News, Prophecy and other

[Soldier4Christ]

Witness claims U.S. soldiers abused dying al-Zarqawi

Just more of the enemies propaganda to attempt to make the U.S. Troops look like the monsters that they are.

[Shammu]

China's thirst for oil rattles old order

By PETER ENAV and ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writers Sat Jun 10, 1:42 PM ET

ZHENHAI, China - China's surging appetite for energy is engraved in the landscape of this gritty port city: waterfront piles of coal, gas pipes snaking along grimy roads, and tankers anchored amid islands where pirates once lurked.

Zhenhai is at the heart of a global energy revolution.

As China's leading oil receiving center, the city provides this nation of 1.3 billion people with hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude per day to feed its galloping economy.

The shifting pattern of energy consumption is rattling Washington and aggravating an already intense rivalry with neighboring Japan over access to oil and gas supplies, adding to tensions in an already volatile region.

"The global demand for oil has been rising faster than supply because there's new economies that are beginning to gin up, new economies growing, like China and India,"
President Bush said recently.

"Oil — the dependence upon oil is a national security problem, and an economic security problem," Bush said.

China is acutely aware of the security implications of its growing dependence on imported oil. For more than a decade, its three large state-owned companies have been scouring the globe, from Iran to Angola, to secure supplies.

In the past six months alone, China has signed deals totaling more than $7 billion for stakes in oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Syria. A state-controlled company is reportedly considering a $2 billion bid for yet another Kazakh property.

The worldwide buying spree helped net at least 3.5 million barrels per day of imported oil last year — enough to make China the world's third-leading consumer of foreign oil.

Chinese demand is forecast to more than double by 2025, to 14.2 million barrels a day from the current 7 million a day, according to the U.S. government's Energy Information Agency.

Although China's imports still only constitute about one-sixth of total world oil trade — compared to 30 percent for the United States — it is already the world's second largest oil consumer. China's increasingly pivotal role as global manufacturer of practically everything has ensured demand will continue to grow.

The worry in Washington, Tokyo and other major oil importing centers is that competition is helping push prices to potentially destabilizing levels, and raising the risks of conflict over dwindling resources.

China has sought to diversify its energy sources, clinching exploration and production deals in Africa and Latin America to limit its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. It too recognizes the huge economic stakes for all sides.

However, those deals also have raised worries.

Earlier this year, the Bush administration published a revised National Security Strategy that accused Chinese leaders of "acting as if they can somehow 'lock up' energy supplies around the world or seek to direct markets rather than opening them up."

U.S. and other Western oil companies discovered during the oil crises of the 1970s show how vulnerable such deals can be, but "There is considerable rhetoric in some high places that China's trying to monopolize or control world energy resources," says William Overholt, director of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy at RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif.

A more broadly shared concern, he says, is that just as U.S. oil needs have helped keep dictatorships in power in the past, "China is buying into oil in places where those purchases support abusive regimes" such as Sudan and Iran, undermining U.S. diplomacy in other areas such as nuclear nonproliferation.

While many agree with Overholt's characterizations of China's oil allies, critics point out that Saudi Arabia — whose oil fields were developed by U.S. companies and which has been the anchor of Washington's foreign oil strategy for more than three decades — is also not a democratic society.

For China, ensuring future supplies is top priority as it fuels annual economic growth rates of about 10 percent.

China still gets more than two-thirds of its energy from coal, and roughly half of its oil supply is from domestic sources — 3.4 million barrels a day in 2005. But veteran fields are beginning to falter and motor vehicle use is surging.

"Oil imports are bound to play a very important role in China's future development," said Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the China University of Petroleum.

Much of that oil will arrive through Zhenhai, a port city about 100 miles south of Shanghai and home to the country's first national petroleum reserve — as well as the country's biggest refinery.

Tankers from the Middle East and Africa berth at busy oil terminals secreted in the nearby Zhoushan archipelago, a pirate hideout in centuries past. A pipeline under construction will connect offshore terminals to factories in the Shanghai region, the country's biggest commercial hub.

Surging oil consumption by China, India and other emerging economies — on top of what is already being consumed by wealthy nations like the United States — has added urgency to the debate over future supplies.

Some experts believe production will soon peak, and that looming shortages require a fast shift to alternatives.

Others say the peak is at least several decades ahead: the U.S. Geological Survey reckons that only about one-third of the world's estimated 3 trillion barrels of recoverable oil has been consumed.

China relies most heavily on the Middle East, which provides about 45 percent of its total oil imports, with Saudi Arabia accounting for about 17 percent.

In late April, Chinese President Hu Jintao flew to the kingdom for talks with Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer — the latest episode in a continuing Chinese effort to ensure access to Saudi Arabia's 9.5 million barrels per day of oil production.

That visit, coming just after meetings between Hu and Bush in the United States, was closely monitored in Washington.

China takes American concerns seriously and has worries of its own over its vulnerability to upheavals in global hotspots and to U.S. naval pressure in the Malacca Straits, the narrow Southeast Asian passage through which virtually all Middle Eastern and African oil moves on its way to East Asia.

Though Beijing is building up its own navy, analysts say it would take decades — if ever — to match America's.

With the naval option of limited value, China has tried to do the next best thing — reduce the amount of oil that reaches it via the Straits.

"Gaining access to new routes is a very important strategy for China to ensure the security of its oil imports, aside from diversifying the countries supplying oil," said Dong, the Chinese Petroleum University professor.

China is studying alternative routes for African and Middle Eastern oil, including a pipeline through Myanmar, a port project in Pakistan and possibly even building a shipping channel through Thailand.

