Week In Review September 9, 2011

I have written quite a bit this week about Iran and its apparent intentions. Monday I had asked if Iran is planning on being the seat of the caliphate. The answer to that is yes, I believe that Iran is planning to be the seat of the caliphate. It may have been al Qaeda that wrote the 7 Phases, but it is Iran that is carrying them out. Those phases are outlined below.

The First Phase is "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003.In short, to provoke and promote war.
The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." 
The Third Phase This is an "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria,"

The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments.

The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared.

The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.
The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory."

So far, Ahmedinijad is leading the way on this. Chaos is central to Ahmadinejad's religious beliefs and, by extension, his hopes for the future. He believes, as many zealous Shi'ites do, that the Twelfth Imam, or "Mahdi," a messianic figure from the ninth century, will soon reappear to signal the end of the modern world and the onset of Islamic justice over all the earth. Ahmadinejad believes that his presidency will herald the Mahdi.

It has come out that Iran was one of the first to purchase a missile launching system from Russia. This system, known as the Club K, can be hidden inside a cargo container and brought right into the target zone. Until it is activated the system is virtually undetectable. By the time that anyone knows the system is in place it will be far too late to do anything about the first few vollies of rockets launched. To make this even better, the Club K can deploy low level nuclear warheads.

With Syria being part of the aforementioned 7 Step Plan, I have looked more at the country than Obama and Clinton seem to. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to U.S. President Barack Obama: Your words are worthless. How much more succinct can that be? The East sees giving in and changing the way it conducting itself as giving up all their rights.Al-Assad, al-Basher of Sudan, and Ahmedinijad believe that it is their right to kill whoever gets in their way. No amount of apologizing by Obama or tes sipped at a table with Clinton is going to change that. While the UN eventually was tasked to bring a change in Libya, it is not likely here. As a proxy to Iran, al-Assad has said "Not in their wildest dreams – not now and not under different circumstances." an, in fact, continues to slaughter the Sunni population of his own country.

This week we got to read an excellent piece on the nine fronts of war that Israel is facing.  The Arab Spring has turned to an arid and deadly Arab Summer. The spreading chaos and failing of governments across the region would fit into the plan of Ahmedinijad to herald in the mahdi. In order to accomplish this, there must be utter chaos, and chaos is spreading like roaches in a tenement building. Iranian proxies are now surrounding Israel and Saudi Arabia. And Iran is moving ahead with alacrity to attain full nuclear capability.

Part of the recommended, and underdone, initiatives is the Container Security Initiative.; an initiative that would make the use of the Club K far more difficult from inside contiguous waters near large ports. The raid in Pakistan by the SEALs brought back plans that Osama was still planning to attack ports or attack from them. From the information I have seen, this piece of our national armor is another languishing from the neglect of the Appeaser in Chief and his lackeys.

Meanwhile, the TSA continues to steal, rape, and plunder the people and nation it is supposed to be protecting. Even the new Behavioral Assessment plan has had one member caught and arrested for assisting a drug courier.

But not to worry! Seriously, Napolitano has just paid out some $12 million dollars under the Homeland Fiscal Grant Allocations decision. After reviewing them there is not one penny given to detect or to look at suspect shipping containers. She has paid $12 mil into "feel good" programs that, in the end, will amount to squat. The letter written by Dr. Jim Giermanski, Chairman Powers Global Holdings, Inc. makes that point abundantly clear.

(http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/07/assessment-of-todays-articles.html).

“But, surely, we can talk reason to them” I hear at the coffee shops. To which I reply, “You can’t talk reason to the insane and don’t call me Shirley.” Peaceful discourse, mutually supportive policies, economic growth, and the realization of certain inalienable rights to all peoples is one way of summarizing US goals and diplomatic efforts. Achieving these goals anywhere has proven difficult. Achieving these goals in the Middle East has proven impossible, at least for the past several decades. Dealing with Iran and Syria has been emblematic of this struggle faced by US policy makers.

We, as a nation, are facing several threats and problems. Many of which can be dealt with in the immediate and short term by opening up jobs in America. Those jobs that would help us most to increase manufacturing and decrease our reliance on the importation of OPEC petroleum (which is now run by a person identified by the US Treasury and the State Department as a criminal whose assets should be frozen, an apparent supporter of terror, and legally banned from doing business with US persons and corporations) are in the US petroleum market. By lifting Theban on US drilling, authorizing the Keystone XL Pipeline, and lowering taxes on businesses there would be an immediate jump in employment and national revenue due to nearly 2million people going to work. This would also serve our nation in the mid and long term as we would quickly get stronger and would be able to exploit the natural gas and oil reserves in a cleaner and safer manner than those in the Middle East. These reserves, mind you, are estimated to represent some 92% of the world’s resources by 2032.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and, please, call your elected officials and insist they support America.

Share this blog with all your friends, family, and opponents!

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/08/the_seven_phase.php#ixzz1XaDq7kim

http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-dhs-fiscal-grant-allocations.html

http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/open-letter-to-secretary-napolitano.html

Nine Fronts in the Next War

After having written and posted several pieces regarding Iran and its malignant spread I find this piece at Front Page Magazine. The BLUF is that, in case of a war against Israel, nine fronts have the potential to exist. Israel is surrounded and will have to make one of two choices

1.      1. Fight conventionally and die

2.      2. Go nuclear

There will be no help from the Obama administration if it happens before the next election. That’s my take. Please, let me know your take.

