News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

 Supreme Leader: Tehran should become a city with Iranian-Islamic identity
Tehran, March 4, IRNA

Iran-Supreme Leader-Identity
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in a meeting with members of Tehran Islamic City Council and mayor said that Iran's cultural, political and social capital of Tehran should become a pleasant and beautiful city with Iranian-Islamic identity as well as public welfare.

Ayatollah Khamenei urged Tehran Islamic City Council and the Municipality to cooperate closely to comply with laws and regulations to render their services to people.

The Supreme Leader said that various administrators of urban affairs are required to be faithful, honest, affectionate and proponents of justice to solve the problems facing the city of Tehran.

"Given the high importance of healthy urban administration, great care should be taken in appointment of administrators at various levels by complying with the relevant criteria," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to lack of identity as one of the major problems encountering Tehran and reiterated the need for long-term planning and serious pursuance to manifest the Iranian and Islamic identity of the capital city.

Making distinction between landscaping and luxury and pointing to the psychological effectiveness of the urban beauty, the Supreme Leader noted that the citizens of Tehran should enjoy welfare, particularly in the field of transport.

"Besides, the officials in charge should give high priority to the fortification of urban structures, in particular that of densely populated and wornout areas.

"Administrators should respond to people's demands quickly, respect them and attract their confidence," concluded the Supreme Leader.

At the beginning of the meeting, head of Tehran Islamic City Council Mehdi Chamran presented a report on the activities and ratifications of the council.

He noted that during 218 council sessions, 378 drafts have been approved and said that the draft on comprehensive plan of the capital city and the prospect of Tehran's role in the 20-year Vision Plan will be on the agenda in future.

For his part, Tehran Mayor Baqer Qalibaf briefed the Supreme Leader on he five-month performance of Tehran's urban management.

Supreme Leader: Tehran should become a city with Iranian-Islamic identity

[Shammu]

 Thai minister urges closer cooperation between Tehran, Bangkok
Kuala Lumpur, March 4, IRNA

Iran-Thailand-Meet
Thai Minister of Energy Wiset Chuphiban said Saturday presence of Thai companies in development of Iranian petrochemical sector is considered as basic principles for mutual cooperation in energy filed.

Making the remark in a meeting with Iran's Ambassador to Bangkok, ohsen Pakayeen, he expressed his satisfaction with the presence of a Thai company in Saveh oil exploration project.

The Thai minister expressed hope that he would visit Iran to attend the third joint oil cooperation commission in coming months.

Iran and Thailand held the second meeting of their joint oil cooperation commission in Bangkok on November 25, 2005.

Iran's envoy, for his part, stressed that the two countries pursue the same strategic objectives in energy field, adding that the ground is prepared for proceeding with such cooperation.

He also briefed the Thai official on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

Thai minister urges closer cooperation between Tehran, Bangkok

[Shammu]

Nazareth incident heightens tensions

Saturday 04 March 2006, 19:05 Makka Time, 16:05 GMT

A Roman Catholic bishop has called for better protection of Christians and their holy sites after an Israeli couple and their daughter set off a series of small explosions in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

Although Friday's attack on a major shrine in the town of Jesus' boyhood apparently was driven by personal distress and not extremism, it heightened religious and political tensions in the Holy Land.

"We don't understand why and how this man came here, given his personality. Who sent him here?" Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, said on Saturday.

"It is unclear, but it gives fuel to our anxieties about the future."

The incident began on Friday evening when the three suspects, using a baby stroller, smuggled firecrackers and small gas canisters into the packed basilica during Lent prayers. The church was not guarded at the time.

The assailants threw the explosives and were beaten by worshippers before Israeli police arrived and locked them in a room for protection, police said.

After a three-hour standoff between police and thousands of protesters, the suspects were led away through a back exit, disguised as police officers.

Protest march

Christian leaders on Saturday organised a march through the streets of Nazareth to protest the attack, which caused light damage to the church but sparked stone-throwing riots in which two dozen people, including 13 Israeli police officers, were hurt.

Several hundred people joined Saturday's protest, clapping and holding Palestinian flags. "They accuse of us terrorism, but they do terrorism," read one banner.

Police said the man involved in the attack, Haim Eliyahu Habibi, had financial problems, and apparently is not a Jewish extremist.

Habibi, his Christian wife Violet and their 20-year-old daughter were treated at a hospital before being taken into custody early Saturday.

Habibi's daughter told investigators her parents had wanted to create a provocation to draw attention to their economic troubles and protest that two of their children had been taken from them by the Israeli authorities, Yaakov Sigdon, a police commander in northern Israel, told Israel Radio.

Several years ago, the family had sought political asylum in a West Bank town under Palestinian control for similar reasons.

But many Arabs dismissed the Israeli explanation, saying the government could have done more to prevent the attack and protect the Christian minority.

Vatican call

Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, contacted the Vatican late on Friday, offering assurances that Israel is committed to protecting Christian holy places, officials said.

Ehud Olmert, the acting prime minister, also discussed the situation with Nazareth's mayor, Olmert's office said.