It is also laying pipelines to former Soviet countries.

China recently opened a 625-mile link carrying 190,000 barrels a day of Kazakh oil, providing its first direct access to potentially rich central Asian fields.

Construction has begun on an even bigger pipeline project that when completed in 2010 will move up to 1.6 million barrels per day of crude from Russia's Irkutsk region to its Pacific coast, with a branch line running into northeastern China.

Japan prevailed in persuading Moscow to route the main pipeline to the Pacific, rather than into China, providing low-interest loans to pay much of the more than $10 billion cost.

China and Japan are also facing off over potentially rich gas resources in the East China Sea, with no signs of an early resolution.

The high stakes of energy rivalry are highlighted in a Chinese online book, "The Battle in Protecting Key Oil Routes."

The anonymously authored book is set in a future where oil costs $100 a barrel. It begins with U.S.-Japan naval exercises focused on the Malacca Straits that trigger a real battle between China and the United States when a U.S.-fired missile goes astray.

The still incomplete book has drawn little attention, but it does reflect growing awareness of the potential for energy competition to get out of hand.

Given the risks, Washington should step up energy cooperation with China, says Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut — a Democrat regarded as a close security ally of President Bush.

"These are two nations following similar international oil acquisition policies," he said. "If we let it go, this could end up in real military conflict, not just economic conflict."

China's thirst for oil rattles old order

[Shammu]

Russia’s Putin Trust Rating Rises to 76%

Created: 11.06.2006 11:54 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:25 MSK, 11 hours 29 minutes ago

MosNews

More Russian adults are expressing satisfaction with their president, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 76 percent of respondents approve of Vladimir Putin’s performance, up four points since April.

Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 percent of all cast ballots, Angus Reid Global Scan reports. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, “I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row.”

In December 2004, Putin signed a controversial bill that effectively eliminates the election of Russia’s 89 governors by popular vote. The provision allows the president himself to nominate every governor, and await confirmation by regional legislatures.

This month, the State Duma approved the first reading of a bill that seeks to remove the “against all candidates” box from all electoral ballots in Russia, in a 352-85 vote.

Pro-Kremlin United Russia (YR) party lawmaker Vladimir Pligin said the legislation is meant to save money, after “at least 30 local elections were declared invalid” when the option received the highest number of votes. Communist Party (KPRF) legislator Valentin Kuptsov declared, “Our party considers the bill as another attack of the party of power on the democratic process of elections.”

In the 2004 presidential election, 3.45 percent of all voters ticked the “against all candidates” box.

Russia’s Putin Trust Rating Rises to 76%

[Shammu]

 EU aims for bigger foreign role
The European Commission has unveiled plans designed to strengthen the EU's role on the world stage, despite the setback to the European constitution.

It wants better co-operation between the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, which represents the 25 member states.

"Europe is still punching under its weight," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

One idea is for EU officials to attend national diplomatic training schemes.

The report also calls for an "enhanced programme" of exchanges between the Commission, member states' diplomatic services, and the Council's secretariat.

Solana wooed

The proposals come as a response to October's summit at Hampton Court, where heads of state called for the EU to reinforce its external action despite the rejection of the constitution in France and the Netherlands.

   Europe is still punching under its weight - its influence is not proportionate to its economic and trade dimension
Jose Manuel Barroso
Commission President
The constitution called for the creation of an EU foreign minister - with existing foreign policy chief Javier Solana tipped to be the first holder of the post - and a diplomatic service.

The new proposals would mirror the constitution by inviting Mr Solana, who reports to the member states, to become "associated" with the work of the external relations group of commissioners.

The report also suggests that the Commission and the Council secretariat should produce more joint strategy papers, and co-ordinate more closely in crisis management.

And it favours the idea of top EU officials abroad taking on a dual role as head of the Commission delegation, and special representative of the Council.

Consular co-operation

Mr Barroso said foreign leaders neither knew nor cared which institution was on which side of Brussels' Rue de la Loi, which separates the Commission from the Council.

The ideas will be discussed at an EU summit next week, along with proposals from Austria, the current president of the Council, for member states' consular services to work more closely together, especially in cases of natural disasters such as last year's Asian tsunami.

The EU has long worried about being an economic superpower but a "political dwarf".

The leader of the European Parliament's Liberal group, Graham Watson, described the Commission proposals as "sticking-plaster solutions" that were no substitute for the constitution.

EU aims for bigger foreign role

[Shammu]

Columbine memorial nears groundbreaking

By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago

DENVER - Darrell Scott, whose daughter, Rachel, was among those killed at Columbine High School, is hopeful that a memorial to that event will prevent future tragedies.

"The memorial, just like any memorial where there has been a tragedy, will remind us of the evil that took place at Columbine, and like the victims of the Holocaust all of our cries are that it would never happen again," he said. "It is also a legacy for our children that we lost. I am sure I will visit it many times."

Seven years after 12 students and a teacher were slain at Columbine High School, work was to begin this week on the site, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled to be led by former President Clinton.

It has taken years to get to this point in part because parents wanted to focus first on building a new school library to replace what was the main killing field for suicidal gunmen Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.

The original plan for the memorial cost $2.5 million, but fundraising was hurt by the economic downturn that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. The cost was reduced to $1.5 million and $1.1 million has been raised so far.

The memorial, which will be in Clement Park next to the suburban Denver school, will include an inner Ring of Remembrance and an outer Ring of Healing. There will be one station for each of the 13 victims, and the words of those killed as well as messages from their families will be engraved on the outer ring.

