News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Lucas Jackson replied to Bell's question, "Why universities have found themselves in an ideological war against what they perceive to be a conservative threat is a mystery. The fight over a book recommendation is just an example of an endemic problem on campuses. They have become places of close-mindedness instead of institutions to facilitate true learning."

Jackson wrote, "Sitting in a library, looking at a display of censored and banned books reminds me that this is an ongoing fight, even in our institutions of higher learning."

The one ALA council member who has written publicly about the now-dismissed charges against Savage, Rory Litwin, said "intellectual freedom arguments don't apply in this situation," and suggested, "It may be that the right-wing extremist books are way out of line and the center-left political books are good choices."

"If Savage's [book] suggestion was serious, there is a harassment issue involved in his attempt to force students to read that book," wrote Litwin, also an official in the Social Responsibilities Round Table, the self-styled "progressive" wing of the ALA.

Several members of the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Librarian's Network contacted by WorldNetDaily disagreed with Litwin's assessment, however.

"Considering all of the other threats that are made against GLBT folks, this seems like the silliest thing in a long time," wrote Dan Lester, in response to questions addressed to the group's e-mail list. "It appears this was one of a number of controversial titles he listed, and not that this particular book was forced on anyone."

Lester said he probably would not have picked the title because he feels other books address the topic much better, but he added it appeared as if someone "with a different agenda just wanted to pick a fight on that particular title."

Librarian Harvey Brenneise said Savage's ordeal reminded him of when he was criticized heavily for ordering books for the library of a conservative Christian university that were "gay-positive."

"For some reason, Troy Perry's autobiography 'The Lord is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay' really set some people off," he said, not wanting to name the school. "I think eventually most of the challenged books were kept by the library, to their credit."

"Where there is a controversy," said Brenneise, who now works in the Seattle Public Library, "I think a library does a good service by covering various sides of it, if for no other reason than giving everyone the opportunity to "know their enemy."

The brief mention of the Savage story by Library Journal was criticized by a popular conservative blogger.

Los Angeles librarian Jack Stephens said it was "embarrassingly blatant" the Library Journal article is "an exercise in blaming the victim," and is full of "eye-rolling liberal skewing and apologetics.

Stephens pointed out to his colleagues April 21 that on May 15, 2004, the editor of the magazine, John N. Berry III, had written: "To suggest that you ought not to express yourself because your boss might read it, or you might make a colleague 'feel' bad is simply to plant fear where it should not and need not exist."

In contrast to the fiery rhetoric many conservative commentators and civil libertarians have used to decry the incident, the issue has been met with considerable satire among librarians.

"I hate when I no longer feel safe doing my job because I am scared of a book," wrote a contributor to the popular Librarian and Information Science News site. "We had a display of that rambling Bill Clinton autobiography on a shelf near me in the library and I almost had to go on short-term disability because I was terrified that the words might jump off the page and change my voter registration."

The writer concluded: "If you are that afraid of ideas – especially ideas that may differ from yours – by all means stay out of the library and avoid those dangerous criminal librarians."

In another of many such examples, an author signed off with the jibe "Save the easily offended: Ban everything."

Oddly enough, that is exactly one of the concerns a member of the Lakeland Diversity Committee had when the group was debating the Nicolosi book in 2004.

The meeting notes show: "'Deborah said the committee should not censor the quest for knowledge because there would not be any books" left over.

After that, "Susan F." added, "Unfortunately, many people believe it is better to do [no] harm now than burn in hell later."

[Shammu]

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Funeral Protest Bill
by Jay on 05-01-06 @ 4:32 pm Filed under ACLU, 1st Amendment, News

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday, challenging a new Kentucky law that limits protests at funerals.

The law is an an attempt to prevent disruptions at military funerals. The law was aimed at members of the Westboro Baptist Church Cult, who have toured the country protesting military funerals with signs saying such things as, “God Hates Fags”, and “Thank God For Dead Soldiers.” Members of the cult believe the soldiers’ deaths are a sign of God punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.

I believe the First Amendment protects people’s right to peacefully assemble. I find it odd that the ACLU are not protecting the right of those who wish to mourn the fallen to assemble without being harassed by lunatic cultists.

Kentucky should have seen the challenge coming. Similar legislation was opposed by the ACLU in Louisiana and Tennessee.

However, in this case it doesn’t seem to be the cultists that the ACLU are worried about. They claim that it could lead to an innocent bystander being targeted.

    Lili S. Lutgens, an attorney for the ACLU in Louisville, said a portion of the law is overly broad in the limitations it places on freedom of speech and on freedom of expression.

    “The language is so broad that two people holding a conversation on a sidewalk, if there’s a funeral going on the funeral home, then they’d be in violation,” Lutgens said. “Somebody who was whistling as they walked down the sidewalk, if a funeral was in earshot, then they would also be in violation.”

Yeah right! How ridiculous of an argument can you come up with?

Once again the ACLU are blind to good common sense and decency in favor of some absolutist view on free speech. The laws being presented are not infringing upon their right to expression. They can go 500 to 1,000 feet away and protest all they want. What this legislation is attempting to do is no different than laws that protect political figures from protesters with reasonable buffer zones. It is also odd that the ACLU have fought on the opposite side when those being protested against were abortion clinics. However it isn’t suprising, as we see more and more everyday, that the ACLU are selective in what kind of messages they protect as free speech, and which ones they either ignore or downright fight against.
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And yes PR, I know the chances are you have posted this in Politics and Political Issues.

[Shammu]

 Senators fail to override gun seizure veto
Gov. Napolitano rejected bill to trim her powers
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.27.2006

PHOENIX — State senators failed by one vote Wednesday to override Gov. Janet Napolitano's veto of legislation to trim gubernatorial powers to seize weapons.

The 19-10 vote — one vote short of the necessary two-thirds margin — came even after Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, speculated that Napolitano vetoed the measure so she could use her emergency powers to take weapons away from members of the Minuteman Project patrolling the Mexican border.

Sen. Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, bolted party loyalty and agreed to override the Democratic governor. Another Democrat whose district includes a large stretch of rural Arizona, Rebecca Rios of Apache Junction, left the floor before the vote was cast.

But enough other Democrats who voted for the bill last month, when there were sufficient votes in both the House and Senate to override a veto, switched their position Wednesday to narrowly keep from handing Napolitano her first override defeat.

"I'm not willing to override the governor on this one," said Sen. Robert Cannell, D-Yuma, one of those who switched his vote.

