In the news - muslims......

[Soldier4Christ]

Wachovia and other corporations submit to sharia

Wachovia has set up mosques prayer rooms for Muslims complete with Islamic foot baths for employees (possibly non-employees as well). Bank of America, IBM, and Glaxo apparently have done the same or plan to, and so sharia creeps in North Carolina and corporate America. Did it only take two Muslim employees to force two of the worlds largest banks to succumb to sharia?

A small group of Muslims working for Charlotte’s biggest banks has been spearheading efforts to find space downtown where Muslims can gather to say their daily prayers.

For Muslims, praying five times a day — including two or three times during work hours — is one of the pillars of their faith.

Right now, many downtown Muslims working as professionals, cooks and cab drivers have to duck into a vacant conference room, retreat to their car or even wait until they get home to combine the day’s prayers.

Two Bank of America employees have joined with a former vice president at the bank to launch a nonprofit corporation in hopes of renting officelike space that could be used for prayer as well as cultural and volunteer activities.

And in a pioneering move for Charlotte, the city’s other big bank, Wachovia, has agreed to start offering its downtown employees what bank officials call a “quiet room” early next year.

The small room in Two Wachovia, the bank’s atrium tower, will not be just for prayer or just for Muslims. But after hearing from Muslim employees such as Anika Khan, an economist who works uptown, Wachovia is including a “wudu” — a sink where Muslims can purify themselves for prayer by washing their hands, face and feet.

Bank of America also provides space “whenever possible” for Muslims and others who want to pray, said spokeswoman Kelly Sapp.

In bigger cities where Muslims have lived and worked for years, there tend to be mosques or other places for prayer near work.

“But this is a new concept in Charlotte, and it’s still a sensitive topic,” said Richard Lyda, one of the Bank of America employees behind the search for a prayer location for all downtown Muslims.

Before Wachovia decided on a “quiet room” for employees, the bank looked at what other corporations are doing to accommodate their religious workers. Among Raleigh-Durham employers, IBM has an area for Muslim prayer and GlaxoSmithKline has a series of nondenominational quiet rooms on its campuses, said Sharon Matthews, Wachovia’s director of work force policy.

“Muslim employees do have a special need because of the frequency of their prayer,” Matthews said.

But Matthews stressed that the Wachovia room — unused office space that’s being retrofitted — will be available to any of the bank’s employees.

Reading room, too

“That could be for prayer, for personal reflection or if the person is feeling unsettled because of a migraine headache,” she said. “It would not be inconceivable to me that somebody would be in there reading a book.”

Unlike Christians, who can sit at their desks, fold their hands or quietly read a Bible verse, Muslims in prayer must stand, bend at the waist, kneel with their foreheads and hands on the floor. Former Bank of America Vice President Shaun Ahmad, who prayed in a conference room provided by the bank, said many Muslims who work in the city have to figure day to day where they might pray.

“When you don’t have a place to pray, you have to figure: Is there a conference room open? Will somebody come in?

“A lot of [Muslims] may feel uneasy,” said Ahmad, who sits on the board of Mecklenburg Ministries.

Muslims who don’t work in offices have fewer options on where to pray.

Ahmad, 30, and Lyda, 37, have been working with Assim Mohammad, 31, a vice president at Bank of America, to find 700 square feet of office space that could become the Islamic Cultural Center of Charlotte.

They’ve received offers of financial help from others Muslim professionals in Charlotte. But so far, they have not come up with a place. They chalk it up to the lack of office space in the area, their own busy schedules and maybe wariness by some about renting space to Muslims for prayer.

Things were going well in negotiations for space on a 10th floor spot along South Tryon, said Lyda, “until they found out we were going to use it not only as a place of business but also as a place of prayer.”

The three are willing to consider joining people of other religions to create an interfaith prayer room — similar to nondenominational chapels at airports and hospitals.

The group has even discussed — but not pursued — renting space from one of the Christian churches lining Tryon Street.

