News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

A Religious Push Against Gay Unions

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: April 24, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 23 — About 50 prominent religious leaders, including seven Roman Catholic cardinals and about a half-dozen archbishops, have signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage.

Organizers of the petition said it was in part an effort to revive the groundswell of opposition to same-sex marriage that helped bring many conservative voters to the polls in some pivotal states in 2004. The signers include many influential evangelical Protestants, a few rabbis and an official of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But both the organizers and gay rights groups said what was striking about the petition was the direct involvement by high-ranking Roman Catholic officials, including 16 bishops. Although the church has long opposed same-sex unions, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had previously endorsed the idea of a constitutional amendment banning such unions, it was evangelical Protestants who generally led the charge when the amendment was debated in 2004.

"The personal involvement of bishops and cardinals is significantly greater this time than in 2004," said Patrick Korten, a spokesman for the Knights of Columbus, a lay Catholic group.

The Catholic bishops and many of the other religious leaders involved have pledged to distribute postcards for their congregants to send to their senators urging support for the amendment. The Knights of Columbus is distributing 10 million postcards to Catholic churches.

The petition drive was organized in part by Prof. Robert P. George of Princeton, a Catholic scholar with close ties to evangelical Protestant groups. Aides to three Republican senators — Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader; Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; and Sam Brownback of Kansas — were also involved, organizers said.

Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark said that at a meeting in Washington in February, the Senate aides recommended the idea of a postcard campaign, recalling the success of a similar effort that the bishops organized in support of a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion.

"We think the American people are on our side on this, and we want the Senate to know it," the archbishop said.

The campaign comes as many in the Republican Party are increasingly worried that their core supporters may stay away from the polls this year because they are demoralized by the war in Iraq and other matters. Senate Republican leaders have scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment in June, partly as a means of rallying conservatives.

No one expects the measure to pass this year. But drives to amend state constitutions to ban same sex-marriage proved powerful incentives to turning out conservative voters in Ohio and elsewhere in 2004. At least two states with contested Senate races — Tennessee and Pennsylvania, where Mr. Santorum is seeking re-election against a Democrat who also opposes abortion rights — are debating constitutional bans on same-sex marriage this year.

But Ohio and other pivotal states have already amended their constitutions, and at least one poll suggests that the public's negative response to the first same-sex marriages is cooling. A Pew Research poll in March found that 51 percent of the public opposed legalizing same-sex marriage, down from 63 percent in February 2004.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, said supporters of the amendment were out of touch. "We have a war raging in Iraq, we have a Gulf Coast that needs to be rebuilt, we have an economy barely hanging on," he said. "The last thing America wants is this Republican-controlled Congress spending time writing discrimination into the Constitution."

Matt Daniels, founder of the Alliance for Marriage, an umbrella group that supports the proposed amendment, said the religious leaders represented "huge numbers" of people. His group has set up a Web site, religiouscoalitionformarriage.org, which includes the petition, pew handouts and suggested notes for sermons.

Organizers said the petition had brought together cardinals from both the left and right sides of the United States bishops' conference, including the liberal Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and the conservative Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, as well as Cardinals Edward M. Egan of New York, Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, William H. Keeler of Baltimore and Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston.

The prominent conservative Protestant figures included leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination, as well as the president of conservative Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a handful of Episcopal bishops.

Other signers included James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family; the evangelist D. James Kennedy; Bishop Charles E. Blake of the historically black Church of God in Christ; the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the National Hispanic Association of Evangelicals; Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the Orthodox Union; and officials of the Orthodox Church in America.

A Religious Push Against Gay Unions

[Shammu]

Citizen-built border fence gains steam
Activists solicit help from ranchers, donors, state lawmakers
Posted: April 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Taking matters into their own hands, some activists are working to build a fence along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S. southern border – with or without government participation.

Using the slogan "American Citizens Securing the Borders Themselves," The Border Fence Project hopes to raise enough money to build a fence along 90 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border that currently has no physical barrier.

According to the effort's website, the "fencing solution" will include the use of near-wholesale raw materials and use volunteer labor to build the structure.

Leaders from both parties in Washington have been reluctant to advocate a fence along the entire border, with some saying a "virtual fence" using high-tech surveillance equipment and drones can do the job of stemming illegal immigration.

States the Border Fence Project website: "Because Washington officials have consistently shown apprehension and outright consternation of the idea of a complete fence, it is unlikely they will ever cooperate, assuming the public continues to vote for special-interest candidates. Furthermore, most estimates show that because of the inefficiency of government labor and high markup on raw materials, the cost is likely to run $9 billion, only 23 percent of the Department of Homeland Security annual budget, but enough to receive grief from the open-borders lobby.

"We know we the civilian volunteers, in cooperation with Minuteman-like groups already on the border, can do the job for 1/400 of that cost!"

The organization, led by Jim Wood of Running Springs, Calif., believes an effective fence can be built for between $1.50 and $4 a foot. It would consist of a barbed-wire fence guarded by "solar motion lights with sirens, other motion sensors, electronic sensors that determine if the wire has been cut and a television-camera-unit for up to every quarter-mile of fencing depending on landscape," the site states.

Last week, Chris Simcox, leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border patrol group, said if the government was not going to build a fence, volunteers would do so.

''We're going to show the federal government how easy it is to build these security fences, how inexpensively they can be built when built by private people and free enterprise,'' Simcox told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, an Arizona state lawmaker is proposing legislation to allow ranchers who lease state land along the border to build fencing on government property.