Napolitano said she had no intention of taking anyone's weapons. But she said the measure was crafted too broadly, taking away her power even to order someone to move ammunition from the path of a forest fire.

But Martin, who crafted the measure, did not believe her.

"With this governor's veto, I don't know what she has planned if she gets re-elected as a lame-duck governor," he said. And Martin noted that Napolitano last year declared a state of emergency in the four Southern Arizona counties to deal with problems of people crossing the border illegally — an emergency declaration that remains in effect.

"Does she plan on disarming the Minutemen?" he asked.

Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said those fears of Napolitano are unfounded. "She has always said the Minutemen have the right to be there, they have the right to bear arms," L'Ecuyer said.

Arzberger said she was "uncomfortable" voting to override a Napolitano veto. But she said her husband, Gus, stationed in Germany after World War II, told her how the Nazis had gained control by going door-to-door, taking the weapons of German citizens.

"He told me we must never let that happen," she said.

The legislation was a direct outgrowth of incident in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina where police took firearms from citizens. A judge subsequently blocked that action and ordered the guns returned.

Martin said it shouldn't take a lawsuit to stop that from happening here.

AZ: Senators fail to override gun seizure veto

My note; This is one of the few times I have agreeded with Governor Napolitano.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran will hit Israel if US does "evil": agency

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will target Israel first if the United States does anything "evil", a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday.

The United States says it wants Iran's nuclear standoff with the West solved diplomatically but has refused to rule out military action.

"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani was quoted as saying by Iran's student news agency ISNA.

The Islamic Republic has never recognized Israel and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

Dehqani said naval wargames held in the Gulf last month "carried the warning to those countries that threaten Iran, including America and the Zionist regime".

Experts said the wargames, in which Iran said it had tested new missiles and torpedoes, were a thinly veiled threat that it could disrupt vital Gulf oil shipping lanes if it was attacked.

[Soldier4Christ]

Fuel Costs Prompt School Closings in Tenn.
   

By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press Writer

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.

The high price of diesel fuel for school buses meant children in one Tennessee school system got a holiday Monday _ their second in a row.

Some 3,800 youngsters got Friday and Monday off because of the action taken by Dallas Smith, superintendent of Rhea County schools in east Tennessee, to ease transportation spending.

"That kind of situation is probably the most extreme I have heard," said Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, based in Albany, N.Y., and a spokesman for the Washington-based School Bus Information Council.

Martin described the price of diesel, which has risen above $2.80 in the East and to more than $3 a gallon on the West Coast, as a "huge problem for not only public sector but private sector operators as well."

No other Tennessee systems have canceled classes in response to fuel costs.

The Rhea County closings were not authorized by the state, said Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods.

Smith, however, said state education officials had announced previously that extra snow days could be used if fuel prices rose.

School Board Chairman Harold McCawley said the two-day closing was justified.

"Rhea County is a long county, 34 miles from end to end," McCawley said. "It's just a huge savings of fuel."

Rhea County Finance Director Brad Harris said county schools spent $14,000 on fuel in March, compared to $7,800 in March 2005. He said fiscal year to-date-spending was up from $68,000 to $102,500.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked his state's public schools to close for two days in September to conserve fuel when Hurricane Rita threatened to shut down refineries. Perdue has "no regrets," spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said Friday.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran threatens Israel Again

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to attack Israel in response to any "evil" act by the United States and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.

The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers meet in Paris to discuss the next steps after Tehran rejected a UN call to halt uranium enrichment.

Senior officials from the UN Security Council's permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany were to discuss how to curb an Iranian programme that Western nations say conceals a drive for atomic warheads.

Iran denies the charge and refuses to back down from what it calls its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Driving home that message, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said his country had now succeeded in purifying uranium to 4.8 percent, at the top end of the 3 to 5 percent range for fuel used in nuclear power plants.

"Enrichment above 5 percent is not on Iran's agenda," Aghazadeh told the students' ISNA news agency.

Iran has previously said it had enriched to more than 4 percent, far below the 80 percent level needed for bomb-making.

It has used a test cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium so far and is building two similar cascades. It says it will start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year -- enough to yield material for one bomb within a year.

The United States and Israel have vowed to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Washington has not excluded war if diplomacy fails, while Tehran has sworn to retaliate if attacked.

TARGETING ISRAEL

"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," ISNA quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, as saying on Tuesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

Iran's deputy oil minister said there was "some possibility" of a U.S. attack on his country over its nuclear programme.

"I am worried. Everybody is worried," Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said in New Delhi after talks on a proposed $7-billion pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.

Concerns that Iran's dispute with the West could lead to disruption of its oil output pushed oil prices above $74 a barrel, close to the record of $75.35 touched last month.

The United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a resolution to the Security Council this week that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands. The three countries favour limited sanctions if Tehran remains defiant.

Iran said Russia and China, also veto-wielding permanent council members, would not back any punitive measures.

"The thing these two countries have officially told us and expressed in diplomatic negotiations is their opposition to sanctions and military attacks," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Iran's Kayhan newspaper.

China and Russia both have big energy interests in Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil exporter. Russia is also helping Iran build its first atomic power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr.

Nicholas Burns, the U.S. under-secretary of state for political affairs, said in Paris that Tuesday's meeting would seek to keep the Security Council members and Germany united before a meeting of foreign ministers in New York on May 9.

Asked about Mottaki's comments, he said: "All I know is that China and Russia say that they don't want a nuclear-armed Iran. And China and Russia have voted with us against the government of Iran. So we intend to preserve this unity."

Burns said he expected a consensus to emerge over the next 30-40 days on the need to send a "stiff message" to Iran, adding that a range of sanctions had been discussed privately.

These included restricting exports to Iran of dual-use technology that could support its research and development or help it fabricate fissile material or a nuclear device.

Other options were travel curbs on Iranian officials and a ban on arms sales to Iran, such as a planned Russian missile deal. Oil and gas sanctions were not being discussed now.

"We hope that the UN Security Council, through a resolution, will send a firm and united message to Iran," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says it cannot confirm that Iran's goals are peaceful, but has found no proof of a military programme.

A UN resolution would be adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, making it binding in international law. A separate resolution would be required for sanctions or military action.

[Soldier4Christ]

Hamas subcontracts terror group for attacks
Enables leaders of new PA government to distance selves from violence
Posted: May 3, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

TEL AVIV, Israel – Hamas, concerned about its international image after taking over the Palestinian Authority, has "subcontracted" the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees to commit terror acts in its place, with new Committees militants even pledging allegiance to Hamas as part of their induction, according to a study just released.

