Thursday, May 31, 2012

Is It Possible To Question Islam?

By Findalis


What an interesting question?  Can one question the history of Islam?  Did Muhammad actually exist?  Was he really illiterate?  Creeping Sharia asks those and other questions.

The question really should be whether it is possible to question Islam and not be threatened, injured or killed, slandered, or arrested. Robert Spencer via PJ Media » Is It Still Possible to Question Islam?.

Is it “Islamophobic” to question whether or not the standard picture of Muhammad as depicted in Muslim texts is historically accurate?

Certainly many people think so, notably the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC is a fifty-six nation body (plus the Palestinian Authority) that, since the demise of the Soviet Union, comprises the largest voting bloc at the United Nations. It has been working for years to compel the UN to criminalize “Islamophobia.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a closed-door meeting with the OIC in December 2011, apparently to facilitate just that and figure out ways to circumvent the First Amendment’s protection of the freedom of speech.

Journalist Claire Berlinski notes that “the neologism ‘Islamophobia’ did not simply emerge ex nihilo”:
It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia. … Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a former member of the IIIT who has renounced the group in disgust, was an eyewitness to the creation of the word. “This loathsome term,” he writes, “is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliche conceived in the bowels of Muslim think tanks for the purpose of beating down critics.”
Yet the mainstream media has for the most part bought into this perspective, treating all investigation of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism as “Islamophobic,” however useful it might be to understand the motives and goals of those who have vowed to destroy the U.S. and Western civilization. Into this atmosphere comes my book Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam’s Obscure Origins, which doesn’t touch directly on terror issues at all, but does demonstrate that Islam was political, supremacist, and violent before it was religious — a fact with considerable implications for today’s political scene.

In broad outline, the accepted story of Islam’s origins is well known. It begins with an Arabian merchant of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, known to the world as Muhammad, a name that means the “praised one.” He rejected the polytheism of his tribe and was given to frequent prayer in the hills and caves outside Mecca. In the year 610, when he was forty, he was praying in a cave on Mount Hira, about two miles from Mecca, when he was suddenly confronted by the angel Gabriel, who commanded him to recite.

For the next twenty-three years, until his death in 632, Muhammad did just that: He recited the messages he received from Gabriel, presenting them to his followers as the pure and unadulterated word of the supreme and only God. Many of his followers memorized portions. The Arabia in which Islam was born was an oral culture that respected poetic achievement, and thus the prodigious feats of memory required to memorize lengthy suras were not so unusual. After Muhammad’s death, the revelations he had received were collected together into the Qur’an, or “Recitation,” from the accounts of those who had memorized them or written them down.
Muslims around the globe are not the only ones who take this account for granted; even non-Muslims generally accept the broad contours of this narrative, which has been told and retold for centuries. However, virtually none of that standard account stands up to historical scrutiny, for several key reasons:
  • No record of Muhammad’s reported death in 632 appears until more than a century after that date.
  • The early accounts written by the people the Arabs conquered never mention Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur’an. They call the conquerors “Ishmaelites,” “Saracens,”“Muha- jirun,” and “Hagarians,” but never “Muslims.”
  • The Arab conquerors, in their coins and inscriptions, don’t mention Islam or the Qur’an for the first six decades of their conquests. Mentions of “Muhammad” are non-specific and on at least two occasions are accompanied by a cross. The word can be used not only as a proper name but also as an honorific.
  • The Qur’an, even by the canonical Muslim account, was not distributed in its present form until the 650s. Contradicting that standard account is the fact that neither the Arabians nor the Christians and Jews in the region mention the Qur’an until the early eighth century.
  • During the reign of the caliph Muawiya (661–680), the Arabs constructed at least one public building whose inscription was headed by a cross – a symbol abhorrent to Islam.
The lack of confirming detail in the historical record, the late development of biographical material about the Islamic prophet, the atmosphere of political and religious factionalism in which that material developed, and much more suggest that the Muhammad of Islamic tradition did not exist, or if he did, he was substantially different from how that tradition portrays him.

Unmistakably historical, however, are the Arab conquests and the empire they produced. Every empire of the day was anchored in a political theology. The Eastern Roman Empire was Christian; the Persian Empire was Zoroastrian. The realm of political theology offers the most plausible explanation for the creation of Islam, Muhammad, and the Qur’an. The Arab Empire controlled and needed to unify huge expanses of territory where different religions predominated. Islam began as an umbrella monotheistic movement that presented itself as encompassing the true forms of the two great previous monotheistic movements, Judaism and Christianity.

Historical records make clear that toward the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth, the Umayyad leaders of the Arab domains began to speak much more specifically than anyone had before about Islam, its prophet, and eventually its book. Muhammad, if he did not exist, or if his actual deeds were not known, would certainly have been politically useful to the new Arab Empire as a legendary hero. The empire was growing quickly, soon rivaling the Byzantine and Persian Empires in size and power. It needed a common religion—a political theology that would provide the foundation for the empire’s unity and would secure allegiance to the state.

In any case, the late appearance of the biographical material about Muhammad, the fact that no one had heard of or spoken of Muhammad for decades after the Arab conquests began, the changes in the religion of the Arab Empire, the inconsistencies in the Qur’an—all of this needed to be explained. But is attempting to do so “Islamophobic?” Or can disinterested historical investigation still be carried out in the free West?
It is most interesting that the book Did Muhammad Exist? has been greeted with silence or opprobrium. Yet now, more than ever before, historical investigators have the opportunity—in fact, the responsibility—to usher Islam’s origins out of the shadows and into the light, and the responsibility not to be cowed by Islamic supremacist intimidation in doing so. Were they not to discharge that responsibility fully or properly, we will all be the poorer.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book, Did Muhammad Exist?, is now available.
What an interesting question?  Can one question the history of Islam?  Did Muhammad actually exist?  Was he really illiterate?  Creeping Sharia asks those and other questions.

Afghan Police Taken Out In Two Suicide Bombings...7 Total Killed

 Police remove the body of a colleague at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul August 19, 2011. – File Photo by Reuters.


In two separate Taliban suicide attacks, one a car bombing and another a walk up, a total of seven Afghan police have been killed at checkpoints.  From the article at DAWN:


A suicide car bomb attack and a separate blast at a checkpost in Afghanistan killed at least seven policemen on Thursday, officials said.

In the first, a suicide bomber rammed an Afghan police checkpost killing at least five policemen and wounding six others in the southern province of Kandahar, an official said.

The attacker drove his explosives-laden car into the checkpoint at the district police headquarters of Arghistan district, provincial governor spokesman Jawed Faisal told AFP.

“Five policemen were martyred and six others injured in this cowardly attack,” Faisal said.

Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the birthplace of the Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency since being ousted from power by the US-led invasion in late 2001 that followed the 9/11 attacks.

In the second incident, an explosion at a police checkpost in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province killed at least two policemen.

This shows the continuing influence of al Qaeda on the Taliban as the police are always the number one target of al Qaeda - there are times when al Qaeda almost sees the local police as a better target than any American or coalition troops.  In fact, when you read this report, it reads more like one out of the Iraq War than the War in Afghanistan - there really haven't been that many "checkpoint" suicide attacks in Afghanistan compared to the hundreds of them that went down in Iraq.