State Rep. Russell Pearce told KVOA-TV the bill is still being drafted.

"I'm interested in helping to do that," Pearce said. "We don't have authority over federal land but we do over state land."

Simcox, who hopes to begin the fence project May 25, says he is supportive of the proposed legislation.

Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair called the response to the fence proposal unbelievable – "people wanting to donate, to help build a fence, people wanting a fence on their land," according to AP.


Said Simcox on the Minuteman website: "We have chosen a fence design that is based on the Israeli fences in Gaza and on the West Bank that have cut terrorist attacks there by 95 percent or more. In order to be effective, a fence should not be easy to compromise by climbing over it with a ladder, cutting through it with wire cutters, ramming it with a vehicle, or tunneling under it undetected."

The design includes a double fence with a six-foot trench on both sides and surveillance cameras. Simcox says the fence would cost no more than $150 a foot.

Border-area ranchers have long been active in opposing illegal immigration, since the entrants often vandalize their property and commit other crimes as they make their way north.

Meanwhile, WeNeedAFence.com, a leading organization in the effort to erect a fence, is hailing recent comments by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., supporting a physical barrier on the border.

"A physical structure is obviously important. A wall in certain areas would be appropriate," Clinton is quoted by the New York Daily News as saying.

"We commend Senator Clinton for supporting a secure physical barrier along our southern border," said WeNeedAFence.com President Colin Hanna. "We welcome the opportunity to work with senators on both sides of the aisle to build consensus in favor of a state-of-the-art border fence."

[Shammu]

Baptists: Plan exit from government schools
New resolution tells churches to develop strategy for pulling kids out
Posted: April 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A group of Baptists activists who two years ago tried to get the Southern Baptist Convention to approve a resolution urging the faithful to pull their children out of government schools announced they are proposing a similar measure this year.

The new resolution, sponsored by Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee member Roger Moran and Dr. Bruce Shortt, urges churches to develop an "exit strategy" for removing their kids from public school.

Moran, a leader in the Missouri Baptist Convention, and Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 and 2005 Christian education resolutions and author of "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools," note the new proposal urges that particular attention be given to "the needs of orphans, single parents and the disadvantaged."

The resolution also urges the agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention to assist churches as they develop their exit strategies and commends Christians working in government schools.

This year's resolution was inspired by a column written by Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in which he advocates the "exit strategy" approach. Shortt called Mohler "the SBC's leading theologian."

In a statement announcing the new resolution, Moran said today's public schools have had "a major role in infiltrating and destroying the faith of those we have been commanded to train up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Dr. Al Mohler's call for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools was not only wise, but courageous, for multitudes of our own people still don't see the inherent dangers. The time has come for the debate to begin."

Added Shortt: "The government's schools haven't merely failed; they are destroying our children spiritually and morally. Academically, the public school system is as dead as Elvis. Unfortunately, many Christian pastors and leaders still try to evade the cold, hard facts by talking about 'school reform' and 'salt and light.' Well, we've tried that strategy for 40 years and more, and, after trillions of dollars of reform, anyone who takes a serious look at the consequences of our government school habit can see that the Church has been hemorrhaging children for more than a generation and that the public schools are stuck on stupid morally and academically.

"If you approve of a school system that is indoctrinating children with cultural Marxism and dogmatic Darwinism, devoting increasing time and resources to instructing children in the colorful folkways of homosexuality, and preparing them for a future as hewers of wood and drawers of water, by all means continue talking about 'reform' and children as missionaries. Responsible Christians, however, will plan so that no child is left behind."

In 2004, the resolution, which called on members to take their kids out of public schools and either homeschool them or send them to Christian schools, failed to be referred to the floor of the Baptist body after being heard in the Resolutions Committee.

Last year, Shortt and Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr., a Southern Baptist lecturer, introduced a resolution urging churches to investigate the level of homosexual advocacy in their local school districts. That resolution passed in an even stronger form than introduced.

This year's SBC Annual Meeting will be held June 13-14 at Greensboro, N.C.

[Shammu]

Bank considers 'sexual orientation'
BofA shareholders take up proxy issue today
Posted: April 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By James L. Lambert
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Should banks and other businesses consider matters like the "sexual orientation" of their employees?

Bank of America shareholders will take up the issue today at an annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

The proxy issue, otherwise known as item No. 7 on the bank's shareholder's proxy list requires management to "amend its written equal opportunity policy to explicitly exclude reference to sexual orientation." The initiative further states that it is already legally problematic and inappropriate for employees to discuss personal sexual matters while on the job and that "discussion of sexual topics could (already) be considered sexual harassment and legally actionable ... ."

A Louisiana shareholder, Virginia M. Brown (owner of 306 shares of BofA stock) calls for shareholders to vote in favor of her initiative where the "sexual interests, inclinations and activities (of) employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern," concluding that sexual orientation provisions are not needed for the Bank's human resources guidelines. Calls from WND requesting her comments, were not returned.

Thomas Strobhar, from the group Citizen Action Now, submitted the proposal on behalf of the Louisiana shareholder. Strobhar, the director of CAN, said by phone he believes BofA's human resources policies do not have to include "sexual orientation" in defending the rights of homosexual employees or applicants. He points out that many Fortune 500 companies already have rules and regulations in place to protect the private interests of its staff. He says that by bringing up sexual issues in the workplace companies like Bank of America open the door in the future to other problems (i.e. cross dressing, sexual harassment and dress code violations).