“What we need is a place where we can take a moment out of our day to express gratitude to God and worship him,” said Mohammad, who heads the Charlotte chapter of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals.

Prayers can be brief

The prayers themselves, which include recitations from the Quran, the Muslims’ holy book, can take only a few minutes.

And Muslims, who follow a lunar calendar on such sacred matters, have some leeway about when they can say them. A prayer schedule for last month from the Islamic Center for Charlotte said the second prayer of the day could said between 1:07 p.m. and 4:06 p.m.

If Wachovia’s tryout works, Matthews said the bank could add quiet rooms to many of its other locations — starting with its campus in the University City area.

Wachovia employee Anika Khan, who has been helping her company’s officials understand the needs of Muslims, has a two-word reaction to the prospect of a room where she and others will be able to pray:

“Really excited.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Tysons Corner Mall Opens Muslim Prayer Room

Tysons Corner Center, an upscale mall in McLean, VA about five minutes from CIA headquarters and not far from the Pentagon, (Wahabbi corridor) has apparently submitted to sharia law at the request of one Muslim.

Read how it transpired and how sharia creeps across America; from the request for a separate room in one mall (they got an open space), the plan to upgrade to a better space in that mall, to plans for prayer spaces in more malls. Even suggesting that the mall is losing revenue by not having an Islamic prayer space.

While this piece instructs Muslims not to wash their feet in the sink because it’s a federal health violation, it does instruct them to wipe the sink with the towel they used to wash their hands and face or an extra towel. Will the sinks be used to wash dirty feet when infidels are not present? What is not mentioned is that the wudu ritual also includes rinsing the nose with water and blowing it back out three times, washing the beard, and wiping the ears and head clean.

The prayer room must also be a well communicated policy as the article instructs Muslims they can ask the information desk for directions to the prayer space. How long before the request for Islamic foot baths are initiated? How long before prayer mats, Qurans, and other Islamic items become common place in Tysons Corner? Is mall management (click for mall Contacts) aware of these possibilities? Are they prepared for large ‘congregations’ of Muslims praying?

(snip) (The rest of the article is instructions to muslims on what they can and cannot do according to Federal law in this area.)

[Soldier4Christ]

Northern Virginia

Authorities across the pond now fear that even more Muslims — possibly numbering in the thousands — are plotting terror. On this end, however, U.S. officials still can't see anything in the pipeline.

Either the British have better intelligence than we do, or we don't have any radicalized Muslim communities here in America. Sanguine U.S. authorities are guessing the latter.

Responding to new alarms raised by the Brits, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says not to worry, the threat inside America is less severe. He maintains that this country doesn't have the kind of 'pockets' of concentrated radicals seen in Britain, where terrorists can find support and plot with virtual impunity.

Chertoff must not get out much.

Right across the Potomac from his office is the second-highest concentration of Muslims in the country. Baileys Crossroads, Va., is teeming with Islamic radicals just as hostile to the U.S. government as their counterparts in London.

Baileys Crossroads is the heart of the Wahhabi corridor, which includes the safe houses where the hijackers stayed and the mosque where they and dozens of other terrorists have worshipped.

Another area mosque preached to members of the Virginia Jihad Network, who plotted to kill American soldiers after 9/11 and praised the space shuttle Columbia disaster as a 'good omen' for Islam.

The area also includes two luxury apartment high-rises that erupted into cheers when the World Trade Center fell on 9/11. Law enforcement has dubbed them the 'Taliban Towers.' Investigators routinely find posters and computer screen savers celebrating Osama bin Laden as a hero.

Down the street is a Saudi charitable front for al-Qaida once run by bin Laden's nephew. The U.S. branch of the dangerous Muslim Brotherhood is in the same office park. Farther down in Alexandria is the Saudi madrassa that's graduated several terrorists, including the al-Qaida operative who plotted to assassinate President Bush.