Nine Fronts in the Next War

Posted By David Meir-Levi On September 7, 2011 @ 12:30 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage |

The current unrest pursuant to the “Arab Spring” is a mixed blessing for Iran. On one hand, if young Bashir were to fall, Iran will lose its most important ally in the western part of the Arab world. A break with Syria would be a serious defeat for Iran, since it would no longer be able to supply Hezbollah directly, nor would it have direct contact and supervision over its proxy terror armies in Lebanon, the Sinai, and the Gaza Strip.  It would also be very bad news for Hezbollah, whose terrorist leaders rely heavily on Iranian supplies, funds, and armaments, all channeled into Lebanon via Syria.  Hamas too would suffer from a break in its link with its Iranian godfather.

But on the other hand, Iran is exploiting the great opportunity created by the chaos and upheaval of the “Arab Spring”.  Iran does not want to see its foothold in the west undermined by this upheaval, so it has helped Bashir in his use of extreme force; and it has also begun to manipulate the “Arab Spring” violence and unrest to its advantage.

To gain maximum benefit from the situation in Egypt and to turn the world’s attention from Syria, Iran has activated two of its proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to renew attacks on Israel: blowing up the natural gas pipeline from the northern Sinai to Israel, firing scores of rockets into Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza Strip, most recently launching three brutal attacks on civilians near Eilat, and more in the offing.  Igniting a new war between Israel and Egypt, or at least precipitating a crescendo in the incendiary calls for war from the Egyptian populous and neighboring Arab states, would be a marvelous win-win for Iran and for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the best organized and most popular of the political groups contending for power in post-Mubarak Egypt.

If Israel’s response to the attacks from the Gaza Strip and Sinai were to trigger a war with Egypt, Israel is likely to win; but the turmoil and upheaval in the wake of that war would weaken the Egyptian generals currently ruling Egypt with a temporary de facto mandate.  Once shamed in defeat, they would lose credibility and popularity (there already have been protests against their continued rule and postponed elections).  This scenario would create the perfect storm into which the MB could sail to political control.  If, despite the attacks, Israel shows restraint, the MB can still shame the generals for not confronting Israel, and then either provoke a war or use the failure of the generals to confront Israel as a way to shame and weaken them and pave the way for the MB’s own rise to power.

Better yet, if Iran, through its proxies, could spark a war with Israel, and the other forces confronting Israel were to join in, Israel would be fighting on many fronts at once.  In that case, the likelihood of Israel’s victory is in question.

El Qaeda is thoroughly ensconced in the Sinai.  Currently Israel and Egypt are said to be in conversation about Egypt’s re-militarizing the Sinai, so perhaps the Egyptian army could be deployed against al-Qaeda and Hamas there.  But if the MB succeeds in gaining a position of political strength in Egypt, it is not likely that the Egyptian military will be deployed in the Sinai to drive al-Qaeda out.  Quite the opposite, the MB wants a military confrontation with Israel. So it is likely to see al-Qaeda in Sinai as an ally in such a war. And if the MB and al-Qaeda go to war against Israel, then Hamas in the Gaza Strip is sure to follow.  Hamas cannot stand idly by while its Egyptian brethren initiate the great final jihad against Israel.

With Egypt, al-Qaeda and Hamas attacking Israel on its southern and western fronts, Iran will want Hezbollah to get in on the action and make use of the thousands of rockets and missiles that it has stockpiled just for this very moment, thus opening a northern front.

Syria may have difficulty deploying a large military force on the Golan front if it must use its military against its civilian demonstrators; but Iran will be in a position to aid Syria in suppressing unrest (probably in a manner similar to what Bashir’s father Hafez el-Assad did in 1982), and young Bashir will want a distraction on the Golan front to turn his citizenry’s attention, and the opprobrium of the world, from his slaughter of unarmed demonstrators. Even if Bashir falls, undesirable for Iran but an eventuality that the Mullahs may be anticipating, a Syrian government run by the MB or other Islamo-fascists of that ilk will be delighted to join Egypt and others in a pincer-movement assault on Israel. So a Syrian Golan front is very likely to open once Israel is at war with Egypt, Hamas, el-Qaeda and Hezbollah.

In the West Bank, Hamas is strong because its extreme Islamo-fascist ideology and commitment to Israel’s annihilation hold the sympathies of many.  Fatah and the PLO, the main components of the PA, are condemned in some circles for their collaboration with Israel.  The PA will not be able to maintain a position of power if it chooses to sit out a war against Israel; especially since the PA is in stiff competition with Hamas for the hearts and minds of the West Bank electorate, and it looks like entering a shooting war with Israel is a good way to win those hearts and minds.  So it is very likely that another intifada could erupt once the southern, western and northern fronts are aflame, probably targeting the Israeli communities scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Such a terror offensive could cause high numbers of casualties but is not likely to create an existential military threat.  However, a West Bank terror war would be a serious distraction for Israel and would reduce Israel’s ability to concentrate its military on the fronts that are existential threats.

And then there are the Arab Israelis.  No one knows for sure how many Arab Israelis are active supporters of Hamas et al, but however many there are, they could be mobilized for fifth column terrorism against Israeli military bases, infrastructure, and civilians: another distraction that would sap Israel’s ability to face the greater threats on its borders.

Egypt, al-Qaeda in Sinai, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria in the Golan, Palestinian terrorist forces in the West Bank, and Arab Israelis in downtown Israel: Seven fronts.

But there’s more!