Archbishop Elias Shakur, the top Roman Catholic official in Nazareth, issued a call for unity among Israel's citizens and dismissed the attackers as lone extremists. While praising the Israeli response, he said "it is not enough".

"It's a big tragedy for all of us in Israel, for Christians, for having their most holy places spoiled and used in a barbaric way," he said.

Nazareth was quiet Saturday, and at the basilica a small group of worshippers gathered to pray. Black stains on the walls caused by the explosion were removed.

But tensions remained high in northern Israel, where much of the country's Arab population is located. Police postponed at least seven matches Saturday, fearing riots could break out.

'Hate culture'

In the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, the designated Palestinian prime minister from the Muslim resistance Hamas group, held Israel responsible.

He said the attack was the result "of a hate culture which Israel is feeding its public against the Palestinians, and their Christian and Islamic holy places and believers".

Boulos Rececinto Marcuzzio, vicar of the Latin patriarch in Israel and a bishop in Nazareth, said Friday's attack and anti-Christian riots last year in the northern Israeli village of Maghar were cause for concern.

"What happened ... is strong enough to let us think that we have to ask for our legal protection here," he said on Saturday.

In Maghar, Druze villagers had burned down dozens of Christian-owned businesses after rumours spread that Christian youths disseminated naked pictures of Druze girls on the internet.

No evidence has been found to substantiate the rumours, but villagers said they provided a spark to a situation in the divided village that was already tense. The Druze religion is a secretive offshoot of Islam.

Boyhood town

The Basilica of the Annunciation is built on the site where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel appeared before the Virgin Mary and foretold the birth of Jesus.

Nazareth, the boyhood town of Jesus, is located in northern Israel. It is inhabited by about 74,000 Arab Israelis, about two-thirds Muslim and the remainder Christian.

Religious tensions have boiled over in the past, with the two sides in a dispute over attempts to build a mosque next to the church.

The attack also underscored the tense relations between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority.

Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20% of the population, complain of discrimination.

Israel's roughly one million Arabs hold Israeli citizenship, in contrast to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip who live under the Palestinian Authority.

Despite tensions between Jews and Arabs, violence is rare. Last August, a Jewish army deserter killed four Israeli Arabs in a shooting rampage on a bus.

The attacker was killed by a mob.

In the worst ethnic violence in Israel, police killed 13 Arab-Israeli demonstrators who blocked a highway in October 2000, shortly after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.

Nazareth incident heightens tensions

My note; Read what you will, something just doesn't read right.

[Soldier4Christ]

US to present Iran with 30-day ultimatum


The United States will present a 30-day ultimatum to the UN Security Council this week, the Washington Post reported Saturday, calling on Iran to cease with its nuclear program.

It was reported however, that the US would not request further economic sanctions on Iran.

Iran and the European Union inched toward a compromise Friday that diplomats said would allow Tehran to run a scaled-down version of a uranium enrichment program with potential for misuse to develop atomic weapons.

The development was significant because the Europeans and the United States have for years opposed allowing Iran any kind of enrichment capability - a stance that Russia, China and other influential nations have embraced in recent months.

Top European officials - including the foreign ministers of France and Germany - publicly described talks Friday in Vienna as failing because of Tehran's refusal to reimpose a freeze on enrichment.

"Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters. He said the EU continues to demand "full and complete suspension" of uranium enrichment and related activities that have fed fears that Iran may be pursuing nuclear arms.

Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the meeting ended, after just over two hours, "without achieving a result."

But diplomats familiar with the talks told The Associated Press that after months of deadlock, the two sides explored possible agreement by discussing plans that essentially would allow Iran small-scale enrichment after reimposing its freeze for an undefined period.

The compromise would serve Iran, the European Union and Russia by allowing all of them to say they had achieved their main goals.

Iran would be able to run a program it insists it has a right to under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if it is only on a research basis instead of the full-scale enrichment.

The Europeans, who since 2004 have negotiated for Iran to scrap enrichment, could tolerate small-scale enrichment if Iran first agrees to their key demand - a freeze to re-establish confidence.

Moscow could benefit diplomatically and economically if Iran accepts its plan to move its enrichment program to Russia - except for activities defined as research and development that all sides agree on under any compromise plan.

One of the diplomats - who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging the substance of the confidential discussion - said the impetus came from Moscow, which has taken the lead in talking to Iran since talks with the Europeans collapsed late last year.

He said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was to float the compromise plan in Washington on Monday and Tuesday to gauge American reaction.

Consensus on such a compromise by the Russians, Europeans and Iranians could leave the Americans with two unpalatable choices.

If Washington accepts the plan, it essentially leaves Iran in a position to develop technology that it could use to make fissile uranium for warheads.

If it refuses, it again could face diplomatic near-isolation on what to do about Iran after months of building the kind of international consensus that last month led the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board to put the UN Security Council on alert about Iran's suspect nuclear program.

By depriving the Iranians of domestic control of enrichment, the Russian plan - backed by most in the international community including the US and the Europeans - is meant to eliminate the danger that Tehran might misuse it to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Small-scale enrichment under a compromise would deprive Iran of the chance to run the thousands of centrifuges needed to enrich in sufficient amounts to give them material for multiple weapons. But it would allow them to perfect the methodology, should they later decide to start industrial-scale enrichment.