Suicide attack, explosion kill seven Afghan police: officials


KANDAHAR: A suicide car bomb attack and a separate blast at a checkpost in Afghanistan killed at least seven policemen on Thursday, officials said.

In the first, a suicide bomber rammed an Afghan police checkpost killing at least five policemen and wounding six others in the southern province of Kandahar, an official said.

The attacker drove his explosives-laden car into the checkpoint at the district police headquarters of Arghistan district, provincial governor spokesman Jawed Faisal told AFP.

“Five policemen were martyred and six others injured in this cowardly attack,” Faisal said.

Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the birthplace of the Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency since being ousted from power by the US-led invasion in late 2001 that followed the 9/11 attacks.

In the second incident, an explosion at a police checkpost in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province killed at least two policemen.

Nangarhar (East) provincial governor spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai confirmed the incident, but said security forces were still investigating the cause of the blast.

Militants frequently target Afghan police and military, who are due to assume responsibility for the country’s security from Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by the end of 2014.

The attacks come weeks after the Taliban announced their “spring offensive”, a campaign of bombings and attacks that picks up every year as weather conditions improve.

There are presently 130,000 US-led Nato forces fighting the Taliban-led insurgency.

Video: "This is not Saudi Arabia...it is Spain"




(Hat Tip: Henry Bowman)

Video: Sniping the Taliban

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Quote of the Day: Retribution



“The insidious words of MSNBC’s Chris Hayes this past weekend evidences why NBC Management should force him to stand outside for 12 hours, 0600 – 1800, and greet each of these exceptional Men and Women, and address them as ‘American Hero,’” West wrote. “His apology statement is worthless.”

- Rep. Lt. Col. Allen West


(Hat Tip:  Pat Dollard)


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Muslim Brotherhood Presidential Candidate In Egypt Says That All Christians Must Convert, Pay Jizya or Get the Hell Out

Oh boy, aren't we all relieved that the Obama administration helped with the ouster of Hosni Mubarek in Egypt!  I mean, it's a thing to rejoice that the hateful leader of Egypt is now gone, isn't it?  The fact that Barack Hussein Obama fully supported the removal of Mubarek and setting the stage for the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power is testament to just how intuitive Obama truly is - for he obviously knew that the potential new President of Egypt would have these kinds of unifying remarks (this comes from the Gatestone Institute via The Religion of Peace):


According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will "achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya," the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute.

In a brief report written by Samuel al-Ashay and published by El Bashayer on May 27, Morsi allegedly made these comments while speaking with a journalist at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, adding "We will not allow Ahmed Shafiq [his contending presidential candidate] or anyone else to impede our second Islamic conquest of Egypt."

After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was "carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641]," he asked Morsi, "Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?" Morsi, replied, "The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi," referring to himself, "and history will record it."

When asked what he thought about many Christian Copts coming out to vote for his secular opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, Morsi reportedly said, "They need to know that conquest is coming, and Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate."

Now, it's easy for those on the Left in America to dismiss the comments of Morsi because he's only talking about the damn Christians in Egypt - they don't really belong in a Muslim country anyway, do they?  I bet Obama just can't wait to make his second trip to Cairo to congratulate the new Muslim Brotherhood President....and I'm sure Obama won't mind having to step over a few hundred dead Coptic Christian bodies to get to that handshake.




Christians Should "Convert, Pay Tribute, or Leave," Says Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Candidate?



"They need to know that conquest is coming, that Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate," Morsi reportedly said.

According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will "achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya," the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute.

In a brief report written by Samuel al-Ashay and published by El Bashayer on May 27, Morsi allegedly made these comments while speaking with a journalist at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, adding "We will not allow Ahmed Shafiq [his contending presidential candidate] or anyone else to impede our second Islamic conquest of Egypt."

After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was "carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641]," he asked Morsi, "Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?" Morsi, replied, "The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi," referring to himself, "and history will record it."

When asked what he thought about many Christian Copts coming out to vote for his secular opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, Morsi reportedly said, "They need to know that conquest is coming, and Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate."

If this interview is accurate, certainly Morsi would not be the first political Islamist in Egypt to say he wants to see the nation's Christians subjugated and made to pay jizya (see here for more examples).

However, considering that the English language media are currently reporting that Morsi is trying to woo Egypt's Christians and women to win more votes, it is difficult to imagine that he actually made those comments: one does not doubt that he favors the idea of a "second Islamic conquest" and the subjugation of Christians; one doubts that he would be so foolish as to reveal his mind now, publicly, and thereby jeopardize his chances of winning the presidency.

Then again, his remarks are reported in the context of a private meeting at the headquarters of the Brotherhood's political party. Perhaps Morsi thought he was speaking to a fellow Islamist who would not expose him? Perhaps he was frustrated at having to win Copts over and was "venting"? Stay tuned.



Video: The Close Call

Why Does Obama Hate the Polish People?

A great article over here at Israel National News that shows how the Poles have raked Obama over the coals for the President's idiotic and erroneous statements about "Polish death camps" in Poland during the reign of the Nazis.  It's nice to see how the Polish officials are standing up for themselves:


Poland slapped President Barack Obama for “ignorance and incompetence” for referring to a "Polish death camp,” one of a string of previous White House insults to Poland. His spokesman said President Obama “misspoke.”

“For a U.S. administration that likes to boast of ‘smart power,’ this was an act of staggering historical ignorance as well as crass insensitivity.”

But, as the article points out, Barack Hussein Obama has had a defined litany of attacks on Poland since he took power in 2009.  Here's some examples, from the article, of how Obama has targeted Poland:

However, the “Polish death camp” comment is not the first time President Obama has insulted Poland, wrote London Guardian’s Nile Gardiner.

“In 2010 he chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster,” he wrote.

Gardner also stated that President Obama previously has “humiliated Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

The writer added, “Six millions Poles died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War Two, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The president’s use of the term ‘Polish death camp’ is hugely insulting to the Polish people, and will reinforce the growing image across Eastern and Central Europe of an American presidency that cares little for key U.S. allies…

So, why does Obama have such a burr up his ass for the Poles?  Well, I'd put it this way - Barack Obama is a devout follower of the concept and ideology of collectivism - Obama bows to the religion of Karl Marx and nothing frustrates Barack Hussein Obama more than those countries across the world who didn't truly give Communism a real chance to flourish.  It pisses this American President off that the stupid ass Polish people wanted to rise up against their Soviet overlords and try to gain back their freedoms.  You see, "freedom" is a nasty word to Obama - it's a word that defines how stupid a people can be that they might reject the State controlling every aspect of their life.  If you do some digging, you will find that Barack Hussein Obama's hold the biggest contempt for the European countries that have fought his Marxism and that he embraces those countries that have continued down the path of Marxism.

By the way, do you REALLY think the President misspoke? Do you think the people writing that speech for him made a simple error in phrasing "Polish death camps?"




Poland Slaps Obama’s ‘Ignorance’ for ‘Polish Death Camp’ Remark


Poland slapped President Barack Obama for “ignorance and incompetence” for referring to a "Polish death camp,” one of a string of previous White House insults to Poland. His spokesman said President Obama “misspoke.”