"I think it is a wonderful way to remember people who gave their lives that day," said Marjorie Lindholm, who spent four horrifying hours in a science classroom on April 20, 1999, with fatally wounded science teacher Dave Sanders.

But Angela Adkins, Sanders' daughter, said she was bothered by the scope of the memorial and won't attend Friday's scheduled groundbreaking.

"In my opinion it is a little too much," she said. "It's important to remember the people who were lost but there comes a point when it is too much."

Columbine memorial nears groundbreaking

[Shammu]

Fox News host to guest: 'You're going to hell!'
News analyst Julie Banderas attacks anti-homosexual Christian preacher
Posted: June 11, 2006
8:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A discussion about protests by an anti-homosexual church at the funerals of fallen American soldiers turned into an astounding shoutfest on national television this weekend, with Fox News host Julie Banderas calling a fire-and-brimstone Christian preacher "the devil" and apparently condemning her to hell.

"You are the devil!" Banderas exclaimed to Shirley Phelps-Roper. "If you believe in the Bible, miss, you're going to hell!"

Phelps-Roper, who believes America's sinful behavior has resulted in God's cursings rather than blessings, was appearing on "The Big Story" last night to talk about why members of her Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., protest at funerals for slain U.S. troops with slogans such as "Thank God for 9-11," "Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," and "God Hates Fags."

"What would you do if you had a son in the military?" an outraged Banderas asked. "Would you damn him to hell as well? Because you're gonna join him there if you had a son!"

"I have eight sons and I have three daughters," responded Phelps-Roper, "and none of them would dare, dare fight for a nation who has made God their No. 1 enemy."

Banderas engaged in a heated, rapid-fire, name-calling exchange with Phelps-Roper, which included:

Banderas: "The Bible says 'the fear of the Lord
is hatred of evil,' [from the Book of] Proverbs.
'Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and
perverted speech I hate.' Perverted speech like
yours: 'God hates fags.' You are preaching
absolute B.-., and you know the final letter."

Phelps-Roper: "If you don't tell them that this nation is full of idolatry, full of adulteries ...

Banderas: "Full of insane people like yourself, ma'am."

Phelps-Roper: "You're proud. You're proud of your sins. You can't do enough sinning. You think 'gay' pride, bimbo. You have sinned away your day of grace."

Banderas: "OK, you are an abomination."

Phelps-Roper: "America is doomed. America is doomed. ... Before your eyes, missy, you're gonna see the destruction of America."

Banderas: "If America is doomed, then why don't you get out? Why are you in this country? Why are you an American? Are you an American?"

Phelps-Roper: "I am exactly where my God put me to tell you plainly, that you are going to hell, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Banderas: "Why don't you take your church to another country, then, ma'am? Thank you so much. You should not be proud to be an American, and thank you. Good-bye."

This afternoon, Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher told Banderas, "Most would say [Phelps-Roper] is a little on the wacky side."

"Yeah, a little bit," responded Banderas, "and she claims to be a Christian. Yah!"

Last week, a Pennsylvania man filed a lawsuit against WBC for its "intentional and outrageous" conduct during and since services were held for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, who killed in a noncombat vehicle accident in Iraq.

Albert Snyder "wants to deter this group of people from these disruptive and mean-spirited protests at the funerals of deceased members of the military," Craig Trebilcock, an attorney representing Snyder, told the Baltimore Sun.

Phelps-Roper, who is licensed to practice law in Kansas and before the U.S. Supreme Court, told the paper her church would countersue "for conspiracy to violate civil rights and violation of civil rights."

"If they think that coming after us is going to fix this, they are sadly mistaken," she said. "We were seven people exercising protected rights of speech and religion."

The WBC is planning another protest tomorrow in New Castle, Del., at the funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Darren Harmon, who was killed by an IED.

[Shammu]

Going to Church by Staying at Home
Clergy-Less Living Room Services Seen as a Growing Trend

By Michael Alison Chandler and Arianne Aryanpur
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page A12

After Sunday dinner at Joe Rodgers's Rockville home, guests adjourn to the living room for church.

In his makeshift chapel, wooden kitchen stools and a floral print couch act as pews, a portable keyboard substitutes for an organ and the host, an electronics technician by day, serves as pastor.

But just as there is no formal name or dress code for this church, there is no sermon or pastor-led prayer. When it came time to bow their heads on a recent May evening, each of the 10 adults in attendance had something to contribute: One man prayed for success with his new fitness program; another sought guidance as he prepared for his upcoming marriage.

The worshipers have different faith backgrounds, including evangelical, Episcopalian and Catholic. What they share is a dissatisfaction with traditional church services.

"You can't ask questions in most churches. You might make an appointment with the pastor, get in his daybook for a quick lunch," said Rodgers, 50.

A growing number of Christians across Washington and around the country are moving to home churches -- both as a way to create personal connections in the age of the megachurch and as a return to the blueprint of the Christian church spelled out in the New Testament, which describes Jesus and the apostles teaching small groups in people's homes.

Estimates vary widely for a movement that is by design informal and decentralized, but the consensus among home-churchers is that they are part of a growing trend.

George Barna, a religion pollster, estimates that since 2000, more than 20 million Americans have begun exploring alternative forms of worship, including home churches, workplace ministries and online faith communities. Barna based that figure on surveys of the religious practices and attitudes of American adults that he has conducted over the past 25 years.