"There are strong indications the Popular Resistance Committees has become a kind of Hamas subcontractor. Handling the Committees behind the scenes enables Hamas to encourage terrorist attacks against Israel while outwardly maintaining its policy of restraint and coping with the political exigencies resulting from the composition of its government," stated a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies.

The Popular Resistance Committees has been responsible for many of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at nearby Jewish communities the past few years. It has also been accused of carrying out the 2003 attack on a U.S. convoy in Gaza in which three Americans were killed.

Last week, Committees members attempted to carry out a large-scale car bombing at the Karni Crossing, the main cargo passageway between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The attack was foiled at the last minute after Palestinian forces became suspicious and opened fire at an approaching vehicle. The car, which was safely captured, contained "enormous" amounts of explosives meant to be detonated at the border crossing inside Israel, security sources said. Six Israelis were killed in a similar attack last year.

Israel's Shin Bet Security Services announced this week the order to carry out the Karni attack was given to the Committees by Hamas senior member Ahmed Randor. It said Hamas has previously directed funds to the Committees.

Hamas officially took over of the PA last month after winning January's parliamentary elections by a large margin. It appointed Jamal Abu Samhadana, overall leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, to the post of interior minister and general supervisor of the Palestinian police.

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report stated Samhadana, who has a long history of anti-Israel violence and of collaboration with Hamas, made it clear he intended to continue as head of the Committees and attack Israel even after his appointment to the Hamas administration.

The report referenced Israeli interrogations carried out last November in which arrested Committees members allegedly stated Hamas provided their organization extensive operational support including arms, training, attack instructions and monthly funding.

One arrested Committees member allegedly told interrogators new recruits to his terror group were routinely brought before local Hamas representatives to swear their allegiance.

The Center also quoted from an interview posted on the Popular Resistance Committees website featuring one of its senior members describing methods his terror group used to coordinate anti-Israel attacks with Hamas.

"We receive material aid from Hamas, as do six or seven military factions which belong to the Fatah movement," stated Committees member Abu Yussuf al-Qoqa, who was killed by a car bomb in March.

"We will stand by [Hamas] and support them in everything we can for the sake of the success of the Islamic resistance program since Islam is the only way the rights robbed from the Palestinians will be returned," al-Qoqa said.

Some here have questioned whether the Committees have been coordinating their attacks with al-Qaida, which could represent a prominent, working relationship between the global jihad group, the Committees and Hamas.

Last week's attempted Karni Crossing attack was set to take place at the same time two suicide bombs exploded near a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Sinai adjacent to Gaza.

Immediately following the attacks, Palestinian security officials, including the chief of a Palestinian Authority intelligence agency, told WND the suicide bombing in the Sinai and thwarted Karni attack were coordinated and were the handiwork of groups working on behalf of al-Qaida.

The Palestinian security officials said the Gaza-based Committees terrorists involved in the thwarted Karni attack likely were able to travel in recent months to the Sinai through Gaza's Rafah Crossing, the main checkpoint between Egypt at Gaza. A Committees leader recently told WND he traveled from Gaza to the Sinai "for vacation."

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

Israeli security officials have refrained for now from releasing any information linking the Committees' foiled Karni Crossing attack to the suicide bombings in the Sinai or to al-Qaida.

An Israeli security official told WND yesterday, "I would not be surprised if we find out that both the attacks were coordinated and were directed by al-Qaida, but for now we are not putting that out."

[Soldier4Christ]

Gadhafi: Islam taking over Europe
Notes progress, sees 'victory' within a few decades

Islam will take over Europe without violent force within a few decades, said Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi in a speech aired on the Arab satellite network Al Jazeera.

"We have 50 million Muslims in Europe," Gadhafi said. "There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe – without swords, without guns, without conquests. The 50 million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades."

If Turkey is added to the European Union, the Libyan leader said, Europe will have another 50 million Muslims.

Albania, a Muslim-majority country, and Bosnia, which is half Muslim, also appear to be on their way to EU membership.

"Europe is in a predicament, and so is America," Gadhafi said. "They should agree to become Islamic in the course of time, or else declare war on the Muslims."

Excerpts of Gadhafi's speech, broadcast April 10, were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI. A video clip of the speech can by viewed online.

Gadhafi emphasized Muslims view Muhammad the prophet not only of the Arabs or Muslims but "of all people."

"He superseded all previous religions," Gadhafi said. "If Jesus were alive when Muhammad was sent, he would have followed him. All people must be Muslims."

He said Christians believe Muhammad is not their prophet because their holy texts "are forged and call for hatred."

"The so-called Old Testament and New Testament are neither Old Testament nor New Testament – because both testaments were superseded, and they are forged," he said. "They were written by hand hundreds of years after Jesus."

Gadhafi continued: "In the Bible there are things that are inappropriate for both Jesus and Moses. If we want to mend the state of humanity, and live in a global village, because of the globalization, we must search for the true Bible, because the Bible that exists today is a forgery. Today's Bible does not mention Muhammad, whereas our Lord's Bible mentions Muhammad repeatedly."

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported in December 2003 Gadhafi provided al-Qaida with chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction before changing heart and agreeing to destroy his arms program.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran Uranium at Level to Fuel Reactors

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's nuclear chief said Wednesday that Iran has enriched uranium up to 4.8 percent - the upper end of the range needed to make fuel for reactors - as it continues to defy U.S. and European demands to stop enrichment.

The announcement by nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh tops Iran's declaration last month that it had surpassed the 3.6 percent purity level. Uranium enriched to between 3.5 and 5 percent is used to make fuel for reactors to generate electricity.

Enriched to more than 90 percent, it becomes suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Aghazadeh added that Iran has no intention of enriching uranium beyond 5 percent.

International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Vienna, Austria, said they had no information about the claim. The agency - whose inspection powers have been curtailed in recent months by Iran - said in a report sent to the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Iran's claim to have enriched small amounts to a level of 3.6 percent appeared to be true according to initial analysis of samples it took.

Wednesday's announcement, if true, is significant because it shows that Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of the Security Council, which asked Tehran last month to cease all such activity because of fears it could be misused to make nuclear arms.

European nations, backed by the United States, outlined a planned Security Council resolution in Paris on Tuesday to give "mandatory force" to the atomic watchdog agency's demands that Iran halt uranium enrichment.