In a ceremony in which he awarded the Medal of Freedom to 13 people, the president cited the late Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski, who died in 2000.

“Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action,” President Obama said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski fired off an angry complaint that the president should have called it a "German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.”

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor replied, "The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny."

The White House hurriedly noted that the president has repeatedly discussed the bravery of Poles during World War II.

However, the “Polish death camp” comment is not the first time President Obama has insulted Poland, wrote London Guardian’s Nile Gardiner.

“In 2010 he chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster,” he wrote.

Gardner also stated that President Obama previously has “humiliated Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

The writer added, “Six millions Poles died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War Two, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The president’s use of the term ‘Polish death camp’ is hugely insulting to the Polish people, and will reinforce the growing image across Eastern and Central Europe of an American presidency that cares little for key U.S. allies…

“For a U.S. administration that likes to boast of ‘smart power,’ this was an act of staggering historical ignorance as well as crass insensitivity.”



The Iranian Plots To Assassinate Foreign Diplomats

Remember when the Iranians decided to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador here on U.S. soil?  Well, I realize that the story of that faded pretty quickly as it didn't fit into Barack Hussein Obama's overall plans for inclusion of the Iranians in his world wide strategy of Muslim appeasement and integration with the West but it turns out now that evidence has mounted that the Iranians had plans to assassinate diplomats all over the world.

From the IPT Blog:


New evidence reveals Iranian agents and Hizballah militants have conspired to assassinate foreign diplomats from countries hostile to Iran, specifically targeting American, Israeli and Saudi officials, the Washington Post reports.

Several assassination plots in at least seven different countries during the past 13 months have been linked to either Iranian operatives or Iran-backed Hizballah agents.

American and Middle Eastern experts "see these incidents as part of an ongoing shadow war, a multi-sided covert struggle in which Iran also has been victim of assassinations," the Post reports.

The plots targeted foreign diplomats in Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Indian and Georgia.

Cables from the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan last November showed that Iranian nationals crossed into the country last fall and planned to use "silencer-equipped rifles" and car bombs to assassinate U.S. diplomats.

Yep, the hits just keep coming from the Land of the Mullahs - pardon the pun.  For all of those in this country who carry the signs "No War with Iran" I'd like to hear from them at least ONE REASON that Iran doesn't deserve military actions.  Give me one reason or better yet, give me one example of one decent thing that Iran has contributed to the world society in the past 20 years - be prepared to compare your example or examples to the acts of terrorism via Hamas and Hezbollah, the arming of Syria and Hezbollah, the plans for nuclear weapons to be used on innocent Jews and the training and arming of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to kill U.S. troops.



Evidence Ties Iran to Diplomat Assassination Plots


New evidence reveals Iranian agents and Hizballah militants have conspired to assassinate foreign diplomats from countries hostile to Iran, specifically targeting American, Israeli and Saudi officials, the Washington Post reports.

Several assassination plots in at least seven different countries during the past 13 months have been linked to either Iranian operatives or Iran-backed Hizballah agents.

American and Middle Eastern experts "see these incidents as part of an ongoing shadow war, a multi-sided covert struggle in which Iran also has been victim of assassinations," the Post reports.

The plots targeted foreign diplomats in Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Indian and Georgia.

Cables from the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan last November showed that Iranian nationals crossed into the country last fall and planned to use "silencer-equipped rifles" and car bombs to assassinate U.S. diplomats.

An unnamed foreign intelligence agency intercepted electronic messages which linked the plot back to an Azerbaijani individual with criminal history, named Balagardash Dashdev. He reportedly has strong ties to militant groups and intelligence agents based in Iran.

The assailants had "names [of employees]," a former State Department official said. "And they were interested in family members, too."

Investigators have obtained phone records, forensic tests, travel plans and cell phone SIM cards purchased in Iran as evidence in the plots.

The attacks were to be in revenge for deaths of Iranian nuclear scientists, which Iran blames on Israel and the United States. A statement from the Iranian Embassy in Baku denies the allegations and suggests the plot was fabricated.

"We believe that the glorious people of Azerbaijan understand that this part of the script of Iranophobia and Islamophobia is organized by the Zionists in the United States."

The Obama administration refused to directly link the Azerbaijan plot to the Iranians, perhaps fearful of obstructing U.S.-Iranian negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program.

"The idea that Iran and Hezbollah might have worked together on these attempts is possible… but this conclusion is not definitive," a senior U.S. official who has examined the evidence stated.

However, officials have analyzed an abrupt freeze this spring in planned assassinations as Iran tuned down its anti-Western rhetoric and threats.

"There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to calm things down ahead of the talks…What happens if the talks fail — that's anyone's guess," said a Western diplomat who was briefed on the plots.

Video: "Target's Down"

Video: Tennessee Mega Mosque Construction Halted By Judge

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Al Qaeda's 2nd In Command In Afghanistan Is Deader than Dead After Airstrike

Now THAT is a big fish to get as al Qaeda's #2 in Afghanistan was taken out the other day in an ISAF airstrike (which means the U.S. probably did it, but could be the Brits or Dutch) - the report is out that Sakhr al Taifi, a Saudi al Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim was killed in a precision airstrike on May 28th, yesterday.  Happy Memorial Day, Sakhr.

From the report at The Long War Journal:

Al Qaeda's second in command for Afghanistan was killed in Sunday's airstrike in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar, the Coalition reported.

Sakhr al Taifi, a Saudi al Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim, and another unnamed al Qaeda fighter were killed in the May 28 airstrike in the Watahpur district Kunar, the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. ISAF had initially said yesterday that it targeted an al Qaeda leader and killed two "insurgents" in the strike. Another al Qaeda leader was also targeted the same day in the Dangam district, but it is not known if he was killed in the airstrike.

Al Taifi was the terror group's "second highest leader in Afghanistan, responsible for commanding foreign insurgents, in addition to directing attacks against Coalition and Afghan forces," ISAF said.

He "traveled between Afghanistan and Pakistan, carrying out commands from senior al-Qaeda leadership," ISAF continued. Additionally, Al Saifi provided weapons and equipment to "insurgents" based in eastern Afghanistan, and moved "insurgent fighters into Afghanistan."

Now, the report says Sunday and also May 28th - well, May 28th was yesterday so I'm going with that.  Also, in the initial report on the strike that killed this asshat, it talks about a "precision airstrike" so that appears to be a JDAM sent to bid the fucker farewell as opposed to a predator drone strike.

Either way, we'll take it and all of the little al Qaeda butt buddies get to run around for a couple of weeks trying to find out who is gonna do this jackoff's job.





ISAF kills al Qaeda's 2nd in command for Afghanistan


Al Qaeda's second in command for Afghanistan was killed in Sunday's airstrike in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar, the Coalition reported.

Sakhr al Taifi, a Saudi al Qaeda leader who was also known as Musthaq and Nasim, and another unnamed al Qaeda fighter were killed in the May 28 airstrike in the Watahpur district Kunar, the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. ISAF had initially said yesterday that it targeted an al Qaeda leader and killed two "insurgents" in the strike. Another al Qaeda leader was also targeted the same day in the Dangam district, but it is not known if he was killed in the airstrike.