"These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church," said Barna, who became a home-churcher last year. The alternatives are attractive to those who want to deepen their relationships with God and one another, and they also suit Americans' growing taste for flexibility and control of their schedules, he said.

Although many Christians still participate in their old churches while trying out a new one, Barna predicts that over the next two decades, traditional churches will lose half their "market share" to these alternative start-ups.

His estimates far exceed the best guesses of home-church networks. The Orlando-based Dawn Ministries places the number of home churches in the United States in the tens of thousands, based partly on the size of online directories and attendance at home-church conferences.

Home churches are usually nondenominational and consist of a dozen or so friends or family members who often meet without an ordained pastor.

They have historically proliferated in countries with repressive regimes. In China, millions of people have converted to Christianity in unauthorized home churches over the past half-century. But the United States has seen only intermittent swells of activity.

The free-form style of fellowship got a boost in this country during the 1960s and 1970s with the hippie Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Renewal, a worldwide movement best known for embracing speaking in tongues and other emotional expressions of faith. Those movements downplayed hierarchy and emphasized broad participation.

The more recent rise of home churches has been facilitated by the Internet, said John White, a Denver-based coordinator for Dawn Ministries, one of several organizations that helps plant new home churches.

White said that when he tired of the "endless" church administration meetings and quit his job as a Presbyterian minister to start a home church eight years ago, it was difficult to find anyone to join. Now he has an e-mail list of more than 800 people nationwide who receive his postings about practical issues of home churching -- addressing such matters as how to organize child-friendly services, how to handle tithing, and what to do if the church gets too big.

With more access to religious information online, people are realizing that they don't have to rely on a pastor with an advanced degree to lead them, White said. Instead, they can learn how to create an alternative in a few steps. The result is an overall "flattening of the church," White said.

This is in keeping with God's plan to have a "kingdom of priests" in which everyone participates in his or her religious life, he said.

With next to no overhead, home churches are easy to set up. Dawn Ministries has been sending missionaries, or "coaches," to establish home churches around the world since 1985 and now has about 2,000 volunteers working in about 150 countries.

The model has been less successful in the United States -- until recently. Responding to the growing interest in home churches, over the past year the organization has increased the number of coaches working in North America from about five to 70, mostly in the Midwest, California, Texas and Colorado.

Critics of the home-church movement warn that, by meeting only in small groups with lay leaders, Christians could become disconnected and stray from orthodox beliefs.

"We human beings are prone to error; we need each other," said Scott Kisker, an associate professor of evangelism at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. He said that even the early home-based churches were connected through the apostles and that "many books of the New Testament are letters from the apostles calling churches to more faithful doctrine."

But Kisker said that a growing home-church movement could be good for traditional churches by encouraging them to foster small breakout groups, something he agreed is necessary for people to feel connected.

Many traditional churches do have midweek Bible study groups or cell churches. For some, these can be a first taste of home church, said Greg Windsor, a real estate developer and a member of the Rockville congregation that meets in Rodgers's home.

Windsor, 48, became interested in home churching almost 10 years ago while he was attending a megachurch in Montgomery County.

"The person sitting next to you in the pew could be close to dying, but people don't really know one another," he said. By abandoning the steeple, the pastor and the crowds of people, Windsor said, his tiny congregation is trying to live according to the New Testament.

"A lot of embellishments happened over the centuries," Windsor said. The modern Christian church is "like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy," he said. "It starts getting distorted and changed."

Windsor and his wife started reading about home churches and broke off from a bigger church to meet with a group in northern Maryland. After several years, that group grew too large -- about 30 people -- and the couple broke off again, starting the home church in Rockville.

Stripped to its most basic elements, he said, his group can focus on developing "deep friendships" and "helping one another grow spiritually."

The service changes from week to week, depending on what members are going through or thinking about; they might organize a Bible study or discussion around managing their finances or overcoming depression.

On a recent Sunday, they watched a film by Focus on the Family that chronicles the lives of early Christians and their attempts to convert the Greeks. Afterward, they talked about how those experiences compare with challenges in spreading the faith today.

They sang hymns and put money into a small cardboard box, to be donated to homeless programs and victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. As the Communion bread and wine were passed around the circle, music played while others swayed and whispered "Oh God" and "Merciful God."

By about 9 p.m., it was time to go home. But Windsor said church does not end when the service is over. Members might meet several times during the week, and church can continue over coffee at Starbucks or during a biblical discussion at a family barbecue.

For them, church is not tied to a building or confined to a couple hours a week, he said. "It's a way of life."

Going to Church by Staying at Home

[Shammu]

Iran accused of hiding secret nuclear weapons site
By Con Coughlin, Defence and Security Editor
(Filed: 12/06/2006)

Fresh evidence has emerged that Iran is working on a secret military project to develop nuclear weapons that has not been declared to United Nations inspectors responsible for monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme.

Nuclear experts working for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna are pressing the Iranians to make a full disclosure about a network of research laboratories at a secret military base outside the capital Teheran.

The project is codenamed Zirzamin 27, and its purpose is to enable the Iranians to undertake uranium enrichment to military standard. Zirzamin means “basement” in Farsi, which suggests the laboratories are underground and 27 refers to the 27-year-old Iranian revolution.

Concerns over activity at Zirzamin 27 will be raised at this week’s meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors in Vienna, which starts today.

Suspicions have been growing that Iran has a secret military nuclear research programme since UN inspectors discovered particles of enriched uranium at a research complex at Lavizan, a military base on the outskirts of Teheran, in 2003.

The Iranians agreed to allow IAEA inspectors to visit the Lavizan complex but then razed it to the ground before the inspectors arrived.