While the resolution does not call for sanctions, that is likely to be the next step sought by the United States, Britain and France if Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium.

Still, Russia and China, veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, remained firmly opposed to a resolution that could pave the way for sanctions if Tehran refuses to end uranium enrichment.

The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the Iran nuclear issue on Wednesday.

Aghazadeh also said Wednesday that Iran had discovered uranium deposits in southern Iran near the port city of Bandar Abbas, a day after Iranian officials said they had found uranium ore at three new sites in the center of the country.

Iran announced April 11 that it had enriched uranium for the first time. Tehran says its nuclear program is confined to generating power, but the United States and France accuse the country of secretly trying to build nuclear weapons.

Mohammad Ghannadi, deputy chief for nuclear research and technology, told a conference Tuesday in Qom, Iran, that the country's political leadership had ordered him to ensure that enrichment did not go beyond 5 percent.

"We need enriched uranium to produce electricity ... we have been given orders to enrich uranium only up to 5 percent," he said.

Enrichment is a highly difficult process that takes gas produced from raw uranium and aims to increase its proportion of the uranium-235 isotope, needed for nuclear fission.

The gas is pumped into a centrifuge, which spins, causing a small portion of the heavier, more prevalent uranium-238 isotope to drop away. The gas then proceeds to other centrifuges - thousands of them - where the process is repeated, increasing the proportion of uranium-235.

Enrichment typically starts out with a gas that is 0.7 percent uranium-235. It must be boosted to between 3.5 and 5 percent to produce fuel for a reactor.

Aghazadeh, who is also the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Iran was planning vast investments to extract uranium from its newly discovered deposits.

"Experts at the (Iran's) Atomic Energy Organization are making plans to identify the country's uranium reserves. It is predicted that we will have vast investments in various parts of the country," he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Taliban Threat Is Said to Grow in Afghan South
By CARLOTTA GALL

TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan, April 27 — Building on a winter campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations and the knowledge that American troops are leaving, the Taliban appear to be moving their insurgency into a new phase, flooding the rural areas of southern Afghanistan with weapons and men.

Each spring with the arrival of warmer weather, the fighting season here starts up, but the scale of the militants' presence and their sheer brazenness have alarmed Afghans and foreign officials far more than in previous years.

"The Taliban and Al Qaeda are everywhere," a shopkeeper, Haji Saifullah, told the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, as the general strolled through the bazaar of this town to talk to people. "It is all right in the city, but if you go outside the city, they are everywhere, and the people have to support them. They have no choice."

The fact that American troops are pulling out of southern Afghanistan in the coming months, and handing matters over to NATO peacekeepers, who have repeatedly stated that they are not going to fight terrorists, has given a lift to the insurgents, and increased the fears of Afghans.

General Eikenberry appealed for patience and support. "There has not been enough attention paid to Uruzgan," he said in a speech to the elders of Uruzgan Province gathered at the governor's house in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital. "I think the leaders, the Afghan government and the international community recognize this. There is reform coming and this year you will see it."

The arrival of large numbers of Taliban in the villages, flush with money and weapons, has dealt a blow to public confidence in the Afghan government, already undermined by lack of tangible progress and frustration with corrupt and ineffective leaders.

This small one-street town is in the Taliban heartland, and the message from the townspeople was bleak.

Uruzgan, the province where President Hamid Karzai first rallied support against the Taliban in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, is now, four years later, in the thrall of the Islamic militants once more, and the provincial capital is increasingly surrounded by areas in Taliban control, local and American officials acknowledge. A recent report by a member of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan shown to The New York Times detailed similar fears.

The new governor, Maulavi Abdul Hakim Munib, 35, who took up his position just a month ago, controls only a "bubble" around Tirin Kot, an American military officer said. The rest of the province is so thick with insurgents that all the districts are colored amber or red to indicate that on military maps in the nearby American base. Uruzgan has always been troublesome, yet the map marks a deterioration since last year, when at least one central district had been colored green, the officer said.

"The security situation is not good," Governor Munib told General Eikenberry and a group of cabinet ministers at a meeting with tribal elders. "The number of Taliban and enemy is several times more than that of the police and Afghan National Army in this province," he said.

Uruzgan is not the only province teetering out of control. Helmand and Kandahar to the south have been increasingly overrun by militants this year, as large groups of Taliban are reportedly moving through the countryside, intimidating villagers, ambushing vehicles, and spoiling for a fight with coalition or Afghan forces.

Insurgents also have the run of parts of Zabul, Ghazni and Paktika Provinces to the southeast, and have increased ambushes on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.

The Bush administration is alarmed, according to a Western intelligence official close to the administration. He said that while senior members of the administration consider the situation in Iraq to be not as bad as portrayed in the press, in Afghanistan the situation is worse than it has been generally portrayed.

Asked about the surge in Taliban activity in southern Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said: "We have seen Taliban activity fluctuate from time to time." The British-led NATO force taking over from the American troops in the south "has well-equipped, well-led and fully prepared forces to operate in this challenging environment and deal with any threats," he added.

He noted that the United States would continue to be the largest contributor of troops to Afghanistan, and would continue to have primary responsibility for counterterrorism operations and for training Afghan Army units, even with NATO taking over in the south.

In one of the most serious developments, some 200 Taliban have moved into the district of Panjwai, only a 20-minute drive from the capital of the south, Kandahar, Mr. Karzai's home city. The police and coalition forces clashed with them two weeks ago, yet the Taliban returned, walking in the villages openly with their weapons, and sitting under the trees eating mulberries, according to a resident of the district.

The resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the Taliban had been demanding food, lodging and the Muslim tithing, zakat, from villagers. Their brazenness and the failure of the United States-led coalition to deter them is turning public opinion about the effectiveness of the government.

For the first time the Afghan government has sent 500 men of the newly trained Afghan National Army to the neglected province. The official police force of Uruzgan is 347 strong, with 45 men deployed in each of the five districts, but far fewer actually turn up for work. American officials estimated armed Taliban in the province numbered from 300 to 1,000 men. The governor estimated there were 300 armed insurgents in each district.

The Taliban are warning the people to expect more attacks, the shopkeeper, Mr. Saifullah, told General Eikenberry. "During the day the people, the police, and the army are with the government, but during the night, the people, the police, and the army are all with the Taliban and Al Qaeda," he said.