Iran restarted some enrichment activities last month, two years after voluntarily freezing the program during talks with the Europeans. Those talks unraveled late last year.

A report last week by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei showed Iran testing centrifuges - machines that spin uranium gas into enriched uranium.

And just a few months down the road, "commencement of the installation of the first 3,000 ... (centrifuges) is planned for the fourth quarter of 2006," the report said.

Experts estimate that Iran already has enough black-market components in storage to build the 1,500 operating centrifuges it would need to make the 20 kilograms (45 pounds) of highly enriched uranium needed for one crude weapon.

Tehran insists it wants enrichment only to generate electricity and that it does not seek nuclear arms, but a growing number of nations share US fears that that is not the case.

While Russia backed alerting the Security Council to Iran, it remains reluctant to press for tough action against Tehran, an economic and strategic partner. Lavrov said Friday that permanent council members were not united on a course of action.

"There is no collectively discussed and agreed strategy of what we all will be doing in the Security Council if the issue is there," Lavrov told foreign reporters, hinting at his country's opposition to increasing pressure on Tehran.

The IAEA's board is to discuss the Iran issue at a meeting beginning Monday, including the ElBaradei report. The board notified the UN Security Council Feb. 4, after Iran refused to heed requests to maintain a suspension on enrichment.

There had been little hope the Vienna meeting would achieve a breakthrough. Both sides had made clear before that they would not move from their positions; the Europeans demanded Tehran freeze all enrichment activities and Iran insisted it would not.

A Russian nuclear agency official, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, confirmed the Moscow talks remained snagged over the same issue - Iran's refusal to freeze enrichment at home.

Still, Lavrov hinted at the chances of compromise detailed to the AP, saying Friday that a deal with Iran was still possible before the IAEA meeting.

"There always is an opportunity to reach an agreement," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying in Moscow.

In Vienna, ElBaradei said he was "hopeful" of a negotiated solution after meeting with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, while the Iranian representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, described the talks with the Europeans as "fruitful."

[Shammu]

Bush, Putin Confer by Phone on Hamas, Iran

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -
President Bush emphasized the need for the radical movement Hamas to renounce violence since winning Palestinian parliamentary elections during a telephone conversation Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bush took the call from Putin, lasting little more than 15 minutes, in the cabin of Air Force One and "reiterated the importance of the Quartet statement, which calls for Hamas to renounce violence, recognize
Israel and disarm," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

The Bush administration, the Europeans, the United Nations and Russia — the so-called Quartet of Mideast negotiators devoted to peacemaking — have agreed not to help Hamas.

Bush and Putin also discussed the continuing conversations the Russians are having with the regime in Iran about the threat posed by Iran's disputed nuclear program, McClellan said, declining to elaborate.

The call took place as Bush returned to Washington from Pakistan.

In Moscow, the Kremlin press service said, "Putin and Bush agreed to continue coordination on this and other vital issues on the international agenda including the forthcoming visit of the Russian foreign minister to Washington."

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov heads to Washington on Monday for talks with Bush, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and other officials.

Lavrov's trip comes as U.S. officials have become increasingly open in their criticism of Russia's democratic credentials and Moscow's use of political and economic pressure on former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine. The close partnership Bush and Putin forged after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has faded amid the continuing disagreements.

Bush has been dealing with the potential consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran, courting nations such as Russia and China that might help with long-term containment if Iranian uranium enrichment goes ahead despite other international efforts.

Hamas' political chief, Khaled Mashaal, was visiting Moscow at Putin's invitation. The Russians also played host to the top Iranian nuclear negotiator this past week, attempting to persuade Tehran to end its uranium enrichment and instead rely on a joint enrichment facility that Russia would create.

Mashaal, whose group is considered a terrorist organization by the Bush administration, said Russia could be a major force in promoting Middle East stability.

Russia and the other Quartet nations are withholding international recognition from Hamas until it eases its radical opposition to Israel. Mashaal said Hamas would not consider recognizing Israel.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the initial close cooperation between Bush and Putin has declined due to disagreements over Putin's commitment to democratic establishments and his exertion of political and economic pressure on former Soviet republics.

Bush, Putin Confer by Phone on Hamas, Iran

[Shammu]

Fire Traps Worker in W.Va. Power Plant

1 minute ago

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. - A fire broke out in a 1,000-foot-tall smokestack under construction at a coal-fired power plant Saturday, trapping four contract workers, officials said.

Three workers were plucked off the stack by a helicopter about 10 p.m., after being trapped for about two hours above the flames, said American Electric Power spokeswoman Carmen Prati-Miller. A fourth worker still was missing.

The fire occurred at AEP's Kammer-Mitchell plant south of Moundsville, which is about 68 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

Prati-Miller said the workers were employed by Pullman Power, which has a contract to install a fiberglass lining in the stack. Prati-Miller said officials did not immediately know the cause.

The plant is undergoing an upgrade to bring the power station into compliance with federal air pollution regulations.