Iranian nuclear officials have ignored repeated requests by IAEA officials for a detailed explanation of the Lavizan project. Now the IAEA officials are studying new intelligence indicating that the Lavizan research project has been moved to a secret military location outside Teheran.

Although IAEA officials do not know the precise location of Zirzamin 27, they have comprehensive details of its activities.

“This is a truly alarming development,” said a senior western diplomat working with the IAEA. “This evidence indicates that the Iranians remain committed to developing nuclear weapons, despite their claims to the contrary that their nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful.”

Teheran has consistently argued that its nuclear programme is aimed at developing an indigenous nuclear power industry. But Iran’s insistence on developing its own uranium enrichment facilities has raised concerns that it has a well-advanced programme to develop nuclear weapons.

The Zirzamin 27 operation is thought to be being supervised by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards under the direction of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran’s Modern Defensive Readiness and Technology Centre, a top-secret military research site.

According to reports being studied by IAEA officials, scientists working at Zirzamin are required to wear standard military uniforms when entering and leaving the complex to give the impression they are involved in normal military activity. They are only allowed to change into protective clothing once inside the site.

Special attention has also been given to developing specialised ventilation systems to make sure no incriminating particles of radioactive material are allowed to escape.

[Soldier4Christ]

Israeli army pushing for major Gaza assault
Debating response as Hamas rockets slam Jewish communities


JERUSALEM – With more than 50 rockets flying from the Gaza Strip toward nearby Jewish communities the past three days, the leadership of the Israeli Defense Forces last night proposed a major ground and air assault deep inside Gaza, WND has learned.

The assault was blocked by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, but senior army officials warned Israel likely will need to conduct a large-scale operation in Gaza and may even need to temporarily reoccupy parts of the territory if the rocket onslaught continues at its current rate.

Critics of Israel's Gaza withdrawal had warned the retreat would prompt an onslaught of terrorism requiring the IDF to re-enter the territory. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is planning a second, larger withdrawal from most of Judea and Samaria – mountainous terrain within rocket-firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the country's international airport.

Hamas leaders this weekend announced their group was ending an 18-month truce with Israel it claimed it had been keeping. They said their decision to renew attacks came in direct response to the assassination last week of Jamal Abu Samhadana, leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group and a Hamas minister, and in response to an alleged Israeli artillery shell Palestinian Arabs say exploded at a beach in the northern Gaza Strip this weekend, killing seven.

As WND reported, Israeli security officials say Hamas' decision to call off its truce with Israel was finalized weeks ago. They accused Hamas of using Israeli actions the past few days as a pretense to restart violence.

Since Friday, more 53 Qassam rockets targeted Jewish communities near Gaza. Hamas took credit for most of the missile launchings.

Seven rockets this morning slammed into Sderot, an Israeli Negev town about five miles from Gaza that is home to Defense Minister Peretz. Schools there went on strike in response to the continued rocket onslaught, with local leaders demanding the Israeli government provide rocket-proof public buildings and an updated missile alert system. The children's schools that remained open today did not allow students to venture outdoors.

Peretz last night called a meeting of IDF planners to decide upon possible anti-rocket operations. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz proposed a large-scale aerial and ground assault that included targeted assassinations of Hamas operatives involved in rocket fire, but the recommendations were shelved by Peretz, according to sources at the meeting. The sources said the defense establishment is in disagreement over a military response.

"Peretz understands the need for more Gaza ground operations and for Israel to escalate its response to the Hamas rocket attacks," said an IDF officer present at last night's meeting.

"At the same time there are political considerations to assaults and even perhaps temporary reoccupation of Gaza. Our military response to the rocket fire is still being debated," said the officer.

The army until now largely has attempted to halt Qassam rocket fire utilizing artillery units and aerial strikes against suspected launching sites, but the operations have failed to stop or even slow the rate of Palestinian rocket attacks.

Two weeks ago, in an isolated operation, a special IDF unit entered deep inside the Gaza Strip and set up an ambush within the ruins of Dagit, a coastal town that previously was part of Gush Katif, the slate of Gaza's Jewish communities Israel evacuated last August. The town has been regularly used the past few months by terrorists to fire Qassam missiles.

The IDF ambush took out three terrorists reportedly preparing to fire Qassam rockets. It was the deepest the IDF had operated in Gaza since the August withdrawal. Soldiers on two occasions the past few months entered Gaza but only a few feet deep to search for explosives along a border fence.

With Palestinian Arab rocket attacks escalating, some in the political establishment here have recommended reoccupying parts of the Gaza Strip. At a government cabinet meeting last week, Israeli Internal Security Minister and top Kadima official Avi Dichter said the rocket fire must be stopped "at any cost," including possibly reoccupying parts of Gaza. Dichter was a vocal supporter of Israel's Gaza withdrawal.

Dichter's statements join a chorus of senior Israeli defense officials, including former Gaza commanders and a former defense minister, calling for Israel to reoccupy parts of Gaza.

As WND recently reported, Israeli troops in April quietly trained for a large-scale incursion and occupation of Gaza in the event it is deemed necessary.

While Israeli officials contemplate the reoccupation of Gaza, Olmert has been traveling to foreign capitals in recent weeks presenting his plan to push through a large-scale evacuation of most of Judea and Samaria, territory commonly referred to as the West Bank.

About 200,000 Jews live in Judea and Samaria. A separation barrier, still under construction in certain areas, cordons off nearly 95 percent of the territory from Israel's pre-1967 borders. 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 officials have stated the past few weeks the new prime minister plans to enforce a withdrawal from all 68 Jewish towns that fall outside the barrier.