Jordan sits on a powder keg and the MB is itching to light the fuse.  If the MB succeeds in supplanting the Hashemites, there can be little doubt that the newly Islamized Jordan will join the war against Israel, at very least by aiding and abetting the West Bank Arab terrorists, and perhaps by launching their own invasion from the east: front number eight.

Iran is moving ahead with alacrity to achieve WMD capabilities, despite some setbacks engineered by Israel over the past 5 years (Stuxnet being the most recent). Iran already has missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads to Israel and beyond.  West Bank or Israeli Muslims vaporized by Iran’s nuclear attack are not part of the Mullahs’ concerns.  Muslim men will be martyrs, united with their celestial virgins (unclear what happens to the women and children), and besides, “Allah knows best who is wounded in His way.”[i] The Arabs of the West Bank and Israel are merely expendable pawns , collateral damage, just part of the price that the Arab world must pay for its final victory over Israel.  Syria is a very important part of this equation, because Syria has substantial stockpiles of missiles and chemical warheads which can be deployed against all of Israel at very close range, to augment the internal terrorism from the West Bank and from Arab Israelis, and to mop up whatever of Israel may survive Iran’s nuclear attack.

So Iran is front number nine – and it will be a nuclear front.

In short, Israel is in greater danger now than it has ever been, even more so than during its 1948 war of survival.

Notes:

[i] A quote from Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, from his writings on Jihad, quoting a Hadith from Sahih Bukhari.  See http://web.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/jihad/ and http://www.sunnipath.com/library/Hadith/H0002P0061.aspx for Qur’anic and extra-Qur’anic sources.

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/07/nine-fronts-in-the-next-war/print/

Child Soldiers In Somalia

Reports coming from the Horn of Africa indicate that al-Shabaab, one of the more influentially destructive forces to humanity in the region, has long been taking children and using them as soldiers. The name “al-Shabaab” is Arabic for “The Youth”. Amnesty International, other human rights groups, and I are finally being heard in this disgusting act of war on the most innocent of the world, its children.

Let’s put the point of Youth into perspective for the Western World readers. Somalia has an average life expectancy of 48 years for males. This is nothing new. The environment is harsh and unforgiving. Life there is also hard and unforgiving. If you are not harder than the environment, you die. Again, the average life span in Somalia is 48 years. What is middle age in this culture? Mathematically it comes out to be 24. In Western cultures this is just out of college and still in the phase of heavy drinking every weekend. By age 24, in most parts of Africa, children have been tending the herd, minding the store, and hunting to help support their brothers and sisters and mother and father. They do not have anything that we could really call a childhood.

Al-Shabaab started off as the militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia during the ICU reign in 2006 and into 2007. ICU left and al-Shabaab remained. They said from the start that they would fight to the death. Children were used as disposable items if they did not meet the standards set for them. This use of children is despicable, illegal, and utterly disgusting.

It is not just in Somalia. Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, has its share of child soldiers, also. Chad has only just put together a plan to demobilize its child soldiers. The Philippines just passed a bill against it after muslims rebels talked with the UN about weaning their child soldiers from war. Yemen uses child soldiers regularly.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/08/11/Al-Shabaab-conscripting-child-soldiers/UPI-52341313077780/

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/11/myanmar.child.soldier/

Secret Talks

BLUF

The bottom line up front for holding Secret Talks with any terrorist is to say "Let me save face as I offer you a surrender." Look at Somalia, peace talks are also used as a time to re-arm. In that book they read it talks about the Peace of Salah Din. In this peace agreement, those who quietly offered surrender were slaughtered once they lay down their arms.

How much of our tax dollars went to pay for a failed surrender attempt?

Secret peace talks between US and Taliban collapse over leaks

Secret exploratory peace talks between the United States and the Taliban leadership have broken down after details of the negotiations were leaked, Western diplomats have told The Daily Telegraph. 

By Dean Nelson, Ben Farmer in Kabul

9:00PM BST 10 Aug 2011

The breakdown in the talks at such an early stage has led to recriminations and claims that the details of the meetings and the identity of the Taliban's chief negotiator were deliberately leaked by 'paranoid' Afghan government figures.

Absolute confidentiality had been a key condition for the meetings which were held in Germany and Qatar earlier this year between Tayeb Agha, Taliban leader Mullah Omar's former private secretary, and senior officials from the US State Department and Central Intelligence Agency. The meetings were chaired by Michael Steiner, Germany's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The talks were described as a preliminary exercise aimed at agreeing a series of confidence-building measures to persuade the Taliban that the United States and its allies are serious about a negotiated settlement, sources close to the talks told The Daily Telegraph.

They said Taliban leaders were extremely nervous about entering talks because of widespread scepticism among their own commanders who believed the Americans were only seeking dialogue to divide their movement and fears that any discussions would damage their own credibility.

But after only three sessions details of two meetings in Germany and one in Qatar – held in March and April - were leaked to the Washington Post and Der Spiegel news magazine which named Tayeb Agha as the key Taliban negotiator.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8693247/Secret-peace-talks-between-US-and-Taliban-collapse-over-leaks.html

Iranian Aid To Eritrea and Somalia

Bottom Line Up Front

BLUF

Training, supplies, transportation, and other logistics support are provided by Eritrea to al-Shabaab in Somalia. Why would Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and General Te'ame Goitom, Eritrea's external intelligence operations chief in the horn, go through the trouble and expense of imposing taxes on its expats? According to the chart at NationMaster.com ranking countries by income per capita, Eritrea is ranked 164^th out of 170 nations with an average income of $145.39 per person. If I was at the head of a country with that kind of income I would push for expat workers to send something back, too.