Fire Traps Worker in W.Va. Power Plant

[Shammu]

In Tape, al-Zawahri Blasts Cartoons

By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer 49 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri criticized the West for its insult to Islam's prophet, complaining in a video broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera that the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus "are not sacred anymore."

Ayman al-Zawahri, is seen in this Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005 file image
My note; His forehead looks like someone shot him.

Referring to the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have been printed in a number of European newspapers, al-Zawahri said: "They did it on purpose and they continue to do it without apologizing, even though no one dares to harm Jews or to challenge Jewish claims about the Holocaust nor even to insult homosexuals."

Al-Zawahri, wearing a black turban and seated in front of a curtained window, spoke insistently and waved his right hand to emphasize his words.

"The insults against Prophet Muhammad are not the result of freedom of opinion but because what is sacred has changed in this culture," he said. "The Prophet Mohammed, prayers be upon him, and Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, are not sacred anymore, while Semites and the Holocaust and homosexuality have become sacred."

He said the West repeatedly insulted Muslims and their holy book, the Quran.

"In the eyes of the West, they have the right to occupy our land, rob our wealth and then insult us and our religion, and humiliate our Quran and our prophet, prayers be upon him," al-Zawahri said. "After that they give us lessons in freedom, justice and human rights."

In the video broadcast on the satellite network, Al-Zawahri also offered his support to Hamas, the militant Islamic group that is forming a new Palestinian government after sweeping legislative elections.

He complained that the previous Palestinian leadership had "sold Palestine."

"Recognizing those people is against Islam's principles. They are criminals in the Islamic balance," he said. "Palestine is not their own property that they can give up."

Speaking of Palestine and Iraq, al-Zawahri said: "We have to be aware of the American game called 'political process.'"

"Bush, the caller for democracy, threatened Hamas in his State of the Union speech to cut assistance unless it recognizes Israel, abandons Jihad and abides by the agreements of surrender between the (Palestinian) Authority and Israel."

"I would like to tell my brothers in Palestine that reaching power is needed to implement Islamic rule," he said.

An Al-Jazeera official declined to say who gave the videotape to the network.

Al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, has issued several video and audiotapes in the past year. His last video came on Jan. 31, in which he threatened a new attack against the United States.

Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are believed to be in hiding along the rugged Pakistan-Afghan border.

In Tape, al-Zawahri Blasts Cartoons

[Shammu]

Al-Qaeda number two urges Hamas to fight on

1 hour, 39 minutes ago

DUBAI (AFP) - Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is urging the radical Islamist movement Hamas to fight on and not to accept agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Speaking in video footage broadcast Saturday on the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, Zawahiri described the agreements as "surrender accords" and called on Hamas, victors in the January 25 Palestinian election, "to continue the armed struggle."

Zawahiri also called on Muslims to boycott Western countries that have "insulted the Prophet Mohammed" by printing cartoons depicting him.

Osama bin Laden's lieutenant and chief ideologue of the Al-Qaeda terror network, the Egyptian Zawahiri mentioned specifically the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as the current international "roadmap" peace plan.

"The surrender accords signed by the lay members of the Palestinian Authority must not be recognized. Your only alternative is to pursue the armed struggle until the liberation of Palestine and the building of an Islamic state," he told Hamas.

Zawahiri called on the Islamist movement not to take up their seats in the parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, "with lay people who have sold out Palestine."

He added: "Be aware that these secular people of the Palestinian Authority have sold Palestine and are considered by Islam as criminals. Just because you got 80 seats doesn't mean you have to go along with the political game of the Americans."

Hamas, considered as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has 74 of the 132 seats on the PLC compared with 45 for Fatah, the party of president Mahmud Abbas.

"Power is not an end in itself, real power is application of sharia (Islamic law) on earth," Zawahiri said.

"Entering the same parliament as the lay people, recognizing their legitimacy and the accords they have signed is contrary to Islam," he went on.

Turning to the cartoons published by European newspapers, Zawahiri said: "We consider the publication of the caricatures to be part of a crusade against Muslims led by the United States."

The cartoons, which are considered blasphemous by most Muslims, were first printed in a Danish newspaper last year and have since been reprinted in many European countries, triggering riots in many Muslim countries that left at least 40 people dead.

Zawahiri called on Muslims the world over to cut off all relations with the "Western countries."

"How can they be allowed to occupy our land, to insult our religion, our Prophet and then to give us lessons on freedom of expression?" he asked.

An eye surgeon, Zawahiri has become Al-Qaeda's most senior spokesman in videos released in recent months as bin Laden has remained out of the public eye.

Zawahiri last appeared in a video broadcast on January 30 on Al-Jazeera, saying he had escaped death in a US missile strike two weeks earlier on a remote Pakistani tribal village bordering Afghanistan, and taunting US President George W. Bush for failing to catch him.

Security sources say the strike was carried out by a US Central Intelligence Agency Predator drone. Washington has not officially acknowledged that it launched the attack.

Al-Qaeda number two urges Hamas to fight on

[Soldier4Christ]

UNC Graduate Charged With Attempted Murder

A recent University of North Carolina graduate was charged with nine counts of attempted murder Saturday, a day after authorities say he drove through a popular campus gathering spot in an attempt to avenge Muslim deaths.