Bank of America's board of directors has recommended to its shareholder to avoid adopting the proposal, reasoning that exclusion of the "sexual orientation" terminology, would not be in the best interests of the bank. In their statement to shareholders, the directors cautioned their shareholders by saying "if the change requested ... is adopted the (company) might face costly lawsuits that could diminish shareholder value."

Terry Francisco, media relations representative from the bank said yesterday it is the policy of his company to not elaborate on the statements already made by the board.

In a somewhat unusual move in January 2005, Bank of America sent out a survey to 175,000 of its employees asking them to volunteer their sexual preference. The categories provided were: heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, or transgendered.

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions with over 38 million customers in over 150 countries worldwide.

[Shammu]

Philippines, Christian converts, Islamic terrorism

Officials in the Philippines are starting to examine the impact of Christians who have not only converted to Islam, but have embraced a militant form of it as well.

By Peter Chalk for The Jamestown Foundation (25/04/06)

For several years now, the Republic of the Philippines has attracted the attention of regional and Western authorities as an emergent hub - both logistically and operationally - for cross-border jihadist extremism in Southeast Asia. Most of this focus has been directed toward the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), largely on account of the group's past historical ties to Osama bin Laden, persistent rejection of any form of religious compromise and/or cohabitation and recent attempts to re-establish itself as a credible and integrated Islamist force (between 1998 and 2001, the group appeared to be motivated more by financial greed than religious fervor). While the ASG is certainly a cause for concern, the activities of extremist Christian converts organized under the auspices of the Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM) may represent an even greater threat, not least because of their increasing interaction with militants from the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyya (JI) movement.
The RSRM

The RSRM represents a highly fanatical fringe element of Balik Islam (BI) - a legal movement of Christian converts (or reverts as they like to be known) to the Muslim faith. Official records estimate BI's membership at around 200,000 (out of a total Islamic population of some 6.5 million)—20,000 of whom live in traditionally Catholic Luzon (which makes the movement the seventh largest of the Philippines' local Muslim tribes) (The Manila Times, 17 November 2003; Christian Science Monitor, 28 November 2005).

It is thought that the RSRM was established around 2002 with the ostensible aim of creating a theocratic Islamic state across the Philippines- supposedly to rectify what it views as the artificial influx of Catholic and Christian influences that had been first introduced by the Spanish and then consolidated under the United States. The group is believed to have a special commando unit that is responsible for carrying out acts of urban sabotage and terrorism and is allegedly financed by Saudi money that is channeled through charitable fronts located in Mindanao (The Manila Times, 12 April 2004).

The reputed commander of the RSRM is Ahmed Santos, who was born Hilarion del Rosario Santos III into a landed and squarely Catholic family in 1971 and who took the Islamic testimony of faith 20 years later while working in Riyadh (The Manila Times, 17 November 2003). Also acting as the ostensible and self-defined leader of BI, Santos was arrested in October 2005 and charged with inciting rebellion against the Philippine state (which is a non-bailable offense in the Philippines). He is currently being held in a maximum security facility located at the military's sprawling Camp Aguinaldo complex in Manila. Local sources maintain that while Santos almost certainly remains the undisputed leader of the RSRM, responsibility for the day-to-day running of the group now falls to Sheikh Omar Lavilla (formerly known as Reuben Lavilla)—a shadowy figure with a degree in chemical engineering who is thought to have participated in the Chechen jihad (author interviews with security and intelligence officials, Manila, March and November 2005).

The RSRM is small, probably constituting no more than 50-100 hard-core activists. Despite its size, the group has demonstrated both a willingness and ability to "strike well above its weight," and is now known to have played an important role in some of the more high-profile assaults and plots that have taken place in the Philippines since 2004. The most notable include:

- The 2004 partial sinking of SuperFerry 14, which with 116 fatalities remains the most destructive act of maritime terrorism in the modern age.

- Synchronized bombings in February 2005 that targeted civilian-centric venues in Manila, General Santos City and Davao City.

- A multi-dimensional plan discovered the following month that was allegedly to have involved truck bomb attacks against either the US or Saudi embassies in Manila; mass and light rail transit tracks and stations across the capital region; and nightclubs, restaurants and other venues popular with Western businessmen and tourists in the central commercial district of Makati (author interviews with security and intelligence officials, Manila, March 2006).

For a number of reasons, these incidents generated considerable concern throughout the Philippines as well as among Western government officials and intelligence analysts: they were deliberately calibrated to maximize civilian casualties; they demonstrated that decisive acts of terrorism could be carried out well beyond the Mindanao theater; and at least with regards to the March 2005 plot, they underscored an operational focus on large-scale vehicular-borne devices—a first in the Philippine context—to destroy targets that would have direct implications for wider international interests.

What appears to have especially worried counter-terrorism officials, however, is the fact that the attacks also involved militants associated with JI. More specifically, there is a growing fear that the Indonesian-based movement is now moving to expedite bombings across the Philippines archipelago via the RSRM, which, for its part, appears to be actively prepared to facilitate such endeavors (author interviews with security and intelligence officials, Manila, March and November 2005).
The rationale behind the presumed RSRM-JI nexus

Cont'd next post

[Shammu]

There are at least four factors that would seem to have salience in terms of explaining the emergent nexus noted above. First, many BI members (the movement from which the RSRM is drawn) are either based in or have intimate knowledge of Manila. This facet makes Christian converts uniquely suited for carrying out attacks that are able to impact directly on the seat of national political, economic and cultural power. JI would presumably have a strong interest in availing itself of such a conduit given the Philippines' overwhelming Catholic character, its universal endorsement of capitalism and liberal democracy and strong defense and security relationship with the United States (all of which symbolize much of what the group is violently opposed to). Second, and very much related to the above, because RSRM cadres do not originate from ethnic Moro Muslim backgrounds, they are less likely to be identified as Islamist terrorists. Again, this characteristic trait is useful insofar as it provides greater functional and operational latitude for conducting indiscriminate, civilian-oriented attacks in non-Islamic areas. There is good reason to speculate that this has been an equally strong motivating driver behind JI's interest in instituting ties with the RSRM, not least because of the negative backlash it has suffered in Indonesia as a result of bombings that have left large numbers of Muslims killed or maimed (notable cases in point being the attacks on the US-owned Marriott Hotel in 2003 and the Australian Embassy in 2004).