Another man, Rahmatullah, told the general that his brother had been arrested by American forces and the raids and house searches had made the young men take to the hills to join the militants. "Release my brother and the tribal elders will persuade the young men to come back home and stop fighting," he said.

"The unemployment rate is very high and the people of Uruzgan are very poor," said Mullah Hamdullah, the elected head of the provincial council.

Unsure of the strength and commitment to fight of the incoming NATO forces — with British, Canadian, Dutch and Australian contingents — Afghan provincial officials, who stand first in the Taliban's firing line, have demanded that Mr. Karzai provide them with hundreds more police officers and weapons.

The governors of Uruzgan and Kandahar both said in interviews that they have lobbied the president for a force of 200 police officers for every district — four times current numbers — and to provide more resources to equip and supply them properly.

In a recent strategy review, Mr. Karzai agreed to increase the government presence in the frontline provinces, his chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, said. "We are increasingly hearing this, that there only 40 officers per district, and half of them are protecting the district chief as bodyguards, and the other half are on leave," he said.

A deputy minister of the interior, Abdul Malik Siddiqi, told the gathering that the government had a plan to send 200 to 250 police officers to each district of Uruzgan, and to find resources to equip them and pay their salaries.

General Eikenberry expressed caution about the idea, warning that there were not enough trained officers to send to the area, and more important, a lack of good leaders to control those police forces.

Uruzgan has suffered from a lingering Taliban presence and its forbidding terrain, which has made security and governing extremely difficult, resulting in neglect from the central government, he said. There has been no police reform or training here, no presence of the Afghan National Army and virtually no development, he said.

General Eikenberry is hoping to turn things around this year with new and better local leaders. "Now we see a lot of those conditions changing," he said, in an interview in the cockpit of the C130 military plane on the way to Uruzgan. Replacing the governor, and police and intelligence chiefs, should allow for reform and better governance, he said. Some 500 men of the national army have been deployed in the province and the police should receive better resources.

Hopes are pinned on Maulavi Munib, an educated, religious man from eastern Afghanistan, who was deputy minister of tribal affairs of the Taliban government. He is starting from scratch since the former governor sold all his vehicles, including police vehicles, and all the arms and ammunition owned by the province.

Governor Munib's past brings an added complication, since he remains listed by the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee as a wanted member of the Taliban leadership, which technically bars any government from providing financial, technical or military assistance to his province.

The Afghan government has formally requested that he, and three other former Taliban officials, including two members of Afghanistan's new Parliament, be removed from the list, a process that demands the agreement of all Security Council members, but Afghan officials said Russia remained opposed to the proposal.

[Soldier4Christ]

Olmert tells Knesset withdrawal 'keeps country Jewish'
But new study refutes claim, calls 'Palestinian population bomb' a lie
Posted: May 4, 2006
11:10 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Israel must withdraw from Judea and Samaria, the biblical Jewish lands now known as the West Bank, for reasons of population demography, otherwise Arabs will soon outnumber Jews and threaten Israel's Jewish character, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claimed today while officially presenting his new government for parliamentary approval.

Officials in Olmert's office said the withdrawal plan is set to be implemented within 18 months so it is completed before President Bush leaves office in 2009 and an agreement can be reached with the American administration regarding new Israeli borders.

Olmert's rationale offered today for his withdrawal plan comes in spite of a new study recently presented to the U.S. Congress which contends Israel's Judea and Samaria evacuation is based on erroneous Palestinian population data and predicts that in 20 years Jews will outnumber Arabs by two-to-one even if all territories are maintained.

"Even if the Jewish eye fills with tears, and the heart is torn, we must safeguard the principle – we must keep a solid and stable Jewish majority in our state," Olmert said today in an address before the Knesset.

Following deliberations likely to last several hours, the Knesset plenum today is set to officially authorize Olmert's new government, which will comprise a slim parliamentary majority of 67 Knesset members from the Kadima, Labor, Pensioners and ultra-Orthodox Shas parties.

Traditionally, governments here with less than an 80-seat majority in the 120-chair Knesset tend to be unstable and short-lived. Olmert likely will seek in the coming months to bring other parties into his government, which has set a Judea and Samaria withdrawal as its guiding policy.

Olmert said under his plan he will vacate most of Judea and Samaria while strengthening some of the territories' Jewish communities that he maintains Israel will keep.

"I, too, like many others, dreamed and wished that we could safeguard all of the territories of the land of Israel for ourselves and that the day would not come when we would need to give up parts of our land.

"Only those for whom the land of Israel burns in their souls know the pain of the concession, the farewell to the land of our forefathers," said Olmert.

Olmert said keeping Jewish communities spread throughout Judea and Samaria "creates an intermingling of populations which is impossible to separate and which endangers the state of Israel as a Jewish state."

About 200,000 Jews live in Judea and Samaria. The security fence, still under construction in certain areas, cordons off nearly 95 percent of the territory from Israel's pre-1967 borders, the area Olmert's withdrawal plan currently encompasses. More than half of Judea and Samaria's Jewish residents reside on the side of the fence closest to Israel. About 80,000 more Jews live on the other side of the barrier.

Olmert said he is seeking a Judea and Samaria withdrawal to set "the permanent borders of the state of Israel to ensure a Jewish majority."

Israel has accepted the Palestinian Authority's official population statistics.

However, a new study led by American researchers, titled "Forecast for Israel and the West Bank 2025," states an Israeli withdrawal based on demography is groundless because Israel's Jews will more than double Arabs in 20 years.

The study found Palestinians have inflated their population by as much as 50 percent. It also said Jewish birthrates are far outstripping Palestinian rates, and Israel's own statistics fail to account for even low levels of Jewish immigration when calculating national demographic trends.

The new study placed the current Palestinian-Arab population in Judea and Samaria at 1.4 million and Gaza 1.1 million, for a total of 2.4 million instead of the 3.8 million reported by the Palestinian Authority Central Bureau of Statistics and accepted by Israel.

The study's team, led by American Bennet Zimerman, found extreme faults in the methods used by the PA to determine its population, including counting the 230,000 Arab residents of Jerusalem twice and retroactively raising growth and birth rates, which the study contends have been declining.

The PA claims a population growth rate of 4 to 5 percent per year, among the highest in the world, but Palestinian Ministry of Health records published annually since 1996 contradict the PA's own claims by stating growth rates averaging around 3 percent.

Zimmerman's study documents the PA tampered with its own data, retroactively raising its growth numbers in 2002. The new study shows a steady pattern of growth decline leading to a natural growth rate in 2003 of just 2.6 percent.