Derek Poarch, chief of the university police department, confirmed Saturday that Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old Iran native, told investigators he wanted to "avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world." Poarch would not provide any other details on the motive.

Taheri-azar also is charged with nine counts of assault.

No one was seriously hurt in the incident just before noon Friday at The Pit, a sunken, brick-paved area surrounded by two libraries, a dining hall and the student union near the center of campus.

The area has broad walkways that can be used as fire lanes, but it has no streets. Taheri-azar drove a Jeep Cherokee from a parking lot in almost a U-shape through a cluster of off-street buildings, looping past the dining hall and veering between it and one of the libraries before he reached a side road and sped away, Poarch said.

Five students and a visiting scholar were treated at and released from hospitals, the university said in a statement. Three other people declined treatment, police said.

Taheri-azar is being held on a $5.5 million bond. He was scheduled appear in court Monday. Poarch would not say whether Taheri-azar had an attorney.

Taheri-azar, who called police to surrender and then awaited officers on a street two miles from campus, is cooperating with investigators, Poarch said. The FBI has also interviewed him, but Poarch said he did not know whether he would be federally charged.

Taheri-azar told police Friday that they would find things inside his apartment in nearby Carrboro that would shed light on his motives, Poarch said. The State Bureau of Investigation searched the apartment with a bomb squad, but Poarch said they didn't find anything dangerous.

Poarch declined to say what evidence was found but said Taheri-azar's roommates have cooperated and are not suspects.

"There is no indication whatsoever that he acted in any way other than alone," Poarch said.

Taheri-azar graduated from the university in December after studying psychology and philosophy. Investigators believe he has spent most of his life in the United States, Poarch said.

[Soldier4Christ]

 American Muslims See Shiite-Sunni Tensions Growing Here
By Omar Sacirbey
Religion News Service
When Fatima Pashaei, a Shiite Muslim of Iranian descent, and Atif Qarni, a Sunni Muslim whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan, married six years ago, it was a joyous event.
 
Instead of lamenting theological differences that have roiled Shiite-Sunni relations for centuries in other countries, their family and friends celebrated.

"Our parents were just happy we were marrying Muslims. Everything else is sort of secondary," said Pashaei, 24, still married to Qarni and living in Manassas, Va., with their 3-year-old son.
 
Sensitive to U.S. pluralistic traditions and forced to work together as fellow Islamic minorities, American Shiite and Sunni Muslims have avoided the violent strife that has plagued Iraq and other parts of the Muslim world. But with Iraq on the brink of sectarian civil war, Muslims growing in numbers in the U.S. and Sunni extremist groups like the Wahhabis sowing discord, American Muslims see increasing Shiite-Sunni tensions here.
 
Divisions have widened worldwide since the golden dome of the Al-Askariya Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, was blown up Feb. 22. Two descendants of Islam's Prophet Muhammad are buried there, making it one of Shiite (also called Shia) Islam's holiest shrines.
 
"For a lot of people, this is one of the most tragic events in the history of the Shia," said Mohamed Sabur, co-director of the year-old Qunoot Foundation, a Shiite advocacy group in Washington. "Things were bad under Saddam, but you never would have seen him do this."
 
Retaliations ensued, killing hundreds of Iraqis while threatening the future of a fragile government propped up by U.S. forces.
 
Historically, the Shiite-Sunni rift is traced to the question of who should have succeeded the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632, as leader of the Muslim community.
 
Sunnis regard Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, as the final of four "rightly guided caliphs." Shiites believe Ali was the rightful first caliph, or "first imam," and that leadership of the community should go only to direct descendants of Muhammad. The next 10 imams, Shiites believe, were all killed by rivals while the 12th imam and last of the prophet's line, Al-Askari, went into hiding in 873. The 10th and 11th imams are buried at the Al-Askariya mosque while the 12th imam is believed to have vanished in the Iraq mosque until he returns to restore justice on Earth.
 
Shiite reverence for these martyred imams is the main theological difference with Sunnis. Ultra-orthodox Sunnis contend this reverence is tantamount to worship, detracts from the central Islamic principle of the oneness of God and may even constitute blasphemy. Lesser Shiite-Sunni
differences include the manner in which one prays and the structure of religious hierarchy.
 
Although these differences have at times resulted in violence, extremist Sunni animosity toward Shiites, who make up an estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of the global Muslim population of about 1.4 billion, has intensified in recent years. In 1994, a suicide bomber attacked the sacred burial place of Reza -- a great-grandson of Muhammad -- in Mahshad, Iran, killing 26 people. Sectarian violence has also claimed thousands of lives in Pakistan and Iraq.
 
While the Muslim-on-Muslim killing has yet to reach the United States, many Shiites believe the hatred already has, even before the recent violence in Iraq.
 
For the past several years, Shiites have marched through New York City's Manhattan during the Muslim month of Muharram to commemorate the killing of Ali's younger son, Hussein, the third imam, in Karbala, Iraq, in 680. The historic event is regarded as the definitive split between Shiites and Sunnis.
 
