to prepare the IDF in due time.

 All the best,
 Abe

The Times’: Israel Destroyed Syrian Nuclear Material from North Korea

Courtesy of The Media Line

The Times of London reported on Sunday in great detail about the Israeli air raid on Syria that the paper says destroyed a cache of nuclear material provided by the North Koreans. Confirming what many have speculated, The Times describes the use of laser guidance systems by ground forces that had penetrated Syrian territory a day earlier and directed Israel's F15s to their target. The report claims that the mission was planned eight months ago when Israel discovered that Syria was in the process of obtaining from North Korea a nuclear device that could be fitted onto its Scud missiles. The target was identified as a nuclear facility on the Euphrates River that masquerades as an agricultural research center. The paper also claims that Washington provided Israel with its air force codes to ensure no friendly planes would be shot at. Western intelligence agencies are said to be delighted that Israel has successfully penetrated Syrian air defenses, said to be more stringent than those of Iran. MidEast News Source

According to Jerusalem Post Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu is concerned about Iran and weighed in on the Iranian situation, "We cannot wait for them to obtain nuclear weapons; we must prevent it now. This has to be the focus of all responsible countries..."

"The military option must stay on the table, but countries like the US and some in Europe must squeeze Iran with sanctions, voluntary sanctions - not through the UN," Netanyahu said at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's Seventh Annual Conference at IDC Herzliya."The UN is paralyzed from launching effective sanctions. They can do a lot to bring economic pressure on the Iranian regime," he added.

Netanyahu suggested to "focus on the 20 to 30 European countries that prop up the Iranian oil and gas sector." "We are involved in trying to get American state pensions to divest from these European companies," he said. "About eight states are in the process of divestment. Florida just passed a divestment bill. Governor Schwarzenegger (California) told me that he's going to get such a bill to his table. Withdrawing funds [from these companies] will give a crippling blow to the regime and its nuclear program."

For the rest of the Netanyahu story: Netanyahu: Squeeze Iran with sanctions

World should brace for possible war over Iran: France

 Courtesy of Breitbart

The world should brace for a possible war over the Iranian nuclear crisis but seeking a solution through talks should take priority, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," he said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio.

"We must negotiate right to the end," with Iran, he said, but underlined that if Tehran possessed an atomic weapon, it would represent "a real danger for the whole world."

"We are trying to put in place plans which are the privilege of chiefs of staff and that is not for tomorrow," he said, referring to military plans but stressed that although any attack on Iran was far from taking place, "It is normal for us to plan" for any eventuality. For the rest of the story: World should brace for possible war over Iran: France

Egyptian Playwright Ali Salem Speaks Out Against 'Culture of Death'

Courtesy of MEMRI

Special Dispatch-Egypt/Reform Project
September 13, 2007 , No. 1713

Egyptian Playwright Ali Salem Speaks Out Against "Culture of Death"

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit: HTML Link HERE

The following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, which aired on Abu Dhabi TV on August 16, 2007.

To view this clip, visit: Video Clip Link HERE

To view the MEMRITV webpage on Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, visit: "Whoever Tells You That Bread is More Important Than Freedom is a Fraud And a Thief"

Ali Salem: "There is no contradiction between freedom and what I call the 'pot of meat.' I will go even further, and say that the 'pot of meat' – not to mention the fruit, bread, salt, pepper, and salads, and on cold winter nights, hopefully a bowl of soup – bears an inherent connection to philosophy and freedom. If you are free, you can plant your field, and raise buffaloes and cows, and you are free to go and sell them at the market.

"You have a trade that earns you money, and there is a merchant who will buy and slaughter them, and then he will sell it at the market. In such a case, you are working at a job that brings you money. You need a society with freedom in politics, economy, and education in order for this cycle to be complete. Whoever tells you that bread is more important than freedom is a fraud and a thief.

"The meat, in this case... There are also cheese, olives, and pastrami, and there are shoppers at the supermarket – all these things require political and economic freedom.

[...]