The PA projected a net population increase of 1.5 percent per year as a result of immigration from surrounding countries. But Zimmerman's researchers found that except for 1994, when the bulk of the Palestinian leadership and their families entered the territories from Tunis, Palestinian emigration from the area has outweighed immigration by a net negative of about 10,000 to 20,000 per year.

The study also found a dramatic and growing decline in the number of children per Palestinian mother and says Palestinians actually have been moving away from the West Bank and Gaza, in contrast to PA claims of large immigration numbers.

At the same time, Zimmerman's team has shown birthrates among Israeli Orthodox Jews are at the highest rates ever, and general Israeli Jewish fertility over the past five years has risen above top scenarios first considered by Israel's Bureau of Statistics. The study states Israel did not account for a likely continuation of Jewish immigration trends over the next 20 years.

Under Zimmerman's mid-case scenario, Israeli Jews maintain current fertility rates and immigration averages of 20,000 per year or 400,000 over two decades. Israeli Arab fertility rates, meanwhile, fall slowly over a 20-year period. The result is a Jewish majority in Israel in 2025 of 63 percent.

According to other likely scenarios contained in the new data, Jews could outnumber Arabs by 71 percent if Jewish fertility rates continue to rise and immigration increases further.

"It is ironic that just as we now find Israel is in the best position ever with regard to population, Olmert announces a plan to run away and give up the West Bank, claiming Israel's Jewish character is threatened," said Zimmerman.

Zimmerman's study has been gaining steam in academic and media circles in Israel. It also was presented last month to a House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East.

"Recent studies show that the PA numbers were grossly inaccurate," subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., told WorldNetDaily. "I found the new study raises a whole host of questions that must be answered."

Still, Israel continued to push ahead with a West Bank withdrawal based on the PA demographics.

Judea and Samaria is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed," while the United Nations says Judea and Samaria is "occupied" by Israel. The Jewish state maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent.

The territory is within rocket-firing range of Jerusalem and borders most major Israeli cities. Military strategists long have estimated Israel must maintain Judea and Samaria to defend itself from any ground invasion. Terrorist groups have warned if Israel withdraws, they will launch rockets from Judea and Samaria into major Israeli cities.

Many villages in Judea and Samaria, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah.

The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in Hebron.

The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.

And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

[Shammu]

'Russia has left the western orbit'

Missile deals with the 'axis of evil' are just the latest sign that Moscow is sick of kowtowing to the US and Europe, writes Tom Parfitt

Thursday April 27, 2006

Moscow could be on the verge of clinching an arms deal with Syria or Iran that would send the US and Israel into pop-eyed rage.

A few days ago a Russian arms manufacturer let slip at an arms fair in Kuala Lumpur that his state-run weapons design bureau was close to sealing a foreign sale of Iskander-E missiles. The destination of the hardware was secret, he said, but the most obvious market is clear: the Middle East.

Last year, Israel was furious when it emerged that Moscow was planning to sell the Iskander to Damascus. The Iskander is like the Scuds that Iraq used during the Gulf war but many times more accurate and better equipped to avoid defensive weapons such as the Patriot missile. Syria - part of George Bush's "axis of evil" - would love to be able to trundle some of these short-range ballistic missiles (range: 180 miles) down to its southern border to point at Israel in the event of a conflict.

No doubt the Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also itching to get its hands on some of these weapons - whose sale is not restricted by any treaty. Earlier this month Iran tested an underwater missile that looked suspiciously like a Russian Shkval.

President Vladimir Putin, under pressure from the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was forced to step in and reverse the Syrian missile deal. These days, one might surmise, he would not give a fig.

Everything about Russia's stance in the international arena suggests a new confidence that radiates "don't bully me". I is still possible the Iskanders will go to a less threatening client than the Middle Eastern bad boys - China, say, or India or Algeria. But the point is, they will go to whomever Moscow wants.

Russia has shown in recent months that western condemnation will not shake its resolve to play on the world stage as it likes.

Welcoming a Hamas delegation to Moscow last month - described by a minister in Jerusalem as "stabbing Israel in the back" - was one example. A second was the decision a few weeks later to give financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, against the wishes of the US and the EU.

In another robust move, the Russians have refused to back down on a recent $700m (£380m) deal to sell 29 Tor M1 mobile surface-to-air missile defence systems to Iran despite pressure from Washington.

"We hope and we trust that that deal will not go forward because this is not the time for business as usual with the Iranian government," grumbled the US undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns last week, as the UN geared up for its crucial report tomorrow on Iran's nuclear enrichment programme. But the complaint fell on deaf ears at the Kremlin.

While Russia's arms industry is growing fast, its new brassiness relies mostly on the billions of dollars it is raking in from hydrocarbon exports, on the back of high oil prices.

As an emerging energy superpower, Moscow is increasingly seeking to play off potential buyers of its oil and gas.

Last week Alexei Miller, the head of the Russian state gas monopoly, Gazprom, warned that attempts to limit his company's expansion in Europe would "not lead to good results". The company caused alarm at the British gas supplier Centrica when it emerged that the Russian firm saw it as a potential takeover target - Gazprom had turned off the taps to its neighbour Ukraine in January, in a politically charged dispute. Miller also said: "It should not be forgotten we are actively seeking new markets, such as North America and China."

President Vladimir Putin weighed in on the theme yesterday. "Despite the great demand for energy resources, any excuses are being used to limit us in the north, in the south, in the west," he said.

"We must look for markets, fit into the processes of global development. I have in mind the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, which are developing at great speed and need to cooperate with us."

Dmitry Trenin, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Centre, says Russia - fed up with pandering to the US and Europe - is undergoing a fundamental shift in foreign relations. Now it will focus on ties with countries, such as Brazil, India and China, that it sees as being on a similar path of development to itself.

"Russia has left the western orbit," Mr Trenin said. "It was circling it distantly for about a decade, Pluto-like. But now it's gone."

'Russia has left the western orbit'

[Shammu]

Bible's profile at the Capitol touches a chord
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer

WASHINGTON - Bible reading wasn't on the itinerary. But when Hun Jang stepped off a Washington tour bus this week and heard scripture coming from the west lawn of the US Capitol, he walked over to see what was going on.