Agents on the ground working the inordinate number of terror cases in the area say it's no less than the base of operations for the bad guys in America — and it's right in Chertoff's backyard.

Despite raid after raid, however, none of the entities along the Wahhabi corridor has been shut down. Thanks to institutionalized political correctness and Saudi Embassy complaints, the terror-supporting infrastructure has not been dismantled.

The Brits turned a blind eye to radicalism in their backyard, but no more. They're finally cracking down.

We haven't learned our lesson for some odd reason. To suddenly decree this side of the pond a radical-free zone after what happened here just over five years ago is fatuous.

The hijackers didn't operate in isolation, like visitors from outer space. They were secreted inside the Muslim community for well over a year, and got substantial aid and comfort from dozens of facilitators at no less than seven mosques from coast to coast. Some knew the evil they planned and helped them anyway.

Assimilation? Hardly. In Baileys Crossroads, skinned goats are delivered daily to several halal butcher shops located in shopping centers where all the signs are in Arabic. Women shop in head-to-toe black abayas.

You'd never know this is a suburb of the nation's capital. Concerned longtime residents have seen it turn into 'Northern Virginiastan.'

The pundits who mouth pleasant platitudes about American Muslims being more 'integrated' have never spent much time in Northern Virginia, or for that matter, in Bridgeview, Ill.; or Jersey City, N.J.; or Dearborn, Mich., where residents are routinely subjected to rallies and marches for Hezbollah and other terror groups, along with calls to pray blasted over mosque loudspeakers five times a day.

These places look and sound more like little Cairos than any American city, and they provide perfect cover for Muslim terrorists and their supporters.

Terror experts say there are hundreds if not thousands of potential suicide bombers already established inside the Muslim communities in America. They need to be ferreted out.

[Soldier4Christ]

Son of top Hamas leader
converts to Christianity
'I hope my father and family open their
eyes to Jesus and the Kingdom of God'

The son of one of the most popular leaders in the Hamas terrorist organization has moved to the U.S. and converted to Christianity, it has emerged.

In an exclusive interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Masab Yousuf, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, slammed Hamas, praised Israel and said he hoped his terrorist father will open his eyes to Jesus and to Christianity.

"I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God," Masab said.

Masab said he previously aided his father with Hamas activities, but he now has affection for Israel and laments Hamas.

"Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country," he says.

"You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Muhammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death."

Masab slammed Palestinian society as "an entire society [that] sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheiks tell their students about the 'heroism of the shaheeds.'"

Masab's father is considered the most popular Hamas figure in the West Bank. He is serving a sentence in Israel for planning or involvement in multiple terror attacks, including an infamous 2002 suicide bombing in the school cafeteria of Jerusalem's Hebrew University in which nine students and staff members were killed.

In a statement to the Palestinian Maan news agency, Masab's brother, Suhaib, strongly denied that Masab converted to Christianity.

But Haaretz stood by its story. The newspaper said it sent a correspondent to the U.S., who met with Masab for a detailed, in-person interview.

[nChrist]

AMEN!

Hearing, reading, and accepting GOD'S WORD and JESUS CHRIST as SAVIOUR is an enlightening experience. World perceptions are colored by the Bible, the ONLY TRUTH, and FINALLY everything makes sense! Otherwise, nothing ever adds up. The quantity and quality of man's CONFUSION without GOD is amazing.

As Christians, we should learn and practice the Biblical view of everything. Learning the Biblical view "MAKES OUR JOY MORE FULL"!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Favorite Bible Quotes 254 - John 14:6-7 Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and
from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

[HisDaughter]

Christians, Jews praying on Temple Mount 'seek religious war'
Muslim authorities say even right to talk to God on holy site exclusively theirs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 01, 2008
12:40 am Eastern
© 2008 Israel Today

Temple Mount

If Jerusalem's Temple Mount stands at the heart of the Middle East conflict, and if Muslim intransigence regarding the religious rights of others at the site is any indication, then it would appear all talk of regional peace is somewhat premature.