Al Taifi was the terror group's "second highest leader in Afghanistan, responsible for commanding foreign insurgents, in addition to directing attacks against Coalition and Afghan forces," ISAF said.

He "traveled between Afghanistan and Pakistan, carrying out commands from senior al-Qaeda leadership," ISAF continued. Additionally, Al Saifi provided weapons and equipment to "insurgents" based in eastern Afghanistan, and moved "insurgent fighters into Afghanistan."

Al Qaeda operatives and leaders often serve as embedded military trainers for Taliban field units and impart tactics and bomb-making skills to these forces. In addition, al Qaeda frequently supports the Taliban by funding operations and providing weapons and other aid. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army' for more information on al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan.]

For years, the rugged, remote Afghan province of Kunar has served as a sanctuary for al Qaeda and allied terror groups. The presence of al Qaeda cells has been detected in the districts of Asmar, Asadabad, Dangam, Marawana, Pech, Shaikal Shate, Sarkani, Shigal, and Watahpur; or nine of Kunar's 15 districts, according to press releases issued by the International Security Assistance Force that have been compiled by The Long War Journal.

Al Qaeda remains entrenched in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. A document seized at bin Laden's compound suggested that the actual number of al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan is much higher than the official estimates provided by the Obama administration over the past three years, which have remained static at 300-400 members in Pakistan and 50-100 in Afghanistan. [See LWJ reports, Bin Laden advised relocation of some leaders to Afghanistan due to drone strikes in Waziristan, and Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan.]

Al Qaeda is known to run training camps and have established bases in Kunar, and uses the province to direct operations in the Afghan east. ISAF has targeted several bases and camps in Kunar over the years [see LWJ report, ISAF captures al Qaeda's top Kunar commander, for more details].

Saudis are known to have held senior al Qaeda leadership positions in Kunar province. ISAF has killed three other Saudi leaders in Kunar since the summer of 2010. In April 2011, ISAF killed Abu Hafs al Najdi, al Qaeda's operations chief for Kunar who was wanted by the Saudi government. And in September 2010, ISAF killed Abdallah Umar al Qurayshi and Sa'ad Mohammad al Shahri. Al Qurayshi was a senior al Qaeda commander who coordinated the attacks of a group of Arab fighters in Kunar and Nuristan provinces and also maintained extensive contacts with al Qaeda facilitators throughout the Middle East. Al Shari was a longtime jihadist and the son of a retired Saudi colonel.


Video: When An IED Fails (thankfully)

How Obama Brought Us From a War Against Islamic Terror To a Fight Against "Violent Extremism"

We all have seen it...ever since Barack Hussein Obama has gained power as the President of this country, we have seen the expedited removal of all references to "Jihad", "Jihadi", "Islamic terror" and "radical Islam" from our terrorism standards and communications.

This is a fascinating article at Family Security Matters that delves into just how quickly and thoroughly the appeasement of Islam has been in this administration - and there are some shockers in here ...like the fact that it was Hillary Clinton who first wished to reach out diplomatically to the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is an Obama administration that is intent on mainstreaming Islam - I believe we have some in the Obama administration that side with the islamists and support their goals of the Caliphate and there are others who simply think there are "good and moderate" islamists who we can work with as a country.

But what it all means is putting the people of America in danger and if you don't believe me, just wait and see.  We are being set up for a huge fall and if you want to take some action, the number 1 job you can do is see that Obama and his islamist appeasers are thrown out in November.





Obama Neuters War on Islamic Terrorists


Dr. Sebastian L. Gorka, a member of the faculty of the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University, said on Tuesday that the Obama Administration is rapidly revising federal counter-terrorism training materials in order to eliminate references to Jihad and Islam.

Government bureaucracies usually take a long time in changing a policy. In this case, he said, "I have never, ever seen such a wide ranging review executed with such alacrity."

Although he blamed Quintan Wiktorowicz, a member of Obama's National Security Council, for implementing the Obama Administration's new overall policy of accommodating radical Islam, including the pro-terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, Gorka said Spencer Ackerman of Wired Magazine had helped sparked the review of federal counter-terrorism training materials through a series of controversial articles. One of those articles ran under an inflammatory headline about "Islamophobia" supposedly characterizing the federal government's response to global Islamic terrorism.

As a result of this kind of coverage and the new policy, Gorka said the Obama Administration today forbids the use of the word "Jihad" to describe the terrorists that target America for destruction, even though they are members of the Muslim religion and openly declare their Islamic aims. What is happening in terms of redefining the threat is "unprecedented" and dangerous, he said.

The battle against radical Islam has been transformed into a concern, under President Obama and his adviser Quintan Wiktorowicz, about "violent extremism," not Islamic terrorists or Islamists, he said.

Gorka said that the administration believes there are "good" Islamists and "bad" Islamists and the former can be dealt with. He said this policy is apparent in the decision by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to have contact with the Muslim Brotherhood "Supreme Guide" Mohammed Badei.

While some Islamists are violent and others use democratic methods to achieve power, Gorka said the fact is that they share the same goal-a world-wide system based on Sharia, or Islamic law, resulting in the destruction of America's constitutional system of government.

Gorka said the process of changing the U.S. approach to radical Islam has even become "un-American" in the sense that training materials, including his own, are being censored by federal authorities without the trainers being told who is ordering them altered or deleted and why. "I was one of the victims of that review," he said, explaining that certain slides from one of his FBI presentations were ordered removed. There is no "recourse to appeal" in the unfair process, he said.

Ominously, he said that U.S.-based groups sympathetic or linked to the Muslim Brotherhood are reported to have had an influence on the federal committee set up to review the materials, a fact confirmed by Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst with the Clarion Fund. Mauro reported that Islamists are even exercising influence over what the FBI is telling its agents.

Mauro told Accuracy in Media that another factor behind the ongoing review, in addition to the inflammatory reporting of Wired blogger Ackerman, is the influence of the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP), which issued a "Fear, Inc." report attacking critics of radical Islam as bigots involved in "Islamophobia."

To understand the dramatic nature of the change that is taking place, Gorka noted that the 600-page bipartisan 9/11 commission report, released in 2004, mentioned Islam 322 times and Jihad as a form of "Holy War" against the West 126 times. But the Obama Administration's 2009 National Intelligence Strategy, a presidential-level document, doesn't mention Islam or Jihad once, he said.

"The enemy has achieved what Sun Tzu, the Asian master of strategy, defined as the ultimate form of victory-if you can win without fighting, you can do no better," Gorka said. "If your enemy has successfully determined the limits of what you can say about him, he is already winning."

He went on, "The fact that it is now forbidden to use the word Jihad in government counter-terrorism training means that the enemy is controlling what we are allowed to say about him. That makes it very difficult to defeat him."

Demonstrating the sensitivity of his remarks, delivered during a conference sponsored by the Westminster Institute, Gorka said that his speech should not be construed as necessarily representing the views of the U.S. Government. He has worked for or with various government agencies for eight years.

The title of the Tuesday event was "Dangerous Embrace: The U.S. and the Islamist."

Gorka's disclosures about the unprecedented nature of the radical rewriting of government counter-terror manuals and presentations came as a new book by Edward Klein discloses that Obama's former Christian pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said he was not sure if Obama had ever repudiated his Islamic upbringing and background. "That's hard to tell," Wright said, when asked if Obama had given up Islam, a religion in which he was raised and trained. Obama today claims to be a Christian.