Background:

But, why spend what little money they get on war and a proxy war with Ethiopia? The two countries have been fighting since 1963. Eritrea is currently a 50/50 split on religion, Christianity and Islam, being the two major beliefs. I do not think that is really at the base of the issue. I believe that, since Iran has shown interest in uranium (which is available in the Horn of Africa) and sees an opportunity to impact how trade is shipped (control one end of the Red Sea and you can effectively shut down the Suez Canal), the continuance of this decades old conflict is being fueled by Iran.

Where Iran sees a chance to get some cash and have a wider influence, Afwerki sees a partner in unseating Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi. How can fueling conflict in Somalia unseat Zenawi in Ethiopia? If Zenawi spends enough resources and time in Somalia propping up the fragile government there, Eritrea can conduct easier and more effective border skirmishes with Ethiopia.

More and more nations are recognizing that Afwerki has been sending plane loads of weapons and aid to al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia in violation of UN bans and international agreements.

With the addition of a new naval base at Jask at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, and new basing at Assab in Eritrea, Iran can exercise a decisive military presence on multiple shores astride the pivotal oil sea lanes.

Iran has been, for several years now, strengthening its diplomatic and economic ties to several African nations including, but not limited to, Nigeria, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, and Sudan. With stronger ties and, presumably, a correspondingly stronger presence around Africa, Iran stands to gain regional influence  that is likely to threaten, or at least severely degrade, security in the European southern coastal regions and the Western Hemisphere. I believe that such a relationship will not significantly degrade, but rather spread, piracy like that which is being seen in Somali waters.

With Iranian aid going to both Shabaab and the Somali government, how does US aid fit in? Where is the line between supporting the corrupt and weak Transitional Federal Government and supporting terrorist groups? How is it that we can operate alongside a country which has been and is still under international legal sanctions for overtly and covertly supporting terrorism?

Articles Referenced

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/money-raised-from-bay-area-eritreans-help-finance-al-shabaab-al-qaeda/

http://www.asmarino.com/news-analysis/170-eritreas-dangerous-iran-and-al-shabaab-connections-

http://thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=980&pageid=37&pagename=Page+One

http://www.irantracker.org/foreign-relations/somalia-iran-foreign-relations

http://www.economist.com/node/15453225

US Tax Dollars For Mosques

Could the mosques being rebuilt with your tax dollars be proven to have been used as weapons storage, training centers, and/or points from which to stage violent attacks from be proven? Using any religious building in such a manner is illegal under international and religous law. If we are rebuilding mosques that had been destroyed because they were used in such a manner, is this giving aid to the enemy?
On August 4th I posted a summary of the US giving $33.486 BILLION dollars to the Middle East. Paying for mosques and NOT paying for rebuilding of churches is, to many (including me), a blatant discrimonatory act. Our First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law in the repsect of establishing one religion over another. What about this? Can the president say build that mosque and have Congress pay for it while ignoring the slaughter of Christians in Niger and Nigeria? Is this administration going to reimburse for the reconstruction of churches throughout the Balkans? Absolutely not.

The other issue with paying for mosques to be built is how many of the mosques destroyed had been selected as targets because of ongoing activities that were deadly to US Forces. This would include housing and training insurgents and weapons/munitions storage.

Recently, Libyan snpiers were firing from mosques roof tops. NATO operations chief denounced Qaddafi for his use of mosques as firing positions. When the US went in to take down Hussein, there were weapons and gunmen on and around mosques. When we went into Kuwait, in the first Gulf War, there were gunmen and weaponssystems on mosques. In Israel (a country where Arabs have more rights and freedoms than in Arab countries) Hamas uses mosques for everything that can be tied to attacking Israel. In January a mosques that had been used as a rocket storage facility to attack Israel was struck. This resulted in "a lengthy series of secondary explosions and a large fire caused by the ammunitions stockpiled in the mosque."

Written on August 8, 2011 by Giacomo

US Tax Dollars Building Mosques Overseas

A debt plan passed that doesn’t cut debt or spending and now the Standard and Poors has lowered the US credit rating because they believe the plan failed to accomplish what was needed. The President continues to talk about increasing taxes on the wealthy and other politicians are looking at cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits.

All the while, the US State Department, headed by Secretary of State Hillary ‘Spendem’ Clinton is spending hundreds of millions of  US taxpayer dollars to repair and rebuild mosques in the Middle East. They are also providing internet service to Islamic Imans as seen in the following news report:

The same State Department would not dare spend a penny on Christian churches or internet service for Christian pastors here in the US as it would be a violation of the supposed separation of church and state. Why are we spending our money on a religion that has vowed to destroy us when we have people in our own country that are losing their jobs and homes?