In an interview with Israel Today, Azzam Khatib, director of the Islamic Trust (or Waqf) that safeguards the mosques that sit atop the Temple Mount, said that Jews and Christians who try to pray at the ancient holy site are effectively declaring war.

Any non-Muslim "who seeks such an approach is really seeking a religious war," said Khatib, who insisted that the Temple Mount is an exclusively Muslim site and that Jews and Christians should not even want to pray there.

Khatib even took issue with the use of the term "Temple Mount," angrily demanding the site be called al-Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.

Khatib refused to consider the possibility that the site was once home to the First and Second Jewish Temples, calling such claims unsubstantiated myths. When presented with a citation from a 1929 tourist guide published by the Supreme Muslim Council that acknowledged the Temple Mount as the site of Solomon's Temple, Khatib rejected the idea that such a book was ever published by a Muslim authority.

According to Khatib, when the Muslims first arrived in Jerusalem 1,400 years ago, the Temple Mount area was barren, and no hard evidence of previous structures remained, making any non-Muslim claims to the hilltop mere speculation.

"When the Muslims came here they never found any standing building or any culture still alive, so they never threatened any standing building," said the Waqf director. "We are not going to entertain theories about buildings that may or may not have been here before."

Always a fount of contradiction, the Muslim officials later negated their own claims that the Temple Mount was empty in A.D. 600 with their stories of Muhammad's midnight visit to the Al Aksa Mosque that today towers over the southern end of the raised compound.

Pointing to a massive retaining wall, which if the Muslim officials are to be believed should also not have existed 1,400 years ago, a Waqf guide identified the spot where Muhammad tied his horse, Buraq, after legend has it he traveled thousands of miles in the span of just a few hours.

Various Waqf officials also failed to provide a single, cohesive answer as to why the gate on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, known in the Bible as the Golden Gate, is sealed shut. Historical Muslim sources state that the gate was sealed and a cemetery planted in front of it to prevent Jesus' prophesied return.

But Khatib said the gate was closed simply because it was built in front of a cemetery and "it's difficult to approach a gate while passing through cemeteries, through graves."

When pressed as to why a gate would be built where a cemetery already existed, Khatib's aide and translator chimed in and altered the story, saying that the gate had been there first and "after the blocking of the gate, and people stop using the gate, people made use of the area (by burying their dead)."

A third explanation was provided by a Waqf official identified as Abu Qatis, who mumbled something about a Crusader massacre of Muslims at the gate.

Returning to the issue of protection of access to and religious freedom at the Temple Mount, Khatib and his aide vigorously denied suggestions that Jewish and Christian visitors are ever denied entry. Moments later, however, Khatib defended the practice of turning away visiting Jews and Christians as legitimate payback for Israeli security measures that deny access to the Temple Mount to Palestinian Arab Muslims from outside Jerusalem's municipal boundaries.

"You cannot expect us to allow in everyone when Palestinians from just outside Jerusalem cannot come here and pray," said Khatib.

An Israeli police officer standing guard at one of the Temple Mount's entrances told us that the restrictions on Muslim access are only enforced occasionally, and were only made necessary because of past Muslim riots at the site that ended with stones being hurled onto Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall.

"This is just an excuse," insisted Khatib. "Tell me, during the last five years in Jerusalem, what riots do we have in this area?"

Clearly unfamiliar with having their positions challenged, Khatib and his aide abruptly ended the interview when it was suggested that perhaps the lack of violence over the past five years was due to the Israeli measures.

[nChrist]

The TRUTH and RECORDED HISTORY are extremely inconvenient for those who wish to lie. I also find it hilarious that they sealed the Golden Gate to prevent the return of JESUS CHRIST! They must even reject their own historical authorities to continue the lies. The ancient presence of Solomon's temple is an absolute FACT that can be proven in many ways, even without the Holy Bible. So, it's a fact that they wish to reject, not a theory.