Third, and directly related to the above two points, it would be extremely difficult for JI to act independently in the Philippines given the enormous ethnic and linguistic diversity that exists across the Republic. According to one defense official, because people look, speak and even smell differently from one province to the next, outsiders attempting to infiltrate and operate in local communities under their own auspices would almost certainly stand out and be quickly exposed. Government sources in Manila contend that JI readily appreciates this reality and accepts the necessity of extending its operational and logistical presence in the country primarily by working through homegrown militants that are both known and trusted in their respective regions.

Finally, since the RSRM is made up of converts to Islam, the group arguably has more to prove in validating the credibility of its jihadist credentials. Working in conjunction with an organization that is broadly accepted as presently posing the greatest Islamist threat in Southeast Asia satisfies this requirement and, in so doing, provides a visible ideological fulcrum that can be used to further radicalize existing cadres, mobilize additional recruits, and "positively" sway undecided "fence-sitters" (author interviews with security and intelligence officials, Manila and Singapore, November 2005).
The RSRM and the question of future suicide terrorism in the Philippines

One additional major question that is occupying the minds of security officials in the Philippines- local, regional and international - is whether the RSRM will emerge as an operational conduit for the execution of JI suicide strikes in the Philippines. As noted, the group is composed of converts to the Muslim religion who are keen to actively and visibly demonstrate their commitment to the militant Islamist cause. One of the defining hallmarks of this ideological movement—and one that is heavily imbued in JI—is a commitment to martyrdom, both as a highly effective force equalizer and, more intrinsically, as the most visible way of establishing a true pioneering vanguard to champion the Islamic faith. Speculation is now mounting that the RSRM, in an effort to burnish its jihadist credentials, will take it on itself to further JI's wider Southeast Asian struggle by either assisting Indonesians in carrying out suicide strikes in the Philippines or conducting such attacks independently. While the culture of militant martyrdom has yet to take hold in the Philippines, it is a potential contingency that cannot be dismissed and, should it occur, is one that many commentators believe will manifest through the RSRM.

Indeed, such a process may already have begun to take place. According to intelligence sources in Manila, during interrogation at Camp Aguinaldo, Santos declared that a small cell of RSRM members have not only affirmed the utility and legitimacy of martyrdom, but have also pledged to carry out suicide strikes should it ever be requested of them. If this is in fact the case, there is every possibility that the Philippines will decisively transplant Indonesia as the main operational center for JI jihadist terrorism in Southeast Asia (author interviews with security and intelligence officials, Manila, November 2005 and January 2006).

This article originally appeared in Terrorism Monitor, published by The Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC., at (a href=“http://www.jamestown.org”>www.Jamestown.org). The Jamestown Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan organization supported by tax-deductible contributions from corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Philippines, Christian converts, Islamic terrorism

[airIam2worship]

Hospital to 'kill' sick woman?
Ethics committee votes to pull the plug against family's wishes


An ill woman in Houston could die within days because a hospital ethics committee has voted to take her off life support this despite the fact the 54-year-old is not in a coma, is not brain dead and wants to go on living, her family says.

On April 30, Andrea Clark is scheduled to be on the receiving end of a Texas law that allows a hospital ethics committee to terminate care with 10 days' notice, giving the patient's family that length of time to find a different facility.

"They just say, 'Well she's miserable.' Well, to me that's a quality of life decision that is up to her and her family," Lanore Dixon told KHOU-TV. "That is not a medical decision."

Dixon recently protested at the St. Luke's Hospital on behalf of Clark, her sister, who has been hospitalized there since November.

In January, Clark underwent open-heart surgery and later developed bleeding on the brain. A ventilator, which the committee voted to remove Sunday, helps her breath.

Talking about the Texas law, Dixon told KHOU: ""If their ethics committee makes a decision, it doesn't matter what the patient wants. It doesn't even apparently matter what the patient's condition is, because our sister is not in a coma; she's not brain dead."

Clark's family says though she cannot speak, they are able to communicate with her by moving her lips and blinking her eyes.

Columnist and attorney Wesley J. Smith, who wrote extensively on the Terri Schiavo case in Florida, chimed in on his blog:

"Note that the treatment is apparently being removed because it works, not because it doesn't – which means, in effect, that the hospital ethics committee has declared the patient's life to be futile."

Noting that the family wants Clark to live, Smith noted, "It is as if Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers wanted Terri's care continued but the hospital said no."

Smith described the Texas law as allowing "private decision-making that will result in death without even the right to a public hearing, to cross examine witnesses or a formal appeal."

Some have charged the law is meant to benefit insurance companies who want hospitals to get critical patients "off the books."

According to the TV station report, Clark's family is doing all it can to find another facility that will treat Andrea.