This is an outrage to the American people and we need to make our outrage known to our political leaders and tell them to take Clinton’s government checkbook away from her and her colleagues.


http://www.usf-iraq.com/?option=com_content&task=view&id=9614&Itemid=21


Read more: US Tax Dollars Building Mosques Overseas | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/412/us-tax-dollars-building-mosques-overseas/#ixzz1UWrL8E1M

http://idfspokesperson.com/2009/01/02/iaf-strike-on-mosque-used-as-weapon-storage-site-2-jan-2009/

Forced conversions to Islam are rising

In the United States this is still called kidnapping and rape Pakistan: Bishop of Islamabad warns forced conversions to Islam are rising as another Christian girl is abducted As with the situation in Egypt, this is not at all the first time we have seen such behavior in Pakistan. Two such prominent cases in Pakistan have been those of Saba (or Sarah) and Anila Masih, and Farah Hatim. The news organization Fides has reported that "at least 700 Christian girls are kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam every year." Hindu girls are targeted as well, and many cases go unreported, or are brushed aside by authorities. Here is yet another case. Thankfully, Mariam Gill was returned to her family, but not surprisingly, her thwarted captor is making threats. "Punjab: Christian woman forced to convert and marry her kidnapper," by Jibran Khan for AsiaNews, August 6 (thanks to Kenneth):

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was legal. However, her case however is similar to that of Farah Hatim (see Jibran Khan, “The drama of Farah Hatim, common to many women in Pakistan,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011) and is indicative of a climate of impunity for people who abuse Christian women. The bishop of Islamabad warns that the “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate”.

Mariam is a young Christian woman from Kahota, a town some 20 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. She was abducted on Wednesday by one Muhammad Junaid, a local Muslim, who forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.

The young woman’s father, Munir Gill, said that Junaid is an “important businessman”. He had “his eyes on my daughter and asked her for marriage.” He complained to the man’s fathers “without results”.

“Mariam went to the market on Wednesday, but never returned,” said her brother Sohail Gill. “We searched for her everywhere. Some people in the market told us that they saw Muhammad Junaid forcefully taking Mariam from the market. We went to the police to register a case, but they delayed the application and showed no interest in the matter.”

Yesterday, a local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “converted Mariam to Islam and celebrated her marriage with Muhammad Junaid”.

The police are no help:

“Muhammad Junaid is a respectable Muslim businessman,” said Amir Mirza, a police officer in Kahota. “The young woman converted and married him of ‘her own free will’.

It would not be surprising if she were also forced to sign a document stating she converted freely, so that on paper, there was "no compulsion in religion" (Qur'an 2:256). Islamic law is replete with various means of coercion to attempt to induce non-Muslims to convert, and Sharia enforced on society ensures believers and non-believers at least go through the motions of observing the laws. Ultimately, those in power could care less about splitting hairs on where persuasion ends and "compulsion" begins, and challenging them could endanger life and limb.

For Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “Muhammad Junaid is a true follower of Prophet Muhammad. He has fulfilled Sharia. Converting a non-Muslim is a pious act. Only a true Muslim can do that.”

But:

Yesterday, Mariam Gill was interrogated by local officials. She told them that she was abducted and forced to convert and that she has no intention of abandoning Christianity.

At the end of the meeting, they decided to return the young woman to her family, urging the two sides to reach an agreement. However, Muhammad Junaid issued threats, saying that if he did not get the young woman back, there would be “terrible consequences” to pay.

Contacted by AsiaNews, the bishop of Islamabad Rufin Anthony described the case as “a dreadful incident”. In his view, “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law.”

Young Christian women are not alone. Many young Hindu women have been forced to flee across the border into India in the face of government and police indifference.

“It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan,” the prelate said.

http://www.gnsec.com/modules/d3pipes/index.php?page=clipping&clipping_id=51465

Punjab: Christian woman forced to convert and marry her kidnapper

Mariam Gill was abducted on her way home from the market. Her father and brother filed a complaint with police, which failed to intervene however because her kidnapper is “a respectable Muslim businessman”. A Muslim religious leader says the action was in accordance with Islamic law. Islamabad ...

Saturday, August 06, 2011

By Asia News  

 

Islamabad – Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was legal. However, her case however is similar to that of Farah Hatim (see Jibran Khan, “The drama of Farah Hatim, common to many women in Pakistan,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011) and is indicative of a climate of impunity for people who abuse Christian women. The bishop of Islamabad warns that the “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate”.

Mariam is a young Christian woman from Kahota, a town some 20 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. She was abducted on Wednesday by one Muhammad Junaid, a local Muslim, who forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.

The young woman’s father, Munir Gill, said that Junaid is an “important businessman”. He had “his eyes on my daughter and asked her for marriage.” He complained to the man’s fathers “without results”.

“Mariam went to the market on Wednesday, but never returned,” said her brother Sohail Gill. “We searched for her everywhere. Some people in the market told us that they saw Muhammad Junaid forcefully taking Mariam from the market. We went to the police to register a case, but they delayed the application and showed no interest in the matter.”

Yesterday, a local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “converted Mariam to Islam and celebrated her marriage with Muhammad Junaid”.

“Muhammad Junaid is a respectable Muslim businessman,” said Amir Mirza, a police officer in Kahota. “The young woman converted and married him of ‘her own free will’.

For Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “Muhammad Junaid is a true follower of Prophet Muhammad. He has fulfilled Sharia. Converting a non-Muslim is a pious act. Only a true Muslim can do that.”

Yesterday, Mariam Gill was interrogated by local officials. She told them that she was abducted and forced to convert and that she has no intention of abandoning Christianity.

At the end of the meeting, they decided to return the young woman to her family, urging the two sides to reach an agreement. However, Muhammad Junaid issued threats, saying that if he did not get the young woman back, there would be “terrible consequences” to pay.

Contacted by AsiaNews, the bishop of Islamabad Rufin Anthony described the case as “a dreadful incident”. In his view, “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law.”

Young Christian women are not alone. Many young Hindu women have been forced to flee across the border into India in the face of government and police indifference.