Brothers and Sisters, the same is true for the HOLY TRINITY - GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, AND GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is an absolute FACT that has been proven over and over again, yet many people are determined to reject this FACT. FINAL PROOF WILL BE OFFERED SOON, and it will be too LATE! Rejection of JESUS CHRIST is the ultimate vanity of man!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Christian Quotes 128 -
Yes, you are in a mazy labyrinth
"My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of
suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want
your will, not mine." Matthew 26:39
Yes, you are in a mazy labyrinth. But keep
fast hold of the thread - the golden thread of
your Divine Father's love. Thus will you, in due
time, come forth to breathe again the fresh
air, and welcome the blue sky of heaven!
 -- John MacDuff  1895

[Soldier4Christ]

Tyson replaces Labor Day
with Muslim Eid al-Fitr
Chicken company: Workers wanted
Islamic religious event recognized

Food workers at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant for Tyson Foods, which boasts on its corporate website that it strives "to honor God," will have time off for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday closing the month of Ramadan, instead of the American tradition Labor Day.

Officials with the company told WND the labor union representing the 1,200 plant workers, including about 700 immigrants from Somalia who largely are Muslim, sought the holiday change in the new five-year contract, and the company agreed.

Officials with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union issue a press statement about the new "contract [that] creates an additional paid holiday, [Eid al-Fitr,] a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."

A spokeswoman at the union's office told WND no one was in the office today who could comment on the request.

To the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Gary Mickelson, Tyson's media chief, said there is no new holiday, but at the union's request the company agreed to discontinue the Labor Day holiday and implement Eid al-Fitr.

"Union leadership did request and receive Eid al-Fitr (which is apparently spelled various ways including Id al-Fitr and Eid ul-Fitr) as a paid holiday in place of Labor Day," Mickelson told the newspaper.

"Since all Team Members will still have eight paid holidays, the change will not affect production," Mickelson said.

On the paper's forum page, readers were outraged.

"If this holiday is that important to them, make them take it off instead of Christmas Day and allow ALL workers to be off Labor Day. Most AMERICAN families have some type of function on Labor Day," wrote one anonymous participant.

"It says union leadership made this request, makes you wonder who runs the union. I guess they are already working on a plan to replace Memorial Day, that means nothing to the Muslims so why should we have the right to celebrate it. Labor Day commemorates the plight of workers and the struggle of labor unions to improve working conditions for American workers. The Muslims will not stop until all of our rights and laws are changed to accommodate their beliefs. This will be a new America but it will be their America," said another.

The union boasts on its website, "Diversity is one of the strengths of our union. … We may come from different countries and speak different languages. But what unites us is the belief that by standing together we can better advance our interests."

The holiday comes at the conclusion of the month-long Ramadan for Muslims, but it not on the same day each year. Officials with Tyson said they were working out how best to address what apparently now will be a floating holiday for the company.

Mickelson said other holidays for the company workers include birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Union spokesman Randy Hadley told the newspaper, "The negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."

The union also reported "two prayer rooms have been created to allow Muslim workers to pray twice a day and return to work without leaving the plant."

Ironically, the company on its website also promotes a variety of traditional and customary Christian and secular blessings for food – its primary product.

"This is America, founded by the blood of our forefathers and should not be challenged by Somalians, Hispanics, or any other immigrants. If they come to America, they need to learn our language and our ways. They can practice their culture in private if they so please, but not shove it down our throats. Would they let us go there and change there country? I have banned Tyson's products from my home for years because of the illegals they were hiring. I am sorry for the producers that are supplying them, but Tyson's has once again crossed the line with the American people. Labor Day was here long before Tyson's. What holiday will be next to be taken away and replaced to accommodate an immigrant. This stinks worse than the plant," said another anonymous forum participant.

"Disgusting ... appalling ... horrifying ... there just aren't enough words to describe this situation. There will never be another Tyson product in my home EVER!! Bedford County and the rest of the nation needs to take notice. Is this what we are coming to?" said another.