So now hospitals get to decide whether a person should live or die? 

[Soldier4Christ]

So now hospitals get to decide whether a person should live or die? 

Schools, hospitals, government, they all are getting the idea that they have the rights and not the individual or the family. That is what socialism/communism is all about.

[Soldier4Christ]

Al-Qaida blamed
for Israel attacks
Palestinians say terrorist group came close
to 1st suicide bombing inside Jewish state


JERUSALEM – A suicide attack today in Egypt's Sinai desert near the Israeli border and a second, nearly simultaneous foiled large-scale bombing against the main Israel-Gaza crossing were coordinated by al-Qaida and mark the global jihad group's first strike inside the Jewish state, senior Palestinian security officials told WND.

Palestinian forces today stopped a car with several terrorists from passing through the Karni border checkpoint, the main cargo passage between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The crossing is controlled by the Palestinians on the Gaza side and by Israeli officers on the Israeli side.


Israel immediately closed the Karni crossing after the explosives-laden car was found and evacuated all Israeli personnel. Security sources said the car, which was safely captured by Palestinian officers, contained "enormous" amounts of explosives likely meant to be detonated at the border crossing inside Israel.

At almost the exact same time in Sinai, on the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border just outside Israel's Rafah crossing, two suicide bombers exploded near a multinational United Nations peacekeeping force, injuring at least four people.

The attackers hit just two days after a triple bombing killed 24 at Egypt's Sinai resort city of Dahab on the Gulf of Aqaba.

Israeli security officials, for now, are refraining from commenting on whether today's bombings and attempted bombing were coordinated or if they were related to Monday's Dahab attacks, which already are being widely attributed to al-Qaida.

A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces told WND, "The (thwarted) attack took place on the Palestinian side. Clearly it was meant to be detonated inside the crossing or on the Israeli side only. We are investigating the possibilities regarding responsibility and coordination."

Senior Palestinian security officials, including the chief of a Palestinian Authority intelligence agency, told WND today's attacks in Egypt and thwarted attack against Israel's crossing were indeed coordinated, were related to Monday's Dahab bombings and were the handiwork of groups working on behalf of al-Qaida.

"Al-Qaida came just a few feet from attacking Israel for the first time," said the intelligence chief, speaking on condition his name be withheld.

Egypt's official news agency confirmed today's Sinai blasts on the multinational peacekeepers were suicide attacks. An Egyptian Interior Ministry statement said the only casualties were the bombers.

The Multinational Force and Observers' 1,800 members monitor the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace deal. Ten countries make up the force – the United States, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Fiji, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and Uruguay.

The peacekeeping force's mandate is to ensure the provisions of the treaty between Israel and Egypt – which led to Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai – are enforced. In practice, it serves mostly as a buffer between the two countries in case tensions rise.

The attack against the Israel-Gaza crossing was foiled reportedly after Palestinian officers became suspicious of the vehicle and opened fire on the car. The terrorists in the car escaped but were immediately captured. Palestinian police sappers arrived on the scene to deal with the booby-trapped vehicle, which according to sources contained an "enormous" amount of high-grade explosives.

The gunmen in the car reportedly belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees, which was behind the 2003 attack on a U.S. convoy in Gaza in which three Americans were killed.

Abu Abir, spokesmen for the Committees, denied his group was involved in today's foiled attack.

Palestinian security officials told WND they have information the terrorists involved in today's thwarted Karni attack traveled from Gaza to the Sinai desert where they received instructions and training and met with local Sinai jihadists to coordinate the bombings. They said a joint Egyptian-Palestinian antiterrorism taskforce today began combing the northern Sinai for suspected plotters of the attack.

The Palestinian security officials said the Gaza-based terrorists involved in today's thwarted attack likely were able to travel in recent months to the Sinai through Gaza's Rafah border terminal, which was passed last November to Egyptian, Palestinian and foreign control in a deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The terminal was controlled entirely by Israel prior to its evacuation of the Gaza Strip last summer.

A WND probe recently found Rice's Rafah border agreement has allowed terrorists to infiltrate the Gaza Strip, where they are poised to attack Israel, and grants Gaza-based terrorists freedom to travel into the nearby Sinai desert, where they can meet with regional jihadists.

Israeli and Palestinian officials in recent months have warned al-Qaida has infiltrated the Gaza Strip and is poised to attack Israel.

If it is confirmed today's Egypt bombings and thwarted Israel-crossing attacks were the work of al-Qaida, it would mark the first terror attack to actually be organized by the global jihad group inside the Jewish state. Last month, Israel arrested Palestinians planning a large-scale attack on behalf of al-Qaida, but the plans were still at an elementary stage.

Also today, Egyptian security agencies revealed Monday's Dahab terrorist attacks were carried out by three suicide bombers – Bedouins from northern Sinai. The Egyptian investigation is now focusing on uncovering those responsible for the attack, according to Egyptian state-run media.

Egyptian security forces reportedly conducted ambushes yesterday in central Sinai and succeeded in capturing three individuals they suspect were connected with the attack, all three were local Bedouins.

Dahab is a budget Red Sea beach and diving center popular with Israeli and European backpackers located on the Sinai Peninsula near Sharm El-Sheikh, not far from Eilat at Israel's border.

Immediately following the attacks, WND reported Israeli security officials said they believe local cells in the Sinai focused on recruiting Bedouins run by Egyptian Islamic extremists affiliated with al-Qaida were responsible for the explosions.