“It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan,” the prelate said.

Religious Intolerance

It was January 14^th, 2011 when Obama declared the 16^th to be Religious Freedom Day.

“My Administration continues to defend the cause of religious freedom in the United States and around the world … human right and to foster tolerance and peace with those whose beliefs differ from our own … The United States stands with those who advocate for free religious expression and works to protect the rights of all people to follow their conscience, free from persecution and discrimination.” In this proclamation Obama asserts that he, as President will support religious freedom and seek to prevent persecution of those who practice different beliefs. It all sounds nice; however, what does he mean by “seek”? To me, it means to look for. IT does not provide for finding or actively protecting that right.

Coptic Christians are being murdered in Egypt, this being the new regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, I would say expect more of that. Girls are being taken, raped, and put into forced marriages. In one most horrific attack a toddler was sexually attacked in view of her parents to force their conversion. That child is likely physically crippled for life. She and her family are reported to be living in Canada now seeking asylum.

Obama had nothing to say at Easter; he did, though, have great and grand things to say yesterday about the coming Ramadan. Now, Obama misses an opportunity to comment on a gathering of national leaders from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan, representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian political establishment elements, as well as Hezbollah, and Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations coming together to talk. Aren’t some of these listed as terrorist groups or terror supporting entities? Where is the outrage? Obama must have had a speech written for this occasion. What will come from the White House regarding the slaughter of Syrians by their own government as the peaceful Ramadan comes along?

I do not believe that he will say anything. Even if he did, he would do much less.

Dalits ask govt to stop forced conversions

Zaib Azkaar HussainWednesday, July 27, 2011


Representatives of the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network (PDSN), who held at a meeting at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Centre, demanded of the government to take notice of alleged abduction of Dalit girls and then their forced conversion to Islam.

They expressed serious concern over alleged social and economic discrimination against scheduled castes arguing that well-organised and conscious attempts were being made to reduce the share of schedule castes in the overall population of Pakistan in the house counting and the coming census.

The representatives further alleged forced labour, abduction of Dalit girls, and forced conversions of religion and illegal occupation of religious places of minorities.

Dr Sono Khangharani of the Thardeep Rural Development Programme, Karamat Ali and Zulfiqar Shah of the Pakistan Institute of PILER, Malji Meghwar, Avinash Hari of the Upgrade Minorities for Integrated Development (UMID), Ramesh Jaipal, chairman of the Scheduled Caste Rights Movement Pakistan, and other representatives of the PDSN made speeches.

They expressed their concern over exclusion policies against scheduled caste population everywhere in Pakistan and demanded of the government to provide protection to Dalits and allot government land to landless peasants of the low-caste monitories. A large number of Dalit families are working on lands of big landlords, where they face torture and bonded labour.

The representatives of scheduled caste communities said that the share of Dalits in employment, educational scholarships, national resources, development schemes and in the parliament was inadequate and it should be enhanced according to their proportion in the population.

They noted that primary schools in many areas in Tharparkar district had been either closed or they were not functioning. Besides there were no health facilities in localities of Dalits, they added.

They decried that political parties were providing assembly tickets for the reserved seats of minorities to only upper caste Hindus, whereas actually the scheduled caste population was much more than the upper caste Hindus in Pakistan.

They feared that in the forthcoming census, the population ratio of Dalits among the minorities would further be reduced as many scheduled caste people could include themselves in “Hindus” categories, whereas a separate category of “scheduled caste” was also included in the religion column. They underlined the need to create awareness among Dalit families about getting them registered in the census as “scheduled caste.”

The speakers complained that influential people and landlords in rural areas abducted girls of poor Dalits and then marry them off, forcibly converting them to Islam.

“The parents of girls are not allowed to meet their daughters even in the case of conversion,” a member of the Dalit community complained. Moreover, he said that in many cases Dalit girls were forced to beg or become prostitutes, exploited and abused.

He demanded of the government to stop forcible conversations of Dalit girls.

Members of the Dalit community from Karachi complained that religious places of minorities in the city, particularly in Keamari and Clifton areas, were forcibly occupied by land grabbers and at many places they were not allowed to use the worship places.

They also complained that police were reluctant to register a case of murder of a Katchi Dalit community member. Moreover, in rural areas of Sindh and southern Punjab the graveyards of Dalits had been occupied by land mafias and housing schemes had been initiated at the land of graveyards, the speakers concluded.

Egypt hosts terror convention with Hamas, Hezbollah, more

Posted Jul 28 2011 20:21 CEST More from Israel Blogs - elderofziyon.blogspot.com More Bin Ladin, Egypt, Iran, Israel Palestine Conflict, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey - Go to post elderofziyon.blogspot.com - Comments (0)

From the ITIC:
On July 24-25 Egypt hosted a conference called the “Founding Conference of the Arab-Islamic Gathering to Support the Option of Resistance” [i.e., terrorism] to support the so-called “resistance” (i.e., terrorism and violence). It was held at the Egyptian Press Syndicate in Cairo. The Palestinian media reported that the conference was attended by representatives from 14 Islamic countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan. Also present were representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian political establishment elements. In addition, there were representatives from Hezbollah, and Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations. The Hezbollah representative gave a speech in the name of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Qudspress and Ma’an News Agency, July 24, 2011).