When Shiites marched in New York this year, on Feb. 5, they were met by protesters claiming to be from a Brooklyn-based group calling itself the Islamic Thinkers Society, which denounced the ritual and passed out fliers condemning Shiites as heretics.
 
 On one American Shiite Web site where the incident was discussed, inflammatory language was exchanged.
 
"The gulf is widening," said Sabur. "That's why we started Qunoot. I didn't find a need for this type of organization 10 years ago."
 
Abbas Kazimi, a graduate student at Harvard and a devout Shiite of Pakistani descent, has seen the divide affect friendships.

A few years ago, while living in Houston, Kazimi said a Sunni friend advised him to leave congregational Friday prayers at a local mosque when the friend noticed Kazimi prayed in the traditional Shiite manner, with his hands by his sides rather than folded on his stomach as Sunnis do. Shiites also place a stone, leaf or other natural substance on the ground which they touch their heads to during prostration.
 
The animosity has created a climate of intimidation in which many Shiites are now uncomfortable praying in Sunni mosques, even in the U.S., said Kazimi, 23.
 
"There's a constant paranoia in your mind that people are constantly looking whether your hands are down, and that you have a small rock or leaf in front of you," he said. "There's something that you always feel because you know that there is a school of thought that exists that hates you, and you want to know, are they around you."
 
For some, even admitting to being a Shiite to other Muslims has become a point of anxiety.
 
"When I meet a person for the first time, I'm always thinking, when am I going to tell them I'm Shia," said Nousheen Yousuf, a graduate student at Boston University. "I want to tell them (but) at the same time, it's been my experience that as soon as people find out I'm Shia, everything I say they question."
 
 
Adding to these frustrations is the sense that few Sunni leaders have condemned attacks against Shiites, both abroad and in the United States. Shiites say the condemnations that have been voiced are superficial and lack conviction.
 
Although Shiite history has translated into an ethos of bearing suffering with patience, the patience of many Shiites in the United States and abroad is running out.
 
"These (Iraq) attacks change the dynamics of how Shias participate in politics," Sabur said. "Shias are becoming more assertive of their rights within the Muslim community. Everybody says, `Where are the moderate Muslims protesting terror?' But we need that condemnation internally, too."
 
Following the Feb. 22 destruction of the Shiite shrine in Iraq, some Sunni imams in the U.S. have not only condemned the attacks but also volunteered to establish fundraisers to rebuild the Samarra shrine. American Shiites have welcomed these overtures, expressing hope that such attacks ultimately will unite rather than divide the two communities.
 
"There's a consensus that this is not a Shia-Sunni issue, but an evil-against-humanity issue," said Seyede Katayon Kasmai, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Information Center, a Shiite group in Burtonsville, Md. She said she hopes this will motivate Muslims to act against Wahhabis, a Saudi sub-sect that has persecuted Shiites.
 
 
Pashaei and Qarni, the young Shiite-Sunni couple, say the sectarian strife has done nothing to dampen their love. They plan to teach their son, Zane, as well as future children, the basics of Islam and let them choose the religious path they want to take.
 

"We'll leave it up to them to ask the questions instead of forcing different ideologies down their throats," Pashaei said. "To me, it's just a historical difference of opinion that they've made into a religious issue. Those are man-made issues."

[Shammu]

Pressure on Iraq's al-Jaafari Intensifies

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 5, 6:11 PM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians increased pressure Sunday on Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to abandon his bid for a new term, while leaders of Iraq's Shiite majority struggled to overcome growing internal divisions.

Despite the squabbling, there were reports the new parliament would be called into session for the first time as early as the end of the week, starting the clock on a 60-day period during which it would have to elect a president and approve a prime minister and Cabinet.

The struggle to form a broad-based governing coalition acceptable to all the country's main groups has been further hampered by the surge in sectarian conflict.

Targeted sectarian violence killed at least five people Sunday. Three men died in a gunfight at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad and two relatives of a top Sunni cleric were slain in a drive-by shooting. Sunnis accused deaths squads allied to the interim government, allegations denied by the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.

U.N. envoy to Iraq Ashraf Jehangir Qazi expressed serious concern Sunday about human rights in the country, citing reports of excessive use of force, illegal detention centers and disappearances — many of them the responsibility of insurgents.

The political turmoil has left a dangerous leadership vacuum as Iraq's armed forces, backed by the U.S. military, battle to contain sectarian violence that has pushed Iraq toward civil war.

The Pentagon's top general said Sunday he did not think a full-blown civil conflict would break out, although he acknowledged "anything can happen."

"I do not believe it has deep roots. I do not believe that they're on the verge of civil war," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

A day earlier, the commander of the U.S. military's Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, said sectarian divisiveness had been worsened by the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra last month and was a threat to Iraq's stability.

During a meeting with Iraqi leaders Saturday, Abizaid urged them to resolve the differences stalling the formation of a government.

"The shrine bombing exposed a lot of sectarian fissures that have been apparent for a while, but it was the first time I've seen it move in a direction that was unhelpful to the political process," Abizaid said afterward.