A Muslim website says the holiday is a "joyous three-day celebration" that concludes Ramadan, during which Muslims fast during the day.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national holiday dates from Sept. 5, 1882, and is "dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

[Soldier4Christ]

American people responsible for 'blood of Muslims'
Al-Qaida's No. 3 man says Islam sees U.S. residents, government the same

A top commander for al-Qaida says American people are as responsible for the U.S. military's ability to "wage war and spill the blood of Muslims" as is the American government.

"Islam does not distinguish between the American people and the American government, since both are in a state of war with Islam," Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid said in a recent interview.

The comments came in a report from Pakistan's independent television network Geo News, which was monitored and translated the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The MEMRI report said al-Yazid is considered al-Qaida's No. 3 man and "top commander in Afghanistan." The interview was in Arabic and broadcast with a voiceover in Urdu, and later was posted on Islamic websites.

MEMRI said al-Yazid also is known as Sheikh Sa'id, and he's a 52-year-old Egyptian with two wives and 14 children. The report said he was arrested in 1981 for involvement in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat but later was released. He later joined al-Qaida and moved his operations to Afghanistan. He was working with Osama bin Laden in the Sudan in 1991 and later handled al-Qaida's financial affairs.

In the interview, al-Yazid said, "After all, these are the people who elect the [American] governments, and who even elected [President George] Bush for a second term in office, despite their awareness of his agenda against Islam. Despite witnessing Bush's many brutal [actions] against the Muslims, these people re-elected him. They are the ones who pay the taxes that enable the American government and army to wage war and spill the blood of Muslims."

Al-Yazid also said al-Qaida's attacks on the U.S. in Afghanistan are becoming more frequent and predicted that the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai will fall.

In other comments during the interview, al-Hazid boasted of al-Qaida's responsibility for an attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad in 2007, and said the bomber was a Saudi.

"We are proud to have carried out [this operation], and we congratulated our brothers for completing this task. We timed the attack in such a way that no Muslims were in the vicinity."

He also credited al-Qaida with 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and on a previous occasion had claimed the organization assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

"Al-Qaida is waging jihad against the U.S. because it is the head of the infidels and the pharaoh of our times," he said. "The U.S. is the flag-bearer of the new modern crusade … against the Muslim nation. We are [also] fighting the U.S. because it is standing by Israel and providing it with all sorts of assistance and power."

MEMRI is an independent nonprofit that provides translations of media reports from the Middle East and analysis of those reports.

[nChrist]

Can anyone guess who the largest killer of Muslim people is?

It isn't even close:

IT'S OTHER MUSLIM PEOPLE!

[Soldier4Christ]

Can anyone guess who the largest killer of Muslim people is?

It isn't even close:

IT'S OTHER MUSLIM PEOPLE!

I thought that same thing about this.

“some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.”

By Gunnar Heinsohn and Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine, October 8, 2007

[nChrist]

I thought that same thing about this.

“some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.”

By Gunnar Heinsohn and Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine, October 8, 2007

Thanks Brother!

I didn't have any idea about the actual numbers, but I knew that we weren't the real enemy. These numbers are shocking. I wonder what it would take to make them know that they are their own worst enemy. Their own barbaric leaders have probably killed many of their own while we were making these posts. Their mindset is beyond belief.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Favorite Bible Quotes 21 - 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength
of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the
Lord.

[Soldier4Christ]

Al-Qaida confirms death of explosives expert
Pakistan says trainer behind U.S.S. Cole attack killed in American airstrike

Al Qaeda confirmed in a Web statement Sunday the death of a senior commander known as a top explosives and poisons expert, who is believed to have been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week.

The statement said Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in an American airstrike last Monday on a compound near the Afghan border.

Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in that strike, in the country's lawless South Waziristan tribal region.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi, had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States. He is accused of training terrorists to use poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained homicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

He is also believed to have helped run Al Qaeda's Darunta training camp in eastern Afghanistan, until the camp was abandoned amid the 2001 U.S. invasion of the country. There he is thought to have conducted experiments in chemical and biological weapons, testing materials on dogs.

The Al Qaeda statement called al-Masri and the other three slain commanders "a group of heroes" and warned of vengeance for their deaths.

"We tell the enemies of God that God has saved those who will be even more painful for you," it said. "As Abu Khabab has gone, he left behind, with God's grace, a generation of faithful students who will make you suffer the worst torture and avenge him and his brothers."

The statement, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed, was dated July 30 and signed by Al Qaeda's top Afghan leader, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed. It was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where Al Qaeda usually issues official statements and videos of its leaders.

The statement made no mention of an airstrike killing the four commanders, and did not say how or when they died.

Abu Khabab al-Masri is a pseudonym, meaning "father of the trotting horse, the Egyptian."

The other three slain leaders also seemed to be Egyptians, since their pseudonyms included the name "al-Masri" — but little is known about them. The statement identified them as Abu Mohammed Ibrahim bin Abi Farag al-Masri, Abdul-Wahab al-Masri and Abu Islam al-Masri.

It gave no details about them, beyond calling Abu Mohammed "the holy warrior sheik and tutor." The statement said some of their children were killed with them but gave no further details.

The U.S. military, wary of embarrassing its Pakistani allies, has not officially confirmed it carried out the July 28 strike. Two Pakistani intelligence officials and at least one pro-Taliban militant said they believed al-Masri had died in the attack, and an American official in Washington expressed cautious optimism al-Masri was among the dead.

Both bin Laden and Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the rugged and lawless tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border. In January, al-Masri was initially reported to have been killed in a similar airstrike said to have been targeting al-Zawahri, but Pakistani officials quickly backed off claims al-Masri was killed.

[Shammu]

Shakeup coming for Turkey's military after Islamists survives court challenge
ANKARA — Officials said the Supreme Military Council intends to appoint 115 senior officers during its meeting, which began on Aug. 1.

They said the appointments would reshape the command structure of all services in the military.

"This would be one of the largest reshuffles in the military in years," an official said.

The council began its meeting in wake of a Turkish court ruling that saved the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, from being disbanded on charges of promoting an Islamic state. The military council has been chaired by Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, head of AKP and regarded as leading the drive to reduce the power of the secular military.

Erdogan intends to oversee the retirement of a key foe in the military. Chief of Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, an ardent secularist and pro-U.S. officer, was scheduled to retire on Aug. 30. Buyukanit was expected to be replaced by Land Forces Command chief Gen. Ilker Basbug.

Basbug has also been regarded as a proponent of a secular Turkey. The general was also said to be close to the United States.

The council plans to discuss military appointments until Aug. 4. Officials expect Basbug, who would serve as chief of staff for two years, to be replaced by Gen. Isik Kosaner, commander of the Gendarmerie Forces. The commander of the army has been traditionally promoted to chief of staff.

Kosaner was expected to be succeeded by Gen. Hasan Igsiz, commander of the 2nd Army Corp. Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun was expected to be transferred to command the 1st Army Corps. Saygun would succeed Gen. Ismail Kocman, scheduled to retire with Buyukanit.

The current round of promotions would not affect the commanders of the air force and navy. Air Force chief Gen. Aydogan Babaoglu and naval commander Vice Admiral Metin Atac were scheduled to remain in their positions until August 2009.

  Shakeup coming for Turkey's military after Islamists survives court challenge

[Shammu]

Turkey has been a member of NATO since the bad old Cold War days.

In recent times there has been much speculation about Turkey's future with NATO. However, recent cooperation with Israel regarding missile defense make it seem unlikely Ankara will quickly shift alignment to favor Iran. Not only that, the Turkish government is still trying to join the EU, least at this time anyway.