"The Culture of Death is a Culture of Irresponsibility"

"The culture of death is a culture of irresponsibility. It is a culture in which a person considers all the 'others' to be his enemies. He is terrified of them, and he feels he must finish them off before they finish him off. In addition, this culture does not glorify life – although life is the greatest thing Allah has created for us. I'm not relying on any religious authority or historical examination, but I can only give you my personal opinion. Allah created us in order to enjoy this beautiful universe, and in order to make it even more beautiful, or at the very least, to keep it beautiful.

[...]

"It is in the interest of the people of this region to achieve peace."
Interviewer: "You've visited Israel, and you are one of the supporters of peace."

Ali Salem: "True."

"We Have Finished the Conflict of War, And We Enter the Competition of Peace"

Interviewer: "Some people criticize you for this stand. In brief, on what objective foundations do you base your defense of peace?"
Ali Salem: "When you suffer such an ignominious defeat as in 1967, and when you begin to uncover what your mistakes were, you begin to think that you must not be defeated in peace as well, that you must not lose the battle for peace as well as the war.

[...]

"We have finished the conflict of war, and we enter the competition of peace. Peace is not a beautiful garden, in which we and the Israelis will sit together. Peace is a venue for competition. Human jealousy requires us not to be inferior to them in terms of democracy, human rights, import, export, education, and scientific research."

[...]

Interviewer: "How do you view the future of political Islamic movements, and their connection to Arab society in particular?"
Ali Salem: "Arab history is full of such movements. In elementary school, we used to read: 'And then the Sultan wiped them out,' or 'Then the Emir finished them off,' or 'Then he went to the city and turned it to rubble.' Times have changed, and no one is allowed to wipe out anybody. Today, the [Islamists] are not the main force. They are in the opposition. The public is learning every day that this kind of conflict will get them neither a Palestinian state nor human rights."

*********************

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
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at www.memri.org

There are 5 Americans being held hostage in Iran

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Here we go again. Let's see what this cowboy is going to do. Will he turn out to be another Jimmy Carter to our shame, or will he do the responsible thing and get our citizens back? Only time will tell. It has already been since May.

I do not want to hear anything more about talking to these maniacs. I am ready to go in for our own. Call me whatever you like, I have been holding back from war for a very long time. If we do nothing but talk now, in the eyes of the Middle East, we have lost all credibility. Would you please remind the Left that this is not good for what they call, "Relationships" in the world!

Frankly, I don't give a hoot what the rest of the world thinks except in one sense: Fear us. As long as they fear us, they will not attack us. These are just the simple facts of war. Do you want to stop wars? Make your enemy afraid. It is just that simple.

The three people who the IRG have captured and thrown into jail are Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kian Tajbakhsh who is a respected Urban Planner and sociologist working for the Open Society Institute, Ali Shakeri, a peace activist, Parnaz Azima, a correspondent working for Radio Farda, the joint Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty–Voice of America Persian-language radio broadcast to Iran, and Robert Levinson who disappeared in early March during a visit to Iran's Kish Island and is believed to be held by the Iranian authorities. Levinson, a retired FBI agent, reportedly had traveled to Iran to investigate a matter on behalf of a private client.

The charges are as follows:

While on the way to airport after a visit with her 93 year old mother, some thugs (IRG probably) stole her passport. This 67 year old grandmother has been charged with being involved with a propaganda campaign to foment a "soft revolution" against the brutal clerical regime.

Kian Tajbakhsh has been charged with "seeking the overthrow of the Iranian government. He and Esfandiari are being held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, which contains many other Iranian political prisoners and dissidents."

Ali Shakeri and Parnaz Azima may be joining them soon due to trumpt-up charges. Panaz has been charged (because she works for RFE) of "an institution that spreads propaganda against the Islamic Republic." (And the Europeans still want to have more talks?)

At least Radio Free Europe did not sit on their hands. They used some very strong 'words' toward the Iranian regime. How about you, Mr. President?

The Iranians are hoping to use this former FBI Agent as a pawn to gain leverage in the release of the bastards we caught.

While some may think this is related to Bush in some way, let me make this clear. These arrests started in December of last year, and they got worse when the Iranian regime started cracking down on any dissent. Not every damn thing is George Bush' fault.