The Egyptian government recently informed Israeli and U.S. officials they successfully eradicated al-Qaida cells in the area. They said they moved large special units to the Sinai that were able to rid the region of terror bases.

Egypt also announced it initiated programs in recent months to create employment for the many unemployed Bedouins.

"Clearly this bombing shows the Egyptians have been unable to stop the al-Qaida cells from flourishing in the area," an Israeli security official said Monday of the Dahab attacks.

[Shammu]

4 sentenced to jail for tire slashings

Sowande Omokundey Iright) hugs his mother, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore in front of another defendant, Lewis Caldwell. Photo/Gary PorterA judge today ignored a plea deal calling for probation and sentenced four Democratic campaign workers to jail terms for their roles in the infamous Election Day 2004 tire slashing caper.

The four - including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt - pleaded no contest to misdemeanors while an apparently deadlocked jury stalled over felony counts at the end of a January trial that received national coverage.

A fifth Kerry-Edwards staffer accused of crippling Republican vans, Justin Howell, turned down the last-minute deal and was acquitted by the jury.

Michael Pratt was sentenced to six months in jail, and Sowande Omokunde, Moore's son, got four months in jail. Lavelle Mohammad was sentenced to five months in jail, and Lewis Caldwell received a six-month jail sentence.

Each was fined $1,000. The defendants all had previously paid a collective restitution of $5,320, as part of the plea bargain.

They had been charged with damaging 40 tires on 25 rented vans parked outside Republican Party offices on W. Capitol Drive, hours before the vans were going to be used for electioneering. The repair costs easily exceeded the felony threshold of $2,500, yet there was little evidence about what each man had allegedly done.

Prosecutors built most of their case on testimony from out-of-state Democratic operatives who had come to work on the Wisconsin campaign alongside the defendants. The witnesses said the local men boasted about their crippling attack on the Republican vehicles.

Defense attorneys tried to characterize the party professionals as liars who set up the defendants - loosely
tied to the scene by cell-phone records and the hazy memory of a security guard - as fall guys for the crime.

[Soldier4Christ]

New Iraqi Vice President's Sister Killed

A sister of Iraq's new Sunni Arab vice president was killed Thursday in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, a day after the politician called for the Sunni-dominated insurgency to be crushed by force.

In southern Iraq, a bomb hit an Italian military convoy, killing four soldiers - three Italians and a Romanian - and seriously injuring another passenger, officials in Rome said. The bomb struck the convoy near an Italian military base in Nasiriyah, a heavily Shiite city 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, said local Iraqi government spokesman Haidr Radhi.

Elsewhere, a U.S. jet fired two missiles at insurgent positions in Ramadi, U.S. officers said. Fighting also broke out northeast of Baghdad between Iraqi forces and insurgents, killing several Iraqi policemen and civilians.

The violence came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to meet with officials in Iraq's new government. Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite hard-liner recently tapped as Iraq's prime minister, is trying to form a national unity government aimed at stopping a wave of sectarian violence.

Al-Maliki has 30 days to assemble a Cabinet from divided Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties. The most contentious question will be filling key ministries that control security forces amid demands to purge them of militias blamed for the rise in bloodshed.

Mayson Ahmed Bakir al-Hashimi, 60, whose brother, Tariq al-Hashimi, was appointed by parliament as vice president Saturday, was killed by gunmen in a sedan as she left her southwestern Baghdad home with her bodyguard, said police Capt. Jamel Hussein. The bodyguard also died.

It was the second recent killing in Tariq al-Hashimi's immediate family. On April 13, his brother, Mahmoud al-Hashimi, was shot while driving in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad.

Mayson al-Hashimi had worked on the government's audit commission and was married with two grown children. The television station Baghdad, owned by the vice president's Iraqi Islamic Party, showed family photos of her wearing an orange headscarf and footage of her bullet-riddled white SUV, while playing mournful music.

"What astonished us is that they targeted a woman. This shows how wicked the attackers are," Ziyad al-Ani, a senior official in the Iraqi Islamic Party, told The Associated Press. He said the killings "by the enemies of Iraq" will fail in their goal of driving al-Hashimi and his party from government.

The party is one of three major Sunni political groups in the Iraqi Accordance Front, which won 44 seats in the Dec. 15 parliamentary election.

On Wednesday, Tariq al-Hashimi called for Iraq's insurgency to be put down by force. Shiites had demanded that Sunni officials make such a statement to demonstrate their commitment to building a democratic system.

Al-Hashimi also shrugged off a video released this week by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, during which the al-Qaida in Iraq leader tried to rally Sunnis to fight the new government and denounced Sunnis who cooperate with it as "agents" of the Americans.

"I say, yes, we're agents. We're agents for Islam, for the oppressed. We have to defend the future of our people," al-Hashimi said at a news conference with President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and his fellow vice president, Shiite Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

All three Iraqi leaders met with Rice and Rumsfeld on Wednesday.

On Thursday, al-Maliki met with Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf. Al-Sistani has played a big role in restraining Shiite anger in the face of Sunni insurgent attacks that have pushed Iraq toward civil war. Top politicians, especially Shiite ones, often seek al-Sistani's advice.

Afterward, the cleric said he urged the prime minister to form a government with politicians who put Iraq's national needs ahead of "their personal, party or sectarian interests."

More important, al-Sistani said, the government must improve security by ending widespread bombings, drive-by shootings and kidnappings, reduce government corruption, and restore electricity and clean drinking water to many people.

After the meeting, al-Maliki said he was determined to form a government that includes Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds and to disarm militias aligned with Iraq's political parties.