The U.S. government sees a government with participation across Iraq's communities as a key step toward improving security and weakening support for insurgents, which would allow Washington and its allies to lower troop numbers.

Under the constitution, the Shiites' United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, has the first crack at forming a government and chose al-Jaafari as its nominee for prime minister.

But the Alliance has too few seats to act alone. And it is facing a drive by Sunni, Kurdish and some secular parties that want to prevent al-Jaafari from continuing at the end of the government, favoring instead current Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Abdul-Mahdi lost in the Shiite caucus by one vote to al-Jaafari, who won with the support of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Abdul-Mahdi is backed by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a powerful Shiite leader who is frequently at odds politically with al-Sadr. Both have strong militias behind them.

Underlining the divisions within the Alliance, some Shiite leaders are troubled by al-Jaafari's ties to the radical and openly anti-American al-Sadr.

The Sunni Arab minority, meanwhile, blames al-Jaafari for the Shiite militiamen who attacked Sunni mosques and clerics after the Feb. 22 bombing of the shrine in Samarra. More than 500 people died in the violence that followed, according to police and hospitals.

Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, said Iraq has gone from "bad to worse" under al-Jaafari.

"Al-Jaafari's government failed to solve the chaos that followed the Samarra explosions and did not take any measures to solve the security crisis that could have pushed the country into civil war," he said in comments posted on the Web site of the Iraqi Accordance Front, a Sunni group.

Kurds are angry because they believe al-Jaafari is holding up resolution of their claims to control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

"If al-Jaafari tries to form a government, he will not get any kind of cooperation," said Mahmoud Othman, a leading figure in the Kurdish bloc.

President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd, was one of the first to publicly initiate the dump-Jaafari movement, calling for a candidate who could build consensus.

Two lawmakers from al-Jaafari's Dawa Party hinted Saturday that they got an endorsement for their leader during a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric.

But a senior al-Sistani aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the dispute, said Sunday that the spiritual leader indirectly suggested al-Jaafari step aside.

Sectarian attacks remained a problem.

Gunmen stormed a Sunni mosque in west Baghdad early Sunday, killing three people in a 25-minute gunbattle. Witnesses said U.S. helicopters hovered above the exchange of fire and U.S. troops forces moved in to stop the fighting and remove casualties.

Iraqi police and mosque officials said commandos from the Interior Ministry staged the attack.

Later, the office of one of the country's top Sunni leaders said one of his nephews and a cousin were killed by gunmen in another part of west Baghdad.

The Interior Ministry denied involvement in either attack.

Sunni and Shiite clerics jointly appealed for an end to the violence and called for Muslim unity and the protection of religious sites.

"Extinguish the flames of the sectarian treachery. Every drop of blood shed is a waste," said the statement by followers of al-Sadr and members of the Sunni Endowment, a government agency responsible for Sunni mosques and shrines.

Pressure on Iraq's al-Jaafari Intensifies

[Shammu]

China defends arms budget, Taiwan warns of missiles
Tue Mar 7, 2006am ET8

By Ben Blanchard and Alice Hung

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China's foreign minister sought on Tuesday to deflect concerns over the announcement of another double-digit rise in the military budget, saying the country had spent far less than the United States.

The defense came as self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has threatened to recover by force, said that China has accumulated nearly 800 missiles capable of bombing the island for 10 hours, and warned the threat is increasing rapidly.

China at the weekend unveiled a 14.7 percent jump in 2006 defense spending compared to the previous year, or a total of 283.8 billion yuan ($35.3 billion), amid renewed tension across potential regional flash point the Taiwan Strait.

The rise is the latest of a succession of double-digit increases in military spending. U.S. defense officials and many analysts have said Beijing in fact spends much more on military equipment and forces than the official budget shows.

Much of that spending is aimed at boosting a force numerically large but lacking in modern equipment and professionalism, one of whose main missions could be to force Taiwan into unification with China.

"The military expenditure of China, though increased somewhat, is way less than the military expenditure of the country where you come from," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told a U.S. reporter at a news briefing in Beijing.

Li pointed out that China's military spending, in per capita terms, was just 1/77 of that of the United States, adding that China would only use weapons in defense.

"China's national defense policy is transparent, it is completely defensive in nature," he told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament.

Li pointed out that China said in 1964, when it carried out its first nuclear test, that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.

"Are there any other countries in the world with nuclear weapons who have made as transparent and as sincere a pledge as China?" he said.

CONCERNED NEIGHBOURS

But Japan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged Beijing to take steps toward nuclear disarmament, to strictly control exports of missile technologies and to disclose military data, saying information on China's military remained "opaque".

And in Taipei, Taiwan's Defense Ministry told reporters that China was adding its arsenal of ballistic missiles at between 75-100 a year, up from 50 previously.

"They are capable of launching 5 waves of attacks and intensive bombardment for 10 hours continuously," Chen Chang-hwa from the Taiwan ministry's intelligences office told reporters.

"They can attack airports, power plants and other facilities," Chen said as he showed a satellite picture of a missile commend center in eastern Jiangxi.