Gorka and Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, another speaker, discussed the advance of radical Islam under the Obama Administration, but did not hold the President personally responsible for what is happening. Instead, Sookhdeo criticized Rep. Peter King, Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, for not doing enough, in his view, to expose the radical nature of Islam. In fact, King has held several hearings on the topic and has been a strong critic of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Robert R. Reilly, Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and former director of the Voice of America, was the final speaker at the conference and discussed "the Fallacy of the Islamist Road to Democracy and Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy."

Obama's foreign policy has been demonstrated in the overthrow of Egypt's pro-Western ruler, Hosni Mubarak, during the so-called "Arab spring," making way for representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood to take power. The Obama Administration meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood that have followed this disaster represent a policy previously advocated by the Soros-funded Center for American Progress.

Gorka, who recently became an American citizen, highlighted a photo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting with Muslim Brotherhood "Supreme Guide" Mohammed Badei. But he did not comment during the question-and-answer period when an audience member asked the speakers whether President Obama's Islamic background, as discussed and acknowledged by Jeremiah Wright, was playing a role in the transformation of U.S. foreign policy in a direction that favors the Muslim Brotherhood.

Reilly, who has also taught at the National Defense University and is the author of the new book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist, replied that the flawed U.S. Government approach to radical Islam was bipartisan in nature.


U.N. Report States That of 108 Killed In Syrian Massacre, 80 Were Executed

The massacre in Houla, Syria is now getting even more grim and horrific as a U.N. report now states that the vast majority of the victims were systematically executed inside of their homes at very close range - this helps explain the high number of children also killed during the attack by Assad forces.  If we actually see Assad fall in the next three to six months, one will probably be able to point to this atrocity in Houla for bringing that about.

The story comes from DAWN.



Most of 108 killed in Syria were executed: UN


BEIRUT: The UN said Tuesday that entire families were shot in their homes during a massacre in Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, including children. Most of the victims were shot at close range, the UN said.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the conclusions were based on accounts gathered by UN monitors and corroborated by other sources. He said UN monitors found that fewer than 20 of the 108 people killed in the west-central area of Houla were killed by artillery fire.

”Most of the rest of the victims were summarily executed in two separate incidents,” Colville told reporters in Geneva.

”At this point it looks like entire families were shot in their houses.”

He said witnesses blamed pro-government thugs known as shabiha for the attacks, noting that they sometimes operate ”in concert” with government forces.

The killings in a collection of villages called Houla near the central Syrian city of Homs last week have drawn fresh attention to the Syrian conflict, in part because of the brutality of the massacre. Activists posted amateur videos online showing shells exploding in the village, dismembered bodies lying in the streets, then rows of dozens of dead laid out before being buried in a mass grave.

The UN has said government forces fired tank shells and artillery at Houla, but stopped short of blaming them for Friday’s killings. Activists said most of the victims were killed by pro-government thugs who stormed the area after clashes with local rebels, but the regime categorically denied any involvement.

The United Nations said previously that 108 people were killed in the massacre, including 49 children and 34 women; some had bullet holes through their heads.

International envoy Kofi Annan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, Syria’s state new agency reported without giving further details.

Video: Hunting the Taliban

Video: Brit Troops Try To Suppress Taliban While Waiting For Medevac

Monday, May 28, 2012

Holger Asks Why # 54: Priorities





Holger Asks Why....



Why is it that the Left in America says it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to find and round up 15 million illegal aliens in this country to deport but they insist that there will be no problem confiscating 200 + million guns from lawful gun owners in this country?



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Payback: American Drones Avenge Our Fallen, 8 Jihadis Killed in Two North Waziristan Strikes

Payback.  In a big way.  Two U.S. predator drone strikes removed the worthless lives of 8 Taliban/Al Qaeda jihadis from the planet in North Waziristan, Pakistan today.  Eye for an eye.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.




US drones kill 8 in pair of strikes in North Waziristan


The US again targeted terrorists operating in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, killing eight "militants" in two airstrikes.

In the first strike, the unmanned Predators or Reapers fired four missiles at a compound in the village of Hassokhel, near Miramshah, according to AFP. The remotely piloted strike aircraft circled back and fired four more missiles at the compound, Pakistani officials told the news service. One Pakistani official told AFP that Hassokhel "was known for harbouring Uzbek, Arab and other foreign militants." The AFP report said "at least five" militants were killed in the strike.

In the second strike, three more "militants" were killed when the drones fired a pair of missiles at a vehicle in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, AFP reported.

No senior leaders from al Qaeda, the Taliban, or other allied terror groups have been reported killed in either strike.

A US intelligence official involved in the drone program in the country told The Long War Journal that the strikes would continue now that Pakistan has refused to reopen NATO's supply lines for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

"There certainly hasn't been a shortage of targets in Pakistan's tribal areas," the official said. "Unfortunately the politics of getting the GLOC into Afghanistan has trumped the targeting of bad guys in Pakistan's tribal areas," the official said, referring to the Ground Lines of Communication.

The drone program was scaled back dramatically from the end of March to the beginning of the fourth week in May. Between March 30 and May 22, the US conducted only three drones strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas as US officials attempted to renegotiate the reopening of NATO's supply lines.

Miramshah serves as the headquarters of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban subgroup that operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and is supported by Pakistan's military and its Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. The town serves as one of the "ground zeros" of terror groups based in North Waziristan, the US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. Other main centers of terror activity in North Waziristan include Datta Khel, Mir Ali, and the Shawal Valley.

The Haqqani Network is one of four major Taliban groups that have joined the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance brokered by al Qaeda late last year. The Shura-e-Murakeba also includes Hafiz Gul Bahadar's group; Mullah Nazir's group; and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is led by Hakeemullah Mehsud and his deputy, Waliur Rehman Mehsud. The members of the Shura-e-Murakeba agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.

The Datta Khel area is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Taliban commander for North Waziristan. Bahadar provides shelter to top al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.

Datta Khel is a known hub of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity. While Bahadar administers the region, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and allied Central Asian jihadi groups are also based in the area. The Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army, is known to have a command center in Datta Khel. Some of al Qaeda's top leaders, including Mustafa Abu Yazid, a longtime al Qaeda leader and close confidant of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, Abdullah Said al Libi, the commander of the Shadow Army, and Zuhaib al Zahibi, a general in the Shadow Army, have been killed in drone strikes in Datta Khel.

Background on the US strikes in Pakistan

The US has now launched five strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas in the past six days, and six strikes total this month. The US launched the first of the last five strikes just one day after failing to convince Pakistan at a NATO summit in Chicago to reopen the supply lines to Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the supply lines following the Mohmand incident in November 2011, in which US troops killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistani soldiers were killed after they opened fire on US troops operating across the border in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

The US has carried out 18 strikes so far this year. Three took place in South Waziristan, and 15 in North Waziristan. Ten of the 15 strikes in North Waziristan have been executed in or around Miramshah.

Two high-value targets have been killed in the strikes this year. A Jan. 11 strike killed Aslam Awan, a deputy to the leader of al Qaeda's external operations network. The US also killed Badr Mansoor, a senior Taliban and al Qaeda leader, in a Feb. 8 strike in Miramshah's bazaar.