Al-Maliki also met in Najaf with anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who praised the new government and urged it to set a withdrawal timetable for U.S. forces.

Al-Sadr denounced the Rice-Rumsfeld visit as "a clear interference in Iraqi affairs."

The clashes northeast of Baghdad occurred when insurgents attacked four Iraqi police checkpoints in Baqouba, a Sunni-Shiite city 35 miles northeast of the capital, police and residents said. Five Iraqis were killed - five policemen and two civilians - said Dr. Ahmed Foad, director of a local morgue. U.S. forces have been gradually turning over security responsibilities to the Iraqis in Baqouba.

In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, U.S. forces exchanged fire with insurgents who attacked with small arms and shoulder-fired rockets from a former train station and a nearby building.

Lt. Col. Ronald Clark, commander of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, said a U.S. jet fired two laser-guided missiles at the buildings and U.S. forces returned fire with mortars and rockets, killing eight of the attackers.

In a separate incident in Ramadi, one Iraqi soldier was killed during a fire fight with insurgents, army officers said.

A roadside bomb in Baghdad hit an Iraqi army patrol, killing a soldier, police said.

The bodies of 16 Iraqis who had been kidnapped and tortured were found Thursday in Baghdad and other cities, police said.

At least 141 Iraqis have been killed in insurgency- or sectarian-related violence since al-Maliki was tapped as prime minister Saturday and asked to form a new government.

Insurgents have targeted prominent men and women politicians in the past. On April 17, the brother of another leading Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, was found dead after he was kidnapped.

[Soldier4Christ]

US military sees Iraq edging away from civil war

The U.S. military said on Thursday Iraq was moving away from the risk of civil war and insurgent and sectarian bloodshed would fall dramatically when a new government of national unity is formed.

Attacks on civilians had jumped 90 percent across Iraq since a Shi'ite shrine was bombed in February, but "ethno-sectarian" bloodshed had more than halved in Baghdad in the past week, U.S. spokesman Major General Rick Lynch told a news conference.

"We are not seeing widespread militia operations across Iraq. We are not seeing widespread movement of displaced personnel," he said. "So we do not see us moving toward a civil war in Iraq. In fact we see us moving away from it."

The Sunni Arab insurgency against U.S. and Iraqi forces and the mounting sectarian violence against civilians after the shrine attack raised fears Iraq was sliding into civil war.

Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki hopes to form a new government uniting majority Shi'ites with Sunni Arabs and Kurds next week, a move widely seen as critical to ending the bloodshed.

"We believe that the people of Iraq ... have grown tired of the insurgency, have grown tired of these casualties and indeed are going stop this cycle of violence," Lynch said.

"And when the government is formed and truly reaches out to the people, we believe you'll see a great decline in violent activities in Iraq."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ended a two-day visit on Thursday designed to show support for Maliki, a tough-talking Shi'ite, and at the same time press him to choose his cabinet wisely.

Lynch said the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Sunni Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was trying to foment sectarian violence to prevent a new government, saying the group killed the brother and sister of new Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. 

"Because now you have got a Sunni politician who is standing up for the people of Iraq and saying let's do the right thing for the people of Iraq and not worry about Sunnis versus Shias versus Kurds," he said.

Hashemi's sister was killed as she drove to work on Thursday and his brother was killed two weeks ago.

Last October, the brother of the other vice president, Shi'ite Adel Abdul Mahdi, was also killed.

[Shammu]

Russia and China warn UN not to antagonise Iran
By Daniel Dombey in Sofia
Published: April 27 2006 17:45 | Last updated: April 27 2006 17:45

Iran & Nuclear symbolRussia and China on Thursday warned against escalating the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. The call came on the eve of an eagerly awaited report on whether the country has met United Nations demands.
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The US and the European Union believe Friday’s report by Mohamed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will set the stage for a UN Security Council resolution, since there is little chance that Tehran will meet the council’s demand for “full and sustained suspension” of uranium enrichment, which can produce weapons-grade material.

But on Thursday Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, warned against too great an intervention by the Security Council – a path Moscow feels could lead to confrontation.

“We think that the IAEA must continue to play a key role and it must not shrug off its responsibilities to resolve such questions and shift them on to the UN Security Council,” he said at a summit with Angela Merkel, German chancellor.

European officials argue that, far from sidelining the IAEA, any action by the council would seek to bolster its authority.

The Chinese government also called for restraint. Moscow and Beijing, which have growing energy and economic links with Iran, fear that a UN resolution might be used to justify military action at a later stage.

The US has stepped up efforts to assuage such concerns. “Forcible change of the Iranian regime is not the objective of American policy,” Philip Zelikow, a top adviser to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, told the Financial Times.

“Right now, we haven’t completed implementing a diplomatic strategy. That diplomatic strategy involves underscoring to the Iranian regime the costs of its behaviour.”

US and EU diplomats hope to win Security Council backing for a resolution on Iran by mid-June. Such a resolution would not involve sanctions but would probably set out a new deadline for Iran to halt nuclear enrichment.

Mr ElBaradei has been pushing Iran for a “technical break” in uranium enrichment to allow negotiations over the nuclear programme to resume.

Russia and China warn UN not to antagonise Iran

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran hurls defiance as UN braces itself for a nuclear showdown

IRAN will be reported to the UN Security Council today for defying the international community and pressing ahead with its controversial nuclear programme.