The conference attendees attempted to establish a link between the so-called “resistance” (i.e., the path of terrorism) and the popular protests in the Arab countries in recent months, stressing that the “resistance” was the only option for “liberating” Palestine. Osama Hamdan, responsible for Hamas’ international relations, said in a speech that “the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict will never end unless Israel ceased to exist,” and that Hamas would never recognize Israel (Al-Quds TV, July 24, 2011).

Syria: Over 100 killed as Ramadan starts

Syria Kills 145 on Ramadan Eve Amid International Condemnation

 Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) — Syrian soldiers sought to reassert control over a restive nation yesterday, killing 145 people in one of the deadliest bouts of violence since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began four months ago, Al Jazeera reported.

The army took action the day before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer. Tanks shelled Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, where at least 113 people were killed, the Qatari-based network said, citing the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

The regime “has been very frightened by Ramadan’s onset,” Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist who directs the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said in a telephone interview.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned” by the reports of killings in Syria, his office said in a statement yesterday. The U.S., France, Turkey and the U.K. joined Ban in condemning the violence.

Activists, analysts and refugees have said they expect the uprising to intensify during the holy month. More than 1,950 protesters have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-March, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Damascus- based Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

Challenge to Assad

The unrest poses the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule since he inherited power from his father, Hafez al-Assad, 11 years ago.

“The unfolding crackdown is going to fuel people’s anger more, there is no doubt about it,” Landis said. “Clearly the regime believes they have got to use more force and they have to get on top of this before it expands into more towns and gets beyond the capabilities of the security forces to be in all places at all times.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was “appalled” by the Syrian government’s “use of violence and brutality against its own people.” He said the reports out of Hama “demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime,” adding that Assad has “shown he is completely incapable and unwilling to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people.”

Syria will be a “better place when a democratic transition goes forward,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “In the days ahead, the United States will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government.”

French, Turkish Condemnations

France condemned the Syrian military repression and said the violence would lead to further instability, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Turkey said the events on the eve of Ramadan saddened the Islamic world and raised doubts over Assad’s commitment to a peaceful solution to the protesters’ demands. Ersat Hurmuzlu, an adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, told Al Jazeera that his government was “shocked and disappointed,” calling the military action “part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

“The operations will not only make no contribution to securing public order, they also have an extremely negative impact on the process of necessary reform,” the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said in an e-mailed statement. “The events raise questions over the Syrian administration’s goodwill and sincerity in the search for a peaceful resolution.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “appalled” by the assault. “Assad is mistaken if he believes that oppression and military force will end the crisis,” he said.

Previous Uprising

Hama, in western Syria, was the site of a 1982 uprising that the current president’s father crushed, leaving about 10,000 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch.

The city has been controlled largely by protesters for about the past month, Merhi said. Footage broadcast yesterday by Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera showed columns of black smoke billowing from the city. Gunfire and people screaming could be heard.

Al Jazeera, citing activists, said security forces opened fire on civilians next to a mosque in Daraa, killing three. Abdul-Karim Rihawi of the Syrian Human Rights League said at least 10 people were killed in Deir al-Zour, in northeastern Syria -- the same city where Syrian state television said an army colonel and two other soldiers were slain by armed men.

The unrest is likely to increase pressure on the country's economy, Chris Phillips, a London-based analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said in a telephone interview. Growth is expected to slow to 3 percent this year from 3.2 percent in 2010, the International Monetary Fund said in April. The Institute of International Finance says the economy may contract 3 percent this year.

No Tourists

The tourism industry, which accounts for about 10 percent of gross national product, is slumping, with virtually zero hotel-occupancy rates in Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo, Phillips said.

In Syria, as in other mostly Islamic countries, extended family and community groups typically gather to break the daily Ramadan fast after sunset, and people attend the mosque more frequently than in other months. Mosques have been rallying points for the Syrian protesters and greater attendance may help organizers get more people on the streets, Phillips said.

Calls for Democracy

Inspired by the overthrow of leaders in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year, demonstrators are calling for democracy and increased civil rights in the country, which has been ruled by the Assad family for four decades. Syria has been a key opponent of U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East and a power-broker in neighboring Lebanon.

Assad has blamed the protests on foreign-inspired plots, while conceding that some demonstrators have legitimate demands and pledging political changes.

The government last week approved laws that allow new political parties to exist alongside Assad's Baath Party, which has been in power since 1963, and the establishment of a commission to regulate parliamentary elections. Those moves and earlier steps toward change have failed to mollify protesters.

--With assistance from Nayla Razzouk in Amman, Alaa Shahine and Zahra Hankir in Dubai, Tara Patel in Paris, Steve Bryant in Ankara and Katarzyna Klimasinska, Mike Dorning, Flavia Krause- Jackson and Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid in Washington. Editors: Leslie Hoffecker, Daniel Enoch

Terror in China; A Turban Bomb in AF

Up Front, the Chinese are dealing with internal terroism related strikes. We are all familiar with what Russia is dealing with (or doing to) Chechnya. It is interesting to note that, in spite of the tight state security of these two nations, there is more terror related violence in their streets than in the U.S.. This enforces a significant point made by Netanyahu in his book Fighting Terrorism that a democratic republic of freedoms protected by laws that support and protect the person and society is the envrionment in which terrorists have the most difficulty operating in.

In this post I also point to the second identified use of a bomb in a turbin to kill a certain target. This is going to be used as a close in technique, not the surgical implantation of explosives that the TSA has recently warned us about.

In light of how many anti-government activists and promoters of Christianity have been made to disappear or to leave the country, I wonder what China is going to do about the Uighurs? The state has isolated Tibet very well, how far will Communist China go to protect itself from armed insurgents?