The program has been scaled down from its peak in 2010, when the US conducted 117 strikes, according to data collected by The Long War Journal. In 2011, the US carried out just 64 strikes in Pakistan's border regions. With only 17 strikes in the first five months of 2012, the US is on a pace to carry out just 36 strikes in Pakistan this year.

So far this year, the US has launched more strikes in Yemen (21) against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula than it has launched against al Qaeda and allied terror groups in Pakistan. In 2011, however, the US launched only 10 airstrikes in Yemen, versus 64 in Pakistan.


Memorial Day - A Country Honors Our Heroes




The Memorial Day Tribute at The Awakening



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Freedom Is Not Free


Freedom Is Not Free

- Kelly Strong


I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

source:  http://www.thememorialdaytribute.com/memorial-day-poems/freedom-is-not-free.html


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Sunday, May 27, 2012

U.S. Bishops Mobilize American Catholics For War Against Obama

Barack Hussein Obama has made many miscalculations in his tenure as President but probably none will go down in history as more damaging than his decision to attack the Catholics in America.  At this very moment, U.S. Catholic Bishops are mobilizing an army...an army of servants of Christ to wage battle against the Heretic in Charge.

From the report at CNS News:


Having organized 43 plaintiffs—including the archdioceses of New York and Washington and the University of Notre Dame—to file 12 different lawsuits against the Obama administration last Monday alleging the administration is violating the religious freedom of Catholics, the Catholic bishops of the United States are now preparing Catholics for what may be the most massive campaign of civil disobedience in this country since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The biggest mistake made by Obama is one of numbers - he has reached out to homosexuals in this country seeking that voting bloc, yet at the same time he is driving away a voting bloc that is 100 times the size of the gays.  How's that for numbers?  I guess that's further evidence why this nation's deficit has risen so steeply under Obama.

The other miscalculation that Obama made is that Catholics in America are all apostates like Nancy Pelosi - Obama actually believes that the majority of Catholics approve of abortion, defy the church's stance on contraception and overall morality issues.  Obama is so wrapped up in his narcissistic aura where he truly believes people in this country are abandoning their faith to follow him that he is setting himself for a November Nightmare.  It's high time that the Protestants of America stand behind their Catholic brothers and simply and decisively take down this President.



U.S. Bishops Prepare Catholics for Civil Disobedience: ‘We May Need to Witness to the Truth by Resisting the Law’


(CNSNews.com) - Having organized 43 plaintiffs—including the archdioceses of New York and Washington and the University of Notre Dame—to file 12 different lawsuits against the Obama administration last Monday alleging the administration is violating the religious freedom of Catholics, the Catholic bishops of the United States are now preparing Catholics for what may be the most massive campaign of civil disobedience in this country since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and early 1960s.

“Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may be justified,” the bishops state in a document developed to be inserted into church bulletins in Catholic parishes around the country in June.

“Every effort must be made to repeal them,” the bishops say in the document, which is already posted on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “When fundamental human goods, such as the right of conscience, are at stake, we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties.”

The bulletin insert reminds Catholic parishioners that the bishops have called for “A Fortnight of Freedom”—which they have described as “a special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action”—to take place from June 21 to July 4.

The bishops have noted that June 21, when this fortnight will begin, is the Vigil of the Feast of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More. Fisher was a Roman Catholic cardinal whom the English monarch Henry VIII beheaded in 1535 after he refused to act against his conscience and take an oath asserting that Henry was the supreme authority over the church in England. That same year, Henry VIII also beheaded Thomas More, his former chancellor, for the same reason.

The sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate is set to go into effect for most health-care plans on Aug. 1, about four weeks after the bishops' "Fortnight of Freedom."

In campaign speeches delivered this week after the Catholic dioceses and organizations filed their 12 lawsuits, both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama indicated that the administration intends to move forward and enforce the mandate.

Mrs. Obama brought it up in a stump speech in Cleveland on Monday afternoon, less than three hours after the Catholic bishops had announced their lawsuits.

"You can tell people how, because we passed health reform, insurance companies will now have to cover preventive care--have to," said Mrs. Obama. "Things like contraception, cancer screenings, prenatal care--and they have to do it at no extra cost. People have to understand that’s what that fight was for."

President Obama signaled his personal commitment to enforcing the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate, using virtually identical language about it in back-to-back campaign speeches Wednesday and Thursday in California and Iowa.

"We don’t need another political fight about ending a woman’s right to choose, or getting rid of Planned Parenthood or taking away affordable birth control," Obama said. "We don’t need that. I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same economic opportunities as my sons. We’re not turning back the clock. We're not going back there."

The bulletin insert the bishops have prepared to distribute in parishes around the country in June specifically references the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was imprisoned in Birmingham, Ala., on Good Friday 1963 for marching without a permit to protest the racist segregation laws enforced in Alabama in that period.

While detained, King, who was a Baptist minister, wrote his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” in which he said the moral justification for civil disobedience against Alabama’s segregation laws was derived from the writings of the Roman Catholic saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

“During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry," the Catholic bishops say in their bulletin insert. “The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences.

“In his famous ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ in 1963,” the bishops says, “Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, ‘The goal of America is freedom.’ As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition: ‘I would agree with Saint Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’… A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.’”

The bishops have argued that elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—AKA Obamacare—including the so-called “preventive services” mandate, would force faithful Catholics to act against their consciences and the teachings of their church. The mandate requires that virtually all health-care plans in the United States cover, without any fees or co-pay, sterilizations and all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions.

The bishops also object to the manner in which Obamacare deals with abortion generally. In April, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a background paper explaining how Obamacare not only would use tax dollars to fund abortions but would also force Americans to pay for abortions with the premiums they would pay to purchase health insurance—which under Obamacare they are mandated to do. The backgrounder was titled, “The New Federal Regulation on Coerced Abortion Payments.”

Additionally, the bishops object to the so-called “religious” exemption to the mandate that requires all health-care plans cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients. That exemption only applies to “religious” organizations that are primarily focused on inculcating religious tenets and that serve and employ primarily members of their own denomination. This “religious” exemption would not extend to Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, and charitable organizations—and, the bishops argue, it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by empowering federal bureaucrats to determine which religious institutions are truly “religious” and which ones are not.

In their bulletin insert, the bishops unequivocally state that the administration’s sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate would force people to act against their consciences.

“This is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide such coverage even when it violates our consciences,” say the bishops.

“What we ask is nothing more than the right to follow our consciences as we live out our teaching,” they say.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius first announced the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient regulation last August. At that time, the bishops submitted formal comments to HHS, calling the regulation an "unprecedented attack on religious liberty" and asking the administration to rescind it in its entirety.

After Sebelius finalized the regulation in January, many Catholic bishops around the country asked their priests to read a letter from the pulpit at Sunday Masses that said: "We cannot--we will not--comply with this unjust law."

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services wrote a letter that he asked all Catholic chaplains to read at Sunday masses at U.S. military facilities across the globe. Broglio's letter not only said "we will not" comply with the law, it also said: "It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle."