But even as a damning report, prepared by the international nuclear watchdog, was being sent to UN headquarters in New York, Tehran stepped up its inflammatory rhetoric and challenged the world to do its worst. President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who has made confrontation with the West the centrepiece of his tenure, said that his country was impervious to outside pressure.

“If you think that by frowning at us, by issuing resolutions . . . you can impose anything on the Iranian nation or force it to abandon its obvious right, you still don’t know its power,” the hardline leader said. “We have obtained the technology for producing nuclear fuel . . . No one can take it away from our nation.”

His remarks reflected Iran’s growing conviction that it can defy the world with impunity because the international community is hopelessly divided about how to proceed. Last night Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, told Nato foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, that the Security Council would lose credibility if it did not act. But key members remained deeply divided. Although President Bush insists that the military option is still “on the table”, Russia and China recoil from the idea of even modest sanctions.

The report will be delivered today by Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was assigned last month the impossible task of persuading Iran to halt its programme of uranium enrichment and reporting back to the Security Council on Tehran’s compliance.

At the heart of the crisis is Iran’s decision to press ahead with its programme to enrich uranium. Tehran insists that this is to provide fuel for its civilian nuclear programme, but critics contend that the oil-rich country is developing an atomic bomb.

Dr ElBaradei’s attempt to bridge the widening gap between Iran and the international community proved unsuccessful. He spent only one fruitless day in Tehran.

Although some nations might be intimidated by the prospect of taking on the joint will of America, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, Iran has positively relished thumbing its nose at the world powers. The Iranian leadership has fired almost daily verbal salvos against its critics. This week alone it has threatened to cut oil production, to export its nuclear technology, to ban international nuclear monitors, to hide its atomic programme and to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

For good measure Mr Ahmadinejad also denounced Israel as a fake regime and predicted that it could not continue to live. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, added that if the US attacked Iran, it would retaliate twice as hard against American interests around the world.

Iran’s defiance is not based on a suicidal wish to take on the world, but rather on an understanding that the international community is crippled by deep divisions on what to do next. While all five permanent Security Council members agree that Tehran should stop its enrichment programme, Russia and China oppose any moves that could lead to sanctions or the use of force.

Britain has been working behind the scenes to persuade Moscow and Beijing to support a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which can impose punitive sanctions and even approve force against a country deemed to be a threat to international security. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said this week that London was already contemplating sanctions, which would probably include a ban on senior Iranian officials travelling abroad and a freeze on all sales of arms and nuclear equipment to Iran.

But Moscow and Beijing, which have huge commercial interests in Iran, appeared yesterday to reject any embargo against Tehran. President Putin of Russia said: “We think that the IAEA must continue to play a major, key role, and it must not shrug off its responsibilities to resolve such questions and shift them on to the UN Security Council.”

Beijing echoed the need for patienct restraint. “A diplomatic solution is the correct choice and is in the interests of all parties,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. “China urges all parties to avoid measures that could worsen the situation.”

There are fears in the region that, without a diplomatic solution, America or Israel may decide to take pre-emptive military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. MajorGeneral Amos Yadlin, the head of Israeli military intelligence, said yesterday that Iran had bought North Korean surface-to-surface missiles that had a range of 1,550 miles (2,500km) and were capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Military experts confirmed that the Iranians had received 18 BM15 missiles, which could put countries including the Czech Republic, Italy and Romania within range.

[Shammu]

Muslims to join pro-illegals protest in L.A.
Millions of activists expected to 'close' major cities May 1
Posted: April 28, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


Mexica Movement activists protest in L.A.

Muslims in Los Angeles and elsewhere are being urged to join millions of Latino protesters in the streets May 1 to demonstrate in favor of leniency toward illegal aliens currently living in the United States unlawfully.

"In solidarity with immigration activists around the country, the Muslim Public Affairs Council as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Los Angeles, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the L.A. Latino Muslim Association, the Muslim American Society - Los Angeles, and the Muslim Students Association - West are calling on American Muslims to participate in a day of action on May 1, 2006," says a statement from the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

"Islam's message is one of social justice, economic fairness, and fair treatment in the workplace. The Quran urges the proper treatment and respect of workers."

Choosing May 1, the day Communists worldwide celebrate the worker, activists have vowed to "close" major American cities as millions of Latinos, both legal and illegal, mark what some organizers are calling "a day without an immigrant" and others refer to as the "Great American Boycott." They are urging supporters not to go to work, school or spend money on that day.

"It is to show the amount of work, the purchasing power, the contributions that illegal and undocumented workers make on a daily basis," Chris Banks, a volunteer for ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, told the Desert Dispatch in California.

"RealIy, it is no different from the transit strike that took place in New York last December, and they shut the city down and it was to show the value of their work – the labor that they do," he said. "The labor they (illegal aliens) do for our collective well being is enormous."

The Muslim organization pushing participation is urging the faithful in Southern California to attend a march near downtown Los Angeles at 4 p.m. Monday.

"American Muslim organizations are calling for a comprehensive immigration reform that includes provisions for a pathway to lawful permanent residence for the undocumented currently in the United States, a temporary worker program that matches willing workers with willing employers, and a reduction in the current backlogs in family-based immigration to the United States," said the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Failing to agree on an immigration reform bill earlier this month, members of Congress and President Bush continue to push various measures meant to deal with the flow of illegals into the country and those already here.

Jorge Rodriguez is a union official who helped organize earlier pro-illegals rallies.

"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez told Reuters. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."

As WorldNetDaily reported, large protests held by pro-illegal-alien activists early this month actually had a negative effect on the demonstrators' cause, a poll found.