In a widely circulated WND article, leaders of every major Palestinian terror organization warned they will soon launch a massive violent campaign against Israel focused mainly on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

One senior terrorist said now that Olmert announced a Judea and Samaria withdrawal, terrorism against Israel must be stepped up "to prove we are chasing out the Israelis like we did in Gaza."

[Soldier4Christ]

Prime minister's daughter in anti-Israel rally
Jewish leaders deemed 'killers,' calls for intifada to prevail


JERUSLAEM – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter this weekend took part in a demonstration against the Jewish state in which Israeli leaders were termed "killers" and calls were made for the Palestinian Arab intifada – or terror war – to prevail.

The demonstration took place outside the Tel Aviv house of Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff Dan Halutz following an explosion this weekend on a northern Gaza Strip beach that reportedly killed seven Palestinian Arabs and wounded more than 40.

At first, the IDF was blamed widely for the Gaza beach explosion. The army routinely fires artillery shells at empty areas in northern Gaza in response to the regular launching of Qassam rockets by terrorists from the area aimed at nearby Jewish communities.

But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Israeli naval or air shelling at the beach have been ruled out and that Israel was investigating whether the explosion was a stray Israeli artillery shell or a "work accident" by a Palestinian explosives crew.

Still, hundreds of major media outlets accused Israel of shelling civilians. Many reports quoted Palestinian officials calling the Gaza beach incident a "massacre."

Despite reports both from Israel and the Palestinian Arabs there was only one explosion on the Gaza beach, the Guardian newspaper of London claimed "a barrage of Israeli artillery shells rained down on a busy Gaza beach." The Independent attributed the incident to "Israeli naval gunboats" even though an Israeli investigation concluded there was no naval bombardment at the time of the explosion.

Leaders of five human rights organizations yesterday sent a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz's office, calling on him act immediately to "end the killing of Palestinian civilians in the territories and uproot the elements that contribute to this killing." The letter reportedly did not mention the regular Qassam missile firings by Palestinian Arab terrorists Israel says prompts its military response in Gaza.

At the demonstration outside Halutz's house, some 200 leftist activists protested the Gaza beach explosion, blaming Israel for the incident.

Dana Olmert, the prime minister's daughter, took part in the rally.

Protesters chanted slogans such as "[Tel Aviv] residents, there's a murderer in your neighborhood," in reference to Halutz. They brandished signs calling on the Jewish state to "put a stop to the murder of civilians."

Some posters called Halutz a killer and stated, "the intifada shall prevail."

Activists also reportedly shouted, "Neighbors, ask Halutz why he's killing children and how many."

A prominent member of the Israeli opposition Likud party commented Olmert's family has a history of left-wing activism.

"That Dana Olmert participates in these treacherous, anti-Semitic protests jibes with everything else we know about Olmert's family," said the Likud member, speaking on condition his name be withheld.

In the run-up to recent Israeli elections, which Olmert's Kadima Party won by a slim plurality, the Likud featured a series of television ads blasting Olmert's family as pacifists and army deserters.

One Likud broadcast began with a scene of Olmert at a speech exclaiming, "I want our children to have a better future." A background voice then asks which children Olmert is referring to. "perhaps his own children, Olmert's sons and one of his daughters, who refused to serve in the IDF; moreover, his sons live overseas and do not see their future in Israel ... if Olmert's children who live abroad knew of his withdrawal plan, they would not return to Israel at all."

Prior to elections, Olmert announced his administration would seek to withdraw Israel from most of Judea and Samaria – mountainous territory within rocket firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the country's international airport.

Olmert's oldest son Shaul lives in New York full time. After he finished compulsory Israeli military service, Shaul signed a petition of the pacifist organization Yesh G'vul, which calls for soldiers to refuse specific orders or not serve in the Israeli military all together.

The acting prime minister's youngest son, Ariel, reportedly refused to serve in the IDF.

Israel has a mandatory draft for all Jewish men and women over the age of 18.

Dana, who participated in this weekend's demonstration, is active in Machshom Watch, an Israeli leftist organization that monitors and often acts against Israeli checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. The IDF says the checkpoints are necessary to stop terrorists from infiltrating Israeli cities.

Some politicians who ran against Olmert also pointed out in ads and debates that Olmert's wife Aliza long has been involved in extreme leftist activism.

Aliza Olmert reportedly is a member of Israeli Women in Black, an activist group that calls for Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem.

Articles in the Israeli media have stated Aliza has been involved in the leftist Peace Now group and reportedly has voted for the Meretz party, whose platform includes the division of Jerusalem.

[Soldier4Christ]

Violent crime up for 1st time in 5 years

Murders, robberies and aggravated assaults in the United States increased last year, spurring an overall rise in violent crime for the first time since 2001, according to FBI data.

Murders rose 4.8 percent, meaning there were more than 16,900 victims in 2005. That would be the most since 1998 and the largest percentage increase in 15 years.

Murders soared from 59 to 104 in Birmingham, Ala., up 76 percent; from 59 to 85 in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, N.C., a 44 percent increase; from 89 to 126 in Kansas City, Mo., a 42 percent rise; from 87 to 122 in Milwaukee, a 40 percent jump; and from 79 to 109 in Cleveland, a 38 percent increase.

Cities with 50,000 to 500,000 people recorded the largest increases in murder, on average.

Despite the national numbers, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York were among several large cities that saw the number of murders drop.