Relations have been strained since Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian scrapped the island's National Unification Council and its 15-year-old guidelines on eventual unification with the mainland. Chinese President Hu Jintao labeled the move a "grave provocation".

The Taiwan issue has also been a thorn in the side of Sino-U.S. relations, as Washington is the island's main arms supplier, much to Beijing's chagrin, a fact acknowledged by Li.

"The Taiwan question is the biggest factor influencing Sino-U.S. relations," Li said, adding that he hoped the United States would not "give the wrong messages to Taiwan".

The United States recognizes the mainland as China's sole legitimate government -- the "one-China" policy -- but in a deliberately ambiguous piece of foreign policy it is also obliged by law to help Taiwan defend itself.

Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack the democratic island of 23 million people if it formally declares independence.

China defends arms budget, Taiwan warns of missiles

[Shammu]

Iraq Weapons -- Made in Iran?
Intelligence Officials Say Weapons Responsible for Increasing U.S. Deaths in Iraq
By BRIAN ROSS, RICHARD ESPOSITO and JILL RACKMILL

March 6, 2006 — - U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border.

They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops' strongest armor.

What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures -- certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.

"The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production," says explosives expert Kevin Barry. "So it's the same make and model."

U.S. officials say roadside bomb attacks against American forces in Iraq have become much more deadly as more and more of the Iran-designed and Iran-produced bombs have been smuggled in from the country since last October.

"I think the evidence is strong that the Iranian government is making these IEDs, and the Iranian government is sending them across the border and they are killing U.S. troops once they get there," says Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism chief and an ABC News consultant. "I think it's very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops."

'Very Lethal'

U.S. intelligence officials say Iran is using the bombs as a way to drive up U.S. casualties in Iraq but without provoking a direct confrontation.

John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Feb. 2, saying, "Tehran's intention to inflict pain on the United States and Iraq has been constrained by its caution to avoid giving Washington an excuse to attack it."

The U.S. Army has embarked on a crash effort to find ways to stop the bombs, according to an unclassified report issued last month. The devices are easily hidden and detonated by motion detectors -- like those used in garden security lights -- that cannot be jammed.

When exploded, the copper disc becomes a molten liquid bullet that can penetrate the thickest armor the United States has.

"They penetrate the armor of an M1 Abrams tank," Clarke says. "They're shape charges. They go through anything, and they are very lethal."

There is currently no real defense against the weapons, he says.

"The Pentagon has a major crash study under way to figure out how to stop them," Clarke says, "but they haven't figured it out yet."

Iraq Weapons -- Made in Iran?

[Shammu]

Campus crash was 'to spread will of Allah'

Monday, March 6, 2006; Posted: 1:34 p.m. EST (18:34 GMT)

vert.taheriazar.dep.mon.jpg
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar appeared at a hearing in Orange County District Court on Monday.
WATCH
   Browse/Search
Nine students are hit by an SUV (1:13)   
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
University of North Carolina
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This?

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (AP) -- A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."

At about the same time, UNC students held what they called an "anti-terrorism" rally on the Chapel Hill campus.

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar was accused of driving a sport utility vehicle through The Pit, a popular campus gathering spot, injuring nine people Friday. None of the victims was seriously hurt.

Police Chief Derek Poarch said Taheri-azar told investigators he intentionally hit people to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world."

Taheri-azar appeared in Orange County District Court in nearby Hillsborough. He was assigned a public defender, but said after the hearing: "The truth is my lawyer."

Taheri-azar, 22, was charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault. His bail was set at $5.5 million.

Taheri-azar graduated from North Carolina in December after studying psychology and philosophy. Investigators believe he has spent most of his life in the United States, Poarch said Saturday.

The school's chapter of the College Republicans helped organize Monday's campus rally against terrorism.

"We don't want terrorism here, and we're not gonna stand for that where we live and where we go to school," said Kris Wampler, a student at UNC and member group.

Student Staci Griner said the incident was unsettling for UNC students.

"You feel kind of removed from the bigger attacks, like 9/11, because they're not in your immediate town. We walk around and meet people and never think it's one of our own," said Griner, 21. "I feel like the whole world is falling apart."

Campus crash was 'to spread will of Allah'

My note; No this crash had nothing to do will allah. All this fool wanted was to kill, and try and get away with it........ DW

[nChrist]

Dreamweaver Said:

"You feel kind of removed from the bigger attacks, like 9/11, because they're not in your immediate town. We walk around and meet people and never think it's one of our own," said Griner, 21. "I feel like the whole world is falling apart."

Campus crash was 'to spread will of Allah'

My note; No this crash had nothing to do will allah. All this fool wanted was to kill, and try and get away with it........ DW

Brother, I thought long and hard about this case when I heard it on the news. One must think about the indoctrination and actual brain-washing of this false religion and what they teach the children from the very beginning. There is no irony that there is an evil and senseless violence just waiting to be unleashed for the slightest reason or NO reason at all. In fact, it's more than sufficient that their victims are Jews or Christians. It just doesn't matter that the victims are completely innocent of anything. Bluntly, this is an evil work of the devil.

Love In Christ,
Tom

John 1:10-13 NASB  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.