Remember. All of these people had passports which were confiscated, and most of them have dual-citizenship.

Sources: The Jawa Report, Iran's Growing List of Hostages and The Invisible Crisis: What if Iran took hostages and no one noticed? (I highly recommend all of these, especially the last two. I found them through google, but you have to add the year 2007, or you will get Jimmy Carter stuff.)

Trackback. (@ My Newz 'n Ideas.)

The Caliphate or the United States?

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

I have been banning all Iranian products into my house since 1979. Here is a group now that is asking you to do the same. Actually, they are asking for a little more.

Ask President Bush, today, to impose strict economic sanctions against Iran’s import of refined petroleum products. Iran, one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, lacks the facilities to produce a refined product. As a result, Iran is one of the largest importers of gasoline – nearly half of all gasoline used by Iranians. Now, the Iranians are feeling the pinch of raised prices and gasoline rationing imposed by the government.

A bipartisan group in the U.S. House is seeking economic sanctions against Iran in an attempt to reduce the amount of gasoline imported by Tehran.

The legislation calls for companies that provide Iran with gasoline or assists with the import of gasoline would not be allowed to sell gasoline to U.S. customers. Iran imports most of its gasoline from Persian Gulf states and India.

According to Rep. Mark S. Kirk, R-IL: "This is becoming the critical weakness of the Iranian government, meaning its dependence on gasoline. Riots [in Iran] show the gasoline shortage is a growing danger to the Iranian regime and a diplomatic opportunity for Western countries to force Iran to adhere to international nuclear rules."

The legislation would provide President Bush with several options, as well as several penalties. Included among these are: denial of loans and credits from the Export-Import bank and loans or licenses for exports to the U.S. [Um...I thought we already had this?] The House Foreign Affairs Committee has already approved “legislation designed to strike at investments in Iran.” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, "We need to do everything that we can to continue to raise the stakes in Iran in terms of its nuclear program."

Another supporter of the bill, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said, “Our goal must be zero foreign investment.” To reach that end, the U.S. is also working with European allies to try to increase penalties against Tehran. Of course, the countries that do a lucrative business with Iran don’t want to do anything to upset the powers that be.

Vote Your Opinion NOW!

Just as we have defeated big business here in America (NO illegal aliens!), we must bring to the light our European 'friends'. We must explain to them, in a calm way, that there are higher ideals in this life than how much money you can grab. This is one of them.

Unless you want all of your women living under the Caliphate, which means clothed from head to toe with no skin showing, you must be with us on this. There truly is a war against us. It is to elimate everyone who does not believe as they do, Sharia Law, their idea of what a Muslim should be, and many more horrific things.

If you want to understand more, you may be interested in this book:

The Final Move Beyond Iraq.

Thank you.

ALERT: EU is ripping us off & using OUR name to do it!

This is just another reason why we should never trust an ally, just like President George Washington stated in his farewell address. They will stab you in the back the first chance they get. That is what Europe is doing now.

EADS: Partner or proliferator?
CSP Occasional Paper Apr 25, 2007

In this paper, the Center argues that the U.S.'s involvement with European defense conglomerate EADS poses potentially serious problems for our security. For example, although EADS routinely bids for U.S. defense contracts, it sells military equipment to Iran and China, and has even been fingered in a scheme in which Iran purchased nuclear weapons parts.

If EADS wants to be a legitimate, reliable partner for the U.S., it must stop its dangerous and irresponsible behavior, plain and simple. Its bribery, corruption, proliferation, and anti-Americanism need to come to an end. Also, it must fully make clear the extent to which Putin's Russia - which owns a substantial part of the company - is capable of guiding EADS policy.

Until these behaviors are changed, the U.S. has every right to deny EADS a role in our national security.

View Full Paper (PDF).

We must let all Americans know the truth. This is not right. As a matter of fact, it is very dangerous! We are the informers, so let us inform! Get writing, e-mailing, calling, and doing whatever it takes to get this news to as many people as possible.

We got the truth out about Islam vs. Islamists. We can do this. Thank you for all of your help. Have a wonderful day.

Hat tip: Bryan Hill, Research Associate, Center for Security Policy.