The overall increase in violent crime was modest, 2.5 percent, which equates to more than 1.4 million crimes. Nevertheless, that was the largest percentage increase since 1991.

The FBI data, compiled from reports by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies, does not contain overall crime numbers in any category nor does it offer any explanation for the changes. The FBI's final annual crime report comes out in the fall.

Criminal justice experts said the statistics reflect the nation's complacency in fighting crime, a product of dramatic declines in the 1990s and the abandonment of effective programs that emphasized prevention, putting more police officers on the street and controlling the spread of guns.

"We see that budgets for policing are being slashed and the federal government has gotten out of that business," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston. "Funding for prevention at the federal level and many localities are down and the (National Rifle Association) has renewed strength."

Still, Fox said, "We're still far better off than we were during the double-digit crime inflation we saw in the 1970s."

Robberies were up 4.5 per cent and aggravated assaults 1.9 per cent, according to preliminary data. Alone among violent crime categories, the number of rapes fell 1.9 per cent.

Violent crimes peaked at 1.9 million in 1992 and fell steadily through the end of that decade. The number has been relatively stable for the last six years.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Police Release PA Prime Minister's Daughter


(IsraelNN.com) Israeli police have released the daughter of Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was arrested earlier Monday for trying to enter a Be'er Sheva jail with a fake identity card.

The girl, Hawalah, as trying to visit her jailed fiance, who she said is her cousin. She was returned to the PA, but police plan to file charges against her.

[Soldier4Christ]

Prime minister's daughter in anti-Israel rally
Jewish leaders deemed 'killers,' calls made for intifada to prevail


Rightist files complaint against PM's daughter

Itamar Ben-Gvir claims Dana Olmert, fellow left-wing protesters, called army chief 'murderer' during demonstration Saturday evening; says he was convicted for same offense several years ago
Efrat Weiss

Extreme rightist Itamar Ben-Gvir filed a complaint with the Hebron police Sunday against the prime minister's daughter Dana Olmert and the rest of the participants in a left-wing demonstration outside the house of Army Chief Dan Halutz Saturday evening to protest the killing of seven civilians in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir presented the police with pictures from the rally depicting signs carried by the protesters that include the slogans, "Neighbors, ask Halutz why he murders children," and "Halutz is a murderer, the intifada shall prevail."

"Dana Olmert and her lefty friends should stand trial for calling the chief of staff a murderer," Ben-Gvir told Ynet. "I was tried and convicted for the same offense and received a suspended sentence. She should be convicted as well," he stated.

In 1997, Ben-Gvir faced trial after taking part in a demonstration against Knesset Member Ran Cohen (Meretz), during which he called the MK "a murderer." In addition to receiving a suspended sentence, Ben-Gvir was also ordered to pay a steep fine.

"If this was the ruling then, then it is only just and fair that Ms. Olmert and her friends stand trial for the same offense," Ben-Gvir.

The right-wing activists also claimed that about a year ago, the police barred him, his wife, and fellow rightist Baruch Marzel, from protesting outside the house of the chief military rabbi in Jerusalem, citing a regulation prohibiting demonstrations opposite the houses of army personnel.

"What is the reason for this discrimination? Why are left-wing activists allowed to do what right-wing activists are banned from doing?" he asked.

And Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, just minutes before boarding a plane to London, told reporters he had spoken with his daughter Dana about her participation in a left-wing demonstration outside the army chief's house on Saturday.

"We talk daily. Each of us is entitled to his own opinion, and to express them as well," he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Zarqawi's Replacement Named

Al Qaeda in Iraq announced in a Web statement posted Monday that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer was appointed the group's new leader to succeed the slain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

His real name was not immediately known. The name al-Muhajer, Arabic for "immigrant," suggested he was not Iraqi.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq's council has agreed on Sheik Abu Hamza al-Muhajer to be the successor for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the leadership of the organization," said a statement signed by the group on an Islamic militant Web forum where it often posts messages.

[Soldier4Christ]

Terror Links to Saddam's Inner Circle

What was the relationship between Saddam Hussein's inner circle and Islamic terrorists? A newly released document appears to provide evidence that in 1999 the Taliban welcomed "Islamic relations with Iraq" to mediate among the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and Russia, and that the Taliban invited Iraqi officials to Afghanistan.

The document, captured in Iraq but never before seen by the public, offers glimmers of new insight at the Pentagon's Foreign Military Studies Office Web site. The FMSO is a research and analysis center under the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

This particular document mentions two men with similar names, each with ties to Pakistani religious schools known as madrassas, Jihad training camps, the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

This original translation by my translator-colleague, who goes by the nom de guerre of "Sammi," comes from a notebook kept by an Iraqi intelligence agent. It provides evidence of a cooperative, operational relationship agreed to at the highest levels of the Iraqi government and the Taliban. The notebook is lengthy and we will present it on the FOX News Web site in a series of postings. It deals extensively with meetings between Maulana Fazlur Rahman, an Al Qaeda/Taliban supporter, and Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president of Iraq, and other unnamed Iraqi officials.

Ramadan also was Saddam Hussein's chief enforcer, making sure Saddam's orders were carried out by Iraqi officials. He is discussed in a 2002 BBC article that stated "Washington showed considerable interest in him well before the Iraq war this spring, after opposition forces claimed he hosted Usama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, in Baghdad in 1998. He currently is under detention and facing trial in Baghdad along with Saddam. Also present at the discussion recorded in the notebook is Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani cleric described in another 2002 article from the BBC Profile: Maulana Fazlur Rahman as "A pro-Taliban cleric in Pakistan … one of the two main contenders for the post of the country's prime minister." The BBC also said that "Maulana Fazlur Rahman … is known for his close ties to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime."