Volunteers at the 17th Annual US Capitol Bible Reading Marathon invited the South Korean soldier to the podium. He began at Proverbs 5 - "My son, attend unto my wisdom ..." - using a Korean Bible, one of 84 translations on hand. "I feel really good when I am reading the Bible," he says. "I feel something full in my mind."

The 90-hour marathon, which will include readings by about two dozen members of Congress and their staffers, is a lead-up to Thursday's National Day of Prayer. President Harry Truman signed the day into law in 1952 as an interfaith event. But in recent years, evangelical Christian groups have taken the lead in organizing activities around the day, especially those located near seats of government. And in Washington, as in real estate, location counts.

Critics say that evangelical groups and their allies in Congress are staging events like the Bible Marathon near centers of power as a bid to link secular Washington to Christian ideals. Supporters say they're simply trying to remind people of the important role that faith played in America's founding.

It's important to have the event so close to the Capitol, says co-director Terry Shaffer Hall, citing Biblical accounts of the reading aloud of sacred texts at times of national renewal. "Most of the foreign visitors who join us for the reading can't read the Bible from the seat of their own government. It's precious to do it here," she says.

Starting with the book of Genesis, the Marathon will end with the reading in unison of the last two chapters of the book of Revelation. Organizers extended hours for this year's event, "so that the children who participate don't have to read so fast," Ms. Hall adds.

The marathon comes at a time of heightened debate about the role of religion in public life.

"The Congress is always under tremendous pressure to give some kind of official role to religion, and in an election year that gets even more intense," says the Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

GOP leaders are gearing up to bring a number of issues on the Christian conservative agenda to the floor of the House and Senate in the next few weeks, including gay marriage, broadcast decency, the 10 Commandments Act, a cloning ban, and laws protecting "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

"There's going to be some trouble down the road if they don't get on the ball," said Dr. James Dobson, in an interview with the Fox News Network on May 1. He's the chairman and founder of Focus on the Family, a Christian organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo., which is helping to organize some 40,000 events for the National Day of Prayer.

Inside the Capitol, lawmakers and historians are winding down their debate over how prominent the Bible should be in the text and displays on the history of the Congress in the $522 million Capitol Visitors Center, slated to open in 2007.

For more than five years, staff from the Capitol Preservation Commission, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and staff of the leadership of the House and Senate have met almost weekly on Monday afternoons to make decisions on the Capitol Visitors Center, including the text and displays for the exhibition gallery on the history of the Congress.

"I'm concerned that the Capitol not be presented as a purely secular building," says David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, a Texas-based group committed to "educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country." Also the No. 2 in the Texas Republican Party, Mr. Barton drafted a 20-page memo refuting points in the draft text for the Capitol Visitors Center. Circulated by then-majority leader Tom DeLay, the memo became a flashpoint in the final deliberations over the language of the exhibition.

"The Bible had a huge impact on the signers of the Constitution," says Barton, who says he has led hundreds of members of Congress on his Spiritual Heritage Tour of the Capitol. With the change in House leadership from Tom DeLay to Rep. John Boehner (R) of Ohio, "I'm not sure how many of our ideas will be included," he adds.

Striking a balance between a glowing personal faith and respect for the beliefs (or nonbeliefs) of others is a theme of much current scholarship.

"For American politics, the KJV, either quoted directly or as a model of discourse, could not be more significant," said conservative theologian Mark Noll, in Washington last month for a talk at the Library of Congress on "The King James Version of the Bible in American History."

"When the language of the KJV was everywhere the common public language, it was very easy to bestow a sacred aura on public discourse," he says. "Politicizing the Bible can be a risk both for politicians and the faithful," he adds. But "if the Bible gets out of the public square, it's left entirely to the Internet and movies and TV - the lowest common denominator."

Bible's profile at the Capitol touches a chord

[Shammu]

    Arab Reformists Under Threat by Islamists: Bin Laden Urges Killing of 'Freethinkers'

Arab reformists are constantly threatened by Islamists, who consider freethinkers to be guilty of the worst of crimes. [1] The most recent death threat against Arab intellectuals was issued by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In an audiocassette released April 23, 2006, bin Laden addressed the issue of the Danish cartoons and what he regards as the Arab countries' failure to show an appropriate response. He emphasized that anyone mocking the Prophet or making fun of Islam should be killed.

Likewise, bin Laden attacked Arab "freethinkers," several of whom he mentioned by name, and called for them to be killed as well. He cited the precedent of Ka'b ibn Al-Ashraf, whom the Prophet had killed for writing poems against him, as a model for proper conduct in such cases. According to bin Laden, there is no need to consult anyone on this matter; every loyal Muslim should see it as his duty to eliminate these heretics.

The following are excerpts from bin Laden's speech, as posted by the reformist website Middle East Transparent on April 27, 2006. [2]

Freethinkers and Heretics who Defame Islam Should Be Killed

"To the entire Islamic nation...: This speech comes to further urge you and prompt you to [come to] the aid of the Prophet and punish those responsible for the vile crime being committed by some journalists from amongst the Crusaders and the apostate heretics, who have insulted the Prophet Muhammad…

"Imam Ahmad [3] said: 'Whoever reviles the Prophet or belittles him, be he Muslim or infidel, should be killed.' The freethinkers and heretics who defame Islam, and mock and scorn our noble Prophet - their case and the law concerning them have been clearly expounded by Imam Ibn Qayyim [Al-Jawziyya]. [4] He made it clear that the crime committed by a freethinker is the worst of crimes, that the damage caused by his staying alive among the Muslims is of the worst kind of damage, that he is to be killed, and that his repentance is not to be accepted...

"Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya said, commenting on [Koran 9:12]: 'Whoever defames our religion is a leader of disbelief.' Many are the leaders of disbelief in our days in the lands of Islam, and many are the followers of Ka'b ibn Al-Ashraf in the Arabian Peninsula. [5] Many of them are writers in newspapers, and many of them are actors and broadcasters in the media. We warn here that a Muslim is not allowed to listen to any program that includes discussion with heretics, or any show that makes fun of Islam and of religious Muslims, for this is one of the greatest sins.

"How numerous are the heretics who are [government] ministers! And the foremost among them is the minister of labor in the Land of the Two Holy Shrines [i.e. Saudi Arabia], Ghazi Al-Qusaybi. Whoever wants to see the official fatwa proclaiming him guilty of disbelief and apostasy - such a fatwa was issued by former chief mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz bin Baz, just as he issued a fatwa on the disbelief and apostasy of the heretic Shamlan Al-'Issa in Kuwait. [6]

"Among these heretics is Ahmad Al-Baghdadi [7] in Kuwait, and Turki Al-Hamad [8] in the Land of the Two Holy Shrines - a fatwa concerning the latter was issued by Sheikh Hamud Al-'Uqala - and many others like them. The book Modernity in the Balance of Islam [9] contains many of their names. Sheikh Sa'id Al-Ghamidi has also warned against them in his audio tapes..."