China blames Pakistan-trained militants for attack

Posted: 01-Aug-2011
Written by: AP David Wivell
Source: news.yahoo.com

URUMQI, China (AP) — China on Monday blamed Muslim extremists trained in Pakistan for launching one of two deadly weekend attacks in a troubled far western region, while overseas activists feared the government could respond by cracking down on ethnic Uighurs widely blamed for the unrest.

Sunday's attack left 13 dead, including seven suspected assailants, in the Silk Road city of Kashgar. Authorities have not pinpointed suspects behind clashes a day earlier in the city that killed seven, including one of two men who allegedly hijacked a truck and rammed it into a crowd.

The weekend violence raised tensions across the Xinjiang region on China's western frontier, which has been under tight security since 2009 when almost 200 people were killed in fighting between Han Chinese and minority Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group that sees Xinjiang as its homeland.

The German-based World Uyghur Congress said it feared the violence could prompt a government crackdown on Uighurs still blamed for the unrest two years ago in Urumqi, the regional capital.

Kashgar issued warrants and offered 100,000 yuan ($16,000) for information leading to the arrest of two Uighur suspects allegedly seen fleeing the scene of Sunday's attack. The official Xinhua News Agency reported late Monday that police shot to death the two suspects in corn fields in a suburb of Kashgar.

The Xinhua report cited Hou Hanmin, director of Xinjiang's International Communication Office.

Earlier, the city said a "group of armed terrorists" had stormed a restaurant and killed the owner and a waiter before setting fire to the building.

The suspects then ran out into the street and stabbed civilians at random, killing another four people and injuring 12, the city said. Police fired at the suspects, killing four on the scene while a fifth died later in a hospital.

The city said Monday an initial investigation showed members of the group allegedly behind Sunday's attack had been trained in explosives and firearms in Pakistani camps run by the banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant group advocating independence for Xinjiang. It offered no proof in the statement on its website. China says the group is allied with al-Qaida.

Pakistan, a key ally to China, condemned the violence and offered support in combating the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. A Foreign Ministry statement said it was "fully confident" the people of Xinjiang autonomous region and the Chinese government "will succeed in frustrating evil designs of the terrorists, extremists and separatists, who constitute an evil force."

Xinjiang region has been beset by ethnic conflict and a sometimes-violent separatist movement by Uighurs, who say they have been marginalized as more majority Han Chinese move into the region.

The Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang held an emergency meeting in Urumqi after the attacks and ordered a crackdown on religious extremism and "illegal religious activities," the official Xinhua News Agency said.

"People in Xinjiang should stay vigilant and recognize that terrorist attackers are the 'common enemies of all ethnic groups,'" Zhang Chunxian was quoted as saying.

A spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, which advocates nonviolence, said Uighurs were increasingly staging protests against their treatment within China.

"Uighurs have no peaceful way to oppose the Chinese government, so some have taken to extreme measures. It is unthinkable, but it is the reality, and Beijing should take responsibility to deal with these issues," Dilxat Raxit told The Associated Press from his base in Sweden.

Deadly clashes Saturday in Kashgar, after two knife-wielding men hijacked a truck and rammed it into a crowd, left seven people dead and injured 22 injured. A police official said that after leaving the truck, the men had started attacking individuals who retaliated and killed one of the attackers while capturing the other. The attack was being investigated and the motive still unclear, said the official from the Xinjiang regional public security bureau, who refused to be identified by name as is common with Chinese officials.

China defends its treatment of minorities, saying all ethnic groups are treated equally and that tens of billions of dollars in investment and aid have dramatically raised living standards.

Police patrolled Kashgar on Monday, but locals said security is usually strong in Xinjiang's main cities.

"I took a bus to work as usual this morning and saw police armed with rods patrolling on streets," said a woman at Hua'an International Travel Service, who only gave her surname, Zhao. "Seven or eight of them were in a group, but the police patrol the streets everyday."

Xinjiang is China's Central Asian frontier, bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and other countries. Kashgar was an important hub on the ancient route through which Chinese silk and other goods reached Europe.

While the idea of Body Bombs (explosives surgically implanted) has been tried, the turban bomb is likely to be used more frequently as a close in assassination tool.

Kandahar mayor assassination: new trend of turban suicide bombings

Posted: 29-Jul-2011
Written by: Ben Farmer
Source: The Telegraph

Both times the new killing method has proved to be deadly effective in a society where it is disrespectful to ask a man, particularly an elder or cleric, to remove his turban.

Wednesday's attacker was apparently able to evade several layers of security using the tactic and reach a closely guarded official who had escaped at least one attempt on his life and the assassination of two deputies.

Two weeks ago the head of the city's clerical council, Hekmatullah Hekmat, was killed by a similar turban bomb in the city's Red Mosque at a memorial service for Ahmed Wali Karzai.

Policemen securing Afghan officials must find a balance between protecting their charge and admitting the constant flow of petitioners and visitors which take up the day of any senior figure.

Years of a growing Taliban assassination threat have ensured visitors to government offices face frisking in guardhouses and antechambers, but searches are often only a cursory pat down.

In the rare cases when airport-style scanners are present to spot explosives or weapons, they seldom work.

The apparent effectiveness of turban bombs is likely to ensure they are seen again, said one security official who did not wish to be named.

He said: "For these young policemen, it is very difficult for them to ask someone to take off their turban. When these men come from the villages, they all look like mullahs or elders."