This document appears to have been captured in Iraq in 2003. Sammi adds notes for clarity in parenthesis. I found it necessary, as well, to add informational notes, which are indicated by "RR." The bold typeface is our addition, and indicates emphasis or reference material.

Translator's notes:

    * The notebook from which this document is taken is 76 pages long, and belongs to someone called Khaled Abd El Majid. It covers events taking place in 1999.
    * There are two important meetings noted that involve Fazlur Rahman. This is a translation of the first meeting. There is no date, but it can be derived. On page 26/76 the page before this meeting it is mentioned that the person carrying a verbal message from Mullah Omar to Saddam Hussein is arriving on "27/11/1999," a Saturday. The first meeting with the VP is "Sunday 10:30 AM", the following day. The second meeting is dated on page 20/76 as "Sunday 11/28 at 7:45 evening."
    * Since Arabic is written from right to left, the meeting starts on page 25 of the notebook and ends on page 21. These are hand-written notes and fragmentary in some parts.
    * There also is a notation regarding Fazlur Rahman Khalil, a Pakistani Taliban leader and Al Qaeda associate, who is not the man in this meeting. The notebook mentions Rahman Khalil on page 72, at the bottom of a list of Islamic clerics coming to Iraq labeled "with him in the delegation". "He" is not mentioned by name. "Very important: Fazlur Rahman Khalil: Leader of the Ansar Movement. Does not have a position inside Pakistan but inside Afghanistan and Kashmir."

Click Here for an Analysis of Document ISGP-2003-0001412

Translation:

Translation for ISGP-2003-0001412 (pdf) follows:

Meeting of Mr. Vice-President with the Pakistani Fazlur Rahman

Location: Office of Mr. Vice-President in Zakoura

Date: Sunday 10:30 AM

Present: Mr. Vice-President, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Taher Krichi (family name not very clear), Jamal Abdul Razzak

Meeting session

Words of welcoming.

— Questions about the situation in Pakistan

Fazlur Rahman: The situation is good and the Pakistani people have come together to struggle against America.

Vice-President: The new humanitarian method of human rights of the American people in the United Nations. (Fragmented notation)

Fazlur Rahman: What is happening in Afghanistan is a violation of the human rights of this country, where Usama bin Laden is one person and the fate of millions cannot be tied to him. (Translator's note: Probably at that time the U.S. is forcing sanctions or pressures on Afghanistan because it is providing sanctuary to bin Laden)

Vice-President: The American method is clear. First I discover many times some Islamic organizations which are not themselves and Islam is innocent from them (RR: probably means Islamic organizations that he believes do not behave like Islamic organizations). Those could be a cover for the American deviation like Kosovo. Muslims are known where they are and America is one of the fiercest enemies of Islam. Muslims in Palestine are slaughtered and they support the Jews, but they were provided this cover. America wants to control the world through human rights (Translator's note: following word unclear, possibly democracy) and multiple parties so it can form collaborating parties and create unrest. Unrest serves America's purpose. The Security Council is a tool in the hand of America.

Can you blockade a country (RR: probably Afghanistan) because of the presence of one man (RR: probably referring to UBL)? This time she (America) got the resolution from the Security Council and it is number 77 (or 771) (RR: probably UNSCR 771 in 1992 concerning Bosnia) relative to Iraq (RR: probably is making a comparison between 771 and a new resolution on Iraq most likely UNSCR 1284 passed Dec 1999 about WMD and humanitarian efforts). And it is the first time that the parliament of a country (U.S. Congress) speaks after a resolution (unclear) and comes out through the Security Council. It is ignorant to send memos and complain to the Security Council because it is a tool in the hands of America the master of oppression and if we do that it does not mean that we are boycotting the diplomatic process. Also the monetary fund (Translator's note: probably the International Monetary Fund) is in the hand of America and she helps according to her interests. My personal stand is with his (RR: probably UBL) call to fight America.

(Probably Rahman:) I support him body and soul and if it is true (probably referring to the UBL call to "fight America") then it is the right thing to do.

(Probably Rahman:) I personally do not know him and never met him (probably UBL) and he is not the issue. There is the port of Gwadar (in Baluchistan area) under construction in Pakistan, and Europe and America wants to use it instead of (unclear possibly Bankham) to trade with Asia. After the fall of the Soviet Union they wish to expand trade to Central Asia through Afghanistan and Afghanistan is against their wishes (RR: opposed to the US) and they want to bring the Taliban government down.

Vice-President: They are controlling Turkey.

Fazlur Rahman: Gwadar is the shortest road for them and we spoke with the Afghani government. I met Mullah Omar the leader of Afghanistan and he welcomed the establishment of Islamic relations with Iraq and we foresee to tell them about our needs and they would like to have contacts with Russia but they feel that the Russians (unclear) with Afghanistan, they go to America (RR: probably means that the Russians side with the US against the Taliban). And they (RR: probably the Taliban) say that now we do not feel that Russia is our enemy and we do not know why they support the Northern Alliance (RR: non-Pashtun Afghani militant groups seeking to topple the Taliban). They (RR: probably the Taliban) want Iraq to intervene with Russia.

And Russia thinks that the Taliban are supporting the Chechens through providing them 5 million dollars in weapons so the question is from where do they have all this money and weapons and they want Iraq to know their problems and needs.

cont'd