Do Not Consult Anyone About the Killing of These Heretics

"Indeed, this is our Prophet's law regarding anyone who mocks him, and belittles Islam and scorns it... They should be killed... Take an example from Muhammad ibn Maslama and his companions [who assassinated the poet Ka'b ibn Al-Ashraf]. It is intolerable and outrageous that the heretics are among us, scorning our religion and our Prophet.

"Therefore, you must fear Allah and do His will. Do not consult anyone about the killing of these heretics. Be secretive in carrying out that which is required of you.

"So much for the apostate heretics."

Freethinkers and Heretics who Defame Islam Should Be Killed

[Shammu]

Grim Outlook for Makeup of New UN Rights Council
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
May 04, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Almost half of the members of the United Nation's new Human Rights Council will be countries with poor records in holding free elections and respecting civil liberties.

Hopes that the new body will be a significant improvement on the one it replaces will be put to the test on Tuesday when the HRC's 47 members are elected.

Despite built-in mechanisms meant to ensure the best membership possible, among them will be some of the regimes that brought the HRC's predecessor, the outgoing U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), into disrepute.

In particular, human rights campaigners worry that they could include China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Russia, all of which are in the running.

Of the 68 U.N. member states that have put forward their candidacies for the 47 HRC seats, only 32 (47 percent) are "free," according to the U.S.-based independent democracy watchdog, Freedom House. Of the remainder, 24 are "partly free" and 12 "not free."

Freedom House carries out annual assessments of countries' political rights and civil liberties. Twenty-five issues are examined and scores tallied, with states then designated "free," "partly free" or "not free."

The U.N. resolution that set up the HRC asks member states, when voting, to take into consideration candidate countries' contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights.

The aim is to make it less likely that rights-violating countries can get onboard.

Even so, once geographical representation is taken into account, the highest possible number of "free" countries that will make it onto the Geneva-based HRC from the current batch of candidates is 27.

Even under the best possible scenario, therefore, 43 percent of the council's initial membership will comprise countries that score poorly on the Freedom House rankings.

In Africa, only five out of 16 candidates running for 13 seats earmarked for that region are designated "free" by Freedom House. Even if all five -- Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Senegal and South Africa -- are successful, 62 percent of the African members of the council will be countries where political rights and civil liberties are curtailed.

Similarly, in Asia, only four of the 18 contenders for 13 seats are considered "free" -- India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. If all four are elected, 69 percent of the Asian group will be made up of countries whose rights records are frequently criticized.

In Eastern Europe, human rights campaigners say the situation looks more positive, as eight of 13 candidates for the region's six seats are "free." At the same time, one of the others, "unfree" Russia, is almost certain to be elected. A permanent member of the Security Council, Russia held a seat on the UNCHR every year since its inception in 1947 until its shutdown this year.

Latin America's 12 candidates, competing for eight slots, include six "free" countries. The others include Cuba, which despite its often criticized human rights record was a member of the UNCHR continuously from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1989 to 2006.

The final group, Western Europe and Others, has nine countries - Canada and eight European nations -- contending for seven seats, and all nine are rated "free" by Freedom House. The U.S., one of just four countries to vote against the resolution creating the HRC, decided not to stand in the inaugural election.

'New standards more important than old loyalties'

The council's initial membership will be elected by the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Candidates will need 96 votes, or an absolute majority of the total membership of 191 states, to be successful. The U.S. government earlier argued for a two-thirds threshold, or 128 countries, but the General Assembly demurred.

U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization (NGO), was this week able to endorse only 40 of the 68 candidates -- and in 11 cases only on condition the countries concerned committed themselves to a "positive voting approach" in the future.

U.N. Watch said these were countries that, while generally designated "free," had a negative or mixed record when it came to past votes on U.N. human rights issues.

For example, India and South Africa, despite having committed themselves to promote democratic values at the U.N., both voted last year against a move to consider the human rights situation in Darfur, Sudan, choosing instead to go along with the mostly non-democratic Africa group.

"These countries tend to base their U.N. votes on regional or developing world loyalty rather than on their democratic values, and as a result too often ally with non-democracies to protect egregious rights violators," the NGO said.

"The new standards for [HRC] membership require members to put the promotion and protection of human rights before U.N. politics."

U.N. Watch also said it could not endorse any of the candidate countries designated "not free" by Freedom House.

In some cases, it said, such candidates had "poisoned" the UNCHR and posed a real threat to its replacement.

"If egregious and systematic human rights violators like China, Cuba, Iran, Russia or Saudi Arabia win election to the council, it will be an ominous sign that the council is - as some of us had worried - nothing more than the commission by another name," said U.N. Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

Urging democracies to "band together" during next week's election, he called on member states to reject countries that abuse human rights and that would use their seats "to continue voting at the U.N. against resolutions for victims in Darfur or elsewhere."

"Otherwise, the council is doomed to repeat the glaring hypocrisies of its predecessor ... and meet the same humiliating fate."

Periodic reviews

Human Rights Watch was one of a number of NGOs that supported the resolution creating the HRC despite having concerns about some aspects.

Lawrence C. Moss, an international lawyer and special counsel for U.N. reform at the New York-based rights group, wrote recently that the new system of voting was very different from the old one.

With the UNCHR, the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) usually selected the 53 members "by merely rubber-stamping closed regional slates, slates that had been proposed by the five regional groups within the U.N. and that included only as many countries as there were seats."

This time, individual candidates have to obtain sufficient support -- 96 votes -- to be successful.

"A regional group cannot therefore alone dictate the choice of members from its region," Moss said in an article written for an American University Washington College of Law publication.

"This gives supporters of human rights a much greater opportunity to build a coalition of states that will decline to support the election of inappropriate candidates."

He also noted that for the first time all member states will have their own rights record reviewed periodically, and states that commit gross rights violations during their term of membership can be suspended.

Critics have pointed out, however, that suspension requires a two-thirds majority vote, making it more difficult to be ejected from the council than winning a seat in the first place.

Grim Outlook for Makeup of New UN Rights Council