As reported by CNSNews.com, the Army told Army chaplains not to read this letter in Mass, a move that Archdiocese for the Military Services described as a violation of the First Amendment rights of Archbishop Broglio and Catholic chaplains.

In the April backgrounder, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop said that another regulation issued by the Obama administration in March of this year confirmed what the bishops had said about Obamacare when it was up for a vote in 2010 and they opposed its passage.

“While some have misunderstood or misrepresented the Act’s role in funding abortions, the new rule confirms that analyses by the Catholic bishops’ conference were accurate on this point,” said the backgrounder.

“Under this Act," it says, "millions of American taxpayers will be forced to help support abortion coverage, in two ways: (1) Through their tax dollars all taxpayers will be forced to subsidize overall health plans that cover elective abortions, contrary to the policy of the Hyde amendment and every other major federal program, and (2) Many of these Americans will also be forced to pay directly for other people’s abortions. Some will say this is technically not ‘tax funding of abortions,’ because the required surcharge will be a premium payment rather than a tax payment as such. But what the payment is called is less important than what it actually does.”

The day after releasing this analysis, the bishops issued “A Statement on Religious Liberty,” that explained the Catholic belief that “an unjust law cannot be obeyed” and called for Catholics to join in what the bishops called “A Fortnight of Freedom” that will run from June 21 to July 4.

Video: The JDAM Highlight Reel

Balkan Muslims Repay Bill Clinton With the Persecution and Massacre of Christians

Once again, we see the Balkans become the site of massacre of Christians by Muslims - the last time this happened, Bill Clinton decided to bomb the shit out of the Christians - I wonder, isn't that right up the same alley for one Barack Hussein Obama?

Muslims in Macedonia are on a rampage and the victims of that rampage are Christians.  So, what else is new?  How many times at this blog have I documented the persecution of Christians by Muslims on every continent of this world?

Look at this article from Politically Incorrect News via The Religion of Peace and tell me just how this is any different from what is going on in Egypt, in Pakistan, in Iraq or in Nigeria.




Skopje: Moslem Demo “Death to the Christians”


Back in March, PI reported about the numerous outbreaks of violence between the Muslim-Albanian minority and the non-Muslim-Slavic majority in Macedonia. Currently, the situation appears to be heightening once again after a series of murders of Christians. As Austrian news magazine “Unzensuriert” (“Uncensored”) reports, in the Macedonian capital city of Skopje, slogans like “Allahu akbar,” “Death to Christians,” and “Jihad” were shouted by several thousand Moslems in a demonstration parade after the traditional Friday prayers. The special thing about this is: Skopje is the home of the German “exemplary” imam Bajrambejamin Idriz. His father has preached lifelong as an imam at the Jaja Pascha mosque from which the current aggressive demonstrations start.

(By Michael Stürzenberger)

“Unzensuriert” describes executions of Christians, with seeming confidence that they were carried out by Moslems:

On April 12th, the eve of the highest Orthodox holiday, Good Friday, the bodies of five ethnic Macedonians were discovered in a pond in a northeastern suburb of Skopje. The bodies of four men aged around 20 years lay very neatly arranged next to each other and showed evidence of shots in the front and behind – an unavoidable indication of an organized execution. The fifth victim, a man around 45 years, who was an apparent witness of the incident lay a little farther away beside them.

Even though the evidence for the offenses by three arrested Moslems is “earth moving” according to the Macedonian interior ministry, masses of Moslems demonstrated against the arrest of their fellow believers.

The real demand of the demonstrators involves the release of 20 Moslems, mostly from the Albanian national group that were arrested May 2nd this year by the Macedonian police after a three-week search in connection with the murder of five ethnic Macedonians. According to statements by the Macedonian interior ministry, the evidence for a direct participation by three of the detainees, all former Afganistan warriors, is earth moving. Several automatic weapons as well as Jihad propaganda material was secured from among the suspects.

In spite of denials on the side of the authorities and foreign representatives, the Macedonian population immediately recognized the writing of Muslim-Albanian extremists. A deep shock and a deep fear came upon the country’s whole Christian population this Easter weekend, however the ethnic-religious debates began back in 2001 with the murder of an elderly couple living in the single-level around Skopje. In a first, but again, quickly stifled reaction, there arose demonstrations by ethnic Macedonians, a storming of the Albanian townships located north of the Vardar River was prevented by massive police involvement.

It is always the same Islam principle that has been observed in Cologne, Berlin and above all in the burning suburbs of Paris: A Moslem commits a crime, but is covered, however, by the “Umma” because the coherence of the Moslem society is more important than the objective question of guilt. Pelagon – news reports from Macedonia – describes these unfathomable conditions in Skopje:

Around 1500 radical islamists protested today in the Macedonian capital Skopje and demanded the release of five incarcerated islamists who are suspected of having murdered four young men aged 18-20 years and a 45-year-old man on April 12th of this year. On May 2nd of this year, the Macedonian police arrested a total of 20 persons after a three-week manhunt, three of which are accused of having direct involvement in the crime. Two other direct suspects in the crime are fugitives, possibly in bordering Kosovo. The gruesome murder of five fishermen at an inland lake near Skopje shocked not only the Macedonian public but also stirred up interest in the other Balkan countries. The time of the murder also allows for the deduction of an extreme islamistic motive. The murder occurred on Good Friday and thus just before the Orthodox festival of Easter (..)

The demonstrators began their march in front of the Jaja Pascha mosque in Skopje and ended it in front of the Macedonian government building. Such shouts as “Allahu akber,” “Kill the Christians,” and “Jihad” could be heard more and more. The strong police presence saw to it that the demonstrators could commit only minor damage to property.

Notice the imprint on the T-shirt of the devout religious demonstrator: “Islam will dominate the world”:

The islamic time bomb is ticking in Macedonia like everywhere else. But things are further along there than in central Europe. Salafists, according to Pelagon are likewise strongly involved:

According to statements by Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, the problem with the detainees is that they are radical islamists. They are Macedonian citizens of Albanian origin; some of them fought against NATO in Afghanistan. The army of the Macedonian Republic is represented by a contingent in Afghanistan and supports NATO on site with its assignment there. For some years, a Salafist scene in the Republic of Macedonia has evolved that is against the engagement in Afghanistan. This Salafist scene finds approval by some young people. However, there is still no clear data regarding the actual size of this group, and the information that is available is in part conflicting. However, their membership altogether in comparison with the more moderately inclined Albanian Macedonians must clearly be in the minority. Their harsh core, however, is against the Christian society as well as a moderate islamically shaped society. Above all, they accuse the elderly of having betrayed their faith because of their nationalist attitude.

Blog Talk Radio: "The Awakening" - Memorial Day Tribute





The Awakening




" Memorial Day Tribute "




Listen to internet radio with Holger Awakens on Blog Talk Radio




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Are Obama's Sanctions Working On Iran? Well, Iran Now Is Building SECOND Nuclear Site...What Do You Think?


The reactor building at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran Photo: GETTY

Failure.  Total and absolute failure.  That should be the new political bumper stick of 2012:

" Obama 2012:  Failure.  Total and Absolute "

Well, the Iranians have decided that since the Western world is being so cooperative with their nuclear weapon plans that now is the time to EXPAND their nuclear ambitions and go ahead and start building their SECOND nuclear site.

Good job, Barack.  You really have proven to the Iranians what a rock you are.

The story comes from The Telegraph.




Iran to build new nuclear power plant


"Iran will build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr next year," the television quoted Fereydoon Abbasi Davani as saying. He was referring to the Iranian calendar year running from March 2013 to March 2014.

The Mehr and ISNA news agencies both reported another nuclear plant was also planned and could be built in coming years.

ISNA quoted Mr Abbasi Davani as saying that designs for a 360-megawatt facility in Darkhovin, in the southwestern province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq, "have been finished and we are reviewing it."

Darkhovin, a project initiated by France but abandoned after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has been stalled because of European sanctions against Tehran.

In September 2011, deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Ahmadian said Iran was seeking foreign help to finish the project.

The current Bushehr nuclear plant was started by German engineers in the 1970s and was completed by Russia, which continues to help keeping it running and provides fuel for it. Inaugurated in 2010, it is due to come fully online in November this year.

In addition, Iran has a research reactor operating in Tehran that is used to make medical isotopes for patients with cancer and other illnesses.

State television made its announcement in the wake of talks in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday between Iran and world powers that focused on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful and aimed at producing energy and medical isotopes. The West suspects the programme could include work towards developing a nuclear weapons capability, and they have backed UN Security Council resolutions demanding Iran curb its activities.

Video: Insurgent Vehicle Hits a Hellfire Speed Bump

Video: Former Imam of the United States, Jimmy Carter, Blesses the Egyptian Election Results

Saturday, May 26, 2012

It's Always About Islam. Always.

For those in America who still wish to deny the link between terrorism and Islam, well....either get the hell out of this country or see a shrink.  For those in the Obama administration who refuse to even use the term "Islamic terror" then kindly resign from your post and let us put someone in that will protect this country.

The case of Army Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo shows us once again that Islam is mightier, to some, than devotion to country, loyalty to family, and caring for your fellow human beings.  We see from the trial of Abdo how consuming the brainwashing of Islam truly is...as this Army private forsake all things holy to a member of the U.S. military and devoted his last mission to allah and the pedophile rock sitter.

The story comes from The Investigative Project on Terrorism.




"The Reason is Religion, Mom"


Army Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo faced his mother during a visit in a Texas jail last July.

Abdo had been arrested for plotting an attack on a restaurant in Killeen popular with soldiers from nearby Fort Hood. He would set off a bomb inside the restaurant, then shoot and kill as many survivors as possible as they scrambled out to safety.

His mother asked the obvious question. Why?

Jurors convicted Abdo's Thursday of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder after hearing and seeing the answer on video.

"The reason is religion, Mom."

He had to act in response to American military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a Muslim, he considered those affected by such actions to be family. "When bad things are happening," he said, "you have to do something about it."

His mother couldn't comprehend her son's logic, to which he explained, "it may seem crazy from the outside, but it's not."

Abdo's reasoning echoes the justification offered by a series of attempted homegrown jihadists. If America is killing Muslims, the logic goes, Muslims must do whatever they can to stop it.

Abdo chose Fort Hood as a target because that's where Army psychologist Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire a year earlier, killing 13 people. Hasan reportedly shouted "Allahu Akhbar" as he opened fire, and had built a disturbing record of justifying suicide bombings and endorsing other radical ideas during his time in the service.

Hasan had been in direct contact with American-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki before the attack. Abdo carried copies of al-Qaida's English-language magazine, Inspire, which included articles from Awlaki invoking theology in urging Muslims in America to wage attacks at home.

"We as Muslims should seek the wealth of the disbelievers as a form of jihad in the path of Allah," Awlaki wrote in one issue. "That would necessitate that we spend the money on the cause of jihad and not on ourselves."

Despite the self-professed motives, Islamist advocates argue that radical religious interpretations should not be discussed in assessing terrorist plots by Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) even conspired with a political scientist in 2010 to gin up sales of the professor's book, which claimed that religious extremism was a minimal factor in suicide bombings.

The group tries to pressure people out of discussing Islamic radicalism in general.

In the wake of Hasan's Fort Hood shooting spree, CAIR national spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told a radio interviewer that Hasan's religious beliefs shouldn't be considered as a factor. "He could have just snapped from some kind of stress. The thing is when these things happen and the guy's name is John Smith nobody says well what about his religious beliefs? But when it is a Muslim sounding name that automatically comes into it."

A week after the massacre, when Hasan's beliefs and contacts with Awlaki were well established, CAIR issued a press release arguing that those who did discuss religion were exploiting the tragedy to "promote hatred and intolerance."

And military leaders have shied away from the issue, omitting any reference to it in a report on Hasan's Fort Hood attack. That drew a strong rebuke last year in a report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

"We are concerned that [Defense Department's] failure to address violent Islamist extremism by its name signals to the bureaucracy as a whole that the subject is taboo," the report said, "and raises the potential that DoD's actions to confront radicalization to violent Islamist extremism will be inefficient and ineffective."

It is just as odd to see the Obama administration take pains to avoid even uttering the phrase "radical Islam," opting instead for a generic "violent extremism."

Examples of homegrown terror conspirators invoking Islam as a justification include:

· Daniel Patrick Boyd, who was recorded scouting the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Va., after failing in several attempts to wage jihad abroad. "The American troops even occupy the place of our two holy sites, Mecca and Medina," he said in a recording by an informant. "This isn't some fantasy, this is a reality. They are there and they are helping the Jews be in our third holy site, Aqsa. That would be our deen [religion]. This was forbidden by the Prophet on his death bed, he forbid that they can be in Mecca and Medina and there they are."

· Faisal Shahzad, whose car bomb parked near Times Square failed to detonate in May 2010. "This time it's the war against people who believe in the book of Allah and follow the commandments, so this is a war against Allah," Shahzad said at his sentencing. "So let's see how you can defeat your Creator, which you can never do. Therefore, the defeat of U.S. is imminent and will happen in the near future, inshallah [God willing], which will only give rise to much awaited Muslim caliphate, which is the only true world order."

· Farooque Ahmed, who scouted subway stations along the Washington, D.C. Metro line in hopes of aiding a bombing plot. "There's an incessant message that is delivered by radical followers of Islam," Ahmed's lawyer said at sentencing, "that one cannot be true to the faith unless they take action, including violent action, most especially violent action … that is a message that can unfortunately take root in individuals who feel like if they don't do something, that they literally will not find salvation under their faith."

· Jesse Morton, a founder of the radical website Revolution Muslim, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from threats made against the producers of the animated comedy "South Park," after the show featured a character supposed to be the prophet Muhammad fully shrouded in a bear suit. In a speech posted online, "Morton asserted that Islam's position is that those that insult the Prophet may be killed under Shariah law just as if they were fighting with a weapon," a statement of facts that accompanied his guilty plea said. "Morton exhorted his listeners to fight the 'disbelievers near you.'"

Add Abdo to the list. He had all the components to make a bomb in his hotel room when police arrested him. He had divine inspiration.

None of that would have happened had he not felt a religious duty to kill his fellow soldiers. The sooner the government is willing to acknowledge this ideology, the sooner concrete steps can be taken to produce an effective program to neutralize the radical message.